Thursday -  21 May 2009

(sermon by Dr A van Eeden)

Luke 24:50-53

It is my prayer that this service this morning and during this service, we will feel as privileged as that small group of people who were there when the Lord ascended up into heaven. They were privileged above all other privileged people. And the fact that they were such a small group, made them even more privileged. That God had selected them out of all the people that were going to live in this world across the centuries that God had selected this handful of people to share in his final victory over sin in this world.

Often we preach about and talk about the privileged of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. How few people are selected to share in the sufferings of Christ? But friends it’s in a way an even greater blessing to be selected to share in his final victory and joy. I think to them it didn’t matter that they were only a handful of people, even if the whole world were busy with their things, here they were with the final victory of Christ, and when He gave his final instructions to his disciples. What did they have to do, to so-to-say qualify to be part of this selected choice group who could witness this? What did they have to go through in order for the Lord to select them to experience these last minutes of joy in this world with Him?

There is nothing that can compare to the joy, when you realise I am one with Christ, as He celebrates his final victory. What a pity that it is not a public holiday anymore! This day in a way, which is special above all other days. But do we realise, while the world outside there, just across the hill over here in Kranskop and in Mapumulo and all over South Africa are carrying on with their business. God has selected me and you to share once again, in a way, in this victory of his. May it be a privilege for us to be here this morning.

            Let’s read from the gospel of Luke, chapter 24 and we’ll be reading from verse 50. “And He let them out as far as Bethany and He lifted up his hands, and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

            I wanted us to look especially to this small group of people and what they went through in order to qualify to be here when this happened. And I want to look to especially one man in this group. A man called Peter, who nearly, nearly missed the boat at the end. You know friends, the Lord Jesus called them to Bethany for this occasion. The meaning of the place, Bethany means, house of sorrows. It was in a way to celebrate the final purpose behind all his sorrows that he suffered while He walked this earth. It was in this place where Lazarus had died, and was four days in the grave up to the stage to where his corpse smelled, and where finally God turned this absolute day of sorrow, into a day of joy. It was in this same place, where this final joy happened.

How did they manage to get here? And especially what happened to Peter amongst them? And I want us to look just a little bit at, if I can say it like this, the final mill this man had to go through before he was accepted into this group.

These days I’ve been looking a lot at the last chapter of John. John chapter 21, which took place a little bit earlier than this, the ascension of Christ. This took place after it appeared as if everything had collapsed for the disciples. Their Master had been crucified, his disciples had shattered each one in his own direction, a small group went into hiding in the upper room maybe. It was a dark time of defeat and no hope, but their was one man that experienced defeat more than all of them. One man who had lost his hope more than all of them. A man that managed to stay faithful to Christ all these years, that showed himself to be faithful to his Lord, but when the final time came to stand with Christ, he betrayed his Lord. And this man was Peter.

I wonder whether we realised what that man must have gone through. Many people would have fled from the company of the saints, would have fled from the company of the Lord Jesus, if they had done what Peter had done. I can’t face them anymore, being in their presence reminds me of my betrayal. They will never trust me again. How can I look them in the face ever again? I’ll rather pack my things and go back to the world, it was a waste of time, I should have never tried to follow this Lord Jesus, anyway.

That’s a mistake many people make. When they fall, instead of running to the children of God, to get help and wisdom and encouragement as to how they should handle their failure, they flee away from them. They isolate themselves, and that’s when they really fall, the real fall did not come in the betrayal of Christ, but it would have come in the way Peter handled his failure and his sin.

How often have we not seen it here at the Mission, where a person falls in a way where it is obvious to many people, and you think, this person can stand up, but the next  morning you hear he has packed his bags through the night, and he went off. He just disappears.

Now Peter, he stood out the humiliation and stayed the humility of remaining in the company of the children of God. Not only was it continuous humiliation, but it was a state of uncertainty. If only he could get Christ and make right with Christ, but the Lord was dead, so I can’t get to him. And they say, no I can’t handle the uncertainty! I’ll rather pack my things and disappear and go back to the world, I can’t, I am not made for this life.

Finally, one day they decided they’re going to go fishing. Friends, when we meet the big crisis in our lives, I say again, very often it doesn’t matter whether we failed, but how we handle our failure. After having hid for sometime they decided to go fishing. They tried to catch fish the whole night; they could find nothing, off course, because our Lord is dead. He’s not with us anymore, that’s why our fishing is in vain now.

And as they came back, here was this man standing on the beach. And he shouted to them and said; ‘children do you have any food?’ At this time where they could least afford it, this man was asking them for food. They’ve experienced defeat in every way. They were experienced fishermen, and even as experienced as they were, they could not catch a single fish the whole night, and just at the wrong time, when they could afford it least, here this man stands on the beach and asking them; ‘do you have any food?’ And not just that, He calls them children. They are grown up experienced fishermen, but they could not proof it to him. The humiliation of being called children, they couldn’t do anything about it.

