Amos 4... A Liturgy Of Missed Opportunities

 

here is an audio recording of this message preached at HopeCentral on February 23rd 2025

 https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/Amos-41-13-A-Liturgy-of-Wasted-Opportunity-e2v80mk/a-abpvme9 

When I read the passage in Amos chapter 4 I couldn’t help but think of those occasions you hear of a motorist driving the wrong way on the motorway, straight into oncoming traffic, into impending doom. The image behind me is from the New Zealand Hearld in November 2023.  Where an elderly motorist in a red Suzuki Swift was caught on video going the wrong way on an Auckland motorway.

My mind sort of wandered and wondered what must have happened before the motorist got into that situation. You’ve probably all been on those interchanges over the motorway in Auckland. You have signs that tell you which way to go so you know where to turn and if you follow them you’ll be alright. They even have dead ends for the turn offs your not supposed to use. If you did manage to turn the wrong way down an off ramp there is a sign that says wrong way, turn back, no entry. You’d have to ignore that. This is my imagination right, but its Auckland New Zealand you could just about guarantee, there would be a man in a hi viz jacket putting out cones along the off ramp. He would have seen you coming and waved his arms and shouted at you ‘ turn round you are going the wrong way. If you don’t there will be a disaster.’ You’d have to avoid him as he courageously tried to step out in front of you. You’d have to swerve to avoid cars coming up the ramp in the opposite direction, disregard the angry blast of their horns.  It was reported that earlier the motorist in the article, had also been seen trying to drive the wrong way down the off ramp at another intersection, swerving to avoid cars before, thankfully, doing a u-turn.

Even once you were on the motorway there were those who tried to help. In the incident in that photo, the article praised the drivers he confronted. A man in a ute stopped in front of him as did people in the lane next to him, trying to block his way and to give him room to turn around and go the right way. But the motorist in the red Suzuki Swift dodged round them and pulled out into the faster lane to try and keep going the wrong way.

If he or you didn’t listen, didn’t heed the warnings, then it was going to end with a crash!

 Thank God it wasn’t too late for the motorist in November 2023… As eventually he did turn round and simply speed off down the motorway, the right way, as if nothing had happened.

Amos chapter 4 says Biblical scholar James Cranshaw is ‘A liturgy of missed opportunity’ in an almost Monty Pythonesque satire of a call to worship at the shire in Bethel, Amos points out all the warning signs, that God has used to call Israel to turn back to him. That they had ignored, there is that repeated refrain “but you did not turn back to me”,   So many ways the lord had roared, and now like the man inj the hi viz frantically waving his arms of the Ute driver doggedly trying to stop that motorist, Amos is the last chance before Israel will meet head on The God whom they simply pay lip service to, their so called worship rituals  having more to do with a show of public piety that genuine love awe and worship of God. Their society did not reflect the love and justice of God…  the LORD roars lets Justice flow

Lets look at the passage.

In my minds eye I could see Amos coming to Samaria or Bethel, and up on the balcony of the mansions in the middle of town there are party’s going feasts. Th wives of the officials and corrupt merchants gather for long lunches where they are enjoying the best food and wine. The laughter and merriment sort of shows that they are drinking excessively. Now Amos is not anti-wine but what hits him is the demand for more and more, living this luxuriant lifestyle. Revelling in excess and wealth based on the oppression of others. Celebrating and amusing themselves in a way that is ignorant of or as Amos say encouraging injustice.  Maybe even as he is standing there looking he can hear the bidding and the hammer fall in a slave auction as those who cannot pay back even small loans are being sold into slavery, and their lands forfeited. He had come in through the rural areas where the farmers were struggling with subsistence living, and all the equity of their land was being gathered into the hands of a wealthy and influential few.

Amos couldn’t help but think of the cows of Bashan. Bashan, was the richest grazing land in Israel, and was famous for its fat cows. Amos sees just like with those cows being readied for the slaughter. Amos knows that God is Holy and Just and will not let continued disregard for Israels covenant relationship with him. There will be a judgment. So Amos, inspired by the spirt  says thus says the lord… Like those prize cows these women will find themselves, being slaughtered and dragged out of the city on hooks, or like prized cattle be lead away with a ring through their noses into exile and captivity.  Which is what happened when the Assyrians captured Samaria in 720bc.

It challenging because as John Goldengay says

“People who Enjoy the benefits of oppressive structures and practices share in the responsibility for them and thus share in the judgment for them, even if they are not directly involved in their administration.”

I wonder what Amos would see when he looked at us? Would his heart be grieved by a standard of living and consumerism, with the possibility of slave labour, and unjust labour practices in our supply chain? While there has been concerted effort to address treaty grievances, maybe he would wonder about prosperity based on land confiscated at the end of the land wars and other means.

Amos then seems to follow the crowd to the shrine at Bethel. A place he would automatically associate with  apostacy. The proper place to worship God was the Temple In Jerusalem, and when Jeroboam 1 had set the shrine up he had erected a golden calf and said it was the calf that had lead the people out of Egypt.  But as Amos watched he would have seen people coming and being called to worship by the priest. There were sacrifices and offering being bought. But as Amos watches he becomes aware of two things. One is that these sacrifices are not for the forgiveness of sins, there is an absence of self-reflection and concern that lives were not lived in way that reflected and honoured the LORD. The was an unholy disconnect between words, ritual and lifestyle.  Even the thanksgiving offerings and tithes and freewill offerings were being made in a way that was to draw attention to the giver not out of reverence to God. Grand gestures but did it go more than skin deep more than a public show… If Amos had been a fan of Australian sit coms he may have had that famous line from Kath and Kim echoing in his mind ‘ Look at Me, look at Me, Look at Me’. Jesus in the sermon on the mount warned his followers about the spirituality of the Pharisees who prayed and fasted and did all the right things, but again it was a show of their piety  to get status and applause rather than genuine worship and seeking after God.

Inspired by God, Amos satirises the priests call to worship. Come to bethel and sin, come to Gilgal and rebel… Then maybe the priest had used a psalm which spoke of all the good thing God had done, God’s saving acts. Maybe they had used a prayer that was designed to renew the covenant relationship. Amos ceases upon that and still focusing on God’s faithfulness recounts many of the difficult times that Israel experienced, famine, draught, mildew, locusts, plagues… pandemics in our vernacular, war and conflict, and what scholars see as possibly an earthquake. Yet in all those times Israel did not stop and think, they did not see these things which echoed the covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28. Consequences for disobeying the covenant. Faced with even these things they did not change and turn back to God.

I have to say one of the big questions people have is around the difference between God revealed in the Old testament and God revealed in the New. We see the Old Testament God as a god of wrath and judgment and the New Testament as one of Love. Passages like Amos 4 are part of that. I was listening to a pod cast by the Bible Society UK called #Shetoo where women theologians and biblical scholars were wrestling with the terror passages in the Old Testament, that speak of abuse and violence towards women. And what they say to us today… One of the guests on the pod cast made the comment that one of the big differences between the New and Old Testament was time. In the New Testament the books were written over a short time, with a very clear focus, the gospel of Jesus Christ and how to be this new people of God together. Even then many letters were written as communities were dealing with false teaching and  behaviour inconsistent with that gospel. Then Old Testament is written over a long period of time, and deals with a whole raft of issues to do with a nation state in covenant relationship with God. The passage in Amos 4 over a small period of time shows that god has been at work calling his people back to himself over a long period of time. The wilderness wanderings, the cycles of disobedience, conflict, repentance and deliverance in judges, the history of the kings and through the prophets. In fact when the cannon of the Old testament was being put together, the big question was looking back at Israel’s past and seeing God’s steadfast and faithful love. Before they were disciplined By God he spoke through the prophets, when they repented, he saved them, even the exile of the northern kingdom and southern kingdom were faithful to God’s covenant promises, God was disciplining his people… and he bought them back. In the New Testament as we have been in Christ, there have been times in history where the church has headed away from God down the motorway the wrong way: false teaching, slipping into nominalism, where the public display of piety masked a lack of spiritual vitality, times when we have committed the worst of injustices. God by the Spirit has had to speak into those times and call us back to him. Francis of Assisi, The reformation, revivals down through the ages. Revivals by the way usually start with the people of God becoming aware of the love and holiness of God and being prepared to confess where they have gone wrong… it starts with repentance.

