After Zechariah 9 spoke of Yahweh’s shepherd-King coming to Zion, followed by a description of God’s regathered people living safely in a world where wrongs have been righted, the just rewarded and the evil punished (ch. 10). Chapter 11 strikes a jarring note. It warns of a flock doomed to slaughter for whom Yahweh has no pity. God’s flock needs good shepherds and sometimes he judges them through giving them the leaders they deserve. The flock of God will always need shepherd-leaders who will lead them to Jesus the good shepherd, feed them with his words and protect them from the danger posed by imposters and wolves.
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 20th September, 2020
Steve Messer Wisdom/Job talks (1 of 10)
Steve Messer Wisdom/Job talks (2 of 10)
Steve has graciously agreed to re-work his Job series for us.
Given his own personal difficult circumstances this is a book that he has thought about deeply and we look forward to his presentation of the wisdom to be found in that book as we consider our own circumstances.
There will be a series of 10 talks and they will be available on our website. Click on the Owls to jump to the Job web page where they can be found.
A best-selling book on church growth says ‘that anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart…’ Accordingly evangelism must begin by addressing people’s ‘felt needs’. The author’s motivation seems sound (seeing people converted to Christ), but what of his method?
It is unlikely that the prophet Micah would have agreed. His was a less rosy conclusion on people’s unassisted capacity to determine what was in their best interests. Micah, a younger contemporary of Isaiah, addressed the same problems among God’s people: their complacent inattention to the righteous requirements of his law expressed in idolatry and social injustice. Like the other biblical prophets his message was unpopular and therefore largely ignored. Can you hear the biting sarcasm as he denounces the windy lies of
the people’s preferred prophets? They wanted preachers who would tell them what they wanted to hear, satirised here as promises of lots of grog. No doubt an Australian church outreach which promised an all you can eat barbeque and free beer would attract a crowd who felt their needs would be met that way!
Partying might deliver some short-term thrill, but Micah’s message, which his audience warned him not to preach (2:6), was of looming disaster which would deliver ‘utter ruin’ (2:3-4). In its light, their petty pleasures would seem ‘small beer’, that they would have an eternity to regret.
Felt needs are a most unreliable guide. In an older best-seller (still in print though first published in 1536!) a pastor from former times, John Calvin wrote, ‘…the human mind is…a perpetual forge of idols… stuffed… with presumptuous rashness, dar[ing] to imagine a god suited to its own capacity’.[1]
With our idol-prone minds we will always imagine our needs are best met by pleasant or convenient things. ‘Not so’, says Micah! We really need to repent and turn away from self-satisfaction to walking humbly with God (6:8). We really need to come for our peace and security to Jesus the shepherd-king born in Bethlehem (5:2-4, cf Mt 2:5-6), seeking in him God’s pardon for sin and living lives of obedience in gratitude for his delight in showing us the steadfast
love which has cast our sins ‘into the depths of the sea’ (7:18-20).
[1] John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion. 1.11.8.
Zechariah 9 – 11:3 is a unit, and so 10 to 11:3 is part B of a complete story-line. We therefore review, in Ch 9, the rescue of the prisoners by the hero, the humble King. In ch 10 we have a brief intermission to get our “world vision” corrected, and then we see how Yahweh deals with two groups. Firstly His precious people (3b – 12), and then the new enemy v2, 3 & ch 11:1-3. It is a “happily ever after” story with challenges for God’s people.
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 13th September, 2020
Steve Messer Wisdom/Job talks (1 of 10)
Steve Messer Wisdom/Job talks (2 of 10)
Steve has graciously agreed to re-work his Job series for us.
Given his own personal difficult circumstances this is a book that he has thought about deeply and we look forward to his presentation of the wisdom to be found in that book as we consider our own circumstances.
There will be a series of 10 talks and they will be available on our website. Click on the Owls to jump to the Job web page where they can be found.
