elementor domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /mnt/customers/customers-bh-108dcf/575c8d22-9e37-4570-b449-7bc62225f920/wp-content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6260
Week of talks 2023. We live in a society that considers Christianity and its teachings to be dangerous, divisive, and harmful. In these verses, we have Jesus’ words to his disciples about the effects he thought his coming would have. Jesus challenges our default assumptions about life in this world and makes an astonishing offer.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This transcript has been automatically generated
So, we ran a little poll and asked our regulars, what question would you like us to address, or like me to have a go at addressing on this evening? And the question was, isn’t Christianity bad for the world? People thought that’s a question that gets asked quite a lot. Isn’t Christianity bad for the world? Although often people said it’s not a question, it’s a statement.
Christianity is bad for the world. And what can we say in response? Now, I’m getting on a bit. I think it’s a newish question in some ways. Maybe a couple of decades ago, the question wasn’t that so much.
It was more, well, Christianity was in decline back then, but the question was more, well, it’s fine if that’s what you’re into. You know, it’s harmless. It’s a bit irrelevant. If that’s what you enjoy, fine. But now, there’s more of an edge to it.
People do think Christianity is outright bad. So, the renowned atheist biologist Richard Dawkins put it like this, quote, many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence, but we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where’s the harm? But September 11th changed all that. And then a few years later, the atheist Christopher Hitchens, he wrote this book, God Is Not Great.
The subtitle to this book is How Religion Poisons Everything, so that’s where he’s coming from. It sold thousands. That book really struck a chord. And the summary on the back tells us, Hitchens argues that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity and proposes that the world might be a great deal better off without Him, and he puts the Him in scare quotes. And you read the book and actually Hitchens describes Christianity in particular as repellent to an extreme degree.
So, maybe you think like that. Maybe we all come across attitudes like that in our society. Often Christian views now aren’t tolerated. Christian, especially if people share their views openly, are, well, not approved of at all. Even worse if someone lives out what Christian believes.
I wonder if you saw just in the news this week, a teacher. He wasn’t at work, he was away from work, but he articulated what would be considered mainstream Christian views. But the head of his school heard that he had said those things, and he was relieved of his position. And many think that Christians and Christianity need to be done away with because, after all, we all know, don’t we, Christianity, well, it causes wars and fighting, it divides families, and just in general in society we’ve got beyond that. Such intolerance and oppression, such damaging, unloving sort of attitudes.
We just need rid of Christianity, and therefore, we need to tell Christians they need to change their views. So, the question, isn’t Christianity bad for the world? Now, I am actually a Christian minister, so I think you can probably guess what simple one-word response I would give to that question, but that wouldn’t really help our discussion or question time this evening. So, I’ll try and give us a bit maybe 3 things to think about in response, and we’ll focus on the third of these. But first, we might want to address the question philosophically.
Don’t be put off by that term, but the thing to think about, the question is, is Christianity bad for the world? But then we might think, well, where does that idea of bad come from? So, take a typical atheist like Hitchens here. He doesn’t believe in any God at all, and yet he’s very strong that Christianity is bad, even repellent. But this understanding of bad, repellent, or good, where does it actually come from?
Now, please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m not saying that an atheist can’t be moral or do any good. They can, of course. But what’s their rationale for doing it? What I mean is, if all we are is essentially a random group of atoms floating through space, well, does it make any sense to make a moral judgement and say something is good or bad either way.
So, that’s one thought. Secondly, we could also question those who do denounce Christianity as bad and the reasons they give. Well, why do they take the issues that they do? So, in our society, people say Christianity now is getting in the way of equality or progress or freedom. But you could ask, where did, well, qualities like that and to be considered a virtue come from?
Why do people think equality, progress, and freedom are good things in the first place. You may have heard of the historian Tom Holland. Now, not the actor Tom Holland who is Spider-Man, but the historian Tom Holland. He does the Restless History podcast, which is how lots of people know about him today. He is not a Christian, and yet he keeps finding himself trying to persuade people that so much of the way that we think in the West or in westernised areas is utterly dependent on Christianity.
