Sunday 27 November

This morning we welcome a new member Mrs Anne Aitken to BVP. Then we resume our studies in Matthew 9 considering 'New Wine, New Wine Skins.' Our Order of Service will be:

Introit

Call to Worship:

Hymn 57 The Lord doth reign

Collect

Children’s Address: ‘Van the man…’

Children’s Prayer / Lord’s Prayer

Prayer of Approach

Welcome to Mrs Anne Aitken

Hymn 520 Ye who the Name of Jesus bear

Intimations

Offering / Dedication

Scripture Reading: Matthew 9 v9 – 17 p973

Choir: John Rutter - For the beauty of the earth

Prayer of Intercession

Hymn 483 Father of heaven whose love profound

Sermon:  ‘New Wine New Wineskins’

Hymn 465 be Thou my vision

Benediction / Sung Amen

Sunday 20 November

Our apologies for not keeping the blog up to date during the last fortnight; we were without broadband for a few days.
The minster will be conducting worship in Brora Free Church this weekend so worship in BVP will be led by Derek Robertson.
We will be joining our neighbours in Partick South for the annual Wheel Trust service at 7.00pm.


On Sunday 6 November our studies in Matthew took us to the call of Matthew in Chapter 9:


'Mercy not Sacrifice' 

Matthew has been painting the most beautiful portrait of Jesus for us. Jesus is the master teacher. In the Sermon on the Mount He gives the most wonderful exposition of goodness the world has ever known. Then Matthew introduces the Jesus the healer; there is nobody so diseased, crippled or decrepit that Jesus cannot restore them. Then he introduces us to Jesus the sovereign Lord who commands the forces of nature. At His word the tsunami that rocked the Sea of Galilee is quelled, evil retreats in disarray and is destroyed, He even enjoys the divine authority to forgive sin.

Important though the authority of Jesus the most striking and the most important dimension of this wonderful portrait of Christ is His love. In love He dares to touch the unclean putrefying flesh of the leper. There are no boundaries to His love; in love He heals the son of the wealthy aristocratic Gentile centurion; in love he heals Peter’s mother in law. It is this wonderful combination authority and love that makes Jesus so remarkable. He does so without pretence, He said to young man who acme wanting to make Jesus his teacher, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has no place to rest His head.’ Jesus whole life was one of complete service.

Having completed this wonderful portrait of Jesus Matthew now leads on to the next episode in Jesus’ ministry the calling of the disciples. Well he does and he doesn’t. A new section definitely begins with Jesus calling Matthew but certain themes continue.

The portrait of Jesus was completed with Jesus healing the paralysed man by forgiving him his sin and we saw the paralysis was symbolic of the incapacity sin has brought to the soul of man. But this theme continues as Jesus goes to have dinner with Matthew and talks about healthy having no need of a physician; and of course Jesus goes to Matthew’s home and eats with him. Matthew was a tax collector and because he served the Roman’s, overcharged and made money out of Rome’s occupation of Israel he was considered a quisling, a traitor, someone unclean; no self-respecting Jew would associate with. It is as though Matthew having completed the portrait of Jesus in its general form now concentrates Jesus’ eyes to paint in wonderful detail the exact nature of Jesus’s ministry.

Matthew was a tax collector; but not just any tax collector. Matthew had a wee shop and sold licences to others so that they had the authority to collect tax in that area. Imagine that in the Barrows here in Glasgow you could go and buy an official government approved licence for imposing fines on those who parked in the wrong place in Thornwood, Broomhill and Jordanhill and you could add whatever percentage you liked so long as the council received their £30 they would be happy. This would be e licence to print money. The right to sell these licences would have been worth a fortune, the licences would have to be renewed regularly and imagine the bribes that would be on offer. Matthew was the tax collector’s tax collector. Tax collectors were hated and despised, they contributed nothing to the community they just soaked people for all the money they could. It was not only the ordinary people who despised and hated them the religious authorities had no time for them either – tax-collectors were answerable to their Gentile masters and they handled pagan money and that made them ‘unclean’.

In calling Matthew to be His disciple Jesus was calling someone nobody wanted to know. Matthew was a pariah and so he gathered all his fellow pariahs together to meet Jesus.

The miracle is Jesus attended the party. Now for us having food with someone is a pleasant enough affair but in Jesus’ day eating with someone I have lunch with different folk all the time it is a good way of building friendship and getting some work done at the same time. But in Jesus day going to someone’s home and eating with them implied much more than friendship it implied oneness, unity looking out for each other. Just as traditionally a wedding reception is much more than just a party to celebrate a wedding but two families becoming one. In going to Matthew’s home, in allowing Himself be the guest of honour and reclining at Matthew’s Jesus is pledging Himself to Matthew in a very special way.

