Snapshots of the kingdom Matthew 13 and 14

There have been numerous world events that have been captured for all to see...

• The moon landing
• Live AID
• The fall of the Berlin Wall
• Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom
• Brant Webb and Todd Russell's amazing escape from a mine in Beaconsfield
• September 11

All these and more, have been recorded and documented. But what about God's kingdom - can you film it? Beam it across the globe? Tune into it? Snap and upload it to the web? What does God's kingdom look like?

Jesus' parables in this section of Matthew are snapshots of God's kingdom...

• It looks small but is growing like a mustard seed into a tree Mt 13:31 or like yeast working its way through dough Mt 13:33
• God's kingdom is the most valuable thing of all. Like a man who sold all that he had to buy a great field Mt 13:44 or the merchant who sold all for that one precious pearl Mt 13:45
  

So what will our response be to God's kingdom? Will we...

• Allow the devil to snatch away the good news of the kingdom Mt 13:1
• Will we turn away because of Jesus Mt 13:21
• Will we get carried away by how good things are Mt 13:22
• Or, will we hear the word take it to heart and go produce a crop Mt 13:23

If we have ears to hear then we will hear, go, and produce a good crop.

It was 20 years ago today...

Last Sunday our Church celebrated 20 years of...

...and that's the thing. What were we celebrating?

Our achievements
Our survival through ups and downs
Our programs
Our religiousity
Our plans and wishes and intentions
or
God's work through us?

It was great to see so many people gathered there - all squashed in under one hot sweaty roof.
It was great to see old faces and discover where they are at.
It was great to see that we didn't sweep the past under the rug. There were no revisionists on stage.
It was great to see so many who helped setup and serve.
It was great to see people who are still following Jesus after all these years.

And it is this that sticks in my mind. It is this we celebrated - God's work through us - then and now. God leads and many follow. Many from our Church.

For this we are truly grateful and humbled.

So will we see another 20 years? That's not the point. Sunday was about coming thus far. Today is another matter altogether. But God is at work; that's what we ought to be looking forward and celebrating.

Where do you go to find real life? The life that truly satisfies?

Will I find it on TV...10 years youngers in 10 days?
Will I find at Borders...The Secret?
Will I find it on a billboard...Do you want longer lasting SEX?
Have you found it in Rudd money? Has the stimulus package brought you satisfaction?

Where do you go to find the real life?

Can the woman at the well find this life? She's had five husbands and she's currently shacked up with another bloke. I guess you could say she's walked off the set of Desperate Housewives. She's also at the well in the middle of the day in the heat of the day. The other women have come and gone...so too are their stares their goss their rolls of the eyes their self righteous tutt tutts.

So what does this woman need? Mr Right? Thankfully she finds him and she will never be the same again...

John 4:7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water JEsus said to her "Will you give me a drink?"

Everyone avoids but Jesus engages her. Even though he knows her background. Even though he knows that her current sleeping arrangements aren't kosher. All others dismiss her but he draws her near. This is new or something she hasn't felt for a long time. But it gets better because once you're close to Jesus he offers you something...

John 4:13, 14 Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

Coke is refreshing but only for a time. You finish one can and you need another. But Jesus declares that if you come to him you'll never thirst.

So rather than thinking where can I go to find satisfaction Jesus says that its a matter of who. He himself is the source of this new life. But it doesn't end there. Jesus offers her a relationship with God...

John 4:21 A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth

Jesus declares that faith is not locked into a location. It is no longer about times and places but infuses all times and space. Jesus offers this woman not a religion but a relationship with the living God.

And so coupled with living water does this woman keep this all to herself "My faith is private...just between me and God..."? No she rushes back into town to tell others about who she has found...

John 4:28, 29 Then leaving her water jar the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

Remarkably the very people she avoided by coming to the well at midday she now engages. She's living like Jesus already!

One minute she trudged to the well in search of water...the next she's run home with living water. One minute she was locked into religion and the next she has a relationship with God. One minute her relationships were fleeting but now they are permanent. This is a new woman.

How did this happen? Not how but who. It is because of who Jesus is that he can give real life...