He wrote this pretty whopping book, Dominion, to try and show that. So, these notions of freedom and equality and progress, you won’t find those in all of the world even today, certainly not in antiquity. So, he says, where did they come from? And he believes they came from Christianity, whether you believe in it or not, and he doesn’t. But he says there’s a certain irony, therefore, all these people today are attacking Christianity, as they themselves hold to what Christianity has produced.
So, that’s the second thing we could discuss. But the third thing is actually then, again, looking back at our question, what do we mean by Christianity? Now, let me give another example to see what I’m getting at. Let me ask you, are doctors bad for the world? Now, I need to be very careful.
I’m aware there’s a number of doctors here today. But let’s just assume someone has a negative experience of a medical professional, who, let’s say, causes them harm, and let’s even say they intended to do that, and then that person goes out and says, aren’t doctors bad for the world? Well, I guess most of us would want to say, well, look, yes, that doctor did harm you, but in general, there are other doctors who are doing so much good. You can’t make a blanket judgement like that and say that. And so, with our question, Is Christianity bad for the world?
Now, there are certainly examples of terrible things that are done in the name of Christianity. Just as I was thinking about this talk, on the news, a church leader in Kenya told his congregation to starve themselves in order to meet Jesus, and recently 47 bodies were found, including children. Obviously, that is awful. We’re not going to deny that. But then you do think, granted those evils done in the name of Christianity, any reasonable person would have to say that’s not the whole story.
And of course, many would want to think about the long track record Christianity has had in this country and around the world in healthcare, providing schooling, and bringing practical help to those in need. So, but then of course the question becomes, okay, but what then is Christianity? Is it one of those versions we’ve just heard about, the good one or the bad one, or is it just actually you can’t tell what it is and we can’t really have this discussion at all? Although, of course, we would want to say there is something we can do, and the clue is in the name, isn’t it? Christianity, Christ Jesus.
And all Christians at least would profess to be followers of Jesus. So, the question is, well, are they following Jesus and His teachings and what He would say. So, the obvious thing to do would be to listen to what He says. And in particular, we could, given we are here this evening, think, what did Jesus say would be the effect of His coming into the world in the sort of ways we have been thinking about? Now, as Jason mentioned, copies of Matthew’s Gospel are on your tables.
If you haven’t already, do take hold of that. You could find one of these in the Bible. They are one of the books of the Bible in the New Testament. What it actually is, is a historical document. Matthew, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, with Jesus, saw him, heard him, wrote down a historical account of what he had witnessed.
And so, just for a few minutes, we’re going to listen to a very short section of this teaching, and we’re going to jump in about halfway through. We want to get to chapter 10. I’ll get us a page number in a minute. So, we are on page 26. So, like I said, we’re diving in about halfway through to set the scene.
It’s fairly early in Jesus’ ministry. But he has done some inspirational teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. He’s done some remarkable miracles recorded for us. And so therefore, he’s drawn huge crowds. And in particular, Jesus has just chosen 12, the 12 disciples, and they’ve committed to being with him.
And now that he’s with them, he’s going to set out for them what it’s going to mean to be his follower. What, if you like, have they signed up to? You might even say, what therefore is Christianity? Well, let’s listen to the founder himself and see what he says. So, on page 26, we’ll start in verse, that’s a little number, 34, where Jesus is speaking and he says, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I have not come to bring peace but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Well, I wonder, were you actually listening to what Jesus had to say? I’m sure those disciples’ jaws would be dropped at this stage. That is not what they expected from Jesus. So, is Christianity bad for the world? And some people, when they say that, have in mind wars and fighting, hostility, extremists, to which Jesus says, verse 34, Do you not think I have come to bring peace to the earth?
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Others object to Christianity because they perceive the harm it might do to families, dividing loved ones, causing all sorts of strife. What does Jesus say to that? Verse 35, I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Then again, is Christianity bad for the world?
And some people’s objections is, well, simply, it will ruin my life. It would just put a downer on everything. It would just spoil stuff. It would make it miserable. Who would choose that?
To which Jesus says, verse 38, Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. We need to realise what Jesus means there. There is a gentleman called Lindsay Hamon. He carries a 25-kilo wooden cross everywhere he goes. He’s travelled the world with it.
