Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship
  • O Come O Come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel)
  • Amazing Grace
  • Knowing You
  • Happy Happy Day

      • Isaiah 7:10–16ANGLNIV2011

      • Matthew 1:18–25ANGLNIV2011

  • Bondi Massacre

    Last Sunday evening something horrific happened. News started filtering in about a shooting in Bondi. At first it was difficult to get accurate information, what was clear from early on was that Jewish people were being attacked, and it was heartbreaking.
    As information started to come in, it didn’t take long before a shirt occurred, whereby discussions started happening about solutions - how to stop a future event?
    Early off the block were proposals for further gun control. But many countered that it’s not gun control that’s needed, it’s immigration control.
    There was also questions raised about the adequancy of the police and suddenly everyone has an opinion.
    Some blame the governments lack of action. Others suggest this is part of a much bigger global antisemitic movement that’s only getting worse.
    So let me tell you the solution...
    Actually, that’s just the thing isn’t it. I could of course give you my opinion - I do have some… but really, I’d just be adding to the noise.
    But here’s the thing… we so desperately want a solution. We want something that we can cling to, so we can have hope that we won’t see something like this again.
    But you know what… even if you put all of the best ideas together, while hopefully there will be some difference, the reality is, antisemitism will still exist and bad things will still happen.
    Now, throughout this season of Advent, we’ve already spoke about the ultimate hope we have in knowing that Jesus is going to return.
    We’ve also explored the peace and joy that occur with the coming of Jesus.
    But today, on this last Sunday before Christmas, I want to explore a different aspect.
    We’re going to talk about love, but love expressed in a rather unexpected way.
    When a show of force was hoped for, the love was expressed in vulnerability.

    Isaiah

    As we’ve done throughout this Advent season, we’re going to start this morning with the time of Isaiah.
    Now I want to paint the historical context for you, as what we’re going to see, is someone who would be wanting a show of strength, but instead gets what could be described as the epitome of vulnerability.
    So we’re in the 700’s BC. The time of King David was some 300 odd years before this, and since this time under David’s rule, the once strong kingdom had been divided into a northern and southern kingdom.
    The southern kingdom is often referred to simply as Judah, and the king at the point we’re looking at today is Ahaz.
    Now, there are a whole bunch of political tensions that are going on with surrounding nations.
    For starters, the northern and southern kingdom are constantly at odds with each other.
    Just north of the northern kingdom there is another long-time rival in the name of Aram which has Damascus as it’s capital city.
    But even further north again, are what are essentially the new kids of the block - the Assyrians.
    The Assyrians however are proving to be very formidable opponents. They have managed to wipe out a bunch of other nations, and they’re making many other nations feel nervous.
    Okay, so with Assyria growing stronger and stronger, these first three nations I mentioned started getting nervous.
    Well, Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel decide to form an alliance. It would seem that the strategy is, let’s take out Judah first, then perhaps they’ll be more formidable if Assyria do decide to take them on.
    It is at this point that we come to Isaiah 7.
    You can imagine how King Ahaz of Judah is feeling at this point. He’s feeling vulnerable.
    I suspect words been getting out as well, and all the people of Judah want answers.
    He’s probably feeling a bit like our Prime Minister, with everyone shouting at him about what he should or should not do. They want this threat gone, and I suspect everyone’s got an opinion of how to do it.
    So what do you do when you have two foreign nations who have joined forces together breathing down your neck?
    The answer: trust God.
    God even tells him - look, these people you’re scared of… they’re just people.
    God says, if you just trust me, it’s going to work out well.
    If you look at verse 10, where we had our reading from before, God even says, I want you to ask for a sign, you can ask for whatever you want.
    Now I don’t know about you, but I often think - wouldn’t it be nice if there was some really clear sign about what I should or shouldn’t do. For Ahaz, he’s been given this opportunity.
    What does he do? He simply says: No, I will not put the Lord to the test.
    Now, you might wonder why he declines… I think the real reason is that this was not heading in the direction he wanted. You see, he doesn’t just want to rely on God, he wants to do a show of strength himself. He wants to be the master tactitian. He wants to be the hero.
    And so, in verse 13, it’s almost like Isaiah’s losing his cool.
    King Ahaz might not have asked for a sign, but God’s going to give him one anyone.
    The words that are spoken are words that we’re very familiar with, particularly at this time of year, but just for a moment, I want you to hear them in the context of King Ahaz who they are initially directed towards.
    “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceieve and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”.
    Now just remember, the sign that is needed here is the sign that King Ahaz doesn’t need to worry about the two nations to the north joining together to come and attack him.
    How is a virgin giving birth to a son meant to be a sign you don’t need to worry about an attack. I’m not quite sure how a young mum and a little baby are meant to take on two armies.
    We want strength. We’re shown vulnerability!
    The key is in what name the child is given. Immanuel.
    Names are important. The name means “God with us”.
    The name says to King Ahaz - God has not forgotten you. He loves you. He wants to be with you. Just trust that love. Don’t trust in your strength or the strength of others. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, then you will experience this love in the way it is meant to be experience. God is with you!

