'Women do the dishes'

A sermon from Allan Rees at Townhill Baptist Church in the evening service on Sunday 29th March 2009. Text: 1 Timothy 2: 8-15

Both men and women are made in the image of God. They are equal but have different roles.
There is nothing in the whole Bible to suggest that men and women aren't equal.

In Genesis, Woman was created out of Man. Eve was created as Adam's helper. Why is this so? Because God desired it to be this way. Even though both had sinned in taking the fruit, and indeed Eve had taken the fruit first, in Genesis 3 God calls out to Adam "Where are you". In Romans we are told that all sinned in Adam.

In 1 Timothy the Holy Spirit is, through Paul, addressing people living in Ephesus where many worship a sex goddess so some of the comments about braided hair and apparell would be related to that. God is more interested in personal holiness than what people are wearing. God looks at the heart, the motive. It's about personal holiness not actions (see v8 for example).

Your authority in life comes from one of only two places:
Either
1. 'God says', or
2. 'I think'

Paul refers to the creation order and not to culture to explain.
We often don't like certain things and so we go for what we think instead of obeying the authority of God in the whole of His Word.
God has total authority over you and your life.
Do we accept and obey just because Jesus says?
His truth has all the authority of heaven behind it.
What a huge different it would make if you acknowledge all the authority of God in your life.
All of our talk, study and prayer is a waste of time unless we obey.
Seth Joshua preached "Surrender to God"
Seth Joshua and others were spiritual giants only because they were delighted to submit to God even when they didn't understand God's ways.
God always acts for the sake of His Name and Glory. It is all about Him.

The Brawn Supremacy*

The Australian Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix of the 2009 season, Sunday 29th March 2009, Albert Park, Melbourne.

What a great Grand Prix!

I have been excited about the start of the Grand Prix season for a couple of weeks now. I was getting especially excited when I heard that the new Brawn GP team were doing so amazingly well. This is a real fairytale story. Only a few months ago there was no Brawn team, Button and Barrichello did not have teams to race with and it looked bleak. There were rumours about potential buyers but then finally Ross Brawn and co managed to get together a buy out of the old Honda team and save the day. I was so pleased for Jenson and Rubens that I wanted my friends Boja and Plip to name their new baby Ross as a tribute :) So they had a team, which was great news, but it also turns out they had an amazing new car! And now they've outclassed the rest of the field in Melbourne to take first and second places in the Grand Prix. Absolutely fantastic stuff!

So I was very pleased for Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. I was also chuffed to bits for Lewis Hamilton. Lewis had a dismal qualifying session and it looks like McLaren are going to struggle for pace for a while. Hamilton qualified in 15th position but then was knocked pack to 18th because he had to change his gear box and therefore suffer a penalty. So he started in 18th but he managed to finish 3rd! It was an incredible piece of driving and it shows just how good Lewis Hamilton is when he has a car that isn't competitive and yet he still manages to gain 6 points from 18th on the grid.

I was disappointed for Sebastien Vettel. I like Vettel. He is a great up and coming young driver and seems like a really decent chap as well. At the start of the race he managed to jump up into 2nd place and proceeded to follow Jenson Button quite closely for the rest of the race. Well, up until 3 laps from the end that is, when he was being caught by Robert Kubica in a corner and tried to defend his position. His unwillingness to give up the place caused him and Kubica to collide and put them both out of the race. That was a shame. The other big shame for me was Heikki Kovalainen going out on the first lap.

It was a good race for the only F1 debutant this year Sebastien Buemi. Buemi managed to finish 7th and therefore pick up 2 points for his Toro Rosso team.

I just want to finish by pointing out that Ferrari scored no points. I must admit that this brings a smile to my face. I've no idea really why I feel this way towards Ferrari, I have no reason to, and yet I find that I do. I like them about as much as I like Liverpool Football Club.

Here's to the next race in Malaysia on the weekend and more success for Brawn!

*I confess I stole this rather witty title from the BBC Formula 1 website!