He reckons he’s walked 5,000 miles with it. So, is that what Jesus means in this verse? Well, if it is, there are very, very few Christians in the world. But actually, what Jesus asks is far more challenging than that, because crucifixion was a common sight in the first-century Roman Empire, a public, agonising, humiliating form of execution. And just to drive all that home, after the sentence was passed, the condemned man was forced to carry at least the crossbeam to the place of execution.
So, as Jesus says these words, He is asking His disciples and us, Well, imagine a person carrying that cross. You would look at him and know, well, his life is basically over. And that’s what Jesus is saying. To follow Him, you must carry your cross. Recognise your life as you see your good and your ambition.
Well, forget it. Jesus is saying, if you want to follow Me, you can, but it will mean, well, you follow Him, and He was heading to the cross.
What do you think those disciples made of all of this? At least a stunned silence. Probably there’s a reason we aren’t told what their response is to what he says. Would they be, you know, edging towards the door? Is this really what we’ve let ourselves in for?
Who is this man? This didn’t sound like what we heard before. And maybe if you are coming here thinking Christianity is bad for the world, you’ve said, well, you’ve persuaded me. What more proof do we need? It really is bad for the world.
The founder says things like that.
Although, I’m guessing most of us at the same time might have a sense, but how does that fit with other things I’ve heard about and from Jesus? Maybe you think of Christmas. All that ever says then is peace on earth. How does that fit with what Jesus says here? And I don’t know what thinking Jesus saying, I’m not come to bring peace, brings to mind, but you read on in Matthew’s Gospel, and it turns out at one point the disciples do draw a sword in anger.
Jesus says, put it away. And then, when he was under physical threat, Jesus says he could have called 70,000 angels at that moment to come to his defence. But he doesn’t, and he allows himself to be arrested and spat on and beaten and crucified. So, clearly, there’s more to what Jesus thinks about that. And then you think of family life.
Again, not surprisingly, elsewhere, even in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus denounces those who won’t honour their parents, and all the more if anyone dares to use a religious reason not to honour their parents. In fact, Jesus exposes religious hypocrisy. He has harsh words for anyone who would use religion to oppress others and serve their own ends. So again, you read on, you think of Jesus’ teaching, and it’s obvious actually family life would be far, far better if we all listened to what he had to say. So, but you might say, okay, but you’ve said that, but still that doesn’t change what Jesus says here in chapter 10.
So, what’s going on? Now, clearly, he’s writing this to get the disciples’ attention and ours, even to shake us up, to ask, are you really listening? But at the very least, he’s saying, don’t presume you know what I am about. So, I mentioned a few moments ago, maybe a couple of decades ago, more people thought Christianity is fine, it’s just not for me, it’s irrelevant. Maybe there’s more today who think Christianity is bad, even dangerous.
Well, it actually turns out those who think Christianity is a threat are closer to the truth. That is, Jesus wants to make it very plain. You can’t just have Jesus as a, if you like, add-on to your life. You can’t look to Him to be a spiritual boost to help you reach your life goals. A comfort blanket.
If that’s the sort of Jesus we imagine, well, that’s a make-believe, pretend Jesus. You read chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel and you realise, if I come anywhere near the true Jesus, my life is going to change radically. But then the question is, well, would it change for the better or for the worse? Notice we haven’t yet looked at the last verse we read, verse 39. Jesus says, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
By finding life, Jesus means keeping hold of life or finding my life to be all about the things and the ways of this world. So, Jesus is saying, live the normal life, ignore Jesus, well, such a person in the end will lose it all. And of course, he means more than just what we can see and hear now, in the here and now. Jesus, of course, will say there is a God, and what matters is being in relationship with him and even to be at peace with him. That’s the peace you really need.
And so, Jesus is saying, if you don’t have that, or whatever else you might cobble together in this world, you will lose it all forever. But there is another alternative. Right at the end, Jesus says there in verse 39, we can lose our lives in this world. What does that mean? Well, it could be the kind of things he’s just been talking about and maybe shocking us with.
He’s saying, you don’t have to fit in with this world. You don’t have to have your family and yourself as your obsession and the thing that matters to the exclusion of all others. If you were to lose your life in this world, you’d realise there’s something more to live for. Which is what? Well, notice maybe the most shocking words of all here in verse 39, where Jesus says, for my sake.