    The failure

    Now, let me just tell you how this story ends, because, unfortunately King Ahaz makes a mess of it all.
    Remember, he’s just been given a sign by God that it’s all going to work out, just trust that God is with you.
    But King Ahaz didn’t want a sign. He wants strength.
    Remember, everyone loves to throw their ideas of how to fix the situation. Well, there was one conniving plan that would be a real show of strength.
    Now, we have to remember the geography. It was the two nations to the north that were planning to attack Judah. But it was the Assyrians even further north that were really gearing up as something big. Well, King Ahaz decided the best way to eliminate the immediate threat, was to send a message to the king of Assyria, and guess what… it worked? The Assyrians did wipe out Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel!
    King Ahaz thought he was pretty clever - but it wasn’t the plan God wanted.
    Though there might have resulted in peace of sorts, they were now subjected to the Assyrians. They had to pay them tribute.
    Had King Ahaz relied on God, they would have had victory, and their allegiance would have only been to God, where it should have been in the first place.
    It must have broken God’s heart. He was offering them love with his presence. They took the path of power with a foreign nation.

    Joseph

    This was all happening in the 700’s BC, so let’s fast forward to the time when this sign - the sign of a virgin with a son finds it’s total fulfillment.
    I’m now in Matthew 1:18-25.
    Did you know, pretty much ever since King Ahaz made that decision to invite Assyria to help them out with their immediate threat, Israel were always subject to other nations. It is true that for roughly another 150 years or so after those events, Judah was able to maintain there own government, but there were always foreign nations looming large over them… restricting what they could or could not do.
    This became very much the case when they were sent into exile at the hands of the Babylonians in the year 586BC. It was later the Persians in control. And then the Greeks took over. And then it was the Roman’s - and that is who is in control when Jesus is born.
    By this time, the Jewish people were desperate for a Messiah. But here’s the thing, they still wanted the powerful messiah. They had forgotten the sign that had been given to King Ahaz.
    They remembered back to the glory days, when King David was on the throne. A strong military leader that would take back what rightfully belonged to them.
    But God was still saying, no, the answer is with a virgin who will have a son.
    As we all well know, this sign finds it’s very literal and real fulfillment in Mary and Joseph.
    As we know, Mary and Joseph were pledged to be married, but they were not yet married. We sometimes think of this pledge like we think of people getting engaged in our time, however it was a much stronger commitment.
    Yet, as per Jewish custom, sexual activity is strictly withheld until the wedding ceremony.
    Which of course is why when Mary found out she was pregnant, it was such a shock to Joseph.
    I’ve used the word vulnerable before, but this here really is a picture of vulnerability.
    Their reputation is now vulnerable. Their relationship is vulnerable. If things break down, and let’s just say, there is a high chance of it, they will be left with very little.
    This is all in addition to the fact that just the mere fact of a young mum with a young baby is always going to be facing many dangers - child mortality was high.
    Joseph wants a solution. He’d have options in front of him. Some where he saves face.
    But he does make up his mind. He’ll divorce her, but he’ll do it in such a way that will minimise any public disgrace.
    But that’s when the Lord appears to him in a dream.
    Now, while the circumstances that Joseph is facing is very different to that of King Ahaz, there is a similarity with what is said - God’s saying: trust me, I’ve got this.
    You’re going to need to make yourself vulnerable, but in this vulnerability you will find a love like no other. It is in this vulnerability that you will find strength.
    Thankfully, unlike King Ahaz who ended up choosing strenght, Joseph accepted this position of vulnerability.
    He’s told that through this son, people will be saved from their sins. We have the benefit of hindsight. We know that this will be done when Jesus dies on a cross and rises again to life. But for Joseph, he just has to accept it.