The other question that this passage brings up is Does God cause bad things to happen to us, to get our attention? Amos’ answer would be that the one who created the heavens and the earth, the sovereign God is able to speak to us through those difficult times. My mentor Jim Wallace once preached a sermon that has stuck in my memory. He was speaking of why thinks go wrong. he said that there are four main reasons for that. The first is that we live in a fallen world, and bad things happen. People call it the problem of evil. Much of the wisdom literature in the Old Testament wrestles with the question why do bad things happen to good people. Sometimes Christians think they’ve missed the fall and gone hang gliding instead, wrong. The second is that there is a biblical principle of you reap what you sow, and often bad situations and difficulties are the consequences of bad decisions, our own or ones that we didn’t have any control over. It’s cause and effect. The gospel can bring transformation into those situations, turning round generational and individual situations, but we still have to deal with the consequences in that journey. The third is that we have an enemy of our soul in the devil and bad things can be  spiritual attack, some people want to see a demon behind every bush, and it takes a lot of discernment when speaking of spiritual attack, and as Christians we can trust that god has defeated our enemy at the cross. The last is that yes God is speaking, the LORD is roaring. In Jonah, God sends a storm to cause Jonah to repent and turn around and obey him. Paul speaks of the Lord not allowing them to go a certain way as they awaited a vision to go over to Macedonia in his second missionary journey.  Amos would say that bad things difficult times were great opportunity for people to stop and reflect and see what God just might be saying to us. For us to turn and again seek God. it is amazing when you look back at life its then that you can see how God has used all the things in our life to lead and guide.  

Amos finishes his oracle by saying that the people of Israel will meet the God they say they worship. As sure as if your going the wrong way down the motorway you are going to meet traffic head on. There view of God as one who could be paid lip service to and hopefully manipulated by doing the right rituals at the right time would meet them. A Holy and Righteous God who does not allow sin and injustice to thrive. It would mean judgment and discipline.

Amos finishes with a doxology. Inviting the people gathered for worship to again comprehend the majesty and power and sovereignty of the God who had called them into a covenant relationship with him. The God of creation, who formed the mountains, created the wind, but also a God who speaks (unlike the idols of the countries round them) and reveals his thoughts to mankind, a God who reveals himself, and of course we see the ultimate revelation of God in Jesus Christ becoming one of us. The LORD God almighty.

 I really struggled to know how to sort of bring what is a heavy message on a heavy passage into land. As I was wrestling with that I was reading a book called lead by prayer and one line just stood out to me. The author says “ repentance is not just a nice addition to our prayers lives, it is core to our walk with God.” Not to try and earn the favour of an angry God, or simply for salvation. The life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has bought us into a new relationship with God. He has replaced our sin with his righteousness. We are justified with God through our LORD Jesus Christ. It is a gift imparted to us. Repentance is needed for that initial turn around from going our own way to going Gods. But it is an ongoing process, as we know more and more of the love of God, more and more of the majesty and holiness of God, we go though this process of realising that we need to change to become more like Christ. The process of mortification, dying to ourselves and sanctification, becoming more like Christ.

Our hearts are deceptive and we are fallen human beings, as we come to know more and more of the goodness and the holiness of God. How much he has loved us, then we see the darkness and deceptiveness in our hearts. But because we are in Christ, because of what he has done for us, we know that we can confess our sins, and God who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us rom all unrighteousness. We can trust the Holy Spirit that God has put within us, to lead us to live anew way. That is not only about personal spirituality but it leads to being willing to seek justice in our society and world as well…

The Lord Roars Let Justice flow.

Mark 3:7-19 Called, Responded, to be with, sent... the twelve and ... us!

 

read Mark 3;7-19 

What jumped off the page for you? What word or phrase or idea caught your attention as you listened to the reading from Mark this morning? You know when you hear scripture read or read it often one thing will leap out at you. It may resonate with you, it may raise a question, it just may seem new like you’ve never noticed it before, or it just makes a connection with something else for you. I’ve found that is a way that the Holy Spirit will catch my attention as I read scripture prayerfully.   I want to give you a moment just to share what stuck out to you from the reading this morning with a person next to you… whatever it is however trivial or profound although remember I’m preaching the sermon today.

 I’ve been focusing on this passage for a while and there are three things that really stuck out for me.

The first was the crowd pushing in on Jesus. In fact the Greek word here gives the idea that they were falling over each other to get to Jesus. Demanding his attention, it was no longer Jesus reaching out to touch others it them reaching out to touch and grab him. To get what they want.  I couldn’t help but think so many demands. So many expectations. So much need… What do you do when your to do list, is to long to do… and you see these things tripping over each other vying for your attention and time.. and your back is against the wall… well in Jesus case the lake. What happens to your priorities and purpose? I know that doesn’t even stop when youré retired… I was in the supermarket one evening and this elderly man came up to me and asked if I liked shopping. He had been dutifully following his wife and a shopping trolley round the store. He then told me he was exhausted and tired, he was 84 and he’d been working all day helping renovate his son in laws house, now he was out doing the weekly shop. At that stage the man’s wife looked round for him, and I said “I’m just here for a bottle of milk and you’d better catch-up mate.”

The second is that list of names… The twelve disciples that Jesus called to himself. What struck me was some of them are familiar, they appear though out the gospel… mainly Jesus inner circle… Simon peter, John, James and  Andrew, Thomas we know from John’s gospel and for another reason, we know Judas Iscariot, but some of them are unfamiliar, they are only recorded here, they even have different names in the other gospels… they are part of the twelve but they seem to just disappear into obscurity.  We don’t know their stories but here they are called to be disciples of Jesus to be with him and later sent out by him.

The third thing that stuck out to me, and this was more as I have focused on the passage is how it clearly articulates what it means to be a disciple. He appointed or chose them, called them to himself, first and foremost to be with him, then he sent them out to preach and have authority over unclean spirits. That last part bit got me thinking … and

Well I want to work through the passage and then come back and reflect on these three things.

We are on a yearlong journey through the gospel according to Mark… what Mark calls ‘the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ’. The series is called The Way of the cross… as in Mark’s fast paced narrative, the focus is on Jesus as the suffering servant, who will give up his life for many. It invites us to strip away many of the cultural expectations we have of Jesus and what it means to follow him and again realize as one commentator puts it we are an army whose only weapons are service and self-sacrificial love. That to be a flourishing Christian community is ironically to follow Jesus on the way of the cross.

The passage we read from Mark this morning, marks a transition in the narrative… up till now we’ve been introduced to Jesus as his baptism and have been looking at his early ministry in Galilee. His preaching in the villages and towns calling people to repent and believe because the kingdom of God was at hand. Developing a group of followers. Healing the sick and showing that he had authority over unclean spirits. All this leading to conflict with the religious authorities of the day, which culminates in Mark 3:6 with the Pharisees and members of Herod’s party meeting on the sabbath to make plans to kill Jesus, ironically just as they had criticized Jesus for healing the man with the withered hand on the sabbath.

In response Jesus now moves the focus of ministry to the lake shore, and in the next section of the gospel we have Jesus crisscrossing the lake. But also, as Jesus selects a group of twelve disciples there is a focus on his teaching and preparing them for ministry. We also see that despite growing opposition to Jesus from the religious authorities that his fame is growing. We are told that a great crowd follows him: many from galilee, more than that we see that there are people coming from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from across the Jordon and from the region around Tyre and Sidon, the whole of Israel, both Jewish are also more gentile ones. In the rest of the gospel Jesus goes and ministers in these different regions.

 As I said before this great crowd are falling over each other to touch Jesus and  be healed. There is a great need… I wonder if it was a little bit like the hysteria round modern day pop stars or celebrities. I remember starting work at the bank in queen street the week Charles and Di came to visit. The street was packed with people jostling to get close, straining against the hastily erected ropes. Hoping to say Hi and shake hands. As well as them falling over each other we have people with unclean spirts falling down. The unclean spirits know who Jesus is, they call him the Son of God… but it is not out of reverence, William Lane in his commentary says in the ancient world, if you knew who someone status and true identity was it gave you some semblance of power over them. Kind of like in a movie or a book where you have a character say ‘you’re not fooling me I know who you are and what you are really like”. But here, Jesus shows his authority by commanding them to be silent and leave. These shrill unhuman voices are not the ones that are needed to proclaim Jesus identity and nature. We see in response to the push of the crowd and demands that Jesus asks the disciples, who were fishermen to have a boat ready for him. That fits with the later journeys across the lake but as Luke tells us in Luke 5:1-11 Peter suggested Jesus got in the boat pushed off from shore so he could focus on teaching the crowd. There is a place on the lake now called the bay of parables which is amphitheatre shaped, and tourists are amazed at the clarity of sound as they are on the shore and some one speaks from out in the bay.

