Salem Baptist Church

So I hope you had a good Christmas ...

We did pretty well, Linda got me the best present ever this year ... a broken drum ... as a present I don't think it can be beaten :-)

I got her a wooden leg ... although that wasn't her main present ... it was just a stocking filler :-)

Christmas Cracker jokes ... you've got to love them ...

I think the best joke I've heard this Christmas was about the English cat 1 2 3 and the French cat ... une deux trois who had a race to swim over the English Channel ... obviously the English 1 2 3 cat won because the une deux trois cat sank ...

One more ... what did Cinderella say when the chemist lost her photographs ...

One day my prints will come :-)

So, why the jokes?

Well I think I may have said this before ... but I was really taken by something I once heard a comedian say on the radio ... that a joke is simply the sudden revelation of a previously concealed fact ...

A joke is the sudden revelation of a previously concealed fact ... although I'm not sure that can be a complete definition of a joke as I would want to include something about it being funny ... But as I was thinking about this definition of a joke it got me thinking about Easter and the sudden revelation of the previously concealed fact that the apparent defeat of Good Friday was actually victory over sin and death ....

And as I thought about this I felt quite pleased when I discovered that in the Greek Orthodox tradition, the day after Easter is devoted to telling jokes ... They feel they are imitating the cosmic joke that God pulled on Satan in the Resurrection. Satan thought he had won, and was smug in his victory, smiling to himself, having the last word. So he thought. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, and life and salvation became the last words ... So I might tell some more jokes at Easter ... but today isn't Easter, it's the first Sunday in Epiphany ...

You see ... the Feast of Christmas is supposed to last much longer than December the 25th ... there are supposed to be 12 days of Christmas ending on the 6th January with Epiphany ... the climax of the Advent/Christmas season ....

Some parts of the world hold off all their present giving and their biggest celebrations for the Feast of Epiphany ... and yet for most of us, Friday passed by as just another working day ...

So what's Epiphany all about? What are we missing?

Well Epiphany ... from the Greek ephiphaneia ... means appearing or revealing ...

And so, we could perhaps say that Epiphany focusses our minds on the sudden self-revelation of God in Christ at Christmas ...

If Christmas is a time for us to consider the humanity of Jesus ... then perhaps Epiphany is a time for us to reflect on the divinity of Jesus ... on the fact that God has chosen to reveal himself ... the divine reveals Himself ... in the person of Jesus of Nazareth ... who is the Christ ... God himself who has come to save the world ...

And so some Christian traditions use Epiphany to focus on the Baptism of Jesus .... where Jesus is Baptised by John the Baptist and the heavens open and in this wonderful Trinitarian scene we have Jesus the Son being Baptised ... the Spirit descending as a dove and the Father's voice from Heaven declaring 'this is my Son in whom I am well pleased' ... Epiphany ... the revelation of the Divine in Jesus ...

Other Christian traditions use Epiphany to focus on the visit by the Wise Men ...

Now if you were here on Christmas morning, you will remember that we noted, the real danger that we allow the cultural myth of the story of Christmas, to become confused with the Biblical account of Christmas ... so for example, even though there were 3 wise men in my son's nativity play ... doesn't mean that I should accept Benjamin's nativity as Scripture ....

For example, how many wise men were there? We want to say three ... but see the Bible doesn't actually mention 3 wise men ... it mentions three gifts ... but some think that up to a dozen wise men ... not kings notice ... made the trip ... and the fact that Herod, in his desire to get rid of Jesus killed boys two and under would suggest that despite most nativities and Christmas card scenes of the crib ... the wise men didn't actually arrive until some time after the birth of Jesus ... which is why the more liturgically sensitive amongst us place the wise men some distance away from the crib scene and move them gradually closer until they arrive at Epiphany ...

But, although we don't know exactly who the wise men where, or how many there were ... doesn't away the symbolism that here in the visit of the Magi we have the revelation of God in Christ to Gentile nations ...

In the Baptism of Christ ... in the visit of the Magi ... God publish and visibly reveals Himself in Jesus ...

In Jesus ... God visibly and publicly reveals Himself to the world ... to the Nations ... friends ...

this

is

huge

....

But I think that the self-revelation of God in Christ has become so familiar to us that it has lost some of its 'wow' factor ... God has revealed Himself ... said what and who He is ...

to try and help us get our heads around how big this is I'd like to show you a short video that we watched at 4:12 last term as part of our Christianity Explored course ...

Christianity Explored: Soul Episode 1 from Christianity Explored on Vimeo. (start about 7minutes and 16 seconds into this video)

We can't ever know what God is like by simply racking our brains ...

No matter how clever ... we cannot know God by philosophically pontificating ... but, and here's the kicker ... we don't need to ... because God has revealed Himself in Jesus ... we can know God because of Jesus ... [fireworks!!]

And, not only can we know God ... we can know His purpose ... His will ...

2 Timothy 1:10 which was read to us a few moments ago gets to the nub of this:

'It has been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.'

God has been revealed yes ... but more than this ... IT has now been revealed ... where for Paul the IT is ... God's Grace given before time began ...

God has saved us and called to a Holy life ... v9 of 2 Tim chapter 1 ... not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and Grace ... given before time began ... now revealed in Jesus ... the purpose of the universe is to reveal God's Grace ... the sudden revelation of a previously concealed fact?

At this time of Epiphany ... I guess there are two things I want us to grasp ... to land heavily on us ... the first is that in Jesus we see the divine ... in Jesus we see the self-revelation of God ... but not only that ... in Jesus, God reveals His purpose ... His plan to reveal the Grace of God ... to save us and call us to a Holy Life ...