John 4:10 If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water

Jesus was ready and waiting to give this woman satisfaction. She came to know who he is and he gave her living water. It is because of who Jesus is that she will never be the same again.

So where do you go to find real life? Find satisfaction? Come to Jesus and you will never thirst. He is ready to give you new life. Jesus says "Come to me...and drink up..."

Faith alone John 8

The Castle. One of the great Australian movies about the Kerrigan family. They stick together through tough times - a son gone to gaol; a government that couldn't care less; a corporation hellbent on repossessing their home. The Kerrigans celebrate the banal "What do you call this love?" "Rissoles..." "Why go out when you can get this good tucker every night!" They enjoy the serenity of Boony Doon. They celebrate the wonder of a daughter graduating from Sunshine TAFE. This is what it looks like to be part of the Kerrigans. This is what it means to belong to their family.

What does it mean to belong to God's family? What does that look like? Well Jesus and the Jews have differing views...

John 8:39 "Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did."

The Jews believe that to become part of God's family is merely resting on their ancestral pedigree. But Jesus says that it's not a matter of being in Abraham's family tree they need to be like Abraham himself. You need to do the things that he did.

So what did he do? Firstly he was obedient and not independent...

Genesis 22:1, 2 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love...sacrifice him there as a burnt offering..."

Abraham declares "Here I am". A great expression of obedience - "Here I am, where do you want me to go? What is it that you want me to say? Here I am..." God speaks and Abraham obeys.

And Jesus says that obedience is proof of being part of God's family...

John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

Jesus calls on us to hear what he says and put it into practice. This is the mark of a true disciple. This is what it means to belong to God's family. Obedience is what Abraham did.

But how do you become part of God's family? It's a gift not a pedigree...

Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Even though Abraham was a sinner - he was a liar, slept with another woman, dismissed their son without care or concern - God declares him righteous, makes him right. God does this for Abraham as a gift through faith. And Jesus echoes the same...

John 8:34-36 I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

All of us sin. But by receiving what Jesus has done for us on the cross we can be set free from sin. It is a gift from The Son to make us sons and daughters of God's family. So to become part of God's family it's not about ancestry or pedigree. Rather it is a gift through faith. This is what Abraham did.

And if your faith is in Jesus your place in God's family is eternal not temporary...

John 8:35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever

and...

John 8:51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Because Jesus is alive he can give permanence. Assurance. Eternal life. If your faith is in him he has given you a place in heaven, something incredible to look forward. And this is what Abraham did too...

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went...for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham heard and obeyed God's promises. He lived a life of discipleship. His kept his trust in what God had done for him. And looked forward to the day God would fulfill his promises. This is what it means to belong to God's family. This is what it means to call God "Father". May we do the same. May we do what Abraham did.

One wedding and a funeral Genesis 23-25

All of us face big events in life - birth, death, career, relationships, marriage. The question is how do you go about dealing with them?

Abraham shaped the big events of his life via his faith in God. And we can see this in the death of his wife Sarah. Problem is, he's got nowhere to bury her. The Hittites offer him a cave for free in language reminiscent of God's promise to Abraham...

Genesis 23:11 "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead."

But Abraham knocks back their offer because he knows that God will give him the land. He doesn't want anyone to say "I gave Abraham his start..." Rather he relies on God's promises. So he buys the cave with his own money and buries Sarah. Though she has died Abraham's faith still remains in God.

And speaking of wives...it's time for Abraham's son Isaac to find Mrs Right. Rather than just pick a local Canaanite girl Abraham's faith shapes this big event too...

Geneis 24:7 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, `To your offspring I will give this land' he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there."

Abraham's faith shapes this big event and implores Isaac, who is the heir of the promise to follow suit.

So how do you go about dealing with the big decisions of your life? Does God get a look in or is God the first port of call in prayer? Do your friends have a greater say than what the Bible says?

Abraham's faith grew and grew as he got older and the big events of life were left in God's capable hands. Even though he died with just a glimpse of the promises it's no surprise that author was able to say this about him...

Genesis 24:1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

By trusting the big events in life to God Abraham was truly blessed. Let us do the same.