But again the crowd is ambiguous in Mark. They come to Jesus many for what Jesus can give them, looking for healing not because they are longing for the kingdom of God… and Jesus goes out onto the mountain by himself, away from the push and calmer, just like after the crowd had come to Simon’s house when he had healed Simon’s mother-in-law. Now he can refocus on what his mission is about and he build on his plan of calling people to come and follow him by selecting and calling twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach and given his authority to drive out demons.

We have the list of the twelve from amidst a greater number of disciples. Simon whom he calls Peter. Peter which we are not told means Rock, Not the pro wrestler actor. I love Timothy Gombis’ take on this. Righty he talks of Jesus hopes for Simon to be steadfast and faithful and dependable as he will assume a key role in the spread of the gospel and the early church. But Gombis suggests that it may also have been a friendly jib at Simon being slow to learn, it was hard to get through to him. Like with James and John whom he gave the name ‘the sons of thunder’ it has the feel of close camaraderie, even a slight sense of humor. James and john could have been fiery preachers or just loud over the top personalities, with hair triggers. But it is a show of genuine friendship.  Andrew is Simon’s brother. Bartholomew, while being adopted these days as a first name is actually just a last name… it simply means son of tholomew. Matthew is traditionally equated with Levi, we don’t know why the change of name, maybe it was because of the stigma of having been a tax collector, early on Christians would choose a new name when they came to faith, Thomas which means twin, James son of Alphaeus, this could be Levi’s brother as Levi is also called the son of Alphaeus in Mark 3:14, which mean there could have been three sets of brothers in the twelve.  Thaddeus is not mentioned in the other gospels, but in them there is a second person called Judas and you could imagine the other judas being tired of saying…’ no not that one not Iscariot the other one’ and finding it easier to adopt a different name. Simon the zealot, the zealots were a political party inside Judaism alongside the pharisees and Sadducees who were willing to advocate violence to over threw Roman rule. It maybe that Simon was a prior member of that group. Finally, Judas Iscariot, Iscariot most probably meaning a man from Kerioth, a village in Judah and Moab. Then we have the spoiler alert this is the one who betrayed Jesus. 

There is of course significance in twelve as here we see Jesus establishing the roots of a new people and a new family of God, reflecting the twelve tribes of Israel.  People that will be with Jesus and will proclaim the Kingdom of God and show its authority and authenticity. Later in this chapter, without spoiling Pauline’s thunder, when Jesus is confronted by his family to come home with them he says that his family are those who do his will. In selecting the twelve he has started that family… A family who by grace you and I are part of as we come to faith in Jesus Christ.

We’ve unpacked the passage a bit, and now I want to go and reflect on what stuck out to me.

The first is how Jesus dealt with the demands needs and pressure of the crowd. This is helpful for us in all areas of life, as we face expectations, workloads, pressures, dealing with others needs and that most pervasive characteristic of twenty first century life… Busyness. Jesus takes time out to be by himself. We see this was a discipline in his life. To take time to be alone. Over the last three-week period in preaching there has been an emphasis on sabbath rest. Both Pauline and Lorne spoke on it. Jesus makes time for refreshment and recharge; he makes time to look at his mission and purpose and priorities and refocus on what is important. We are not told in Mark, but in Luke we are told Jesus spent the night in Prayer before he called them to him. It wasn’t simply alone time it was focusing on that key central relationship with God his Father. Being on a mountain here picks up that idea of encounter with God as well. Then we see that he has an answer to how he is going to advance his mission and call, he  calls people to come and to work alongside him. He goes and finds a team to be with him in dealing with the push and in being able to minister to others. When we face stress and demands and peoples expectations there is need for us to find time alone, time alone with God, for sabbath rest  and also to look at sharing the load with others and focusing again on what is essential and important. As I was preparing this sermon that spoke to me and I took day out to go and pray and read scripture and find clarity for myself and my sense of call.

That leads on to look at what this passage tells us about being disciples. Followers of Jesus. The twelve are like a template for us. The first thing is they are called to be with Jesus and they respond.  There is a need to respond to Jesus call, to come into relationship with him, through his death and resurrection. We can be like the crowd and simply have Jesus there to meet our needs. Health and prosperity are two of the idols of our western world, and it is easy for us to simply see Jesus as a means for us to have that cultural image of a good life. But the call of Jesus is to repent from going our own way and go his. To be a disciple is to spend time with Jesus, to learn from him, to become more attune in our character and nature to Jesus, to be Christian means to be Christ like, and that comes as we spend time with Jesus, often in a group context as well, as we learn to relate to one another as Christ loves us. Then we too will be sent out to witness and proclaim and tell about Jesus. The more we spend time with Jesus that it wells up within us, as we see what Jesus does, as we hear what Jesus says. As the Holy Spirit bring Jesus words to mind.  Yes that will bring us into direct conflict with the powers of this world, but we have Jesus authority over them. I’ve had some encounters with the demonic in my lifetime and ministry and as I said that last part made we wonder a bit what it means. Is it talking about deliverance ministry? Again I think Timothy Gombis is helpful.

 "The primary way down through history that Christians push back the darkness and unclean spirits is when they live authentic, Christ orientated, lives. When we reflect more closely the Kingdom of God."

Now you may have noticed that I skipped the second thing that stood out to me the names, well I did that deliberately because I want to finish with that point. Those names some well know and that appear again and again in the gospel and the story of the early church, others who simply are obscure and we don’t know their stories, but we do know they were called to be with Jesus and they went out and proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ, and drove out the darkness in Jesus name. Mark titled his writing the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God… that story continues, that good news is for us as well… we are at this end of the unbroken chain of people who Jesus called to be with him and sent out and Our names, your name, my name are amongst those who are that new people of God in Christ…be it playing an upfront loud role, or simply being one who spends time with Jesus and is sent amidst the business of life, the demands and expectations with Christ to witness to him in our time and culture, our crowd, put simply at the supermarket, the retirement village, the street, the work place, the family, school, friendship cluster, he has called us to be with him and sent us out to. Your name… you…me… we together. Will you hear that call?

Mark 1: 29-39... A Day in the life of... Signs of the Kingdom Of God

 

I was driving to Auckland for a conference this week and the Beatles song ‘A day in the life of…’ came on the radio. It’s the last track of the 1967 Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts club band album. I found myself singing along. The song captures something of the mundane nature of everyday life. The start and finish of the song written by John Lennon was inspired by simply reading the newspaper, the significant events, a prominent man killed in a car crash, and the trivial page fillers, like a series of holes being dug in Lancashire, “now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall”. The middle of the song, written by Paul McCartney remembering that rush to get up, get dressed, drag a comb across our head, grab the bus and head off to school… or work, day-dreaming along the way… all finished off with that most memorable sustained piano chord, like the lingering last rays of a setting sun. Just a day in the life of… and I went into a dream, well my mind wandered as I drove to the reading we had this morning…  You see, the last part of Mark chapter one has that kind of feel to it. An ordinary sabbath day in Capernaum, at the synagogue, home for a meal, dealing with sickness in the family, waiting till after sunset to do things that needed to be done, ( remember for the first century jews a day went from sunset to sunset,) alone time reflective time, quite time as the sun rises after a busy  day. Yet into that everydayness we see with Jesus, the kingdom of God breaks in bringing freedom, healing, wholeness and acceptance.

More than that we are also presented with a day in the life of Jesus Christ early in his Galilean ministry. In fact in his commentary Kent Hughs says Mark present us with a day in the heart of a healer. Full of preaching, compassion, action, then alone time with God in Prayer, and finally having to refocus on what Jesus mission is. A day in the life of…

We are embarking on a year long journey through the gospel according to Mark… what Mark calls ‘the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ’. The series is called The Way of the cross… as in Mark’s fast paced narrative, dd you notice the words like immediately in the reading this morning, the focus is on Jesus as the suffering servant, who will give up his life for many. It invites us to strip away many of the cultural expectations we have of Jesus and what it means to follow him and again realise as one commentator puts it we are an army whose only weapons are service and self-sacrificial love. That to be a flourishing Christian community is ironically to follow Jesus on the way of the cross.

