Bernard Gabbott - Sunday, 15 October 2023
Living in the Now
Scripture References: Genesis 36:1-43, Psalms 39:1-13, Matthew 2:1-18
Gathering Growing Going
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CloseLife in the present, living in the now – it is the default mantra of much that we experience around us today. And in many ways, it does make life easier (and it seems to have the ring of truth, too!). As we return to Genesis, we meet again the man who epitomises this in Genesis: Esau. A likeable man, a man to admire, a good bloke even (especially as we see him greet Jacob in Genesis 33), Esau is a man of immense passion and emotion – all in the now, the present. He is a man who lives with no sense of the eternally important. His mind is on the next stew, the next steak, the next hunt, the next beer. And it leads him to turn his back on the grace of God – all because he has no grasp on the eternally crucial. Sure, he becomes a great nation, and Edom has kings before Israel. But at what cost?
Scripture References: Genesis 36:1-43, Psalms 39:1-13, Matthew 2:1-18
Related Topics: Genesis | More Messages from Bernard Gabbott | Download Audio
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It all begins in Adam | Bernard Gabbott | Sunday, 21 April 2013 | Listen | ||
Why is it so? Part 1 | Bernard Gabbott | Saturday, 4 June 2011 | Listen | ||
Why is it so? Part 2 | Bernard Gabbott | Saturday, 4 June 2011 | Listen | ||
Why is it so? Part 3 questions | Bernard Gabbott | Saturday, 4 June 2011 | Listen |
The Department of Home Affairs has an Australian Values Statement on its website. Visa applicants for residency/citizenship must sign this. And one of its key principles is that we are a ‘fair-go’ country. We would all agree with that. I suspect, too, that we would summarise our ‘fair go’ culture by stating that ‘you get what you deserve/what you work for’. In fact, many of us have established our relational, social and work ethics on this very principle. But is that what the ‘kingdom of heaven is like’? What is its value statement? What is the hallmark of such a kingdom, and its ruler, even its citizenship? Today, after Jesus has assured his disciples that the dependent will be provided for by their king, he now uses the same ideas to issue with them a warning not to abuse, misuse, ignore or become entitled in the face of the kingdom of heaven hallmark—which is grace.
Jesus deals with the question of ‘Who belongs in the kingdom?’ Is it children? Is it the good? Is it the godly? And, how and what does this look like? This question of ‘belonging’ is one that is constant in our lives – where do I belong, do I belong, what does belonging look like? And Jesus is very clear: the kingdom of heaven is made up of the dependent, the reliant, the weak – just like children.
The book of Esther recounts a period where God's people are in exile, aliens in a foreign land. Sounds like our time doesn't it? Even when God seems absent, He is at work. The great reversal of power at the heart of the universe has already taken place. Jesus won victory over death on the cross and in His resurrection. Satan the great enemy of God and His people, has been defeated. We wait in the now but not yet. Waiting for the Lord Jesus to return and give His people relief and rest. But as we wait, we share the good news of the gospel, call people to faith in Jesus, faithfully endure persecution, knowing that our deliverance is assured.
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