Sermon:  Creation and Redemption                       Sunday 6th. November, 2005                                                                                                                                              

 

Reading:  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,

but to save the world through Him… John 3.17

 

Reality TV – we’ve all watched programmes like Big Brother, Pop Idol, the X factor,  The Osbournes, The Apprentice,

Here is TV, with no actors, no scripts and no stunts just a collection of real people,

in a whole set of interesting situations.

So, you see real people, who want to be pop stars, or big businessmen,

or who simply want to be famous - and you can follow their progress,

see how they get on.

Reality TV is cheap to make, and lots of people watch it. 

at its best,  programmes like Big Brother,  the X factor, can be unpredictable,

fascinating to watch because, of course, things don’t always go right.

Lesley Sanderson who was voted off Big Brother after just fifteen days said: " People ask me how they can get on Big Brother and what advice I can give them. I give them one piece of advice - don't do it. I can honestly say Big Brother ruined my life. I wish I had never done it. “

or

Jennifer Crisafulli, who took part in the programme The Apprentice, didn’t get through to the next round in the series,  and the next day, the real estate company she worked for fired her, since they thought, according to reports, that she would be bad publicity for the company………

Again, while lots of people watch reality TV of one kind or another, not everybody likes it…………..

some think it is mindless junk, or a waste of time.

But what you get with programmes like, the Osbournes, Big Brother, or The Apprentice, , is a window onto a small space, - a family home, a house, or an office,

 

Imagine, however,  for a moment - a window, not onto a small space, but onto the world !

imagine

a window you could look through and see history unfolding,

a window, you could look through and see gentle countryside green and rich on a quiet summers day,

a window where the picture changed and you could see war and destruction, cities ransacked and on fire,

a window through which you could see kings giving orders and commands in their palaces,

and the poor man sitting at the gate outside……….

 see ordinary  men and women and their lives………

Well, the Bible offers us a window like this on the world,

We see wars in the books of Samuel and Kings,

We read of  injustices in Israel in Amos,

We see the destruction of Jerusalem in Jeremiah,  

We read of Roman occupation in Matthew’s gospel,

- the reality of village and town life in Mark,

- riot and shipwreck in Acts.

But of course, the Bible is other than a window.

Yes, the Bible shows us human life, men and women,

but far more than this, the Bible speaks as the Word of God

shows us men and women, and tells us truths about the human heart.

And greater still the Bible shows us the world and declares to us what God has done, and is doing and will do,

 

The Bible tells us truths about the human heart,

The Bible  tells us truths about the human heart

You know, one of the striking things about the men and women we meet in the Bible is that almost without exception, they are flawed……….

they are, in other words, real men and women, like ourselves………..

take Abraham, that great commanding figure, journeying in old age from his homeland, in wonderful faith, waiting faithfully for God’s promises to unfold……..

we find him lying to the Egyptian king, about who he is, who is wife is, where he has come from.

take Elijah – the great prophet of the Lord, moving in the power of God, at Mt. Carmel, he offers leadership to the people of Israel in a critical moment – then is to be found running in fear from the threatening power of Israel’s royal family,

take King David – warrior, leader, general, songwriter, King who establishes Israel’s golden age, yet involved in the murder of an innocent man, and guilty of adultery………

the men and women we meet in the Bible are almost without exception, they are flawed………. which is a relief,  because this means they are – like us !

 

But – the Word of God leads us on another step here –

For if we ask why  human beings, men and women, are capable of great love,

great self sacrifice,  capable even of praise and worship of the living God,

and yet capable of unfaithfulness, betrayal,  lying, and all the rest

the Word tells us:

this is human nature,  this is the human heart,

this is what human beings are like………..

this is what we are like

 

Where the living God should have been life for us, at the very centre of life,

where we should have lived life loving God with all our heart soul mind and strength

as a human race,  in the depths of the ages long ago, we turned our backs on Him,

and so rejected life, full, abundant and complete………

That is what Genesis 3 declares……… v23 – so the Lord God banished the man and the woman from the Garden of Eden……….. the place of life, full abundant and complete

 

You can anticipate what some might say:

This a very pessimistic view of human life isn’t it ?

as a human race,  in the depths of the ages long ago, we turned our backs on God,

and so lost life, full, abundant and complete………

and now live as flawed and sinful men and women,

this is a very pessimistic view of the human heart, isn’t it ?

 

well, let’s leave aside the question whether or not this is a pessimistic view, and ask another  – is this an accurate view of human life ?

Surely, you only have to watch TV or read the newspapers to see the misery, suffering, death, destruction that sweeps across the earth, the corruption of leaders, the corruption of minds, the evil that disturbs and torments human life.

You only have to watch TV to see sin’s power:

and to see how far we are from God as a world………..

You only have to know yourself to know that this is what your own heart is like,

frail, flawed sinful……….

So, indeed, The Bible tells us truths about the human heart

 

But remember,  there is a fact,  greater still, which is this

that the Bible shows us human life in its sinfulness  and declares to us what God has done, and is doing and will do for us

For the Word of God declares, in John 3,  that the living God has moved, has acted,  in power, to redeem the world, to bring us back to Himself by sending His Son.

we read : God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, this frail, flawed, sinful world,

but to save the world through Him… John 3.17

 The living God has taken control, has intervened in the life of the world in one man, the man Jesus of Nazareth.  In Jesus of Nazareth, God has come into the world as one of us,

as a human being like ourselves,

 And in Jesus of Nazareth, God has reshaped human life, recreated this life, purified this frail, flawed, sinful life. The Father has remade human life, and through His Spirit He shares this life with us as a gift. This is what Christian faith is – that God has restored us, brought us back to Himself in Jesus Christ and, therefore, you and I have received new life in Jesus, from Jesus. 

So, as we begin to look forward to the season of Advent which begins in a matter of only a few weeks, we are not simply reading through the readings, singing the hymns and carols, as we always do. We are celebrating the awe inspiring,  great and loving purposes of the living God who has sent His own Son to us, in Jesus Christ our Lord, who has restored us to life, in Him.

 

 

AMEN