In Jesus God reveals not only Himself, but also His glorious Gospel!!

Although, I guess that we could say that in revealing His Grace in His Gospel God is simply revealing more of His gracious character ...

So at the start of this New Year, at this time of Epiphany, I thought it would be good to remind ourselves of the basics of the Gospel ... to outline the Gospel ultimately revealed in Jesus ... that:

God ... Father, Son and Holy Spirit .. Three-in-one present at the Baptism of Jesus ... is complete and Holy within Himself ... full of Glory and Grace ... our Holy God creates Heaven and Earth ... not because there is anything lacking in Himself ... but because He wants to display ... share ... spread ... reveal ... the Glory and Grace that is within Himself ... and He invited us to share in His Glory ...

The problem is though ... that we choose not to ... we choose to be God of our own lives ... turn our back on Him and make other things than God into ultimate things. The Bible calls this rebellion against God Sin ...

And sin is not without consequences ... there is a penalty to be paid for our sin ... the Bible tells us that the wages of sin ... the payment for sin ... is death ... for God to be true to Himself ... to be truly just ... God's justice demands that sin be punished, and the only payment is eternal spiritual death ... that's the bad news ....

But, the good news ... the start of the Gospel news is that God became human ... Remember the very nature of God is full of Grace ... Grace given in us Christ Jesus before time began ... and so because of His Grace ... Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

 but made himself nothing

  taking the very nature of a servant,

  being made in human likeness.

 And being found in appearance as a man,

  he humbled Himself

  and became obedient to death -

    even death on a cross!

So Jesus pays the penalty for Sin on the cross ... destroys death and brings life and immortality to light through His gospel.

Praise God!

Now it may just be me ... but I think that it is all too easy in the busy-ness of life ... even in the busy-ness of Ministry and Church life ... to lose the wonder and worship of this ... to become too familiar with this awesome Gospel news ... that ... [and I love the way Tim Keller puts it] that through the Gospel ...

'we see that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope -- at the very same time'

And I really want to land on that this morning.

My wife once told me about a friend who she shared a house with ... who would regularly fix her in the eye and say ... Linda ... 'Jesus loves you sooo much!'

Which is of course true ... but Linda says ... and I have her permission to share this story .. that she didn't really know how to respond ...

And I guess my fear that this is how you respond to my words this morning ...

my Christian friend you are more wicked than you ever dare believe, but you are more loved and more accepted in Christ that you ever dare hope ... does that fill you with awe ... with wonder .. does it lead you to worship?

As I prepared for this morning I've been reflecting on whether I've become too familiar with the Gospel ... whether the novelty of my salvation has begun to wear off ... whether I am taking God's grace for granted ... playing fast and loose with my salvation ... and beginning to look somewhere other than Jesus for my sense of identity of self-worth ... whether I'm trying to justify myself by means other than faith in Christ ...

I wonder whether you have too ...

At the beginning of the New Year ... at this time of stock taking and resolutions ... I wonder whether the words

'you are more loved and accepted in Christ than you ever dared hope'

have lost the power they once had over you ...

And so my friend, let me remind you that the only place .. the only place that we will find freedom from the guilt that so many of us carry is in the Gospel.

The only place ... the only place that we will win the battle with this sense of doubt in our self so many of us have, this sense of doubt in our abilities, and our worth as individuals is in the Gospel revealed in Jesus.

The only place ... the only place that we will escape the fear of sickness and disease and growing old and death ... is in God's Gospel revealed in Jesus Christ.

The only place ... the only place that we can be reconciled with our creator and receive eternal life ... which begins now ... is in God's Gospel revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ ...

This is the truth ... we know it ... and we nod on a Sunday morning ... and yet it is so easy in the heat of the battle on a Monday morning to forget this truth ... and so we need to remind ourselves and remind one another constantly of the truth of the Gospel that 'Jesus loves you sooo much!' ...

We need to keep that sense of awe and wonder that God chose me ...

... even though I am more wicked than I ever dare believe -- I am more loved and more accepted in Christ than I ever dare hope

... to paraphrase Paul in 2 Timothy ...

'we need to be not ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of one another. But to join together in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life.'

Not only have we been saved ... but we are called to live a holy life ... and to proclaim His Gospel ... to share in it .. to reveal it to the world ... to the Nations ... and to one another ...

so this year ...

Salem will you remind one another of the basic truths of the Gospel ...

will you remind me of these basic fundamental truths of the Gospel ...

as I strive to use this pulpit to remind you of the power of the Gospel ...

Salem ... let us have the Gospel be the thing that motivates us and against which we measure ourselves ... Salem will you strive to never lose the wonder and awe of being saved in Christ and called to a holy life ...

Now these are big questions, which demand big answers, so I'm not going to encourage you to say yes now ... but I'd like you to reflect on this and next week ... on the Sunday closest to the foundation date of this Church ... as we gather around the Lord's table there will be an opportunity to covenant together with one another ...

and to say 'yes!' ... yes we will strive together for the sake of the Gospel ... walk together ... watch out for one another ... remind one another of God's love in Christ ...

so that is our response for next week ...

but time is against us now, so let me close this reflection on God's revelation in Christ ... this reflection on the Epiphany ... by inviting you to respond to the awesome truth of the Gospel by talking to the God of the Gospel in prayer ...

let's do that as individuals in a few moments of quiet ...

and then I will lead us in prayer ... before we respond in song ...

[prayer]