So Matthew knows this transformation in his life he goes from pariah to being the friend of this teacher par-excellence, this wonderful healer, the master of the wind and the waves, the one who has ultimate authority over evil the one who has the divine authority to forgive.

Fascinatingly the Greek word Matthew uses for his rising from his booth to follow Jesus, is the word he uses later in the Gospel for the resurrection of Jesus. This was Matthew experience of following Jesus, he knew a resurrection. His old life of living for money, the old life bribery and living to make a quick buck, the old life of despising and being despised was left was dead; Matthew now lived to walk with the this wonderful, beautiful Jesus, taught the Old Testament as no one had ever taught the Old Testament before, who touched the leper, reached out in love to the Gentiles, healed Peter’s mother in law, calmed the wind and the waves drove out demons and forgave.

It is wonderful that Matthew threw this banquet for his colleagues so that they too could know Jesus. Matthew had lived in their skin. He knew that making money by exploiting people made you feel dirty, his was a demeaning life. He knew what it was to bear the contemptuous looks of the Pharisees harden your heart and sneer back at them; he wanted his friends to know this resurrection life he now enjoyed. Evangelism is no big deal; it is knowing what it is like to be in someone else’s skin and showing friendship so that they can share the resurrection life you enjoy in Christ Jesus.

But Jesus’ sitting down at Matthew’s table causes an outrage. The teachers of the law who are always watching always looking to find fault are appalled that Jesus should enter the home of a tax collector and what follows leads to one of the great defining moments in the ministry of Jesus. This is one of the passages from the Gospel that we think we understand but is much more profound than we might at first imagine.

The central issue I think here is a question ‘What is the essence of true faith and discipleship that is pleasing to God?’

For the teachers of the law the answer to that question seemed to be that it was a man’s primary duty to offer sacrifice to God: to go up the Temple and offer to God a bull or a goat, if you were wealthy, or a pigeon, if you were poor, to prove your devotion to Him, to express your sorrow for your sin and to find forgiveness. But you cannot come to God and simply do your religious duty and wander off home again; nobody is as foolish to believe that, so the life of offering sacrifice required that a man or woman devote themselves to keeping God’s law, the understanding the commandments and living to honour God, respect the Sabbath and do one duty to ones neighbour.

When we begin to unravel how the teachers of the law thought I am not sure that we would disagree with them would we? What is true Christian faith? Is it not coming to the Lord’s Table to express our trust in Christ and to find the assurance of forgiveness? We know we must not come to the Table in a casual, offhand way we must examine ourselves and come and so we seek to live by the Sermon on the Mount. What is so wrong with that?

The primary fault with such a frame of mind is that you are at the centre. Your devotion to God, your need for forgiveness, your holiness your faith is all about you, you you; me, me me.

Jesus does not dismiss the importance of sacrifice and of devotion to God, what He says is compassion comes before sacrifice. Sacrifice is vital; Jesus gave His life in sacrifice. Matthew could not know his new resurrection life apart from the sacrifice Jesus makes for Him. Sacrifice is vital; but sacrifice without compassion is meaningless.

Jesus goes to Matthew’s home in crossing the door into Matthew’s home Jesus becomes unclean; the filth of Matthew’s life falls upon Jesus. Jesus forgives Matthew, how can He do that? Matthew has no doubt taken bribes; God hates those who can be bought. Matthew has lived well by exploiting the poor and the vulnerable. How can God forgive him?

It is the sacrifice that Jesus made upon the cross that gives Jesus the freedom to enter Matthew’s home for on the cross Jesus became sin, He became filth in order to take filth away. On the cross Jesus died the death of the most vile tax collector in order that God might be justified in forgiving Matthew.

It is the sacrifice of the cross that sets Jesus free to go to Matthew’s home and bring to Matthew and his friends a new resurrection life. What led Jesus to Matthew’s home? Compassion. What led Jesus to forgive Matthew? Compassion. What led Jesus to share a new resurrection life? Compassion. What led Jesus to the sacrifice of the cross? Compassion.

God asks no sacrifice from us. Sacrifice is something Jesus offers for us. The sacrifice of the cross sets us free from guilt and condemnation that we might without fear, in the full joy of absolute forgiveness so that with Jesus we might say to the Father ‘Not my will but Thy will be done’ and pour our lives out in compassion and devotion.

Fascinatingly Jesus here quotes Hosea 6v6 and in quoting Jesus quoting Hosea Matthew renders the Hebrew in Greek; Matthew does his best but Hosea does not actually use the word compassion he uses the Hebrew word ­hesed. Matthew needed such a friend, a friend who went to his home even though he was a pariah. A friend who would give His life in sacrifice that he might know a resurrection from the old to the new. This is the life Jesus calls us to a life of hesed love the love of a friend who is always, always, always there; a friend who is utterly faithful will do whatever is necessary no matter the cost.