Mark’s gospel started with the witness of scripture, from the book of Isaiah to who Jesus was, then we meet Jesus at his baptism by John the Baptist, and have an account of his temptation, where in the wilderness Jesus is able to over come Satan. Then Jesus starts his ministry he goes about preaching ‘repent, and believe the good news because the Kingdom of God is at hand”. With Jesus coming the reign of God has come into the realms of humanity, and we are called to live in a new way. A way that reflects God’s love, righteousness and justice. Jesus starts to gather a group of people around him, he calls some Galilean fishermen to come follow me and they will become fishers of men, help to bring people into this new relationship with God through Christ. Then it seems that instead of following Jesus its like he follows them home to Capernaum. Jesus goes to the synagogue and is invited to speak, and we start to see that as the kingdom of God is at hand that the powers of darkness are started to be pushed back. A demon possessed man is set free and delivered. While the people don’t really get who Jesus is the unclean spirt is told to be quite because it recognises Jesus as God’s holy messenger. The people are amazed, who is Jesus and what is this new teaching. Now we move to today reading… again it seems to simply be moving through the day in the life off… Jesus heads to Simeon’s place for lunch.

In this passage we are given a glimpse in to the everyday life of the disciples, or at least Simon, who Jesus will name Peter. We find out that Simon is married, and his mother in law lives with them, maybe she is a widow… later in 1 Corinthians 9:5 Paul tells us that Peter took his wife along with him on his mission trips. But this story also shows us Peter’s personal accounts as a major part of Mark’s sources.

As they arrive home, they discover that Simion’s mother-in-law has a fever, and is unwell. First century jews saw fever as a unique illness they didn’t necessarily see it as a symptom of an underlying illness, and as it could be from an infection it was seen as a serious matter. We are told immediately Jesus goes to her, takes her by the hand and lifts her up, she is healed, gets up and serves them. This getting up and serving them shows us a couple of things: the first is that the mother in law is totally healed, normally when you recover from a fever you are left weak. May of you will know from recent experiences, like the effects of COVID, that linger weakness and brain fog. But here the woman gets up and immediately serves Jesus. Secondly, unlike in our culture it wasn’t the mother in law or the women who did the serving, it was not a done thing for a women to serve a rabbi, but here Simon’s mother in law shows us the appropriate response to Jesus healing and intervention in ones life, she serves him. She is an example of what it means to be a disciple.

One of the things that we might not get from this story is the radical nature of what Jesus does. In Mark’s gospel Jesus touch is important, Jesus is always touching people, following on from our reading this morning he touches the leper, later he puts his finger in the ears of the deaf man, he dines with Levi and his friends.  Francis Moloney in his commentary notes that there is no record anywhere of a first century Jewish rabbi grasping the hand of a woman. Jesus crosses a cultural and religious barrier here, out of compassion and concern to heal and lift up Simon’s mother in law. In Mark Jesus is always reaching out to people across those barriers and bringing healing and kingdom life. Where as for the religious jews they saw such touching as making them unclean, Jesus touch always brings healing, restoration and transformation.

Its important to note in Mark’s gospel that the story of women are very important, Jesus is the beginning of Good news for men and for women, we see that in the first two miracles presented here. Both in the public space, often seen in those days as men’s space and the private, or home space, which was the women’s domain. Jesus reaches into both.

The narrative quickly changes and we see that as the sun sets that the people of the town bring all their sick and those possessed by evil spirits to Jesus. They crowd around the door of Simon’s home. Jesus heals the sick and frees people of the evil spirits. Jesus shows his compassion for people and his power and authority, having defeated Satan we now see the darkness rolled back. But in Mark’s gospel its always hard to understand the crowds response to Jesus. They flock to Jesus seeing him as a miracle worker not necessarily as the Messiah, coming for healing, not out of repentance and belief. I’m not rugby league fan, but this year like many I’ve been swept up in the ‘up the wah’s’ I’ve joined the band wagon, because of the Cinderella like story of their success. But as part of the crowd, I’m not a rugby league convert. The crowd in Mark want Jesus but don’t actually become fully committed to who he is.

Then the scene and the frantic pace of the narrative changes again, We are told Jesus gets up early in the morning before the sun rises and goes away into a lonely place to pray.  In Mark’s gospel wea re told that Jesus goes to pay at pivotal times. I’m sur it was his regular routine to spend time alone in prayer with his father, but in the narrative it always comes at crunch times. How was Jesus going to handle the success he had had at Capernaum, as the crowd gathered round the door. That pressure is intensified as the disciples come looking for Jesus and Simon says “everyone is looking for you Jesus”. There is the expectation that Jesus will continue to do what he has been doing in Capernaum. Here is a good place to set up a base of operation, as my friend mark Keown commented on this very point at a conference this week, we could start a big church here Jesus. Is Jesus going to bow to the will of the crowd? The answer of course is that Jesus reaffirms his ministry and mission, that he is to go to the other towns and continue to preach his message repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand. But everywhere Jesus goes of course the kingdom of God continues to push back the powers of darkness people are set free, are healed and are welcomed back into God’s people.

What is there for us from this passage today?

Firstly, as Mark calls his narrative the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, I want to affirm that Jesus Christ is still good news for us today. That in Christ, the kingdom of God has broken into our everyday life as well and pushes back the darkness. Jesus can free us from oppression of spiritual forces today. Jesus can heal people today. We have people who are willing to pray at the end of the service today, willing to be like the door that the crowd gathered round that you can meet Jesus through. The good news of the kingdom is still for us today, you and I are called to repent, and believe the good news because the kingdom of God is at hand. Maybe you are here today and you need to acknowledge Jesus as the messiah and the son of God, and receive forgiveness through his death and resurrection and turn to follow Jesus.

For those who know and follow Jesus I think that as we move through Mark we are going to be confronted and encouraged by Jesus touch to reach out across the various social barriers that we have today, just like the Jewish folk of Jesus day, with the good news of Jesus Christ. There is a kind of fear that I believe many of us have of people who are different than us. People who seem like they are outside of what we think of as socially acceptable. We are concerned that somehow we will be contaminated by contact with them, that we will be dragged away from our faith. But when you see Jesus you see that his touch was the opposite, it bought new life, kingdom life, freedom, healing and wholeness to those he touched. We believe that Jesus is with us today by the Holy Spirit as well, and in our everyday life we too can see that kingdom life reach out in our touch, our presence our compassion and care, across all those social barriers. Even as it did in the reading today to that most troublesome of groups… mothers-in-laws. I thought about starting this sermon with a mother in law Joke, I went on the website and there was a whole heap of them. But the website I was on was from grooms at weddings, and it said it takes a brave man to make such jokes, and I thought even more so in church as it is a mother-in-law rich environment… and I’m not that brave. But you know when we realise that we are on the other side of the cultural barriers of Jesus day and have received his grace, When I preached this sermon the other day kris reminded me of the old Jewish prayer ‘thank you Lord I am not a gentile or a woman…when we thing of that it helps us to rethink the social barriers of our own day. Racially, culturally, socio economically we reach across with the cleansing, welcoming the healing touch of Jesus.

 Lastly, the line that really stuck out to me was “everyone is looking for you”. We all live with the expectations and demands of others on us and our time. Be it the popular and successful, the crowed at the door, or the pressing issues, those urgent things that demand our attention, I am always reminded of the quote that helped Eisenhower with his priorities and planning  "I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent." Or even the peripheral, those edge things sidetracks, that can stop us individually and corporately from focusing on our mission and what Jesus has called us to do and be. We need to take the time in our busy lies in the face of all those things looking for us,  to spend time like Jesus praying and seeking God and also then to have the courage to go to another place, to do what we believe God is calling us to do, to be about his kingdom and walking the way of the cross in the midst of our ordinary life… to allow the kingdom of God to break into  a day in the life of… a day in the life of you, a day in the life of me  a day in the life of of us.. to break into an ordinary everydayness in Whangarei…

Just as you have received Jesus Christ as Lord, live in him: encouragement and snares in Colossians 2:6-19

 

Kris and I went up to Cape Reinga earlier this year, it was our first time to that most northern windswept tip of New Zealand… along the track down to the light house are plaques pointing out features of the landscape. One plaque points to a Pohutukawa tree known as Kahika or the survivor. It may be easily overlooked, it’s probably not a great specimen tree. You can see it in this photo to the right of that outcrop. There it is right at the end of the point on a rock face in a very precarious and exposed place. It has always been there as long as people can remember. Always standing strong in the salt air, battered by wind and storms, tide and time. As the plaque says it’s miraculously rooted firmly on a rock. It’s a good illustration of one of the metaphors Paul uses in the passage we had read today as he encourages the church at Colossae to continue to live their lives in Jesus Christ who they have received as Lord. Rooted in him.