That maybe is the most staggering, or you might say most offensive of all. Jesus is saying, leave the rest behind, he says, because he’s worth it. He did actually say something similar back in verse 37, didn’t he? Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus knows what you’re thinking when he says that.
It is scandalous.
But unless there is truth in it, which is what Jesus is demanding that we really actually now think about and not just ignore him or take a little bit of him, Can he really claim that place in our lives? But what could Jesus offer that would make that worthwhile? Well, verse 39 again, he says, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. At this time, of course, he means find it in the sense that really matters, enjoying life with our Creator now, but that will continue beyond the grave and into eternity. At which point, of course, maybe eyes roll as Jesus says that.
You’re talking about life with God, life beyond the grave. I can’t really get hold of that. Who can speak of things like that?
Which really is precisely the point and the question. The only person who can speak of things like that is someone who now has been through death and come out the other side. If there was historical evidence that could demonstrate that is true, Well, maybe that would show we do need to listen to one who makes such claims.
So, to answer our question, isn’t Christianity bad for the world? To answer that, in the end, you have to make your mind up about Jesus, the founder of Christianity. And in fact, He wants you to do that. He forces us to do that. And in the end, it’s, if you like, Messiah or megalomaniac.
Someone who says something, kind of things we’ve just read, there is nowhere in between. Either He really is the One come from God who can give us the sort of things we deeply long for, the life we crave now and forever, or He is a lunatic, and then, yes, He should be shamed. He’s a menace, and we should shun Him and His religion. It really would be a bad thing for the world to follow Him. So, the question is, what do you think about Jesus?
Just a kind of a clarification point, Iain, to start us off. What does it actually mean that Jesus came to bring the sword? Is that just to justify war with others who don’t agree with our religious views? So, again, if you’re reading Matthew’s Gospel and you hear him say that, that would make sense to ask that. Is that what he’s after, you know, followers to be a band who will fight for him and with him?
But then you read on and it clearly can’t mean that. So, there’s one mention of sword there, but then if you want to read Matthew 26, that’s where he clearly tells his disciples, put the swords away. That’s not what I’m about. And that’s almost part of the shock of Jesus, that he’s not come to overthrow the Roman Empire, to do that sort of thing at all. That’s not what he’s about.
So, a different question then would be, well, what has he come to do? What is this movement he is seeking to generate? But it’s not that. So, the question is, as you said, I’ve not come to bring peace but a sword. Sword does mean division, so it kind of— he explains it as he goes on.
And so, in the way that a sword can divide. And again, you read the whole of the Gospel, if you like, that’s not his primary aim to bring division, of course not. His message actually is he has the only way of uniting people, not only people to God, but to one another. But He wants the disciples and us as we listen to realise in this world, if we had some more time to think about it, Jesus would tell us this world is broken and the seeming effect of some people following Jesus, it will have this divisive effect on the world. So, He says He’s come for all people, But not all will come to him.
So therefore, those that do and those that don’t, they will cause a division, and sometimes it’ll go even within families. But the rest of the time, his aim is to bring families together, although he says only he ultimately can do that. Brilliant. How is Christianity and Christians, how are they good when they clash with mainstream science, e.g., evolution, vaccines, scientific progress? How can we claim goodness there?
Oh, so again, this is obviously a huge question, all sorts of things you can’t say in a very short space of time. But again, people like Tom Holland and others would say, where has the scientific endeavour come from? What has caused such progress in science in the 16th and 17th century and beyond. And they would argue, and again, even non-Christian historians would argue this, it was the flourishing of Christianity in those periods that thought there was an order to the world, that we could make predictions and we could expect there to be pattern and repetition and all those sort of things. Now, I mean, lots of people would point to that.
So, again, it’s worth observing that using science to criticise Christianity is slightly, again, biting the hand that feeds you, and lots of examples of that could be given. You mentioned climate change and evolution. Again, I think Christians would say different things about those things, but would want to say, worth saying, particular theories on both of those is the very current consensus, and Just a little bit of historical humility would say those things change. So, yes, let’s test them. Let’s test our hypotheses and look forward, and as Christianity encourages us to do that.
