Sermon Listening 1 Kings 19:9-12
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How quiet do you have to be... to hear the voice of God? Do you even think it’s possible...
would you want to...hear what God has to say to you.

Yet as the quote on our order of service says...
silence before God... is an essential form of worship whether we hear God’s voice or not.

And in my experience... it’s an essential spiritual discipline as well.... Learning to be still...
and listen... instead of bombarding God with words.

Listening is huge... in a relationship.

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In the marriage course Reg and I are leading
at the moment. Five couples from our church...
are learning how to build a marriage...
that lasts a life time...they’re learning how...
to listen to each other.

They’re learning about the filters...and the noise... that keep them from being able to listen to each other... effectively.

They know there’s external noise like traffic... radio television... but they’re also learning about internal noise too...

How internal noise is just as likely to interfere with...
our ability to really hear what people we love...
are trying to tell us.

Internal noise comes from our brains...and gets in the way ... of understanding...

just a word someone says can start us listening to ourselves...
just a words can trigger
Word slide [could come on one at a time]
memories and images from the past... or we can begin to listen through the filter...of our beliefs and assumptions... our feelings... values... attitudes and expectations.

When we don’t learn how to listen well...people wont feel understood by us... just like we feel misunderstood when people don’t listen to us.

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I think it’s the same in our relationship with God isn’t it? We have to learn to listen...

Remember my favourite Christian writer about Jesus’ yoke... meaning the rabbi’s yoke...well that same guy...Rob Bell...who makes the NOOMA series...
We’re showing tonight... he’s been wrestling with the idea of listening for the voice of God...with the same text we had set down for today from first kings... about Elijah’s listening for God’s voice.
So this NOOMA DVD fits right in with our worship today...And some of the questions it raises...
are on your order of service for you to take home.
Play DVD http://nooma.com/ you can find it here


What kind of noise do you have in your life?

If we were to have a time of silent reflection about how long do you think it should be?

Why is silence so hard to deal with?

Do you ever surround yourself with noise intentionally? If so why do you think you do this?

Do you wish God’s voice would be louder in your life?

Does your schedule look like the one of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?

Jesus said, ‘come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest’. How is Jesus going to give you rest if you’re never still?

Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficulties as you have listening in silence to what God might have to say?

Do you avoid silence because you’re afraid of what God might have to say to you?

After we watched we sat in silence and then we sang Be still and know that I am God.

Whose Yoke part II

Pentecost 3 year C 07
Luke 7:36-8:3
Sin isn’t simple is it?

‘When the Pharisee who’d invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he’d know who’s touching him... and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’

In Luke’s version of the anointing of Jesus’ feet…
a Pharisee named Simon invites Jesus over for tea. While all the guests are enjoying their meal…
a woman with a terrible reputation as a sinner suddenly rushes arrives... because she heard Jesus is going to be there.

Holding an expensive jar of perfume, she kneels behind Jesus weeping… her tears falling all over his feet. She dries his feet with her hair…kisses them and pours the perfume over them.

And Jesus host who’s watching all this… sees it as proof that Jesus couldn’t possibly be a mind reader… or else he’d never have let her touch him.

But Jesus the young rabbi certainly seems to be able to read Simon’s mind… and decides to teach him a lesson with a story.

Simon...Jesus says..."Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One of them owed him five hundred denarii, and the other only fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both men. Now Simon which of them will love him more?"

And Simon replied,

"I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." ..."You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Then to underscore his point Jesus does this incredible thing...he insults his host... You didn’t bother to give me any water for my feet, you didn’t give me a kiss or anoint me with oil... but she did. And in my rabbinical opinion...Jesus says... her many sins have been forgiven—because she loved a lot.

And then Jesus the rabbi at a dinner party...
does another astounding thing... usually reserved for priests in the Temple... he announces to the woman

"Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you;
go in peace."

This is too much for the other guests...who are muttering to each other, "Who is this...
who even forgives sins?" [pause]

What does this story teach us about Jesus’ understanding of God and sin and forgiveness?
How does it give us more insight into what it means to be under rabbi Jesus’ yoke?