Yes, I know they say it was a warm way of speaking in those days, and addressing people. The word which He used for children is a way that indicates friendship and kindness. But it’s interesting how under such circumstances, how my mind, or a persons mind can get twisted so that even if people are trying to be kind to me, it feels to me as if they are just pushing their finger deeper into the raw wound in my soul.

Many of us would simply not have answered this man. Can’t He see we’ve caught nothing, just at this point after everything that we’ve gone through; He stands there calling for food, as if it is just nothing. Some of us won’t just keep quiet, but we’ll shout back and say; well what do you think, can’t you see for yourself, we haven’t caught anything; we’ve caught through the night. What’s your business with our fish anyway? I don’t know if they responded like that to the Lord Jesus, whether the Lord Jesus might have gone away without revealing Himself to them.

When the Lord Jesus comes to us, sometimes He comes at the times when we can least afford it, and not only does he bows us, He humbles us, but He seems to be rubbing our faces in the dirt, He enjoys humiliating us even more, and even deeper.

Now He gives them some advice, how to catch fish. That’s another humiliation. He tells me how to catch fish, and I’m an experienced fisherman. But thank God, they were humble enough to accept the advice and cast the net on the other side of the boat. As they humbled themselves, they saw God reaching his goal, performing the miracle. The net was so full they could not lift it out of the water into the boat. And just to show them that He was omnipotent, He did not even eat of the fish that He had given to them through this miracle, because when they got to the beach, He had already fish that was frying on the coals.

Sometimes God works like that, sometimes He works in a miracle, where we can absolutely not understand. He just produces fish out of nothing. But sometimes He tells us what to do in order to catch the fish.

Friends, are you doing, and are you obeying when Christ tells you what to do? Or are you waiting for Him to perform his miracle? You know what’s been happening in these days in our country? The newspapers have been full of it. The Government is in the process of legalising prostitution. An evil, evil thing! While you and I as Christians are here in this country, sitting in this country, before our eyes we see an evil instrument of hell being made legal in our country. What are we doing about it? I’m not even asking whether you are still tempted to go to the prostitutes and make use of their services. If that’s your problem still at this stage and you’re still troubled with your lust sleeping around, than you are a zero in the Kingdom of God. You are neutralized, the devil has neutralized you. But you who have left that life behind already, what are you doing about it? While you are in the country, are you just going to allow it to be legalised?

Prostitution is evil! It is in essence anti-family, because it contains a temptation to unfaithfulness in a family. Do you know that 99% of the men, who go to prostitutes in our country, are married men, not single men? And we want that to become legal? Do we want to make it easy for men to betray their wives and go and sleep around? This is the evil, which is coming down and descending upon our country. Are you sitting back and waiting for the Lord to perform a miracle? If the Lord has told you where to cast in your net, woe to you and me if we don’t do it and we just sit in the boat and say; ‘Lord, I can’t, I’ve tried all night, I’ve fought against these things, you don’t get anywhere, they ignore you, I’m not going to cast in my net again.

Day by day it’s in the newspapers. You know whose going to suffer worst? The young black girls in our rural areas, who listen to the radio and hear this news over the radio; who are battling to get money, to get a job to stay alive. And they hear about FIFA 2010 coming, and rich men coming from overseas, with euros and dollars, and they thinking well this is an easy way for me to make money. I don’t have to get qualified, I don’t have to go and study, I do not even have to be clever, all I need is a body, and if I have a body I can do the work.

Do you know why? Why this has gone so far? Listen to phone-in programs, and you will see how far it has gone. You will see how far we as Christians have lost ground in the battle against this evil. Phone-in programs everybody phones and says you can’t do anything about it, it’s always been there, and you can’t stop it by making it illegal, let’s just allow it to happen.

There’s a very powerful symbolism behind a Government making something as promiscuous and evil as that legal. The Government is sending a signal to the youth of our country by allowing it, by legalising it. If prostitution is legal, you’re future daughter will look upon prostitution as a possible job that she can go into. They want girls in prostitution to be able to have insurances, old-age pension. All these kind of medical aids, all these comforts they must get, because it’s legal now. And all of this is happening, while you and I are sitting in our country, it’s happening before our eyes.

When the Lord ascended up into heaven, He didn’t say you go back to Jerusalem fold your hands and keep what I’ve given you for yourself. He said go into all the world and tell them, spread the light of my gospel. Spread the principles of my gospel, the light of right and wrong, teach the people what’s wrong and what’s right.

The other night one of our other brothers spoke, and he said; are you willing to be put before a firing squad and get shot for your faith? Allow me to make it simpler. You don’t have to go before a firing squad. I’ll make it much easier for you. All you have to do is to be willing to go and stand before a microphone or in front of TV cameras and speak out against this. Are you willing to do it? You’re willing to die for Christ you say, but you’re not willing to go and stand before the cameras and speak out against it.

Dear friends, if the Lord has told us, he’s giving us some ways in which we can cast the net, woe to you and me if we sit in the boat, waiting for Him to just multiply the fish for us.