Woe to you who desire a the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom
with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20 ESV)
Like any time of hardship, the Covid 19 situation is causing some heightened speculation about the end of all things and which world leader might be the Antichrist. It’s probably not too difficult to guess which names come up frequently. And the problems we face today, which various politicians claim to have the best answers for are pretty much the same problems as the northern kingdom of Israel faced just before their exile by the Assyrians around 700BC.
There were extreme inequalities, various international political tensions, food security issues relating to climate and disease control (eg. famine and locust plagues 4:7-10). And because these times were politically tumultuous there was speculation about the timing of God’s kingdom. Israel was looking for the coming of Yhwh to rule his people, and they were looking forward to this day when all idols and their worshippers would be exposed and Israel would be vindicated as Yhwh came to delight in his people.
However, there was a massive problem that Israel had completely failed to grasp, which is that Yhwh hated their religious assemblies and feasts and he wouldn’t accept their offerings and sacrifices (5:21-22). It’s not that they weren’t doing these things in accordance with how they were regulated in the Law, it’s that they were neglecting fundamental aspects of daily life that reflected the nature of God himself, also revealed in the law. Again, we see this concern in Scripture, that as idolaters we love ritual more than faithful obedience because it is much easier.
Amos warns the people, that to assign any real value to their ‘religious practices’ they must stop trampling on the poor, perverting justice, hating the truth, persecuting the righteous and taking bribes. This is summarised in the phrase, 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amo 5:24 ESV). Amos’ main point is these people’s desire for the day of the Lord is foolish, because if it did come to them, it would be devastating. It would be according to the proverbial, ‘out of the frying pan
into the fire.’ Or, in Amos’ words, having fled a lion only to meet a bear, or, coming home to your place of rest and being bitten by a serpent.
We need to be careful what we ‘wish’ for. To want the day of the Lord while living in defiance of his word is to invite disaster. The northern kingdom of Israel had to learn this the hard way and their fate reminds us that the only hope of meeting this day of the Lord with joy and certainty is by the greater David and the restoration of his fallen tent:
“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. (Amos 9:11, 13 ESV)
One of many ironies in the Bible is that God’s people are safest when they are weak because their dependence is in their God. Sprinkled throughout Zechariah 9 are various reminders of this as it refers to characters such as Joseph and his rise to power through a series of ‘set backs’ and David who defeated Goliath with a shepherds sling. And yet it is still a surprise to most that when Yhwh comes to his temple in glory, as promised in Zechariah, he will come humility riding on a donkey. How do these ideas function in Zechariah and what do they mean for us?
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 6th September, 2020
Steve has graciously agreed to re-work his Job series for us.
Given his own personal difficult circumstances this is a book that he has thought about deeply and we look forward to his presentation of the wisdom to be found in that book as we consider our own circumstances.
There will be a series of 10 talks and they will be available on our website. Click on the Owls to jump to the Job web page where they can be found.
In chapter 7, Zechariah is asked whether those who have returned from exile in Babylon must continue their fasts lamenting Jerusalem’s former destruction now that temple reconstruction is well underway? The prophet doesn’t directly answer the question, instead pronouncing a series of prophetic oracles in chapter 8 which show that Yahweh’s jealous love for his people will one day transform Jerusalem, making it peaceful and prosperous for all who will remain faithful. They must be courageous, apply themselves to their work in obedience and therefore seek to be a blessing to others. Eventually he tells them that their fasting will be transformed into feasting, causing the nations to gather to Yahweh when they hear he is with his people. Zechariah points to a glorious future and calls God’s people to live now as they will then. The call to us is to live in our day in light of that day when God dwells with his people eternally and until then to continue participating in the “temple-building” work begun by the Lord Jesus.
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 30th August, 2020
“The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history” applies at a few different levels, including to Israel as they seek to re-establish Jerusalem after the exile to Babylon. Zechariah reminds them of the ‘temple sermon’ of Jeremiah, who had to address the superstitious belief that while the temple was in Jerusalem the city could not be destroyed irrespective of the people of God’s disregard of his word. They were wrong! How are the returned exiles going? What does Zechariah’s warning mean for us?