So Jesus came in hesed love to heal sinners Matthew. Did that mean the teachers of the law did not need Jesus that through their religion they were OK?

Two years ago I had a secret plan. In nearly thirty years in the ministry I had only missed two Sundays through illness. My friend in Inverness, Anoghas Iain, always boasted that in thirty five years in the ministry he had never missed a Sunday; then he was struck down with a heart attack and was off for six months. I thought to myself I’ll easily beat his record now, the bragging rights will be mine. In my folly I did not realise two malignant tumours were growing inside me that needed major surgery to remove.

The teachers of the law railed at Jesus for going to the home of the sinner Matthew in their folly they had no conception of the malignancy of their own souls.

We all need to put ourselves under the care of the great physician the lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday 6 November 2011

This morning we continue with our studies in Matthew in the morning and in Zechariah in the Evening. 


Last week our studies in Matthew took us to Matthew 9 v1-8 and to Jesus the Complete Saviour:

Matthew is setting before us the most sumptuous, beautiful portrait of Jesus as the complete Saviour. In Matthew 5-7 in the Sermon on the Mount we encounter Jesus the great teacher. In the Old Testament in Leviticus there is the great call to God’s people ‘You shall be holy as I am holy’ in the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus patiently unfolds what true holiness is we begin to see the real beauty of a godly life. But if all Jesus did was teach we would be despair; the problem with the Sermon on the Mount is not understanding what Jesus has to say, but living the Sermon on the Mount consistently. We need wisdom, we need teaching but we need so much more.

So in chapters 8 into 9 Matthew tells us of six miracles Jesus performed that open up the whole world of Jesus tenderness and healing power. Firstly Jesus heals the leper; Jesus is quite prepared to become unclean to heal someone and restore their humanity. Secondly He heals the son of a Roman centurion; race, creed, culture religious background or want of it is no barrier to Jesus; His mercy is for all. Thirdly He heals Peter’s mother in law; there is no one too old, too insignificant for Jesus to help. Fourthly He stands up in the boat and stills the tsunami that threatened to swap the boat he and the disciples were in; Jesus is greater than the chaos, greater than your worst nightmare even in the wildest storm you are safe with Him. Then last week we came to the story of Jesus casting out demons. If all Jesus could do was teach, calm storms and heal old women but was powerless in the face of all the evil that stalks the earth He would be a very nice and worthwhile chap to know but ultimately ineffective and useless. But no at simply a word from Jesus evil departs and is destroyed.

I am old enough to remember the Rolf Harris Show it was the highpoint of Saturday night. The highlight of the show came when Rolf with some pots of Dulux and the kind of paint brush you would use to paint a door would paint a picture. As he ooed and ahhed slowly he put streaks of paint here and there on what looked like an old sheet slowly but surely a picture would emerge and then Rolf would sing a song with the picture illustrating the song. That was class entertainment when I was a kid. This is what Matthew is doing creating a portrait of Jesus; like all good portrait artists he is taking us into the heart and soul of the character of the subject of the portrait till like Rolf we break into song, not singing Tie Me Kangaroo Down Mate but into great hymns and anthems of praise as we find in v8 the crowd filled with awe worship God.

Now in this great portrait of Jesus that Matthew spreads before us the crowning glory is Jesus healing the paralytic, saying to him ‘Take heart son (= Gk teknon the most tender of words a father can use to speak to his son); your sins are forgiven.’

If all Jesus could do was teach, heal old ladies, calm storms and destroy evil then He would be a great guy to know and pretty handy to have around when things got tough but ultimately He would be useless. If somehow or other Jesus is not able to bring forgiveness to my soul and change me then I am lost.

Let us begin with a question. Why did Jesus say to the man ‘Your sins are forgiven’ rather than simply say to him at the beginning ‘Take up your bed and walk’? It would have been much easier, the teachers of the law would not have been outraged, the effect would have been the same, the guy would have been healed and every one would have gone home happy. Or is the guy’s paralysis somehow related to sin.

The answer to that is no and yes.

No the guy did not do something very wicked and so God as a punishment hit him with some awful wasting disease. That is how many think; something bad happens to them and they think it is God punishing them for something they have done. In fact the opposite is true; the Bible is emphatic that ‘God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities’ but rather He sends the sunshine and the rain on men and women everywhere. In fact a more common complaint in the Bible and certainly in the non-believing world is that God is far too kind to the wicked. So, no this guy did not do something wicked and his paralysis was divine punishment.