We learned last week that rabbi’s were always debating the meaning of scripture...and we learned that a rabbi’s interpretation of scripture...his list of does and don’ts...what was allowed and what was forbidden...his list was called the rabbi’s yoke...
and his students were under his yoke.

And we learned that as Christian’s...as followers of Jesus... we are under his yoke...

Well sin... was one of the things the rabbi’s loved to argue about. One perspective...one school of thought...one yoke... was based on the ancient priestly Temple cult.

Those who favoured this perspective...
argued the problem with sin…was that it cut people off from God… until they put things right. Sinners couldn’t even get close to the holy of holies until they paid for the wrong they’d done.

And under this yoke…people could only put things right… one sin at a time. Under this ancient priestly system… each time anyone broke one of the rules of the Law… an appropriate sacrifice had to be made through the priests in the Temple. They talk about paying a ransom or cancelling a debt. Wiping the slate clean.

Under this system worshippers identified with the animal as their substitute. And once the appropriate sacrifice was made… then officially… their relationship with God was restored…
until the next time they sinned.

You see under this system the animal's blood only provided… a temporary solution. [pause]

A different understanding of sin… had been taught by the great prophets… who rejected the sacrificial Temple system as corrupt: The prophets declared that no one could put things right with God… unless they actually showed a change of heart…
by putting things right with other people…

So the prophets taught repentance instead of sacrifice. Israel and its people could only ‘put things right’ with God…by restoring what was wrong, by turning over a new leaf, by living a new life. Just listen to the words of Ezekiel the prophet
‘when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they’ve committed and does what is just and right, they shall save their life.’

And there was another school of thought on sin and forgiveness…that could be heard through the prophets… Anyone who bound themselves to the name of the Lord…anyone… even foreigners…even pagans…even gentiles…even prostitutes and eunuchs.

...who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-
these I will bring to my holy mountain...
Isa. 66:20
by the act of faith in God…even the outsiders and the misfits and the unclean are forgiven and restored… receiving through faith the gift of forgiveness…

that can’t be earned. And Jesus said to the woman…
Your sins are forgiven your faith has saved you…
go in peace… Jesus is coming down firmly on the side of grace…his yoke is one of grace… [pause]

And so as we look at the biblical evidence we find Jesus living… in a Jewish culture where people don’t agree on either the problem or the solution…
for sin…

we can see that some steadfastly saw sin

As a legal problem…where guilt requires punishment

Others saw it as a problem of contamination where the stains of shame and disgrace… require exclusion until they have been wiped clean.

Still others saw sin… as a problem of broken relationship… between us and God… and between ourselves and others…a problem which we could fix for ourselves.

From the perspective of Jesus’ host…the woman in the story is legally guilty and ritually unclean. As a punishment … she should surely be cut off…excluded… from touching rabbis and from the worshipping community…
and by implications from God.

And suddenly Jesus announces for all to hear…
that only one thing can sort her out…not law…not sacrifice…the only thing that can solve her problem
the only thing that can save her…
is faith… in his mercy and grace.

Time and time again… this take on sin… is the Jesus message in the gospels. And as people under Jesus yoke…we take on his understanding…What this means in our daily lives is that we define the problem of sin and its solution the way Jesus did. We remember that the only thing that can save us… is faith… in his mercy and grace. And we remember Jesus prayer and his commandment to forgive others as we are forgiven…we remember to be a people of grace…

in a few moments as a forgiven people of grace… we will sit with him… at his table… outside the ritual and cult of the Temple…even beyond the long arm of the law… in grateful thanks for his invitation…
accepting there is nothing we can do to save ourselves… except believe and follow him.

Whose yoke are you under?

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Whose yoke are you under? What on earth is Jesus really talking about… when he says

Word slide
‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light?’
What kind of yoke is Jesus talking about? Now I want you to… just talk to each other… for a moment…
about the kind of yoke… you think Jesus means. [Discussion]

Egg yoke slide
Ok… Who thought it was this kind of yoke? [ask congregation wait for responses after each one]

Milk pail slide
Who thought it might be this kind?