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 23rd August, 2020
Zechariah 6 marks the end of the book’s first section as the prophet receives his eighth vision concerning four horse-drawn chariots which parallels the first vision with its four horses. The judgement that was anticipated in vision one is now made actual as God’s Spirit finds rest in Babylon. Times of peace and rest are the right times for building a temple and we now find more about the temple Yahweh will have built. A man called the ‘Branch’ will accomplish this. The Branch is a figure introduced in the writings of earlier prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. Zechariah adds to his portrait: he will be someone who combines the roles of king and priest as he establishes God’s dwelling place among his people.
The following aspects of a worship service are included as a suggested guide to worshipping as a household for Sunday 16th August, 2020
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
We live in a time when terms such as ‘displaced people’ are all too well understood. This is usually caused by the failure of human rule at some level, such as racism, unjust socio-political structures, war induced poverty and so on. But, in the Biblical narrative this has one underlying cause, which is forceful removal or displacement of our first parents from the primal holy place, Eden.
Eden is structured as a holy place with many similarities to the later tabernacle and temple, particularly that the divine image bearer, Adam as the kingly priest, was to serve and keep the holy paradise (Genesis 2:15).
This same combination of verbs applies to the priests in the tabernacle (Numbers 18:7); holy places faced east (Numbers 3:38) and Cherubim are fierce guardians of what is holy (Numbers 7:89).
The seduction of the claim that humanity could rule in place of God without consequence persists in the uncountable failed attempts to re-create paradise/utopia. And this failure has been working itself out throughout history. We are now ‘like God’ in ‘knowing good and evil’ and we have demonstrably failed to be able to rule this world as arbitrators of good and evil.
Some commentators have noted the silver lining to this dark cloud in that living in this world forever, where humans determine good and evil apart from
God, would be unbearable. Death is the only consequence of being barred from the holy presence of the author of life. Hence, a fierce guardian of God’s holiness wields a serious weapon in keeping humanity from the tree of life.
Instead of serving and keeping the garden paradise Adam will be kept from the holy garden and serve the ground from which he was taken until he returns to it. However, there is a way back to Eden and access to the tree of life but only via the death of the one who gives life, the lamb who was slain, who rules the Eden-like new Jerusalem.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
As the official government response to the Covid-19 crisis prolongs and extends the scope of the limits to our freedoms, it seems sensible to think through some of the implications for us as a church, especially since we are prevented by law from meeting together as we are commanded to do and as we love to do (Heb 10:24-25).
It is a Christian duty to be good citizens. The Lord Jesus taught that we must be obedient to governing authorities and give them what is their due (Mt 22:21). The Apostle Paul echoed this teaching, noting that, “whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed” and that we obey “not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience” (Ro 13:1-7). Paul
elsewhere urged that we pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim 2:1-4), just as Jeremiah had previously instructed Jews in exile in Babylon to, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7).
These concerns were important to the earliest Christians, as they were outsiders in society. The Apostle Peter addressed his readers as “exiles” (1 Pe 1:1), and “sojourners” or resident-aliens (1Pe 2:11), people living in someone else’s country with no rights of citizenship. Peter continued, that since that was their status, it imposed a special obligation on Christians in regard to their
behaviour. He wrote: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:12-17).
Clearly, living as good citizens is an important characteristic of the lives of followers of the Lord Jesus. Christians must always seek to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10). Adorn means to cause something to have an attractive appearance. The Greek word Paul uses is the one from which our English word ‘cosmetics’ derives. Our goal as Christians should be to make what we believe look beautiful to others by how we behave and avoid ever giving anyone cause to blaspheme the name of God (Ro 2:24, cf Is 52:5).
