Looking at God The
King Had Another Move QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS - Did Jesus rise bodily? SERMON
NOTEBOOK: “People Like Us” - Thief on the
Cross Praying
With The Prayers Of The Bible - Praying the Prayer of
Forgiveness What
is the state of your heart this Lent? The
King Had Another Move Of all
the folktales that circulated in Supposedly
a brilliant German alchemist, living in the early 16th
century, he began to delve into witchcraft and finally
made a pact with the Devil. For twenty-four years
he would have everything he wanted but at the end of that
time the Devil would claim his soul. The story was
popularised in The
Devil kept his promise and for twenty-four years Faust
enjoyed fame, knowledge and the satisfaction of every
desire. But the years rolled quickly by and Faustus was
gripped with terrible foreboding as the end drew near.
On his last night he met a fearful death as the Devil
claimed his soul for damnation. The drama attracted
an artist who committed it to canvas. He depicted Faustus
and the Devil playing chess and he entitled it
'Checkmated.' The game is over and the Devil has won. He
gloats across the chess table at the doomed Faust whose
face is rigid with terror. The
picture hung in a French gallery and many people came to
see it. One day a great master of the game came to view
it. He gazed at it intently for hour after hour. Suddenly
the silence was broken by his cry, 'It's lie!
The game is not over! The king has another move!'
The chess master saw what everyone else had missed.
In the picture Faustus still has his king. The king
can yet bring victory out of seeming disaster. On the
first Easter, the enemies of Jesus were jubilant. The
chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees, had all
conspired to put him to death. How they hated Him! He
had done mighty works. He had healed the sick; he
had cast out demons from the tormented; he had calmed the
storms and raised the dead. But they rejected Him,
branded Him a blasphemer and brought about his arrest,
trial and execution. The
Romans, thinking Him just another rabble-rousing
nationalist, were glad to see him dead. So the Jews
and the Romans celebrated while the body of Jesus lay on
the cold slab in Joseph's grave. They had triumphed!
He was gone! He was dead! He was buried!
He would not come back! His followers were
scattered. He would soon be forgotten. The
brief story of Jesus of Nazareth had ended in the tomb. But
they were all wrong! wrong!! wrong!!! The game was
not over! The king had another move! The King
of Heaven raised His Son Jesus from death, to live
forever in the power of an endless life. And
Christians have been celebrating that great event for two
thousand years! But there's more! In all our
lives, in every difficulty, in every need, in every
heartbreak, in all of life's darkest hours – our
King is with us. And He always has another move! by the
Revd Dr Herbert McGonigle, Senior Lecturer in Historical
Theology & Church History, Nazarene Theological
College, Manchester QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS: Did Jesus rise bodily? Must
we be held to the crudeness of a literal resurrection of
Jesus Christ? Is it not enough to describe the
Easter event as a wonderful metaphor of the Christian
hope? Certainly
there are books written by supposed academics that
solemnly put forward such theories. But we only
need ten minutes thought to realise that we are in
dreamland if we think like that. Just think! Here
are twelve men whose world has come to an end. One
of them is already dead – by his own hand. Another
has himself publicly denied that he had ever met Jesus,
and retires from the scene a broken man. Yet
another takes the mother of the crucified leader, to look
after her in his own home. It looks like an obvious end-of-story
sequel. There is also a pessimist in the group
– who had forecast disaster all along. (John
11:16). It
only takes the confusion of a night arrest to cause the
twelve to disintegrate completely (Matthew 26:56). What
caused them ever to come together again – to the
extent that their enemies would describe them as 'these
men who have turned the world upside down' (Acts 17:6) A
metaphor? Beautiful picture language? Please!
As well as the empty tomb, there are the changed
disciples that have to be explained. We
hear from time to time of someone who has managed to come
back from a death (or near-death) experience. Even
to the extent of being nailed down in the coffin first!
But how long does the excitement last? I can just
remember such an event. A man had 'died', and then
made the come-back. The news item just squeezed
into the BBC World at One news programme. I never
saw it featured in any paper. And the man's name?
I'd forgotten it within ten minutes. Presumably it
will be on a gravestone one day. If
Jesus Christ had not clearly – and unequivocally
– been raised bodily as the permanent conqueror of
death on behalf of the human race, we would never have
heard of him. The demoralised movement would have
fizzled out on the launching pad. For a while,
memories of a carpenter-healer would have persisted
around Galilee; then 'The Jesus Event' would have ended
up like The Theudas Event (Acts 5.36), washed over like a
child's sandcastle on the beach by the tides of history
– until the three-year blip would be flattened out
as though it had never been. Look
at 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, where, in a single unbroken
sentence, Christ is the subject of four verbs: He
died, was buried, was raised, and appeared. Implication:
what was raised was what was buried. Do the
metaphor theorists think Jesus actually died? Yes,
yes. Was buried? Sure. Was raised on the
third day (always that insistence on 'the third day'!)