    God with us

    There is a call for vulnerability in one sense, but with faith, by following the path of Jesus, we find that we’re actually more secure than ever.
    The reason… because God is with us. Because God is faithful.
    Throughout the Old Testament this was proved time and time again - whatever God said would happen, did happen.
    The same in the New Testament. Whatever God said would happen, did happen.
    We also see God’s faithfulness throughout Church history. People would stray. The church would do horrific things. But God would keep turning up and bring things back the way it was meant to be.
    And it happens in our own lives. I’ve heard the testimony of many of you, and I’ve heard how even in the midst of your hardest moments, God has shown up and helped you through.
    God is faithful.
    Part of feeling vulnerable is actually in recognising that we can’t do it ourselves, rather our strength is found in Christ.

    Love

    Now I want to bring this back to our Advent theme which is love.
    The reason God chose to send his son to be with us is for one reason only - and that was love.
    He was not obliged to. God would have been in his rights to say - you know what, you messed up, so you can just suffer in what you deserve.
    But God loves us - and this is why we get Immanuel - God with us.
    You know, once we come to terms with the fact that God loves us, our whole perspective changes.
    Now there are likely a whole range of reasons why we struggle to believe God’s love for us.
    One is that God couldn’t possible love me because I’ve messed up too much.
    But let me just say, if God operated on this basis, that is, he only loves those who are worthy of it, then no one would receive this love.
    King Ahaz would not have received the sign of Immanuel.
    You can choose to not acknowledge God’s love… you can live a life contrary to that love… but God always loves you. When you accept his love, everything changes.
    There’s another reason though, why we might think God doesn’t love us, and that’s because bad things keep happening.
    We reason, because conflicts keep occurring… because it’s one strife after another… that if God loved us… well… surely this wouldn’t be happening.
    But thhe truth is, God has never promised that in this life everything will go perfectly. In fact, if anything, the promise is the opposite. We’re told there will be hardship in this life.
    All of the characters of the Bible go through hardship, including the really godly characters.
    Bad things happening is not a sign that God does not love you, rather we look for the way in which God’s presence is made known to us even in the midst of those troubled times.
    The fact that God chose to come and live among us, should be proof enough that you are loved by God. That he sees you in whatever circumstance you find yourself in, and he comes beside you and gives you what you need.

    Conclusion

    In this broken world, we need to remember that God has chosen to live with us.
    I started by talking about the horrific events that took place at Bondi last Sunday evening. It is in the midst of this, that God chooses to be with us.
    That tragedy is hard for us to comprehend. I spoke earlier about our tendency to try and solve the problem. Some say gun control. Others say fix imigration. We do actually need to have the conversations. They should be debated so we can come up with the best solution.
    However, take hope, not in the fact that those measures will dramatically change the situation, rather in knowing that whatever happens, you are loved and God is with you.
    As we get very close now to Christmas Day, it is wonderful to know that God has chosen to dwell with us, and we can know him in an intimate way.
    Let me pray...
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
secretary.tbbc@gmail.com
+6149823022
http://www.tanilbabaybaptistchurch.com
9 members