We are working our way through Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, the series is called Colossians: Christ and Christ alone. Colossae is a church in the Lycos valley in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Paul had never been there, but he writes as he feels one with them in spirit but not body, and he’s writing from prison. He is writing to encourage the church and warn them against those who would try and say that the new Christians in Colossae need these extra things for salvation, something as well as Christ to lead a full life, something else for their future hope. He writes to assure them of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Christ and Christ alone.

Verse 6 and 7 actually form the centre of Paul’s letter. This is where the body of the letter begins.

In verse 6 Paul starts this section with the word therefore or so then. All that has gone before is leading to this point. His introduction where he had placed the churches identity and address in Christ. Where he had given thanks for their faith and love and prayed for their growth in knowing Gods will and living in a way that pleased God. Then the wonderful affirmation and hymn focusing on the person of Jesus, and the sufficiency of his life, death and resurrection. Then speaking of his own passion, his own work and suffering for the gospel. Now because of all that he turns and encourages the Colossians to walk in Christ and warns them against false teaching that would try and drag them away from that and back into captivity.

therefore he says… Since you have received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. Epaphras has proclaimed the gospel to them and they had come to receive it, committed themselves to it. Jesus Christ is Lord is one of the most ancient of the confessions of the church. It is acknowledging Jesus, God’s anointed one, the long awaited Jewish messiah as king of their lives. In the roman world the affirmation was Caesar is Lord, the roman emperor ruled, his will was what guided people’s lives, but for Christians it is different they/we acknowledge that Jesus is king, they we are citizens of his kingdom and live by his rule. But it is a confession that was even more than that. Lord or the Greek word kurios is used in the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Old Testament to translate LORD, written in capitals which Jews used for the name of God YHWH, so they wouldn’t accidently say it in vein. It is a confession of the divine nature of Jesus. As Paul will say in verse 9 in Christ the fullness of the deity lived in bodily form. That confession was the core of the message they and we received and it is what calls them and us to live that out in Christ

Then Paul uses a series metaphors to fill out what it means to live or walk in Christ. The first is an agricultural one… rooted in Christ. That we may find our foundations in Jesus Christ. Like Kahika that northern most Pohutukawa, something solid for the whole of life. Where we get our sustenance from, that provides a solid base for who we are and how we live, despite lifes storms and difficulties. As Paul had found with Jesus amidst his sufferings.

You’d think Paul would carry on with agricultural metaphors but he unashamedly mixes his metaphors. He moves to an architectural metaphor. Built up in him, you might expect it to be growing from the roots, but it is the idea of being built up like a building. It picks up the corporate nature of the church… As it says in 1 Peter we are living stones being built together into the dwelling place of God. We have a foundation in Jesus Christ we build on that together. Remember in his thanksgiving for Colossae Paul had talked of their faith in Christ and their love for all God’s people springing from the hope that was stored up in heaven. Our corperate life is so much how we grow in Christ.

He moves on to what Scott McKnight says is a judicial metaphor. They are strengthened by what they were taught. We can have assurance because what we have been taught about God is that God keeps his promise and can be trusted. NT wright sums it up as it’s confirmed and settled like a legal document. We have confidence that in Christ we have been justified and set right. It’s a done deal.

Finally overflowing with thanksgiving, the metaphor here is of a cup of wine brimming over the top. Of festivities and celebration. In Christ and what Christ has done for us we have a joy in life. Wine also is an image of the spirit in the scriptures and picks up the idea of a spring of living water overflowing from the presence of Christ in us.

With these mixed metaphor’s Paul sums up the fullness of the Christian life. It picks up what Paul had prayed for the Colossians in his opening prayer as well… that they would produce fruit, grow, be strengthened by the spirit and rejoice with thanksgiving. It is a great summary of what it means to walk in Christ for us today as well as for them.

Then Paul turns and warns them about those who would try and take them captive to a human philosophy. A hollow and deceptive, or fake hope. Of course we come up again with the question of who Paul’s opponents are in Colossae. Is Paul anti all types of philosophy? Where in places like Acts in Athens he seems quite comfortable in engaging with it. What are the elemental spiritual forces? Evil spirits or the spirit of our age in human structures. I feel that it is both human structures and traditions and dark forces as well. It seems as we read through the text that Paul has the Judieisers, in mind here. Jewish christians who want gentile Christians to conform to the Jewish religious system . That is borne out in the two warnings Paul gives. His focus in verses 9-12 on circumcision, then in verse 16 and onwards about the Jewish ritual laws round food and special days. We know that they were causing lots of trouble in Galatia which wasn’t too far away from Colossae and Paul fears their empty ideas were causing trouble here as well.

Paul addresses those things in two ways. Firstly he puts Jesus over and against human traditions. In Christ the fullness of the deity dwelt, making Jesus so much more superior to the traditions of man. Why then says Paul should we still be asking gentile Christians to be circumcised. Circumcision of course was a sign of Jews from birth being part of the God’s covenant people. Why says Paul would you want to much around with cutting off a small part of the body, when in our baptism in Christ the whole of our old sinful self has been cut off, has been buried with Christ and raised with Christ. It’s God not human endeavour that has done this. Even in the Old Testament there was a longing for something more than just an inward sign, but rather a change at the very core of our being and in many places in scripture they talk of that as a circumcision of the heart. A term which Paul picks up in romans 2 to talk of true circumcision not done on the outside by human hands but by the spirit (romans 2:25-29).

Paul then moves on to talk of what Jesus has done for us by his crucifixion and resurrection. He does it in a way which shows clearly the irony of cross. The upside down nature of his kingdom. In crucifying Jesus the authorities thought they were defeating Jesus. But Paul uses the very language of a king and his triumphant victory to argue that Jesus is sufficient. While we were dead he made us alive again. He forgave our sins, cancelling the charge of indebtedness which stood against and condemned us. Paul here uses the idea of the titilus, the list of charges that were nailed above a criminal when they were crucified so everyone could see what they had done. But here instead of being for our condemnation, they are nailed to the cross and we are released and set free. Because the innocent one Jesus Christ, the king of the Jews died in our place. So it’s taken away. It and spiritual forces behind it have been disarmed and made a public spectacle of and triumphed over. The image here comes from the victory a roman emperor would have once they had defeated an enemy, they and all their soldiers and wealth would be paraded through the streets and publicly humiliated and they would end in death at the cross. But Paul says in Christ’s death he has done that to the hollow philosophies of humanity, the structures of this world as well as our sin.

He then moves on to give his second warning in verse 16-19. Don’t let people put you down because of what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. New moon festivals and special religious days probably also tied in with the Jewish sacrificial system. So again Paul has the Judeisers in mind who are wanting gentile Christians to observe the ritual laws of the torah. Again Paul says why, why bother with these things they were foreshadows, things that pointed to a reality that has come in Jesus. The sacrifice once and for all for the forgiveness of sins that would reconcile us to God.

Paul goes on to talk about people to be aware of, on guard against. He speaks of people who have a false humility. Some of these early false teachers practiced a type of extreme asceticism, that on the surface looked spiritual, but was seen as a way of trying to appease God, outside of what Christ had done. The worship of angels is a hard one for us to get our heads round… Angel worship may have been part of pagan worship in the area, you’ll remember when we looked at Revelation that twice John has to be reminded not to worship the angel who was showing him what was to happen, but to only worship God. Another scholar suggests that part of it was also that the false teachers may have focused on angels to come and help them, and prayed to them rather than trusting and praying to Jesus. He also warns about people who focus on he dreams and visions that they have seen, recounting them in great detail, there focus is on these things not on Christ. Such people can try and pull us away from Christ. Paul says they are not connected to the Head in Christ. There focus is in puffing themselves up rather than Christ whose focus is the body of Christ being bought together rooted, built up strengthened and overflowing in Christ.

How does this apply to us today?