Oxen yoke slide
Or what about this kind of yoke? You know the kind

Two oxen yoked together slide
where two beasts of burden… are yoked together
to pull a very heavy load. Or perhaps a yoke

Slave yoke slide
used as a way to control and punish slaves. [pause]

Would you be surprised if I told you it wasn’t exactly like any of these yokes? And if I told you the secret of what Jesus really meant

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Is actually in our first image… of a young Jewish man wearing a prayer shawl? And there’s another clue in our reading today… did you notice…

The book of Numbers says…And God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them… from now on… they’re to make tassels on the corners of their garments and mark each corner tassel…
with a blue thread.
Slide words
‘When you look at these tassels… you'll remember and keep… all the commandments of God,
and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities.’
The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life …

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Both the tassles... the reminders of God’s commandments ... and the yoke Jesus is talking about ...are on the Tallit – the prayer shawl – you can see the yoke... there across the top of the shawl on the young Jewish man’s head...

Atara slide
in Hebrew its called an Atara – which means yoke or crown . when they pray its on their heads... otherwise its worn across their shoulders.

Wide shot of young man
Today the tallit is an extra garment, worn only during prayer or at holiday worship. But the tallit Jesus wore was an integral outer garment for all Jewish men. [pause]
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So now we know what kind of yoke Jesus as a young rabbi is talking about. But what did he mean when he said ‘my yoke is easy’.

I was amazed to learn that in addition to the yoke on the prayer shawl… there was a broader meaning. You see…every rabbi had list… of how they interpreted the do’s and don’t in the Torah

the list was things a Rabbi forbid or what they’d permit. This list was called… the rabbi’s yoke.

In his excellent book about Christians and the Bible… Rob Bell tells us…in Jesus day when you were a student or disciple of a certain rabbi… you chose to follow him… because you believed his set of interpretations… his list… was the closest…
to what God actually intended in the scriptures.

And listen to this…when you followed that rabbi…
The Jews used to say…you were taking up that Rabbi’s yoke.’ [1]

Isn’t this amazing? Bell goes on to say. And ‘the intent of a rabbi having a yoke…wasn’t just to interpret the words correctly. It was for their followers… to live out their interpretation…
in everyday life.

Rabbis would spend hours discussing and debating with their followers… what it meant to live out a certain text.

And here’s the really incredible thing.

If a student made a suggestion… about what a certain text meant… and the rabbi thought the student had totally missed the point… the rabbi would say.
‘You have abolished the Torah’ ‘you have abolished the Law’… because in the rabbi’s opinion…
the student wasn’t anywhere near what God wanted.

But if the student got it right…
if the rabbi thought they’d really understood…
God’s intention in the text…
the rabbi would say ‘congratulations you have fulfilled Torah’… ‘You have fulfilled the Law’

Remember Jesus saying
Slide words
‘Don’t think that I’ve come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I haven’t come to abolish them… but to fulfil them.’

I now understand that Jesus was saying ‘I didn’t come to do away with the words of God; I came to show people what it looks like…
when the Law is lived out perfectly…’

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And when an ordinary every day rabbi…
taught the yoke of a famous rabbi…
Jewish people would say… they were teaching in the name of that Rabbi. In the name of Hillel or Gamiliel…or Shamai

Rob Bell goes on to tell us that ‘once in a while a rabbi would come along… who was teaching a new yoke…
a new way… of interpreting the Torah…the Law…
teaching a way he believed… was closer… to what God intended… than the rabbis who came before him.’

Of course this was rare and extraordinary…
and attracted a huge amount of flack… unless two other teachers with authority… gave the new rabbi their stamp of approval. That’s why to the gospels Jewish readers…Jesus baptism by John was so important…not to mention the voice that came from Heaven. [pause]

Shmikah slide
The Hebrew word for authority is shmikah…and a rabbi with shmikah… would say things like… ‘you have heard it said…but I tell you’.

