A sermon for Bible Sunday. This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible so this bible Sunday celebrates this highly influential edition.
The KJV has contributed a great deal to our society. This one version has established over 255 idioms to the English language. Here is a sample:
To fall flat on his face – Numbers 22:31
A man after his own heart – 1 Samuel 13:14
A drop in the backet – Isaiah 40:15
Pride goes before a fall – Proverbs 16:18
The land of the living – Job 28:13
Nothing new under the sun – Ecclesiastes 1:9
A lamb to the slaughter – Isaiah 53:7
Labour of love – 1 Thessalonians 1:3
The salt of the earth – Matthew 5:13
Once people were able to read and understand it the influence of the Bible permeated right through society. Even 100 years ago this influence was so strong that, very often, even the godless were good. Their motivations, their morals, their behaviour were biblical – the influence was so strong they couldn’t help it. Even today, when a full third of our population deny the reality of God, the influence of the Bible is still there. It’s in our language, it’s in our values, it’s in our principles, and so on, but it is a lot less than it was.
To be a member of God’s people means you are different. This has always been so. Their experiences and behaviour are simply not like that of other people. Paul understood that completely. In fact, he says that Christians are obliged to be different and live according to the promptings of God’s Spirit (Romans 8:12-14). That, indeed, is how they will know that they belong to God and have the dignity of becoming his children and heirs of all that is to come (Romans 8:15-17). This may well entail suffering. For Paul, suffering was a hallmark of Jesus, and his followers could expect no less. If the Master was misunderstood, opposed, rejected, deserted, betrayed and finally done to death, can his followers expect anything much less? In fact, Christians live lives that are part of the general sufferings of this age. They will be recognised for who they truly are at the start of the new creation when God makes all things new.
According to Jesus in the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30,36-43), it is impossible to separate out the good from the bad before this final harvest. This parable clearly expands upon the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) which we considered last Sunday. In God’s field both good seed and bad is sown. It may not be obvious which is which, nor possible to separate good from bad, until it is harvest time. As in Romans 8:12-15, God’s people live in the midst of suffering and overwhelming opposition. But in the final analysis they will triumph. They may suffer and go unrecognised, but God sees, preserves and faithfully brings them to share in his glory.
Often it is difficult to tell what people are like inside. When we first meet a group of people everyone may initially look very similar. You might be able to tell who is rich or poor, who is healthy or not healthy, but you cannot tell who is musical or artistic or colour blind. You have to allow time to get to know people to know what they are like inside. Look around the supermarket and tell us who’s married, who smokes pot, who has had surgery. Go to your Probus club, Rotary club, knitting circle, garden club and tell us who the Christians are. If you know it is because you know these people below the surface, you have talked together about these things. Just by looking, you cannot easily tell what people are like or what is their identity.
In the story of the weeds among the wheat, at first it was hard to tell which was which and over time they all grew together and it was difficult to separate them. But the fruitful plants were different from the weeds. It was only when the time came to harvest the whole field that the separation between the weeds and the wheat could happen. After separating them out, the weeds were destroyed.
Jesus told this story to demonstrate that there are those living in the world who belong to him and those who don’t. Everyone rubs along together and you cannot always tell who is who. But God knows, and at the end of time there will be a division between those who belong to him and those who don’t.
Two stories from the last week.
1 I was talking with a friend from another church and she expressed concern about some people from another religion who have started coming to her church. They say that now they are Christians but she’s not sure she can trust them. Their priest seems to trust them. How can she tell these are genuine Christians and not infiltrating the church to make trouble? This has been an issue for the Church since the beginning. Remember Paul? It took Barnabas to convince the church to accept him. It’s not easy but the answer is in the Bible. Jesus said, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20) Observe their lives – do the fruits of the Holy Spirit show? Are they loving towards other Christians? John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
2 The Unitec campus on the North Shore has moved from Takapuna to bigger premises in Albany. Teams of carpenters, electricians and so on have been working on the place for months and the official opening is less than two weeks away. On Tuesday we had a Blessing Ceremony. Two Maori leaders along with myself as campus Chaplain and Ricky, our Chaplaincy Team Leader, prayed through the entire building, inviting God to be present in the place and to bless the place, the people and the educational endeavour that is happening there. As we made our way from room to room we were followed by a number of staff, some of whom are Christian. The rest I don’t know but at lest they were happy to be involved in what we were doing.
As I looked at that group of people I thought of this passage and I thought of God’s desire that all grow together. I also thought of Jeremiah’s words to the Israelites who were dragged off to exile 400 years before Jesus came. Jeremiah pointed out to them that they would be living in whatever place they’d landed up in for 70 years and they neeeded to make good of their situation. He told them they should live to the full in the city that had become their home. “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7) This world is not our ultimate home, but it is our home for this life and we need to be fully engaged in our society for its prosperity which is our prosperity.
In Jesus’ parable, the farmer knew which plants were weeds and which were not, although probably not when they first started growing. We do not always know who are the people who belong to Jesus and who are not, nor do we know who will become lovers of Jesus in the future, but we do know whether or not we ourselves love Jesus. Those who know the Lord need to live as the Lord lived – loving one another and loving all people since the Lord loves them and our well-being and their well-being are closely tied together. So pray and work so that the Bible continues to influence our society.
Jesus’ words of a fiery furnace and gnashing of teeth are very graphic as a means of describing just how awful it is going to be for those who do not know Christ at the end of time. However literally you may take this to be, it emphasises the importance of the message that Jesus was teaching.
However, this is not an opportunity for us to sort out who does or does not belong to Christ, because that is not always obvious and it’s not our job, but God’s! But it is a challenge to everyone to consider where they stand with God. Paul’s words in Romans 8:12-15 speak of the role of the Holy Spirit assuring us that we are God’s children. And for those who don’t belong to Christ, or who aren’t sure about it, we need to pray that they will be established in Him.