23rd December 2024

23rd December 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Titus 2:11-14)


Message (Alan Burke) 


There are two sleeps until the big day. Are you excited? You may be the person for whom the nostalgia is running high, you’re hoping that it won’t go too quickly or you might be reading this wishing that it would all just go away. There is part of me that gets both for while some there is excitement I know for many of you who read this that this time of year is reminder of what you’ve lost, the empty chair is there, the hopes and dreams of children than never came true, how your body is broken, age has been cruel. 


Whether you love this time of year or hate it, when we peal back the veneer it is about so much more than it has become. There was a time that Christmas in the church calendar was focused advent, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ but not as it has become, it was rather a tale of two advents, how Christ has come and how Christ will come again. Today in many quarters Chrismas has become nothing more than an excuses for time of feasting, indulgence, work place affairs, domestic violence, marriage breakdowns, disappointments, the debt, the family politics, the reminder that we are all getting older, the loved ones that aren’t around, and the music which exports us back and I love the music except for that one by Paul McCartney that is just lies and irritates the life out of me, ‘Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time’ and if you like it there is an 11hour remix of it on YouTube that you can put on in the background if you want the link just get in touch. 


In the midst of it all we should remember that what we celebrate is not one Advent but two. Paul’s letter to Titus points us forward to the hope that we have 2:11-14. The epistle to Titus is a letter that inseparably links faith and practice, ie this is what we believe and as a result this is how we should live, belief and behaviour are inseparably linked for the believer. We cant claim to believe if we do not live accordingly, if we live in a way that is contrary to the moral principles laid out in scripture for the people of God then we cannot claim Christ. 


Crete was an interesting place to say the least, if you look back at Chapter 1 where Paul’ repeats the words of one of their own prophets, saying; 12 Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. (1:12-13).  We may wonder is Paul not just egging it a little bit, you know like with a national stereotype, like British people queue, the Irish fight, Italians are passionate, Germans love rules, the French are rude and only eat frogs legs and snails. Well no he is not. Cretan's were not regarded well across the Roman Empire, we have many historical sources that are basically slagging them off, from things like saying it was “almost impossible to find … personal conduct more treacherous or public policy more unjust than in Crete” (Histories 6.47) to “Moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans … consider highway robbery honorable” (Republic 3.9.15). 


Cretan’s had a reputation but for the believers among them, Cretan’s who had become Christians they were not to be such hence this teaching, chapter 1 about the qualifications for an elder, then it leads on in chapter two by how men and women are to live in accordance with the gospel, living lives that accord as he says in verse 1 with sound doctrine. Their behaviour and our behaviour should not be that which fits the culture that surrounds us but rather it should be behaviour that is grounded in the word of God. Why are we to live in this way? Well it is because of the two advents, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. v11 the grace of God has appeared to all men and v13 we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The basis for living in a way that accords to sound doctrine is that because of what has been done for us and what is coming, the people of God are to live as the people of God in Christ Jesus. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q68 What is required in the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
​