Remember last week how Jesus said this about forgiveness in place of revenge? Jesus had shmikah and what he was saying is… some rabbis interpret scripture this way… but I tell you… this is what God really means …in that verse.

And remember the list I told you each rabbi had… the list of things they’d forbid and permit…


well Rob Bells tells us they had a technical term
for the endless process of debating what was forbidden and what was allowed. They called it binding and loosing. To ‘bind’ something meant to forbid it… To loose something… was to allow it.

Rabbi’s would bind certain practice or traditions and loose others … and here’s the really cool part…
when a rabbi gave his followers the authority to bind and to loose… they called this ‘giving the keys of the kingdom’. Notice where Jesus says in Matthew

Slide words
‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

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I now realise that Jesus is doing here is incredible. Jesus is actually giving his followers the authority to make new interpretations of scripture.

Remember when the early church had all these Gentiles coming in… and huge decisions about circumcision and eating food the Torah considered unclean? How they have to make decisions about what it means to be a Christian. Well… Jesus gives them the authority to wrestle with the Law…
and work out new interpretations of scripture.

So they get together and do this… and work out what it will look like for millions of people to be Christians. [pause…………]

And that’s exactly what we do today… in our General Assembly… in our Presbyteries… in our Session…
and in our house groups. We wrestle with the text… trying to discern what God’s will really is.

We take Jesus seriously and we live out the authority and responsibility Jesus gives us… to bind and to loose… we see our faith community… taking part in a huge discussion… that’s been going on for thousands of years in the tradition of the rabbis.

And for most of church history…
people only ever heard the Bible read out loud…
in a room full of people. They studied and debated and made decisions about the Bible as a community. And if one person went off
the deep end with an interpretation…
others were there to keep them in check.

That’s one reason… our leadership so keen to get people into study groups. Rob Bell tells us…in Jesus’ time it was assumed you had as much to learn from the discussion of the text… as you did from the text itself.

That’s why tonight we have ‘What’s the Word’
that’s exactly what we do at What’s the Word – people who are hungry to know God… and passionate about being true to the words of God… wrestle with the words together. [pause]

even the different translations we use are themselves interpretations…
they don’t necessarily use the same English words in translating the Hebrew or the Greek. And Rob Bell reminds us ‘the assumption there is a way to read the Bible that is free of interpretation…to read it…
for just what it says… this assumption is simply not true. Any Bible is an interpretation of what the original languages meant. That’s the truth!

And Jesus promised… the truth would set us free didn’t he. That’s why the early church in interpreting the scriptures would say ‘it seems right to the Holy Spirit and to us.’

Scripture has always been interpreted... and Jesus knew that. He also knew... the religious leaders of his time... had laid a very heavy yoke indeed... upon the Hebrew people... with their interpretations....

And we know that too...and that’s why a woman is up here teaching today and why our men are free not to wear prayer shawls or why our women are free not to cover their heads in church. Why Sunday is our holy day... our Sabbath... instead of Saturday.

Because... we’ve taken on the yoke of Jesus. We’ve accepted the keys to the kingdom he offers... and the authority to bind and to loose. But we can only do this if we believe the Bible is alive... and as true for us today... as it was for those who wrote it...and if believe...just as Jesus promised that more will be revealed. To read more about Rob Bell and his church look for http://www.marshill.org/.



[1] Velvet Elvis p 93.

Pentecost 1 year C 07 Sermon Godzone Religion

Can you believe how Christian’s have been right up there in the news this week?

First we saw a grieving Christian boy… singing God songs on the TV news…singing for his mother…
who died… after the power was cut off… to her oxygen machine.

And then a Destiny Church protest…
outside an interfaith conference… hit the headlines…
and we heard Brian Tamaki demanding … Christianity should be New Zealand’s official religion.

In relation to poor Mrs Muliaga’s ... I’d be surprised... if anyone here today... thinks it was Ok for her electricity to be cut off- no matter what facts may emerge...in the weeks to come. I guess we’d be together on that one.