Er, no – that's metaphorical. Appeared? No,
that's metaphorical too. So
within a single sentence, Paul can switch from factual
language to metaphorical language? Please...! From
'The Top 100 Questions – biblical answers to popular
questions' by Richard Bewes (Christian Focus) SERMON
NOTEBOOK: “People Like Us” Thief
on the Cross: Luke 23: 32-43 Luke's
account of the crucifixion emphasises the mocking of the
crowd, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself' (35,37,39).
In their view a Messiah does not hang on a cross and
suffer. In considering the man who was crucified with
Jesus, we are also confronted with the issue of how Jesus
secures salvation for us. One
Criminal's Taunts The
words of one of those crucified with Jesus reflected the
crowd's taunts: 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and
us.' He highlights the question of Jesus' identity: how
can he save others, when he cannot save himself from
death? And yet, unlike his companion, he failed to see
that the cross itself is the means of salvation. * What
kind of Messiah was Jesus? One
Criminal's Faith The
other criminal's response in his last moments is a moving
expression of faith. When challenging the other man, he
spoke of the utter injustice of the crucifixion: 'this
man has done nothing wrong.' He perceived the truth that
Jesus' death was on behalf of all people. In a wonderful
picture of grace, 'remember me', he confessed his guilt
and secured Jesus' forgiveness and mercy. * In
what ways have we experienced God's grace? The
Messiah's Promise In
reply, Jesus promised the man life from the moment of
death; 'Today you will be with me in paradise.' Jesus
used the picture of a walled garden to help the man
understand his promise of protection and security in
God's love and acceptance eternally. * If
you were to die tonight, how confident would you be of
being with Jesus? 'For
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God.' (1 Peter 3:18). Praying
With The Prayers Of The Bible - Praying
the Prayer of Forgiveness: By the
Revd Dr Herbert McGonigle, Senior Lecturer in Historical
Theology & Church History, Nazarene Theological
College, Manchester Numbers
Aaron
immediately cried out to Moses, confessing his own and
his sister's sin and foolishness (vv. 11,12). Then
Moses demonstrated why the Lord honoured him so highly.
He expressed no anger, no vindictiveness, no spirit of
'settling scores' against his brother and sister. In
spite of their antagonism and jealousy, Moses loved them
both and 'cried to the Lord' on behalf of Miriam.
He prayed one of the shortest prayers found in the Bible.
'O God, heal her, I pray' (v.13). He was grieved
and full of compassion to see his sister so terribly
afflicted. The prayer was prompted by the love that
forgives, the love that overlooks what others have done
to us, the love that wants God's best for them. And
only God's grace can make us like that. The prayer
is so short, so simple, so direct, so personal. 'O
God, heal her, I pray.' And God heard and answered.
As a warning to others who might challenge Moses'
authority, Miriam was quarantined for seven days, then
fully healed and restored (vv.14, 15). How does
this incident help us in our prayer life?
First, true prayer is born in compassion. The lips
express the deep feelings of the heart. Second, God
will not hear our prayers if our hearts are not right
with him and with one another. While we cherish
resentments and grudges, our praying is powerless. Third,
while there are many times when prayer needs to be
persistent, there are also times when it is a simple,
deep cry from the heart. What
is the state of your heart this Lent? Famous
last words always have a lot to say about the person
concerned. These words of David reveal 'a man after my
own heart; he will do everything I want him to do' (Acts David
was proud to be 'the son of Jesse'. In the
setting of home David learned the key principle of being
faithful in the small things. Having been faithful in
caring for the flock, he became the shepherd of a nation.
David
never forgot that he was 'exalted' by God. As the
youngest of nine brothers, David knew that it was God
himself who had taken hold of his life, and got him to
where he was. While not over-estimating himself, he was
able to act boldly knowing that God was with him. David
was a person 'anointed' by God. Although
anointed as king by Samuel, David still respected the
spiritual authority of King Saul, when he sought to kill
him. David proved the anointing of the Holy Spirit in
every aspect of his life. David
described himself as a 'singer of songs'. His
psalms are songs for all seasons - songs of pain and
pleasure wrung out of him by the intensity and intimacy
of his life with God. For him, worship lay at the heart
of life, and our calling is to be a worshipper first and
foremost. As you
reflect on David's life, ask yourself these questions: How
does my perspective on God compare with David's? In
what areas do I need to resolve to know God better in the
coming year? |