The Messiah’s Secret – Crooked paths made straight

This morning's service began with prayer for the sad loss of life in the terrorist attach in Paris

Nursery Rhyme ‘The Crooked Man’

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile.

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse

And they all lived together in a little crooked house. 
The children put the pictures on the board

Jesus’ teachings in the Bible show us how to live our lives. Not to be like:

There was a crooked man – He was not a nice man, he was unkind and always angry.

He walked a crooked mile - He was dishonest, he made up stories that were not true.

He found a crooked sixpence – He took things without asking the person if he could have them

A crooked stile – He pushed people out of the way.

He bought a crooked cat – He encouraged fighting

The cat caught a crooked mouse. It’s wrong to fight: kicking, hitting one another, pulling each other’s hair, and we mustn’t  call each other names.

The little crooked house – He didn’t care about anybody only himself.

The Bible wants us to do what is right and that will make us happy and be kind to one another and the Bible tells us to : let people go before us, not to fight one another, not to take anything without asking.

Jesus’ house is a safe place, where he looks after us.

Hebrews 10: 11 – 14. 19 – 25. Mark 13: 1 – 8.

The origin of the poem the crooked man was in reference to King Charles’ General Sir Alexander Leslie, he was senior commander of both English and Scottish armies: he was referred to as a scoundrel, he walked a crooked mile and the sixpence referred to him  being dishonest.

The cat and mouse represented the conflicts between the two nations. The crooked stile was the border between the two countries. The crooked house this religious covenant between England and Scotland was brought in under duress.

In our New Testament reading Jesus prophesied  the ruin of the temple. It had become a crooked house.

The temple signified the agreement between God and the people of Israel, but the rituals of the temple had become man centred. The Pharisees, Lawyers and scribes were crooked by burdening the people adding more laws to those given by God to Moses.

God left the Temple at Jerusalem When the veil of the temple torn in two from top to the bottom revealing the ’ Most Holy Place’ the dwelling place of God. All those working in the Holy Place could now see beyond the veil which was unthinkable before, no one could see God and live.

John wrote that Jesus’ risen body was now the temple of God. A temple made without hands.  Jesus is the centre of worship in the kingdom of God. John wrote Revelation 22: 22 “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.” John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God.  John 2: 21. Mark 14: 58.

For the majority of Christians before we came to know Jesus we followed the course of the world, where the influences of a crooked world brought upon us fear, guilt and anxiety, with very little joy.                                     

Jesus heals and restores our broken relationship with God and as we are led by the word and Spirit we begin to walk in a straight path with the Lord.                                                                                         

Proverbs 3: 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

  

I heard recently a testimony of a young woman who had reached a point in her life were the alcohol and drug addiction had to end, she faced a choice: prison, death or chose life.  Alison chose life and made a decision to follow Jesus. God gave her a word, “I have purposes and plans for you. Jeremiah 49: 11. She said that a pathway opened up and she begged the Lord to heal her and he did and changed her longings she didn’t want drink or drugs instead she hungered and thirsted for the word of God.                                   

Jesus’ prophecy in Mark tells us that the world will continue along a crooked path by following false Christ’s resulting in wars and rumours of wars.

One can not help but feel that the time is coming when the people of the world will be looking for a leader, a false Christ to come up with a plan to solve the world problems: like the Syrian and other conflicts which are causing major disruption in the world, with the people fleeing their country of origin to escape violence and possible death.

One of the many prophesies relating to the second coming of Jesus is the destruction and desolation of Damascus.

Isaiah prophesied the destruction of Damascus and the city left desolate, uninhabited: “Damascus will no longer be a city, but will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.” Isaiah 17: 1, 2.   (Aroer a city near the Dead Sea).            

And Jeremiah’s prophecy

“Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee and panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her, pain like that of a woman in labour. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of my joy?  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.” Jeremiah 49 24-27. (Ben-Hadad was the King of Syria.)

Jeremiah 49 24-27.                                         

Both prophesy were fulfilled in part when King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Damascus, but the city was rebuilt. The other part of the prophecy where the city would be left a ruin and uninhabited has yet to happen.

From that time Damascus has remained intact until our present day, in the current crisis in Syria Damascus is being bombed and is in danger of being destroyed and its people fleeing for their lives.

Another sign

Isaiah 59: 8. “ The way of peace they will not know and there is no justice in their paths, they have made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace."

We have global investment banks using the derivatives debt system buying and selling debt digitally, which was the cause of the 2008 financial problems. Many who work in the financial world are honest, but there are those who use derivatives financial packages with non-existent money, a crooked system.

“The Root Cause of the 2008 Financial Meltdown’ investmentwatchblog.com    Forbes 'Big Banks and Derivatives

As a young child, I remember higher purchase being promoted on ITV in the 50’s and my father’s re-action to it at the time, he thought that it was a mistake. The poor families in debt to the rich, who grow richer. 

Will it ever be resolved? To resolve it, many believe that at some point it has to retract and return to a true financial system based on real money.

The Lord’s way is the only way

In the UK Christians Against Poverty have been working for a number of years with amazing success in sorting out people’s debt; by putting in place a structure that gradually pays off a person’s debt with the company or companies that they owed money to.

 Also in the process they make Christ known in what they do - Jesus has paid our debt legally by shedding his blood, his life laid down for the forgiveness of our sin, releasing us into God’s grace, his care and provision.

Hebrews 10: 13 “ Then to wait until his enemies should be a stool for his feet.”  

First Jesus will call out the church and followed soon afterwards by his return to the Mount of Olives where he takes up with the remnant of Israel and defeats the anti-Christ and his armies.

