God give us rest

Norman Unsworth

Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Mark 6:30–34

God’s Love

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GOD IS LOVE

MUSIC

Where I am standing now

OPENING PRAYER

Heavenly Father, your will reigns in our lives. May we be glorified in Jesus’ name. Let your kingdom come and your presence be in our lives. As we gather together today, visit us with your presence and help us to increase our knowledge of you. May we always grow in maturity and strength and as we do so. Bless us beyond measure and fill us with your peace.

HYMN

To be in your presence (StF 530)

PRAYERS

Your forgiveness is total, no notebook, tape recorder or post-it note.

to remind you of that moment when we failed to do the right thing putting our own desires above yours.

You take our confession, offered with hands outstretched and gently,

like the loving heavenly Father that you are, put it to one side to be forgotten.

No grudges, no itching for judgement.

No resentment or ill-will.

Not like us, who find it easy to say sorry, but so hard to forgive, absolutely.

Forgive us, Father, that we are often more willing to accept forgiveness, than to forgive.

More willing to accept your love, than to share it with those who have hurt us.

Teach us to forgive, as you forgive.

Amen

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen

HYMN

Faithful One, so unchanging (StF 628)

READINGS

2 Samuel 7: 1-14a

God’s Covenant with David

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings.

Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

Feeding the Five Thousand

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Healing the Sick in Gennesaret

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

HYMN

The perfect wisdom of God

SERMON

this morning’s reading holds one of the most important key passages in the whole OT. It speaks of the future of Jerusalem it is described as a sanctuary and the Davidic monarchy – both these are vital to be in place for several centuries after David. Through Nathan God made a firm promise about an everlasting covenant given to David.

Both these themes the promises of God and David’s desire to build a house to God are linked by the word “house” in Hebrew it would not only mean a normal house but also a temple, or thirdly a dynasty. Rather like the house of Windsor held by our queen today.

And although this is brought together in V13 it is David’s son Solomon who would build the temple for God.

What of the other promise about his dynasty lasting forever?

There is within these verses promises and warnings, many of David’s successors were weak and sinful, but continued for another four centuries.

But in 587 BC the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and Judah ceased to be a kingdom.

Even though David’s bloodline continued it never regained the throne.

So, what does this mean about the promise to David?

Well for one thing it tells us that God is not dependant on a temple.

Secondly that the promise made was permanent, what God promises will be delivered.

It was the basis of belief there would come a Messiah “great David’s greater Son.”

This was fulfilled in the life of Jesus. The fulfilment of God’s promise to send a Son of David, the Messiah, who would finally bring God’s people the peace and security they always needed.

This is true for us today through the saving grace and perfect love of God. Through the blessing of Christ, we too are part of the blessed nation.

We do have to remind ourselves of the fact that it is only in Jesus that promised covenant with David was completed. All the human kings including David failed, but there was the hope of a future king who would be perfect. Jesus who was a son of David’s line.

However, the victory of Jesus and his kingdom was far greater than anyone anticipated. He was not the expected conquering king winning physical battles, but a sacrificial savoir winning victory over sin, guilt, addiction, fear and even death itself.

We see from the example of Jesus that victory is not always glamourous or even obvious. But God promises you as he promised David, that his power will be with you wherever you go and that, in Christ, ultimately you will find rest and peace.

But what has happened to us over the last few years?

I like many of you will remember a time when on Sunday all the shops were closed, it was a time for families to be together if they wanted to or not, it may be nostalgia when we look at this and say yes that was a better time, less pressure on us.

This was called the Lord’s Day, or the day of rest but as Jesus pointed out in Mark 2:27 “then he said to them “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Surprise! God who created each one of us knows that we need rest we need time to recharge our batteries, the issue we have today is we live in a so called 24-7 society we are not given the time to just be. And worst of all we don’t have time to spend with the God who made us.

This is not healthy or good for us even though it may feel convenient to have access to things whenever we desire them, if we don’t take time out it will indeed manifest itself in our lives.

Prior to our New Testament reading this morning Jesus had sent the twelve disciples out in pairs. Healing and sharing the good news to town and villages.

In our reading from Mark, they have returned probably excited at all they had experienced.

What did Jesus do?

He knew they needed to revive themselves, to take a rest.

Jesus taught his disciples the priority of time alone with him. He said to them “come with me by yourself to a quiet place.”

This is what he calls you and me to do today spend a little time in quite with him each day.

To rest in his presence, to be renewed and refreshed.

You need to imagine there was so much action going on in the life of Jesus, it must have been very difficult to get any rest.

We don’t touch on the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand this morning, but people were desperate for him and were literally running towards him. Even so, Jesus found it necessary to send them all off. He needed some solitude. He climbed a mountain to pray. In other word he prioritised his time alone with God.

Prayer and action go hand in hand. This activity comes out of a relationship.

Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by the work God gives us. And we all may feel we have very little to offer the people we meet. We can take great comfort that Jesus can do a lot with a little.

You never know what happens if you reach out do you?

Take Karon and I, if it had not been for Sue inviting Karon along to the Church then the chances of us being here today would be extremely unlikely.

The friendships we have made would never have been.

So, when you speak to neighbours and friends think of what could happen if they came to know Christ.

If you offer to Jesus the little you have, he can multiply it and meet the needs of all the people.

In the last part of the reading Jesus send the disciples of in a boat while he went to pray.

You know even when we are doing what Jesus tells us to do, it is sometimes very difficult and hard work.

There are times when we can feel out of our depth (troubled and filled with fear and dread.

Imagine the picture the disciples were straining at the oars because the wind was against them. When Jesus joined them, he said “Take courage it is I do not be afraid”.

As Jesus climbed into the boat with them the wind died down. In this picture we can see the difference Jesus makes to our lives. It’s an uphill struggle unless you have the presence of Jesus with you.

Only those who recognise Jesus can enjoy this relationship. Those who do run towards him.

Jesus said “come to me and I will give you rest” I like the idea of resting in the Lord.

Jesus thank you that in the storms and pressures of life you tell me that in you I can find rest in you. I can take the promise you gave your first followers and claim it for myself. AMEN

HYMN

O Christ, the Healer, we have come (StF 653)

SERMON

We see in the OT reading after years of fighting David has set up home in Jerusalem, he has during this time been obedient to God.

With his enemies scattered he dances in the streets giving thanks to God, he then arranges to have the Ark of the covenant brought from Baalah, and wants to build a house for it, but through Nathan David is told no.

But this morning’s reading is one of the most important key passages in the whole OT. It speaks of the future of Jerusalem as a sanctuary and the Davidic monarchy – both these are vital for several centuries after David. Through Nathan God made a firm promise about an everlasting covenant given to David.

Both these themes are linked by the word “house” in Hebrew it would not only mean a normal house but also a temple, or thirdly a dynasty.