Two ways firstly, the encouragement just as we have received Jesus Christ as Lord to continue to live in him. To have confidence and hope and find unity and joy in who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Christ and Christ alone. Allow that to be the focus the foundation and the guide and joy for our lives

Secondly, the same warning. It’s easy for our for us to be moved away from Christ to manmade religious things, to traditions and thinking they are as important or more so than Jesus …to be weary of any form of Christ plus. Ritual, and traditions and expressions of faith spiritual disciples are helpful, as long as they focus us on Christ. We also still need to be careful in listening to people who might lead us away from Jesus. It was interesting while I was preparing this message that On Monday I was walking round the Hatea river loop tack and a man stopped me asked me if I was a Christian. He told me because Jesus was coming soon he had given up his job and was going round talking to people. He told me at great length of the visions he had been given. I listened politely and in the end had to go because I had an appointment. But as I left I started to weigh what he’d said I realised his focus was on what he had experienced not on Jesus. What he was doing and what he saw didn’t add up and conform to scripture. We need to evaluate what we hear in light of Christ, in light of the gospel of Jesus we have been taught. That has been passed on to us by people like Paul and his epistles.

We started with the illustration of the Pohutukawa at the northern most point of New Zealand kahika, the survivor. That was rooted firmly on a rock, and grew even in the most adverse of conditions. It’s a great illustration. But I was a bit reluctant to use it as because the plaque said that no one remembered the tree ever flowering. So maybe it is a good illustration of what Paul encourages us of and what he warns us of in this passage, that Christ plus is not a foundation for a fruitful and full life. It is only as we find ourselves rooted and being built up together in Christ, and being strengthened by what you have been taught and overflow with thanksgiving for what God has done for you in Christ you will find that your life blossoms and grows even in those hard places. Its Christ and Christ alone.

Colossians 4:7-18 More than just a roll of credits at the end of the story.

I am continuing to load a backlog of messages. this message was preached in 2023 as the conclusion to a series on the book of Colossians.

 You might think that the passage we had read out to us today is like the credits at the end of a movie. The story has finished and we feel free to get up and walk out on them, they are not really that important, and let’s face it some of them are hard to pronounce... And It’s not like with the Marvel cinematic universe, there isn’t a teaser for the next instalment for those who linger long enough. Why spend a whole sermon looking at this section of the book, this list of names people we hardly hear of. What is just a formality at the end of a brilliant letter?

 We live in a time when journalists more and more use human interest stories as a way of looking at the news, as a lens to explore government policy and the large important stories of the day. How they effect and impact one person, a person like you or I. It makes it personal and accessible for people, apparently it is more effective at getting an audience to react as well, to sway viewers to the viewpoint being presented. This list of people at the end of the letter to the church at Colossae takes the deep and wonderful good news theology that Paul has been talking about and ties it down to it being lived out in the lives of real people, like you and I. NT Wright sums it up at the end of his commentary by saying  “ the gospel is not about abstract ideas but about people; (Te Tangata, Te Tangata Te Tangata, as the Maori proverb goes)  in Jesus the word became flesh; and the God who is the main subject of the gospel is known supremely as the God of Love’.

We have been working our way through Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. Colossae is a city in the Lycos river valley in Asia Minor, modern day turkey. It’s a city he’d never been to or at least we have no record of his visit. He is writing as a prisoner, probably in Ephesus on his way to Rome. He writes to encourage the church to stand strong, and grow to maturity in the faith, warning then against people who would try and tie them down to hollow manmade philosophies, a Christ plus religion. He writes affirming that Jesus life, death and resurrection is sufficient for our salvation, our fullness of life and our future hope. That our old selves have been crucified and buried with Christ and we are raised to life as part of God’s new creation, and we should live that out in the way we show love to one another, across the social and cultural barriers of the world, that in Christ we are primarily brothers and sisters. The key way we relate to each other is with Christ like service and care. The series is called Colossians; Christ and Christ Alone. 

The passage we are looking at today is really split into four sections. V.7-9 deal with the messengers who are delivering the letter. V10-14 are greetings from Paul’s companions, v.15 is greetings that Paul is asking the church to give and v.16-18 are some final instructions and a blessing. So lets work through the text then look at what it says to us today.

Firstly the messengers.

Tychicus, is listed first and  in Acts we learn that Tychicus was a convert in Ephesus who travelled with Paul to Macedonia and beyond and also with Paul on his fateful trip to Jerusalem. He is mentioned in Ephesians 6:21-22 as the person who delivered that letter to the church. In 2^nd Timothy and Titus Paul instructs his recipients to send Tychicus to Ephesus. He is obviously one of Pauls key leaders. He is described here as a dear brother, a faithful minister and a fellow servant. Paul shows his great love for Tychicus and also that he values him as a co-worker in the gospel. The use of fellow servant or slave reminds his readers after Paul had spoken of slaves and masters that Christian leaders are themselves simply servants. But in giving Tychicus all these titles Paul is also affirming his authority, as the person who delivered the letter was seen as the embodiment of the writer. He would answer the questions and expand on what was said.

The other messenger is Onesimus, who Paul says is one of you, he is from Colossae. We know that Onesimius was a slave in the household of Philemon at Colossae and had run away only to be converted to Christ by Paul. His forgiveness and ability to be involved in Paul’s ministry is the subject matter of the letter to Philemon. We don’t at what stage we are at when this letter is sent. However Paul emphasises the equality of people in Christ here by refereeing to Onisemius as my dear brother, not focusing on the servant part.  Oniseimus’ presence adds a real life edge to Paul’s teaching about new life in Christ and how we should treat fellow Christians with forgiveness and the attributes of love. That is not just virtue signalling but new creation living amidst the messiness of life.

Not only will these people bring the letter, but also tell the church about what is happening with Paul and Timothy. Our in this section reminds us that this letter is from both of these men. It says something about them that they are more concerned with building the church up that letting them know about their own condition and troubles.

In verse 10 Paul moves to bring greetings from six of his companions. Three fellow Jews and then three gentile co-workers.

Aristarchus, who Paul says is a fellow prisoner, we find accompanying Paul in Acts from his time in Thessalonica, in Acts 19:29 we see he was also arrested during the riots in Ephesus and he was with Paul in Jerusalem and all the way to Rome, he I also mentioned in the letter to Philemon. Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. In Acts we learn that Mark’s mother hosted church meetings in Jerusalem. Barnabas wanted to take mark on Paul’s second missionary trip, however Paul was not willing to after he had deserted them on their first trip. This caused the rift between Barnabas and Paul, with Paul taking Silas with him and Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus. Paul often uses the word faithful when affirming his colleagues and we can see that is something he values. The fact that mark is mentioned here shows that this rift has been healed, again a working out of new creation living in the real lives of people. In other letters Paul will ask mark to be sent to him as he is useful. Mark is also mentioned in 1 Peter as being with Peter in Rome and is traditional seen as the writer of the gospel that bears his name. One often seen as written for a roman audience and with peter as a primary source. Jesus known as Justus, is only mentioned here and we have no knowledge beyond this one mention. He Is like many Jews he has a Hebrew name Jeshua or Jesus and a greek or roman name Justus. Like Saul and Paul, possibly being known as Justus also meant that he wasn’t always known as … no not that Jesus the other one.

These are the only three Jewish coworkers for the Kingdom that Paul has for comfort. Paul’s mission and message of gentile inclusion into the kingdom of God was not universally accepted and here we catch something of Paul pain at the rejection of his message by many of his fellow Jews.

Then we have three gentile companions named.

Epaphras, is acknowledged as he is the person who had bought the gospel to Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis, the three cities in the Lycos valley. Paul affirms his continued concern and hard work on their behalf. His Prayer for them to stand firm and grow into maturity which echoes Paul’s own. Luke, the beloved physician, this is only time in the New Testament epistles that Luke is named, and it is how we know he is a doctor. He is attributed with writing the gospel and the book of Acts, in the ‘we’ passages of Acts there is evidence that Luke is present with Paul, in his journeys, in Jerusalem and in Rome. Demas is the last of Pauls co-workers mentioned, he is also mentioned as a co-worker in the letter to Philemon, then sadly in the later letter of 2 Timothy he is sad to have deserted Paul and gone to Thessalonica, because he loved the world so much.

It is important to see that Paul’s choice of co-workers and companions actually shows his commitment to a cross ethnic church, a place where in Christ there is no Jew or gentile, Greek or barbarian, free or slave, but Christ is all and Christ is in All.

In verse 15 we have Paul asking that greeting be given. First to the brothers and sister in Laodicea, an encouragement that as the church we may be in our isolated communities but we are called to be connected and caring for our fellow Christians around us. Finally to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. Here again we have a silent witness to women in leadership in the New Testament church. Nympha was either a widow or head of the household that hosted a church and or its leader. Just like when Paul writes to Philemon he greets the church that meets in Philemon’s home.