There is, however, a place for Christian civil disobedience. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were commanded with the rest of Babylon to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, they refused, preferring being cast into the fiery furnace to serving the king’s gods or worshipping the image (Dan 3). Likewise, Daniel, when he was banned from praying to the living God by King Darius, refused to obey and suffered the punishment of the lions’ den (Dan 6). Then in the NT Peter and John, having been told previously to cease preaching in Jesus’ name (Acts 4:18-22), continued and were brought again to the authorities where they defended their actions.
A clear principle emerges from these examples. When faced with a choice between obeying human authorities and thereby disobeying God, a Christian, must, as Peter said, “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). A well-known American church has recently used this verse to justify its decision to return to public gatherings in defiance of state law. We have decided current circumstances do not warrant such an approach.
Acts 5:41 records that Peter and the other apostles rejoiced that they were “counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name [of Jesus]”. The order they were given by the authorities and the punishment they received were because they were Christians. The situation confronting us at present is different. It is required of us that we comply with an order binding on all fellow citizens who are also being asked to forego normally legal activities such as eating out or going to the football. Christians are not being singled out “for the sake of the name” and so in the interests of adorning our doctrine, loving our neighbour (Mt 22:39), doing all we can to live at peace with those around us (Ro 12:18) and giving “no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God” (1 Cor 10:32), we feel the appropriate Christian response is to continue to be obedient to those in government who are “God’s servants for [our] good” (Ro 13:4).
Given that none of us can know just how long these restrictions will be in place there are certain things we need to do. We must take positive measures to compensate for our inability to meet together. That is why we will continue to provide an order of service with Bible readings, links to internet recordings of suitable songs, suggestions for prayer and videos of Bible teaching each week. If you have suggestions for how our delivery of this content could be improved or if you have ideas of other things we could include, please make contact with one of the elders. Since a vital part of our gatherings is being together for the purpose of encouraging each other (eg Eph 4:29; Heb 10:25), we need to seek out alternative means of doing this. A number of us gather at
11:00AM each Sunday via Zoom for this purpose. Connect Groups are functioning by Zoom as well. If you are not a member of a Connect Group, why not think about joining one? They offer shared engagement with God’s word, are good fun and provide avenues to give and receive encouragement as well as making needs known so prayer and other support can be given. While physically meeting with people outside your immediate family is impossible, please stay in contact with others by phone. We are told we must “bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). Please be vigilant regarding the needs of others. If you have a need, please bring it to the attention of the elders or someone in the church. Please don’t suffer alone or in silence.
Above all, do not become disheartened. Paul wrote that his experiences of severe hardship had a purpose, to teach him to rely not on himself, but on God who raises the dead (2 Cor 1:9). These are times unlike any we have lived through before and they might, therefore be making some of us anxious. It’s at times like these that we need to be finding strength in God by reading and
taking to heart his word and relying on him in prayer. We need to do these things all the time whether life is smooth or rough, but if you have neglected these essential disciplines, now is a great time to recommit yourself to them. Make the psalms your friends and pray them back to God. Tell God what you are trusting him for. Read John and thank God for Jesus, “the word become flesh” (Jn 1:1). Read Romans and be reminded of the amazing grace of God that results in us being free from condemnation and unable to be separated from his love (Ro 8:1, 39). Heed Paul’s command “Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Ro 12:12). Find hope in the encouragement of the Scriptures (Ro 15:4), remembering that our redemption is drawing near (Lk 21:28), our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed (Ro 13:11).
After Zechariah 9 spoke of Yahweh’s shepherd-King coming to Zion, followed by a description of God’s regathered people living safely in a world where wrongs have been righted, the just rewarded and the evil punished (ch. 10). Chapter 11 strikes a jarring note. It warns of a flock doomed to slaughter for whom Yahweh has no pity. God’s flock needs good shepherds and sometimes he judges them through giving them the leaders they deserve. The flock of God will always need shepherd-leaders who will lead them to Jesus the good shepherd, feed them with his words and protect them from the danger posed by imposters and wolves.