But if God has spoken definitively and He is a Creator, which is what Jesus says, so just to see that, chapter 19, so we’re in page 49, and again, it’s in the context of teaching about divorce, which is another example that Jesus was actually very pro-family and staying together where that was at all possible. But let’s get in his argument. Chapter 19, verse 4, Jesus answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? So, Jesus does want to say, to be his follower, we need to realise, he says, there is a Creator and we can know what the Creator has done in the Scriptures because He says, haven’t you read what the Creator did? So, therefore, a Christian will be grateful that the Lord has told us the way things are and listen to that.
But there are Christians in every area of science because of what Christianity makes possible. Brilliant, thank you. You’ve shown Christianity is good for the individual. He finds life. Does it give any hope for the world as a whole?
Very much so. So, I mean, we’ll look at the last words of what Jesus says. So, here we have the resurrected Jesus. So, it’s after he’s risen from the dead. He has almost begun a new world, you could say.
So, here is life in the way it was meant to be in Jesus, his new indestructible body. And then he gathers his disciples and says right at the end there, verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. So he’s for a start saying he is for all the world.
So he’s not simply for a very narrow group of people. He’s actually saying always the plan was for everybody. And then with that, he is saying he is the beginning of a new world, which will be this world transformed into what it’s meant to be. So, the more you listen to what Jesus says, you realise this world really is broken supremely because it rejects the Creator, but then in all sorts of other ways as well. And Jesus does say, I’m going to put that right, but at the heart of it will be people who’ve been put right with God.
And we can look at lots of other places in Matthew’s Gospel and in the rest of the Bible where he clearly shows there is this future of people like us with real bodies in relationship with God and with others enjoying creation as it’s meant to be. So there’ll be a whole new world, but at the heart of it, these people who are at peace with God. Thank you. This is kind of a different angle, that not necessarily that Jesus is good, it actually sounds that he’s not very good. So, how is losing my life to Jesus helpful to me now when I’m going through the course of living crisis?
And someone else says, how is Jesus relevant when so many situations in the world that people are going through? So, those are very valid questions and I’m sure in this room there are people going through great struggles and it’s not wrong to ask what difference would Jesus make. And as we saw Jesus meeting suffering people, he was a man of great compassion and tenderness and would meet need and seek to help where it was. But maybe the first answer I should give this evening is just remember the tenor of chapter 10 in Matthew, because as well as being very compassionate and gracious, Jesus would also want to challenge our presupposition of what our greatest need is. So, is it money?
Is it security and all those things in this worldly sense, which actually— well, Jesus says you might gain the whole world, but it will count for nothing in eternity. And if that is true, if there is a relationship with God, an eternity to be won, The most loving thing for Jesus to do is to say, get the important things straight and the rest will follow. And he does say the rest will follow, partly in this world, definitely in the world to come. So, you talk about the cost of living crisis, you know, so there is one place where someone comes to Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel with money issues. It’s in— turn to chapter 19, page 50.
So, we’re not told he had a cost of living crisis in the sense that we might mean it, but he was a rich young man. He actually, it seems, had it all, but he realised there was something wrong, that he had it all, but he didn’t have everything, if that makes sense. So, he asks Jesus at the beginning of that section, verse 16, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Now, Jesus says you don’t earn eternal life. It’s a gift from him.
But as we saw in our passage, you have to come to Jesus and realise he’s the one that we need above all else. So again, Jesus often says things to shake people up. He means them but also shakes people up. So he says to this man, verse 21, if you’d be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor. You’ll have treasure in heaven.
So, if you like, so for a man whose life was about money, Jesus says, what you need to hear is just give it away. And again, that would be shocking, and it is shocking, not because you read again, you’ve got to read the rest of the Gospel to realise Jesus doesn’t expect everyone to intentionally live in poverty. What he does want everyone to realise is, realise your biggest need is to come to him, Jesus says, which is a shocking claim, but that’s what he says again and again and again. And then once you know him and have the most important thing, there will then be lots to say about how to live in this life. And Jesus is very generous in this life.
