Is 7:1-14 - Jesus is God With Us
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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Joseph and Mary with Jesus in a rustic cattle shelter; an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream and later to Mary in the flesh; a sky full of angels appearing to shepherds; it all seems very remote at times doesn’t it? We have a sentimental response to the Christmas carols we’ll sing over the next few weeks. We sort of imagine what the stable must have been like, though we probably don’t imagine it as bad as it was. Unless we’ve visited the slums of India or Pakistan or Kenya, we’re probably more likely to think of it like the stable outside with nice clean hay and solid timber walls. And even if we get those bits right we still struggle with the idea of angels speaking to people. That’s well outside our sphere of experience. Though I have heard accounts every now and then of people who are quite sure they’ve been helped by angels.
And if the events of that first Christmas are remote from us, it’s nothing compared to the idea of being in God’s presence. It’s interesting to hear stories of non-Christians who are happy to come to something like a playgroup in the hall, but wouldn’t dare to come into the church. I’m not sure if that happens here but it’s certainly happened in other places. So why are they so reluctant? I think it’s because they see God as someone to be feared; someone who’s unapproachable; someone who stands in judgement of their life perhaps; someone who’s so perfect in righteousness that it’s dangerous to come near to him.
Is that the way you feel when you think about God? It’s a good question isn’t it? Is God someone to be feared or is he our friend? We’ll come back to that question at the end.
Funeral Jo Tyler
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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2 Tim 4:7-8
I first met Jo some 17 years ago. I think she contacted me because her ex-husband Graham was dying and she was looking for someone to take the funeral, which I was glad to do. Naturally I encouraged her to come and join St Theo’s but she wasn’t too sure about that. She hadn’t been going to church recently. Her faith was in a sense dormant at that stage and she wasn’t sure she’d fit in. Jo was an interesting mix of introvert and extrovert; slow to join in, but the life of the party once she felt comfortable in a group.
Well we kept encouraging her and eventually she took the brave step of coming to church where she was warmly welcomed and before long was part of the community. She got involved in Theo’s Market. She joined an Alpha course as a way of refreshing her faith and then when we formed a follow up Bible study group she even offered to host it. It was wonderful to see the way her faith came back to life as she embraced the community of St Theo’s.
Of course her faith had always been there. She knew what she believed. Libby & Kim reminded me the other day how she was always adamant that the cross had to be empty because she believed in a Christ who died and then rose again. Jesus is no longer on the cross; he’s risen and seated at the right hand of the Father.
Which brings me to the passage we just had read to us. At the end of his life Paul gives this great testimony, that could equally have been Jo’s: “7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Rom 1:7-16 - Thanks and Prayers
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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Rom 1:7-16
One of the great things about Paul is the way he lets us in on his prayer life. This would have been a great encouragement to his readers but it also provides an excellent example for us. I mentioned last week what a great example Paul is for us and it’s true again here this week.
So what I’d like us to do as we look at this short passage is to think about how our behaviour could be changed to imitate that of Paul. First we hear how he prays and then he tells us why he wants to come to meet them in Rome.
We saw last week how he begins by wishing them God’s grace and peace, but then he goes on to say:
I Thank God for you
Now he hasn’t met these people. He wasn’t involved in their conversion. But he thanks God through Jesus Christ for each one of them. The fact that they’ve responded to the gospel is the source of much rejoicing for him – as it is for the angels in heaven you may remember. And his joy is even greater:
Rom 1:1-7 - Good News
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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Rom 1:1-7
Today we start a new series following the letter of Paul to the Romans, written, we think, during that 3 months he was waiting in Corinth for the weather to improve.
So let’s start with the opening few verses.
He begins with the standard opening formula of most Greek letters of the time. But unlike those this introduction isn’t independent of the main points of the letter. In fact as we’ll see in a moment the introduction is a bit like the overture to an opera or the opening movement of a symphony – introducing the main themes of what’s to come.
Remember that he’s writing here to a church that’s never met him, to people who don’t know him. So he provides an extended introduction where he describes himself and his message in a good amount of detail.
In fact it’s important to think about the terms he uses as he begins his letter. Let’s look at them.
Acts 21:17-25 When church and non-churched meet
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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Acts 21:17-25
Well, we’ve skipped over the rest of Paul’s journey from Troas to Caesarea Philippi and now, finally we come with Paul to Jerusalem. He’s been planning this visit for a long time and finally he gets there, despite the warnings of those on the way who are worried about what the Jews might do to him. [By the way have you noticed the parallels between Luke’s account of Paul’s journey to Jerusalem and his subsequent trials and Luke’s account of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem and his subsequent trials? You might like to think about that in your small groups, particularly looking at the various trials both Jesus and Paul went through.]
I wonder have you thought about how Paul expected things to go here. Everywhere he’s been through Asia and Greece he’s experienced opposition from the Jews and now here he is in their home town. He must expect opposition here even more than elsewhere; but what about from within the church itself?
Well we read in v17 that they were welcomed warmly upon their arrival. But as you read on you realise that all isn’t as smooth below the surface as it is on top.
Hence Paul’s visit the very next day to James and the elders of the Church in Jerusalem. James is James the brother of Jesus, not James the Apostle and by now he’s clearly the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Peter and John have left, Peter to Jerusalem and John ultimately to Ephesus. And as we read on we discover there’s a bit of tension in the air.
Acts 20:13-38 - Paul and the Ephesian Elders
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Acts 20:13-38
Let’s begin today by thinking about the way Paul exercised his ministry in Acts. We’ve seen how he moved out from Antioch to basically cover the entire region from Jerusalem to Corinth, never staying very long in one place, apart from Corinth and Ephesus. But we saw last week that he not only visited these churches to proclaim the gospel but he later went back to encourage them. He also went back to appoint elders to take over the leadership of the church. He didn’t do that straight away because he and they needed time to discover who had the necessary gifts and wisdom for leadership.
In fact the only place he didn’t revisit appears to have been Ephesus, which is where we come to today. We saw last week that he’d been delayed by a plot to kill him and now he’s in a hurry to get back to Jerusalem in time for what, even then, was a major Christian festival: the feast of Pentecost
Paul can’t spare the time to visit Ephesus so instead he sends a message to their elders to come and meet him in Miletus. The river at Ephesus was becoming silted up and Miletus had become the preferred port for loading and unloading trade goods. So the ship was probably there for 3 or 4 days, giving Paul time to send to Ephesus for the elders to travel to meet him there. And when they arrive he sets out to both encourage and to warn them. He begins by reminding them of his own example of ministry.
Acts 20:1-12 - How do we care for one another?
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
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Acts 20:1-12
If you were here last week you’ll remember that Ephesus has just been engulfed by a tremendous riot: with people shouting out their city slogan – “great is Artemis of the Ephesians”, protesting at this new religion that Paul had brought to their fair city. Of course their protest wasn’t really about religion it was about market economics. Paul was ruining the trade in silver statues of the god Artemis.
So what does Paul do? He calls the disciples together and says farewell. So was he just running away? Getting out before someone got to him directly? Perhaps he figured he deserved some well-earned R&R – a few months off in Greece to recover from the stress of the past few weeks?
The first verses of the chapter actually remind me a bit of my long service leave last year. A long string of cities visited with 3 or 4 days in each place until each city looks the same as the last.
But there’s actually a lot more to it than that. Look at the previous chapter, in v21: “21Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, "After I have gone there, I must also see Rome." 22So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.” (Acts 19:21-22) So Paul has already planned to leave soon and the riot has just been the catalyst to get him going.