But I’d be astounded... if we all agree with Brian Tamaki when he said... and I quote: ‘it’s time to cement New Zealand's Christian identity...
in such a way that it can’t be tampered with
by future Governments’.

I don’t know about you... but the idea of Christianity as our officially recognised state religion... got me asking some questions. [pause]

Like for example...‘if future governments aren’t able to tamper with our Christian identity – could future Christians make any changes?’

And I’m also wondering...who’d get to decide what our Christian identity actually looks like?
And what it means.

And then I started speculating and dreaming...
if Christianity were our official religion...
would everyone in the land of the long white cloud... be expected to live the way Jesus taught us to live?

I mean... it is Jesus...isn’t it...and his life and teaching... and his interpretation of scripture...
and his revelation of God...it is Jesus who gives us our Christian identity... isn’t it? [pause]

So if our way of life were based on Jesus’ teachings and actions...would businesses like Mercury Energy... be required to show mercy to the poor and the sick...
Would those who now mourn be comforted.

Would we all have to commit...to being... peacemakers... in our families...our schools...at work and in the church?
Would our leaders be poor in spirit... would we always showing humility... in public and in private.

Would people involved in every enterprise...
be motivated by pure hearts... rather than by profit?

If Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount were
the benchmark for our culture...
that’s how it’d be wouldn’t it?

And while we’re at our dreaming... wouldn’t our understanding of God’s justice and judgment... be shaped by grace and forgiveness after Jesus outright rejection of Moses’ teaching… which reads:

‘You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.’

And since Jesus rejected the Deuteronomy definition of justice that says for every wrong committed...there has to be an equal punishment and since teaches instead…from the book of Leviticus

'Don’t seek revenge or bear a grudge, but love your neighbor as yourself.’

And since…in the very same Sermon on the Mount… Jesus builds forgiveness and grace into the very fabric of our prayers…
‘forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.’

If Christianity were official...then our understanding of the limits of forgiveness... would be the limits set by Jesus... wouldn’t they. [pause] When even at the point of death... Jesus cries out:

‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’

Jesus didn’t get angry on the cross, he didn’t call down curses or lightening bolts on his enemies... he didn’t retaliate... that wasn’t his way... his truth...
nor his life. His way was to defeat evil with love.
Jesus died to defeat evil with love.

But then maybe that’s why Christianity has never been official [pause]

O but make no mistake...Jesus did judge...he judged the keepers of the sacred texts whose interpretation of those texts was a heavy yoke indeed. He judged those who tried to keep people out...the gentiles and the unclean and the tax collectors...rather than include them in the family of God...
I could go on and on...[pause]

I’ve said before, it’s dangerous to use the word Christian...as an adjective... to describe something... like Christian music... or a Christian book...or a Christian nation...

One of my favourite church leaders... Rob Bell ... reminds us... the word Christian...is a noun...

a word that names us...has named us for 2000 thousand years. A Christian is a person...a person who’s chosen to follow the way of Jesus. A person who takes seriously how Jesus prayed to his father and takes seriously Jesus promise not to leave us alone...and his warning...that yet more would always be revealed. His caution that we don’t have all the answers already.’

Remember our reading today...

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.’

My prayer is that we’re still open to the guidance of the Spirit... as we learn more about the complexity and vastness of God’s creation...

So how are we to live?
Well all the official pronouncements ... in the world will make no difference at all to New Zealand...if we don’t live out what we say we believe...what we say we have faith in.

Faith that God has come among us in Jesus Christ and shown us how to live. Faith that God hasn’t left us alone. Faith that the same Spirit promised by Jesus is still with us today guiding us, showing us...how to live in God’s own country today.

That in a nutshell is the doctrine of the Trinity...we celebrate today.

Yes we do have a rich Christian heritage in New Zealand but the future will depend on how we live the faith we proclaim.

So I ask you to each listen for a few minutes for what the Spirit may be saying to you right now as you face the week ahead... about how you might better live the faith you profess.