I’ll ask this question now because you touched on it again in your answer there, but it sounds like Jesus is saying we have to do something to kind of be in his good books or to have this life, whereas someone who’s heard more about Jesus realises that it’s a gift. It’s grace. So how does what Jesus is saying here fit with that? Well, let’s just stick with this passage we just looked at. If you look at the rich young man, um, I’ll just read it.
So the— he asked, uh, the man asked Jesus, verse 16, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Jesus said to him, why do you ask me what is good? There’s only one who is good. If you’d enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones?
Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. Honour your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. The man said, all these I’ve kept. What do I still lack? Jesus said, if you’d be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor.
You’ll have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So you could read that, and on first glance you think, oh yeah, okay, Ten Commandments, do this, don’t do that. And Jesus said to him, Do the commandments, and yet in some way, Jesus, maybe the man thinks he’s kept them, but then he talks about money, and you might know the last commandment is don’t covet, don’t keep hold of your riches, and yet clearly this man does that and he fails, so therefore he’s not in the kingdom of heaven.
But actually, if you realise, did you notice the first thing Jesus said, verse 17, why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. And by which he means God, because God is good. That’s what all Jews would believe.
And implicitly, Jesus is claiming to be that good one. So, the very first thing he says to a man who says, what must I do? Is, you can’t. There is no one who is good. So, why then does he then list the commandments and even highlight the one the man finds particularly difficult?
Well, again, Jesus is helping him see that he just can’t do it, and so it shows. And then if you read on the next few verses, the disciples are shocked by this, and they even say, you know, who then can be saved? In verse 25, but Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So there we’re getting towards the the final third of Matthew’s Gospel, and you’re meant to realise humanity can do nothing. We can’t earn it.
We can’t contribute it. We need to ask more and more, well, how then can the one who is good give us what we really need? That is, as a gift and by grace. But Jesus is almost saying to the man, stop trying to do it yourself. Simply come to me to receive it.
Brilliant. Thank you. And if you 2 questions really about this idea of taking up the cross. You’ve explained it’s not about carrying that, but is then Christianity only valid if we are suffering in some way, life is harder? And then someone else asked, I think a bit tongue-in-cheek, but why does Jesus have to take up the cross?
Couldn’t he have just made the world better without making Christians’ lives harder? Well, if that last question was asked tongue-in-cheek, maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, That’s actually the key question. If you read Matthew’s Gospel, a lot of it doesn’t make sense in the sense that the passage we’ve read tonight just doesn’t make sense. We know Jesus is about peace, so why talk in that way? And then Jesus is clearly very powerful.
He could do these miracles. He can clearly lead people. So who knows what kind of movement could he lead? He could do such good in the world. And then you read on in Matthew and he just seems, well, he just goes on and on that he has to die.
And the disciples struggle with this enormously. They go, what are you talking about? This isn’t what we were buying in for. And you can see the argument, Jesus, if you can do miracles, he literally raised the dead, he could feed 5,000 people. So just about all the needs of the world that you might think of in worldly terms, you think, Jesus could deal with it.
He could do it. And yet Jesus keeps saying, I have to die. So, this is the question. If you want to understand Christianity, you just, in the end, have to wrestle with and think, because I think it is persuasive. Jesus has this authority.
He has this power. He’s a very wise man. He can teach in inspirational ways. And yet, he is adamant he has to die. So, you can’t really say you’ve understood Christianity until you at least have some sort of answer to why that is.
And then, I mean, you can’t really get it from one sentence, you have to read the whole thing. But there is, if you want a summary of the cross in Matthew’s Gospel, turn page 52, 53.
So, it’s in the very context actually. So, James and John, 2 of Jesus’ disciples, can you, I mean, in one sense this would be so awkward, but their mother came to Jesus and said, just give them a good spot in glory. Obviously, the sons would be mortified, but actually, that’s what they want, isn’t it? They want to be on Jesus’ right and his left. And so, in other words, they are still thinking in worldly power, prestige terms, even though by this stage, chapter 20, Jesus explained, I’m going to die.