Until Jesus calls out his church, it is important for us to keep looking for the straight pathway that leads to our heavenly home.

The Messiah’s Secret – The Beatitudes

Evening Lectionary: Jeremiah 31: 31-34.  Matthew 5: 1 – 12.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you find that Christians who did most in this present world were precisely those who thought the most of the next.” 

We work out our salvation in this life walking in the beatitudes and we have the example of Jesus in his own life where the beatitudes were apparent, especially in the Garden of Gethsemane.                                                                                                          

The Passover had been eaten and Jesus and his disciples where making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, singing the Hallel the Psalms 113-118.

Jesus was quietly preparing himself for his ‘hour had come.’ Everything that had happened was leading up to this moment, as he surrendered his life to die on a cross.  When he knelt down to pray, he brought his immediate concerns before the Father. Only God could help him, he was poor in spirit, Martyn Lloyd Jones in his Book 'Studies on the Sermon on the Mount' wrote that to be poor in spirit means ‘empty of self.                                                                                   

The way of Jesus is in giving of our self to God, for many of us it happens gradually as we grow in our faith; we learn to trust God to be dependent upon him. The more we put our faith into practice we become ‘poor in spirit’ empty of self.                                                        

In the distance perhaps Jesus heard the sound of others singing and laughing, people enjoying the occasion of the Passover.  On another occasion Jesus had said, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” Luke 6: 24-26  In the garden his  heart was heavy as he mourned over the sins of the people. During his ministry a Pharisee had remarked “You who are not yet 50 years old have seen Abraham.”  Lloyd Jones wrote that Jesus looked older than his 33 years as he mourned over sin.

There in the garden Jesus asked Peter, James and John to pray and comfort him, but I don’t think they were aware of the spiritual stress that he was going through. Jesus in meekness knelt in agony as his physical strength diminished, we believe the Holy Spirit strengthen him.                                             

Visual Aid 

The old calculator was powered by a battery. This was replaced by solar power, that just needs sunlight to give continuous power.                        

Before I became a Christian lots of things went wrong:  horse riding and car accidents took there toll on my health.Through faith in Jesus I was healed of a nervous condition and later I received my life in Christ that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and will continue for ever, beyond my life on earth.

In every Christian meekness is produced by the Holy Spirit.  

Love that has strength of its own: it is not defensive, and does not retaliate.                                                                                                          

Jesus and his disciples were disturbed by the sound of voices; a number of people came into view. The moment where unrighteousness came into direct contact with God’s sacrifice for sin. 

All the attributes of being poor in spirit-empty of self, strength in meekness, and his love for the righteousness of his Father enabled him to say when they asked for Jesus of Nazareth, he said, “I am he.” John 18: 5          

Another aspect of meekness in God’s terms is strength in weakness. 

We see this in the Hebrew Scriptures Gideon going into battle was told by God to reduce the numbers of his fighting men from 22,000 to 10,000 from 10,000 to 300 men. Gideon won the battle, the Midianites fled their camp at the sound of the trumpet and when the light appeared. The Israelites smashed the clay jars the light shone in the darkness.                          

In Genesis 1: 2, 3 the earth was formless and empty and darkness was over the water and the Holy Spirit hovered over the darkness and God said, “Let there be light” and the darkness gave way to the light.  

There is darkness over Syria and so we pray for the light of Christ to shine in the darkness and dispel it, to break it up and clear it away.  

In the garden and on the cross 

Jesus fought the battle against unrighteousness’ and won. The world is in conflict with the righteousness of God and we can’t avoid it. There is a constant battle going on to walk in righteousness. Truth demands struggle as it overcomes conflict.                                                                                                                                                         

In my daily prayers, I put on spiritually the breastplate of righteousness. The righteous blood of Jesus covering my heart and I also say ‘I will to do the will of God and not of myself or the will of Satan.’ I look to do the Father’s will guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

Mercy is grace in action 

It is in having a Godly desire to relieve suffering in people’s lives.             

Jesus in his death and resurrection established the new covenant between God and Israel. Jeremiah 31. 31-34   God by his great mercy brought the Gentiles into this covenant through the cross.

The pureness of Jesus’ heart he was single-minded, his face was set like flint to go to Jerusalem, his hour had come, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” Jesus broke down the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles through the cross making one new man, in turn to become single-minded, one body with many members. the church's message is to give the opportunity to all people to know God our creator and Father personally, to have peace with God unified by Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus fought the battle and won the peace. The allies won the battle over Hitler and we generations that have followed have entered into the peace.                                                                                                                                              

Jesus the ‘Prince of peace’ at his trial he was silent, the peace in him did not allow him to say anything to the detriment of others, nor did he look for the effect that it would have on himself, but he looked to glorify God.

So we are called to be peacemakers in our conversation between each other, watching what we say, so that we don’t stir up trouble by criticism, or false accusations, peace starts with us.

Persecuted for being a Christian Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” If we say, but never do, Christ-like things the world will love you. If you become Christ-like the world will hate you.

Jesus was insulted, mocked and ridiculed, he forgave them on the cross he was recorded saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” 

When we are treated with contempt for being a Christian, and I am reminded of the time when I had not much time for Christians, I am thankful that Jesus forewarned every Christian that they should forgive and rejoice in suffering for his names sake.                                         

To reflect - We become poor in spirit empty of self, and mourn for our sin before God daily and become meek in nature that is produced in us by Holy Spirit. Walking in righteousness we contend with the world. 

Having mercy is grace in action. Having a pure heart is in being single minded. To be a peacemaker is not to say anything to the detriment of others. To be persecuted for faith in Jesus, the world cannot understand the joy of suffering for Christ.