Message: “God is Committed!” from Bernard Gabbott
Sunday, 30 June 2019 by
Gathering Growing Going
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CloseFar too often when we try and fix things we end up making things worse. As Jacob and Rachel and the family flee from Laban they try and take matters into their own hands instead of trusting the promises of God. This leads to things getting worse and it is only the direct intervention of God that means there is a positive outcome. We, like Jacob and Rachel, have the choice to trust God or take matters into our own hands. Far too often we choose to take matters into our own hands and this only makes things worse. But because for God’s direct intervention in sending Jesus, can we see that God is determined to keep His promises to us despite all of our attempts to do things on our own.
Scripture References: Genesis 31:1-55, Genesis 28:10-15, Titus 3:1-7
Related Topics: Genesis | More Messages from Ben Connelly | Download Audio
What is greatness? In particular, what is greatness in the kingdom of God? That is the question addressed in the passage from Matthew today. Jesus is approached by two different groups. First, the family of Zebedee: James and John and their mother. Second, two blind men. Jesus asks both groups the same question “What do you want me to do for you?” What they request is quite revealing. And so is Jesus’ response to their requests. The Zebedees request position, status, reward for effort. The blind men request mercy, for their eyes to be open. Which request lines up with Jesus’ teaching previously? Which request do we tend to go to ourselves?
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.
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