I’ve got to go the way of the cross. So now Jesus gives, if you like, a one-sentence summary. It’s in verse 28, so top of page 53. Where Jesus says, even as the Son of Man, that’s a title for Jesus from the Old Testament that he takes to himself, and he’s speaking. Jesus says, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
So, his life as a ransom for many. So, ransom is the payment of a price, especially to free people from slavery. And so you ask, well, what’s the slavery that people are in? And we realise it’s the slavery to sin. That is this attitude of rejecting our Maker and God, which shows itself in all sorts of ways, but it’s really an attitude at the heart of me that says, I’m going to live my life my way, my sin.
That deserves punishment. That deserves that I should be— I’ve said to God, shove off. What I deserve, therefore, is for God to say, fine, I’ll leave you to it. But of course, if God is good and gives every good thing, that really would be disastrous for all eternity. So, what Jesus is saying there is God’s justice must be satisfied, the punishment must be paid.
But Jesus is saying, I will take it myself. But the only way he can do that is by going the way of the cross and to die. So, if, as you read Matthew’s Gospel, you hear what Jesus teaches, and he teaches about this word sin and what our problem is, And if you realise that is me, the further you go through Matthew’s Gospel, you begin to despair because you realise, I can do nothing about this. But then it begins to come into focus, the wonder that Jesus says, but I will do it for you. And then as a gift, I will forgive you and take your sins away and give you this life with God that you could not get back for yourself.
I will give it for you. So, that was one of your questions. Was there another? I think you’ve covered both. And if not, please do come and talk to Aaron afterwards or myself to remind me what the question was.
Jason’s deleted it basically, and he can’t remember what the question is. I thought you’d answered it, which I didn’t. Just thinking some more kind of nuts and bolts, some Christians have behaved really badly, and this person’s saying, people that they’ve known, pastors taking money, priests abuse children. How can we say Christianity is not bad when such bad things have been done by Christians? Those things are just terrible, aren’t they?
And Christians will lament that, not only that they happened, which is awful, but then also that it would be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, because clearly that is not what Jesus teachers. So, there’s just simply no excuse. It’s unacceptable. And one can and should point out that all sorts of people do all sorts of bad things. That’s no excuse when Christians do it, but it’s there in all the world and it’s there in all of us.
So, those of us who do know the Lord Jesus, it grieves us not only because of the pain and hurt that’s been caused, but also because we do want people to know Jesus Christ. And yet I can understand why that is creating a stumbling block for some, and I wish it were not like that. But I unashamedly will say such behaviour is not what Jesus calls us to, and quite the opposite. So that is why we’ve done what we’ve done this evening, actually, in the end. I mean, if you’re a guest here, you’re very welcome here at St. Helen’s.
We haven’t primarily told you about, if you like, the church or even the people within it, although they are a church family. We want to point you to Jesus because He’s the one you need. And if you meet Him, you will realise actually He is wonderful beyond compare. Thank you. So, to what extent are Christians following Jesus blindly?
Is faith blind and does believing require forgoing freedom of thought. Well, what do you think we’ve done this evening? We’ve said again and again, think, think, think, think about what Jesus is saying. Just notice what we’ve been doing. This is a historical document.
You could read it all. It talks about evidence and proof and all those things. Matthew was with him, and he does all sorts of historical details. We haven’t had time to go into it, but all the way through he’s been referring to things in the Old Testament, so written in the hundreds of years beforehand, and and he’s trying to show how Jesus fulfils that, i.e., fulfils prophecy that was way out of a mere human’s control and all those things. So, there is more to it, but there’s not less to it than you must fully engage your brain and think.
Notice Jesus talks to us as if we are thinking, rational creatures and seeks to persuade us. And when there’s sloppy thinking, He doesn’t say, just have faith. He says, work it out, correct your thinking, understand these things. So, it clearly doesn’t make sense. So, to have faith is not a leap in the dark, biblically speaking, at all.
So, at the beginning of the gospel, Jesus says, repent and believe, which means turn to me and believe in me. But believe actually in Bible terms means go where the evidence leads. So, many times, you know, Jesus says, who do you say that I am? So, you know, one example, turn to Matthew chapter 11, verse 27. Sorry, page 27, Matthew chapter 11.