The disciples went through this test. They did not get angry. You know why often we become angry? Because we loose hope. And then we feel frustrated, and the next step after frustration, is irritation. And then I sin. The disciples had all the reason in the world to be frustrated. What can we do? Our Master has failed. We’ve lost our hope. We might just as well throw everything overboard, and get irritated and become grumpy old men, walking around grumbling about everything around us.

But one of them was able to see the Lord Jesus, and that was John. And he nudge Peter, he said; Peter, it is the Lord! And you know what blesses me more than anything else? Peter’s reaction.

John chapter 21 verse 7: “Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter. It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it, and plunged into the sea.”

Peter did not look around to make sure, how can I get off the boat in a respectable way in which everybody would still respect me? You know I mustn’t draw more attention now to myself. No, I’ve got to come and make right with the Lord. Peter knew there was something between him and the Lord, which the others did not have. He had betrayed the Lord. He had turned his back on the Lord, and he felt the urged to make peace with God.

So dear friend, if there is something that you know that stands between you and the Lord, blessed are the person that’s not worried about what people are going to think of me. That doesn’t want to still retain the respect of the people around him, but who has one goal in mind. And that is to get peace with God. I think it was this that qualified Peter to be part of this group that was there on Ascension Day. Very often it’s not the very big crisis that disqualifies us from sharing in the victory of Christ. But if we have a crisis, the way we respond is the wrong way.

Just look at Cain and Abel. Both of them sacrificed. And Cain realised that the Lord is not accepting his offering. How did he experience this? He experienced it as the Lord being against him, as if the Lord will not accept him, no matter what he does. God does not like him. And because of that, jealousy came into his heart. If the disciples had this attitude, they would have never been qualified to be with the Lord on Ascension Day.

Just look what the Lord did after that. Just listen to this, and you’ll see how some people react. The Lord goes when He is together with Peter, and he says to Peter; Simon, son of Jonah do you love me? Won’t you say that’s nasty of the Lord? He is God, he saw Peter weeping after he betrayed the Lord, he knows Peter had remorse. Why must the Lord go and dig up old cows now again?

You see our over sensitivity and our long toes are very often the reason why we fail to experience, to be selected, to be part of this group of God. When the Lord asked him a third time; Peter do you love me? Peter could have said; ok, Lord, you don’t accept my apology! You keep hammering on this matter. That’s our problem, that’s the attitude we often have. And you know what; we close the door for God to help us.

He would not have realised how close he was to the victory. He was close to the point where the Lord Jesus would say; Peter, I have decided that you can also be one of that group. I’m going to ascend up into heaven, soon, and I’ve selected only a few people to experience that with me. I’ve decided that you can also be one of those. He would have thought it’s just going worse and worse.

That’s what Cain thought. The Lord is against me. And you know what he tried to do? He tried to impress the Lord with his goodness. Or shall I say that was a temptation, an alternative temptation for him to do. That’s what some people do. When they realise they fail, they’ve denied the Lord. They’ve betrayed the Lord. They try to proof to the Lord, even more and more how good they are, instead of just humbling themselves and ask for forgiveness and allowing God to change them. When it was for Peter as if it was the end, actually it was the final test before the Lord would give, so-to-say his certificate.

Here was a man who was not qualified of that final group, because he betrayed the Lord on the last day. He had no time to proof to the Lord that he has changed after that, and yet do you know what? When Christ called that small group together, He allowed Peter to be part of that group.

Oh dear brothers and sisters and friends. Are you and I qualified to be part of the group of Christ today? While the rest of the world is carrying on with their business, are we qualified to be a selected few whom the Lord has chosen to see his victory and experience his victory, today, here? Do you have that desire, to be part of that group? To me it’s a privilege above all privileges.

And as the Lord ascended up into heaven, He spoke and He spoke with authority. We read that in verse 51. “Now it came to pass while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” He blessed them, not just by giving a wish, but with all the authority that had been giving to Him in heaven and on earth. In a way, He anointed them to carry out what we call today, the Great Command.

Is that a privilege for us? When you wake up in the morning. Is your heart filled with gratitude still, about the fact that the Lord has saved your soul? That God has allowed you to carry out his gospel. If we loose our gratitude, we will loose our grace with each other. We will become hard on each other.

The Lord Jesus said to his disciples when they came back after they had gone out and healed the sick and driven out the demons, and they were so happy about it. He said to them; don’t rejoice about that, but rejoice that your name have been written up in heaven.

Friends, this is how Peter received, in a way, his assurance of salvation. God works different, with different people. Very often in churches a pastor gives people texts to give them assurance of salvation. But I say, if we are willing to go through the process that these disciples went through, assurance of salvation will grow naturally in our hearts. It was as the Lord spoke and dealt with them, there at the fish waters, that slowly but surely the assurance of salvation came back to them. And finally on that day, their joy was complete.

Verse 52. “And they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

What a privilege God hasn’t given us. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to be part of that group of Christ today. Do you want to be part? God teaches us in His word how to get there. Learn this lesson from Peter. Learn this lesson from the other disciples, and I believe God can use us to change things even in our country.