Then in v 16-18 we have Paul’s final instructions. The first is that Laodicea and Colossae swap letters once they have read them. It is early evidence that Paul believed what he wrote was significant and important for all believers and while each letter was occasional to a specific time and place, that the issues each church faced were similar enough for his message to be relevant. What we are doing now by reading Paul’s epistles and working through what they mean and how they are relevant connects us to this early church and Paul’s direct instructions to them. It may just be harder for us to work through how they apply as it is more distant in time and space, not just across the valley.

The church is told to tell Archippus to complete the ministry he has received from the Lord. Archippus is mentioned in Paul’s letter to Philemon as part of his household and church, there paul calls him a fellow soldier in Christ. We don’t know what his ministry was but it does remind us to encourage people in ministry to keep on going and to acknowledge that people are called by God. We in ministry and leadership need that encouragement to persevere and complete what we have been called to do.

Paul then signs off in person. Remember that most of Paul’s letters would have been written by a scribe, but it would have come from Paul and Timothy and here as a mark of authenticity and authority Paul writes in his own hand. He asks the church to remember him in Prayer and his captivity. An encouragement for us to remember those imprisoned and persecuted Christians around the world. Then finishes with a blessing of grace. Grace be with you. As CK Beale in his commentary says in the end “all Paul has said to the Colossians can only be understood, applied and obeyed in the grace of God.”

I want to finish by making three quick comments as to how this applies to us today.

The first is that these names and the amount of warmth and affection with which each is spoken of, shows us of the need for fellowship. Which is not just a cup of tea and a chat after the service. Hear Paul’s use of the word fellow… fellow servant, fellow minister and fellow prisoner, fellow soldier. We are called to be a committed community who together live out and proclaim the gospel. Who work together for that common goal and common good. In the difficult times, times of hardship and suffering, like Pauls imprisonment, amidst the difficult and potentially destructive pastoral and relational issues which can try and divide us. Onisemius who needed to be reconciled with Philemon, mark and Banabas who had fallen out with Paul but were now reunited, forgiveness and grace in action. I can’t help but think it also means being prepared to experience the hurt that Paul did over Demas deserting him, offering all the warmth of embrace and fellowship.

Secondly it is a fellowship across the social divides of the day. The passage speaks to us about being a genuine multicultural church, which is an outworking of being God’s new creation people in Christ.  Paul not only proclaimed that he lived it out, his close companions and fellow co-workers were a natural outworking and expression of that. The people he greeted showed it, I know it’s sadly still controversial but that include women in positions of leadership as well. In his letter to Philemon, which is so closely associated with the letter to Colossae he greets both Philemon and his wife Apphia, whom Paul calls a fellow sister. I want, I long to be part of a church where cultures are welcomed and valued and their distinctive are included as gift into our lives and worship. I’m still blown away by the glimpse Enosa and felicity gave us to the joy and vibrancy of that when their family came and handed him over to us, they shared their Samoan culture and faith with us. At central when Charlotte asks to do a Waiata (Maori for song)  in the service. When we are greeted in Te Reo or Samoan or Hindi or Afrikaans, where men and women work together, young and old. It is a present day manifestation of that new creation people in Christ.

Thirdly, it’s easy when we read these letters and the scripture to kind of get the idea of Paul as the key figure, the hero of the piece. We live in a time when celebrity is valued and people become important and central when they have more than one platform to speak from, we see them on the platform in church, on one or more streaming platform on line. But here we see Paul’s vision of how the church and mission and the spread of the gospel works. It’s not about one person, apart from Christ. We see this community this team committed to the cause of Christ committed to the spread of the gospel and the growth into maturity of the church. You have a part to play alongside each other. They see themselves as brothers and sisters, co-workers, fellow servants of Christ. They value each other’s support and comfort and are willing to encourage each other to carry on in their ministry. Paul is Timothy’s mentor seeking to empower the next generation, Epharas has been discipled by Paul and has gone and planted three new churches, Mark uses his writing skills, as does Luke, and others simply work in obscurity.  We talked about this list being like a list of credits, behind me is the famous credit slide from Citizen Kane where Orson Wells the director producer lead actor and visionary behind the film shares equal billing with camera man Greg Tolland as a way of acknowledging his wonderful cinematography that made Well’s vision come alive.

Finally in closing, Colossians is this amazing wonderful letter speaking of the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ.  In his life, death and resurrection Jesus has done all that is needed for us to be reconciled with God, for us to know and to live a full and abundant new creation life. Has done all that we need for a sure and certain hope for eternity. We have died with Christ, we are raised with Christ we will be raised to eternal life in Christ.it might feel like the credits have rolled on Colossians but the story is not over, it’s your story it’s my story it’s our story. We too need to stand firm in the faith we have received in love for all God’s people, and grow to know the will of God and live in a way that pleases God. We to need Paul blessing on the church in Colossae grace be with you, grace be with me grace be with us… as we put our trust in Christ and Christ alone.

Amos 1:1-2 An introduction to Amos his setting, words and what it has to say to us

 This message is available as an audio file  https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/26-1-25-Howard-Carter---The-words-of-Amos--the-Lord-roars-e2tvr82 preached at HopeCentral a site of HopeWhangarei Januray 26th 2025.

I have no experience of Lion’s in the wild. The only time I’ve heard a lion’s roar has been at the Auckland Zoo as the advertised feeding time draws near, and at feeding time at the Paradise valley springs wildlife park just outside of Rotorua. Amos as a shepherd in Tekoa had first hand experience of lions in the wild and would have been aware the ,lion’s roar was sign of impending danger or doom for his flock. But the roar is more than that.

 As I was preparing for this sermon series on Amos, and pondering on the phrase ‘the Lord Roars’ I travelled away from Whangarei and had a providential encounter. No I didn’t encounter a lion in deepest darkest Africa, rather this encounter happened in deepest darkest Waipu. Not on the wide savanna but in a Presbyterian church hall. Not over the carcass of a slain wildebeest but a selection of wood fired pizzas.   I was doing a seminar for the elders at Waipu on communion and afterward as we were having diner, the conversation got round to Lion’s roaring in the wild. AS I said God’s providence. One of the elders was south African and had been a safari guide at a wild life reserve. He spoke of lion’s roaring in the night in terms of a Lion calling it pride back to himself.  Here I am come to me.

The Lord roars and Amos is a book about God’s judgment on sin, but also of hope… the lord roars and calls his people back to himself. This is what God has always done. It is the basis of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A God who is holy and loving.

Leading up to Easter this year we are going to be working our way through the book of Amos. The series is called “the Lord Roars, Let justice flow’. Which I think is wonderful encapsulated in the image we are using for this series.  A lion roaring and crystal clear water coming out of its mouth. The image is a very 21^st century, its computer generated; AI at work. For me it also reflects a connection to the New Testament… Jesus as the lion of Judea and living water flowing forth as the lion speaks.  

The series title The Lord roars let justice flow’ picks up the introduction to the book of Amos we had read to us this morning,  and the most famous  quote from this book “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’, picking up Amos’ major theme that the worship of God should result in justice and righteousness, in how we treat people in society. Particularly the marginalised and poor. The true worship of God says Amos, results in justice and righteousness for all.

This message is an introduction to the series, and we are focusing on the first two verse of the book. These verses do two things. They introduce us to the prophet and the time in which he is speaking. Then in the second verse in poetic form we have the focus of his message. We going to look at those two things, draw some things out for us today and why Amos is important to us in 2025.

Firstly, we are introduced to Amos. All the information we have about Amos the person are in the two passages we had read this morning. We are told that these are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, that he saw concerning Israel. I don’t know about you but this sort of gives Amos a kiwi feel. A farmer from a rural town down south somewhere.. Tekoa…in  Amos 7 we learn that Amos is into mixed economy farming. He has sheep and he also dresses sycamore trees, he is an orchardist. Anyone watching country Calendar these days will recognize that diversification in farming.  We think of a shepherd as a lowly person in society, but the word used of Amos is that he oversees shepherds, he is some one of substance in the  agrobusiness world of his day.

Amos 7 tells us he is not part of the official religious system in The North or even in his home land of Judea. He is not a professional prophet. The king in the north and the temple in Jerusalem would have had people who were official seers, he’s not one of them. Elijah and Elisha were part of a school of prophets. But he’s not. Amos says God called him to come and give a word to the northern kingdom. He follows in the tradition of Moses and David who are called from watching sheep to being about tending to God’s flock.