And so, we’re quite close to where we were for most of this evening, quite early on, and it fits really. So, remember that teaching of Jesus we were listening to, which was a bit shocking, not what people expected, you know, just a bit confusing. And then when Jesus— I’m reading from verse 1— had finished instructing the 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John— that’s John the Baptist who was on the scene earlier on— heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And if you read Matthew, John’s a little bit confused because he, it seems, was expecting someone who was going to be that strong victorious ruler who’s going to kick out the Romans and bring, you know, peace for God’s people in that sense now.
And he began to realise, well, he’s in prison, which wasn’t part of the plan. You know, why am I in prison? John is saying, just get me out of here. So he’s saying to Jesus, are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? But look how Jesus responds.
He says to his disciples, to them, go and tell John what you hear and what you see. So he’s saying, look at the evidence. And in particular here, he says, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. So he’s saying, okay, you’re a bit confused by some of the things I am saying at the moment. It’ll become clear as you go through.
But even for now, just look at the evidence that you do have, the miracles I’m doing, what you’ve witnessed. Put it all together. And in fact, each of those miracles mentioned there come from the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah, 700 years BC, said, when God’s King enters the world, you’ll recognise him because he’ll do these sorts of things. So Jesus is saying, look, I’m doing the things that were prophesied all that time before.
Look, it’s all miraculous. And so therefore, to believe is to say, okay, I can see where the evidence leads. I will accept it and go where it leads. So, actually, to refuse to believe is not not to take a leap in the dark, which is as some people say today. It’s actually to reject what is plain before your face.
So, it’s almost to make up— when people say, I can’t believe in Jesus, but they have no reason for it, that is the leap of faith, to say, I can keep on rejecting this Jesus. Jesus says, look at who I am. Go where the evidence leads, and then you’ll listen and you’ll follow. That’s not to say you don’t have to trust him. So, there’s lots of things I believe about people, like about my wife or my family, and in certain ways I then trust them, but I have very good reason to trust them because these are people I care about and I know about and I think they care about me.
And so, we trust each other and live in the light of it. And same with Jesus. You know, I don’t know the future. He says very challenging things. You know, it’s not easy, but the evidence is there that he’s worth trusting and that what he says has authority.
So, to believe is to go where that leads and to trust him. Thank you. I think we’re there. It’s just coming up to time, but just maybe just one final question to help us. Why should we care what Jesus thinks of us?
And why does he care what we think of him? Yeah, does Jesus care? So, as I said, you might think he’s a megalomaniac, a lunatic just after people. But in all of this, you then have to remember, what did he come into the world to do? To die on a cross.
So, he came to give his life as a ransom for many. In that language we just heard him say before, he came not to be served but to serve. So yes, we have to realise how great he is, that he’s the only one that can deliver what we really need. But then we realise, but the wonder of it is that someone so great, as he says, didn’t come to be served, as in, in some pitiful, sad way, just wanting us bowing down before him in that sense. He came to use all his greatness for our good, which he did by dying the cross.
And so, they’ve got to come to him. So again, Matthew 11, we’re in the same chapter. This is useful, isn’t it? Just turn on a little bit later. So now, page 29.
So, why would you come to Jesus? Matthew 11:28, page 29. Jesus says, come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So, you talk of the language of oppression, and people say Christianity is oppressive.
What’s oppressive is this world and all that it does to us and all that people in this world do to us. And then therefore we are trapped. What our sin does to us, it keeps us trapped, and it’s heading for a terrible future, and people misabuse each other and oppress each other and all those things. So we are used— oppression actually is what you find everywhere else, to which Jesus says, what you need is a king like him. So he says, come to me.
So there you are, there’s the invitation to everybody, come to me. So all who labour under heavy laden. So that means, I mean, it’s our fault, we’ve rejected God, we suffer the consequences. But Jesus has compassion on us as we labour under heavy laden. He says, I can basically see the mess you’ve got yourself into.
You can do nothing about it. Come to me. I will take it on myself. I will deal with it once and for all. And he says, I will give you rest.
Now, that’s a Bible word. It means blessing. It means I will restore you to the relationship with God for which you are made. And I will keep you safe for all eternity, and you will have this guaranteed life forever. And all you have to do, he says, is come to me.
I will do it all. You will find rest for your souls.