But then yes his paralysis did come as a result of sin. You see this world; the world we live in is not the world God made. The world God created for His children was ‘good’ a King’s garden a place for god to meet with his children. This world we live in today though is a world of rebellion; a world that has declared itself independent of God, a world that has renounced His sovereignty and so it has become a world of evil, fear chaos, tragedy;  a world of pain, disease and death.

Occasionally we see this larger tragedy played out on a smaller scale. Have you see any of these reality programmes on TV when every a group of children get the wish of every child they are to live in a house without any parents no teachers, no authority figures, the kids are to be in complete control. They think it will be bliss go to bed when you want to, eat when you want to, watch TV whenever you like, play computer games for as long as you want to. Heaven! But of course that does not last long. Soon there is fighting and bullying kids ganging up on one another, the signs of chaos multiply around them, the mess the uneaten food, the lethargy.

On a much larger scale that is our world such are our lives when we rebel against God.

A few years ago a read a biography of Stalin and at one point he deliberately created famine in the rich lands of the Russian steppes to teach the peasants there to work for the state and not themselves. People living on some of the richest farm land in the world were reduced to trying to eat the bark from trees. These poor wretches were not responsible for the famine but were living with the consequences of living a land of revolution.

This was the state of the paralytic. He lives in a world that had rebelled against God and his disease was part of that rebellion.

My problem is that when I read the Sermon on the Mount I understand the rightness of what Jesus is saying but I am paralysed by my arrogance, selfishness and cowardliness. Because I am arrogant selfish and cowardly the good I would do I do not and the evil I would not do that I do.

To heal the paralytic Jesus says to him ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ He is setting this man free from all the consequences of man’s rebellion against God.

The teachers of the law are outraged by this. They say quite rightly that only God has the authority to forgive sin – but Jesus knowing their thoughts challenges then in a quite remarkable way.

The thing is, it is easy to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’, for who knows whether you are telling the truth or not? I could easily get one of these sprinkler things that priests use and walk up and down the aisles of BVP shower you all with holy water and say your sins are forgiven but how would you really know you were forgiven or not?

But it is hard to say to paralytic take up your bed and walk for everyone can see immediately whether or not you have the power to heal or are just another fraudster.

The amazing this is that the man does pick up his bed and walk and so the implication is that he knows forgiveness also.

Ultimately this is why Jesus in His parables places such an emphasis upon living a life of grace. It is one thing for someone to brag they have been born again, they are forgiven, a new man in Christ. Talk is cheap. How do we know that claim is true other than they exhibit a life of mercy and compassion? Central to Jesus whole ministry is the Parable of the unmerciful servant. This man had swindled his master out of a fortune; he owed his master vast suns in excess of the entire national debt of Greece; such sums he could never repay. In an act of pure mercy his master forgives him and sets him free from the debtors’ prison. The servant goes out and stumbles across a neighbour who owes him just a few pounds; he attacks the man and has him thrown into jail. His master hears of it and visits judgement upon him. The only way the world will ever know that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins was for that man to take up his bed and walk. The only way your family, your friends, your colleagues, your neighbours will ever know Jesus has the authority to forgive is through you leading a life of grace and compassion. It is not that God forgives us but because we forgive but having been forgiven we live a life of compassion.

The key to this whole passage of Scripture is the title Jesus takes in this debate with the teachers of the law; He calls Himself the Son of Man.

On one level the title son of man means just that Jesus is just an ordinary human being, He is just one of Jack Thomson’s bairns. But then the title means so much more. The Son of Man in the prophecy of Daniel the title given to a great king to whom God entrusts governance of the whole universe. He is one in whom Yahweh finds no fault but only unending pleasure and delight in His wisdom, love of goodness, compassion, mercy and passion for justice.

In this little story for those who have eyes to see, our King has come. He can not only teach the ways of God’s Kingdom there is nothing can stand in His way as He gradually overcomes the rebellion of our world. He can touch the leper unclean and make him clean. He can reach out to the wealthy centurions who come from a wholly different culture. He can take the despised useless old woman and give her back her life, give her hope. He is greater than our worst nightmare. He has the authority to drive out evil. He can forgive and heal so that the rebels can be brought back into God’s family.

The consequence of all this worship: the people see in Jesus the king their weary souls have longed for and they in awe and delight worship Him. We had two ladies in my last charge one sued to say to me I come to church so that I can go home thinking ‘What have I got to do now?’ Another lady used to say to me ‘I love coming here because I go home feeling so unworthy.’ Both were wrong, wrong, wrong. You come to church to behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus and to go home rejoicing, rejoicing in his forgiveness to live in the joy and delight of His goodness.