The book is introduced as the words of Amos yet Amos is one of the books where almost everything except the two readings this morning is prefaced with thus says the Lord. Amos believes he is speaking God’s word.  This is shown to us in the fact that we are also told that these are the words Amos saw. They come from beyond him, he looks and speaks with God given insight into what is going on in Israel. He is not an innovator but applies the Sinai covenant to the present situation. For Christians to be prophetic it’s the same, spirit led, we apply the gospel to the context and situation we find ourselves in.

The phrase ‘Thus says the Lord’ uses the language of a herald sent from a king, when the herald reads the kings message it is as if the King himself is speaking.  When you read Amos its God speaking but its also very much Amos… his rural background comes out. The idea of God as a lion, and the danger to the flock. Images of summer fruit, issues with weighing grain, the term fat cows of bashan, that he uses against the women of Samaria who encourage their husbands corrupt business practices. It’s Amos the farmer.

It speaks into our idea of the inspiration of scripture as we see Amos and his personality and background being part of a message from God. The prophets are not possessed or over taken by God’s spirit, but are sensitive and open to what God is saying and faithful communicate it. We shouldn’t be surprised by that God is able by his Spirit,  to use who we are and what we have experienced in life that shapes and forms us, to share his word into the situations we find ourselves in. I hope this inspires us that God is able to speak into our world and time through ordinary people like Amos, like  you and I who are open to seeing what God wants and then speaking and acting on it.

The second thing from the opening verse is that the writer gives us a context Amos is speaking to. We are told that it is in the reign of Uzziah king of Judea, Uzziah is the name used in 2 chronicles 26 but in 2 kings he has the name Azariah  and Jeroboam son of Joash king of Ephraim or Israel. Jeroboam’s lineage is mentioned as there are two king Jeroboam’s, and this identifies the king as Jeroboam the 2^nd. So Amos is speaking between 790-740bc, a couple of decades before the Assyrian empire will come and destroy Sameria, the capital of the northern kingdom, and take its people into exile.  

We get another more precise indicator of when Amos was ministering with the reference to ‘two years before the earthquake’. We have references to a catastrophic earthquake in Zechariah and archaeologists digging at a place called Hazor have found evidence of such destruction in what they say is about 760bc. This earthquake maybe one of the reasons that Amos’ words were deemed worthy of preserving as Amos in several places talks of the earthshaking. The earthquake was seen as evidence of his word coming true.

But this sets the scene for us as to when Amos is speaking. The northern kingdom, ten tribes of Israel, had separated from Judea and Dan after Solomon’s son had enforced harsh taxes and labour laws on the people. They form the northern kingdom, also known as Israel and in Amos as Ephraim. They still worship YhWh the God who called them out of Egypt, but it would not do to have people from the north go back to Judea to worship at Jerusalem.  They set up their own shrines at Bethel and Dan. They establish their own priests and worship rituals. These places are often sites where other prophets like Hosea will accuse Israel of being unfaithful to their God, as they combine their worship with the worship of god’s from the nations around them.

By the time Amos is ministering the two nations have been separate for over two hundred years. Jeroboam 2 reign is a time of prosperity and plenty in the north, which they saw as God’s blessing on them but the brief epitaph for Jeroboam 2 in 2 kings 15 says Jeroboam did evil in the sight of the Lord. And as biblical scholar Douglas Stuart says it was a time known for its greed, corruption and apostacy’ where there was a section of the population becoming rich but at the expense of others.  Amos will speak of people coming to worship God at their extravagant festivals full of colour and music and food and song but sitting on the cloaks of the poor taken illegally as collateral  for crippling loans.

Which lead on to the second verse today where the book is described as the Lord Roaring from Zion, and thundering from Jerusalem causing the land to wither and go into draught, even the fertile areas around Mt Camel.  The people of Ephraim thought that their prosperity and national security were signs of God’s blessings, but Amos rather tells them that God’s word is going to be judgment. It is a curse passage. Picking up attack by wild animals and draught, and later earthquake and exile, Amos tells the people at Bethel and in the north that while they have not kept their covenant relationship with God, God will keep his. In Deuteronomy there is a list of blessings for keeping the covenant and a list of curses consequences for not keeping it and God, says Amos, is going to apply that list to Ephraim.

A couple of things. The first is Amos points out that the real dwelling place of God with his people is the temple in Jerusalem, in Zion. This is where God speaks from. It is a condemnation of the northern religious system. While the message from the shrine at Bethel and Dan is God is blessing us, the message from God is not that. Second it tells us Amos’ words are specifically to Israel. Which is surprising as the first oracle of Amos starts with God’s judgment of Israel's neighbours. But the focus will be on what God is saying to the people of Israel.  The people in Ephraim thought they pleased God and earned his favour through their religious enthusiasm, their festivals and elaborate rituals, and sacrifices, like  God was like one of the god’s of their neighbouring lands who could be manipulated and coerced into blessing them. But YhWh, the God of Israel is a Holy God, righteous and just and calls his people to show that in how they live, in the treatment of one another. God has shown his mercy to Israel by delivering them from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the promised land and they were called to be a people that reflected Their God’s great mercy and faithfulness. Looking forward to the New Testament Jesus says  people will know we are his disciples if we love one another. As john will put it ‘ God first loved us and gave his son as a redeeming sacrifice, so let us love one another.

I just want to make a couple of quick points about why Amos is relevant to us today here and in 2025.

Firstly, down through the ages Amos has been used by God to be the conscience of the church. To reawaken people to the connection between faith and a social justice. Maybe the best example of that in recent history is the fact that ‘let Justice flow like a river and righteousness like a never ending stream’ is engraved in granite on the wall of the Civil Right’s memorial in Montgomery Alabama. Where It over looks a fountain where the names of 41 martyrs who were killed in the Civil Right’s movement in the US are also etched.  It is a quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr from his ‘ I have a dream’ speech on the steps of the capital building in Washington DC. But MKL is a biblical preacher and was quoting Amos. Calling America to remember their biblical roots and their own covenant the constitution, and apply it to all people. Again it was the Lord roaring… It speaks to us today as we wrestle with a world more and more divided between the haves and have not’s it speaks to a country like our own struggling with issues of Justice and righteousness around ti tiriti. It challenges our faith and how it calls us to be involved in this world in a Christ honouring way. The Lord Roars let justice flow.

Secondly Amos I believe calls us again to be aware of the holiness of God. It is easy to fall into a gospel which is only about God’s love and to forget God’s holiness. The danger of that is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace. Grace that does not change and keep on bringing transformation within us. That settles for the status quo, and personal comfort,  not the kingdom of God. To a certain extent that focus has come as a reaction to an over emphasis on the holiness of God and his wrath. The old hell fire and brimstone preaching. Which leads either to a moralism trying to earn the favour of an angry God, or walking away from an overbearing God altogether. As we come to Amos we need to realise that God is Holy, righteous and just and God is love, full of mercy and grace. That is at the heart of God’s concern for his people and the poor. We have to hold those things together. If we loose one or the other we loose the profound truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of a righteous Holy God who in justice, comes with mercy and grace to make a way for us out of slavery to sin and death ,to new life in Christ and spirit lead new way to live.  You may hear it a few times in this series, Tim Keller puts it like this.

Only when people see God as absolutely Holy and absolutely loving will the cross of Jesus truly electrify and change them. Jesus was so Holy that he had to die for us; nothing less would satisfy his holy and righteous nature. But he was so loving that he was glad to die for us ; nothing less would satisfy his desire to have us as his people”

It’s then we can look at our sin and our need for repentance and also not be discouraged and think we are outside God’s embrace. We are loved and we are called to be changed by that love to reflect God’s holiness and there are times when we will hear the Lord roar.

We become a little bit like the people in Ephraim in Amos’ day and tried to domesticate the Lord. We need to hear again Amos’ say The lord roars, it is a message of warning it is a message of calling us back to himself. Let me finish with a quote from mr beaver and mr Tumnus the faun in The lion witch and the wardrobe by CS Lewis. When asked by a child called lucy if the Christ figure in the book aslam the lion is safe mr beaver  replies… "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Mr. Tumnus added, "He's wild, you know. Not a tame lion”

Hear the lord Roar, let justice flow.