Haik Hovsepian Mehr

Tonight in church we watched a documentary film called A Cry From Iran. It is about a Christian martyr called Haik Hovsepian Mehr who was the Chairman of the Council of Protestant Ministers of Iran. Haik spoke up for the rights of Christians in Iran. The film tells his story as well as referring to the stories of other Christian leaders in Iran who were killed for their faith. I would urge you to read any articles that you can find about Haik. Here are a few that I found:
Open Doors
The Independent
The Hovsepian Ministries Website

The video caused me to ask one question of myself: What am I doing? I am here for one purpose - the glory of Jesus Christ - yet my life is full of a mountain of clutter.

May I love the Lord Jesus like Haik Hovsepian Mehr loved Jesus.

How much more...

Romans 5: 8 - 11

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Two points from this morning's sermon:

1. If Jesus loved us while we were His enemies, while we hated Him, enough to go to the cross and save us, how much more will He love us now that we are reconciled to Him?!
2. If Jesus, whilst at His absolute weakest (i.e. dead!), was able to save us completely, how much more is He able to do great things (and to them in, for and through us!) whilst He is now alive and reigning in glory?!

These two things have blessed me greatly today.

A Day at Duke Street

My notes from the morning and evening services at Duke Street on Sunday 8th March 2009. Both sermons were preached by their Senior Minister, Dr Liam Goligher.

Morning - Our Great Redeemer - Isaiah 59

Background found in Isaiah 58v3. God's people are complaining about having no sense of God's power or interest in spite of everything they're doing.
In chapter 59 God speaks to His people.Nee
God promises a redeemer - a close relative who comes when you need help.

We see that God's people need (vs1-8), want (vs9-15) and have (vs15b-end) a redeemer.

Need

Their prayers were not being heard because of their iniquities (v2).
We still need a redeemer even as His people - the fallen life and nature is still there and can be seen in our actions, word, thoughts and motivations (vs7-8) - see Romans 3v23.
We can see 2 doctrines from this:

1. Common grace - God restrains evil most of the time. We sometimes see glimpses of just how evil us humans can be but generally this is restrained.
2. Total depravity - sin is in everybody.

Want

Isaiah57v19 - comfort for the people who feel sorry for their sin.
Matthew 5v4

Isaiah 59:9-15
The only hope is in confession - we cannot help ourselves (10-onwards)

Have

Their iniquities displeased the Lord and He saw that there was no one to get in between.
So God did it for them! (v16)
God acts as a warrior avenger for His people
v20 - these people can look forward to a redeemer - those who turn from, grieve and mourn over their sin.
v21 - an intra-trinitarian conversation
God does this because of His love for His Son.

Evening - A Near Death Experience - Revelation 3 vs 1-13

Sardis

Never judge by appearances.
Sardis looked alive but was dead.
The 7 spirits refer to the perfect operation, energies and ministries of the Holy Spirit.
The 7 stars are the angel representatives of the churches.
Persecution is not mentioned here.
The Devil doesn't have to persecute a dead church.
It is still a church so there must have been a minority alive but the majority are dead. Jesus was not real to their daily life. Compare with the fig tree in Matthew 21 - the tree had leaves but bore no fruit.
The letter is similar to the one to Ephesus.
The work of the Spirit is fuelled by people with living, vibrant relationships with Jesus through Him.
The people of the church idolised the things that the world idolises. There was nothing distinct about them.
Are we different?
People are brought to life by the Word of Jesus.
See Jesus' promises in vs4,5

Philadelphia

v8 - They had little power but were commended.
Where it counted the church was strong.
Keys - see Isaiah 22
They were being assaulted by the Jews - persecuting them and excluding them from the community. These Jews are liars - see Romans 2:28-29
Jesus promises (v8) an open door - that many will come seeking the way of salvation.
vs11-12 if they hold fast they will be a pillar.

The key is relationship to Jesus Christ. Do you have a living, personal relationship?

1. Am I so enmeshed in the world that no one knows the difference?
2. If you have been rejected by family, friends, colleagues, others because of Jesus - Jesus knows about this.