Hope for Relationships

Good morning, everyone. My name's James. It's nice to see you this morning.

The hashtag MeToo movement began in 2017 to give voice to women bringing to light issues of sexual harassment and abuse.

In 2020, the Black Lives Matter marches rose to give voice to those who had been harassed and abused because of their ethnicity.

More recently, there has been a campaign to stop anti-Asian hate and abuse.

Even in the last week in Sydney, someone had carved into a footpath, Asians go home.

And so this sentiment is happening even here in Sydney.

In the last couple of weeks in Australia, tens of thousands of people marched against the abuse of women.

Those who don't have power and freedom, those who have been abused in their lives, have been responding.

They are calling for social issues to change.

Whilst the coronavirus pandemic hit many people very hard, hit people's...

They lost houses, people have lost jobs, people have been hit financially,

let alone those who have had their health damaged and lost their lives.

Yet, the richest in our society have also gotten richer.

The three richest men in the United States,

Mark Zuckerberg, who owns Facebook,

Elon Musk, who owns Tesla and, you know, spaceships,

and the third is Jeff Bezos, who owns most things, and Amazon.

All three of those in the last year have more than doubled their wealth.

We see social abuses.

We see racial inequality.

And we want to see a society that is changed.

I want to see a society that is changed.

In the Western culture that we live in,

there is unrest and dissatisfaction about relationships.

There is conflict between people at the workplace,

conflict at home, conflict between friends and marriages.

There is tension in the social fabric of who we are as people.

Each of us trying to get ahead, trying to earn more money,

trying to have shinier things.

There is tension economically between classes,

between those who would be considered working class

and middle class and upper class.

There is tension and unrest and dissatisfaction

between different ethnicities and nationalities.

And for me, personally, I can feel the pull to become a Twitter warrior

and to have arguments with people online.

I can feel the pull to go to marches.

And yet, I can feel another pull,

which is just to be totally passive.

Because these social issues seem so large

that they are just impossible to change.

So how are we to view these issues

that are not only around us, but we are also part of?

What does God have to say to this?

And how does a Christian respond to these issues?

Last week was Easter.

And we were reminded at Easter of God's goodness to us.

His love, His grace.

Not only that Jesus would die,

but that He would be raised

so that our death has been paid for

and we are promised new life.

The resurrection is such a wonderful,

world-changing event

that it not only changes our vertical relationship with God.

Not only do we have a relationship with God

that is restored, redeemed,

now we can know Him

and we can be made more like Him,

but it also impacts our horizontal relationships.

The resurrection changes how we relate to God,

but it also changes how we relate to other people.

And so only in the death and resurrection of Jesus

do we have the resources to see

the transformation of relationships,

the transformation of our society,

of the church being a powerful sign to the world,

of the people that God is making us to be.

And so today, over the next 20, 30 minutes,

I'm going to be touching on some large issues.

Racism, economic inequality.

Unfortunately, I can't preach for an hour and a half

to go into all of these very deeply,

but please come and speak with me after

if you'd like to talk more about these.

So we're going to speak about

the resurrection hope we have for relationships

before we look at the resurrection hope

for racism and different classes.

And as we do this,

we should be praying and asking God for help.

So let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Lord, I thank you so much for our last weekend

and for the reminder of Easter,

of your goodness to us at the cross

and in the resurrection.

Father, as we consider the implications

for us across our lives,

give us much understanding of ourself

and love of other people, Lord.

Amen.

Please have your Bibles open.

We're going to be spending time

in those three parts of the Bible that Anne read.

And we're going to start in 1 Corinthians.

In this letter, Paul is writing this letter

rebuking a church for many issues.

Most of their issues come down

to how they are relating between people.

You know, they might have the vertical relationship

with God sorted,

but their horizontal relationships with other people

are in a dire state.

So as he writes in chapter 6, verse 1,

if any of you has a dispute with another,

do you dare take it before the ungodly for judgment

instead of being the Lord's people?

It seems that the social relationships

between people of the church have broken down.

Those people who should be loving,

who should be forgiving each other

because they know how much they've been forgiven by Jesus,

they are not forgiving each other.

And so instead of dealing with this conflict,

they've been taking each other to court.

They've been suing each other

and they're being judged not by somebody else in the church,

not by a wise Christian brother,

but somebody that's totally unrelated.

And so chapter 6, verse 2,

do you not know that the Lord's people will judge the world?

And if you are to judge the world,

are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

Do you not know that we will judge angels?

And how much more the things of this life?

Paul is saying that at the resurrection,

there will be a final judgment

and Christians will have a role to judge the world.

And yet these Christians

couldn't even judge trivial cases amongst themselves.

You know, there's like a case of a hole between two neighbors

and a donkey fell down it.

And so instead of forgiving and reconciling their relationship,

they're taking each other to court.

You know, someone hasn't paid the right amount.

They've got unequal weights on their scales.

And so instead of talking amongst themselves,

they're taking each other to court.

And so many of these issues that they worried about

are trivial in comparison to the coming resurrection.

Now, Paul's not saying that there is no place for lawsuits.

There is a place for lawyers and lawsuits.

Seeking justice is important.

But it's the attitude of the vengeful,

you know, he said, she said, you owe me more.

You know, you owe me, you know, $13, $28.

It's the quickness to sue and litigate.

It's part of an unhealthy heart attitude.

It's the spirit of the age of the church in Corinth

where people wanted to get what they were owed.

And I also think it's the spirit of our age here in Sydney.

If the Christians in the church who were supposed to know forgiveness

and love from God at the cost of Jesus himself,

if these people couldn't even forgive each other,

what hope is there for people that aren't part of our church?

What hope is there for people in the rest of society

to deal with their relationships,

to have any hope of seeing reconciliation?

The call of the gospel is to lay down our desire to get what we are owed.

The beauty of the gospel can be seen when Christians forgive each other.

You know, think, you know, last week we saw Jesus on the cross.

He prays to God, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they do.

The Abdullah family who had a person drive into their car

and saw four of their children of the family be killed

seeing that family forgive the driver.

The beauty of the gospel can be seen when Christians forgive.

And the resurrection is the key

to healing our relationships with each other

in two different ways.

Firstly, when we know how much we have been forgiven,

it helps us to lay down our judgment of others.

When we know how much we've been forgiven,

it helps us to lay down our judgment of others.

And secondly, knowing that God is a good judge

helps us not to feel that we need to judge.

Knowing that God has got the judgment.

It's not in the kind of way that it's like,

oh, I'm not going to judge because God's going to get you.

I'm going to leave it to him because he'll take care of you.

Don't worry.

You know, big brother, you know, my God,

he's going to get you.

Lightning bolts are coming for you.

No, when there's conflict, it's,

well, I know God is a good judge

and he will take care of this.

So I don't need to judge in his place.

Instead, I can forgive.

But I know personally

that when I seek to forgive,

there's often two other things

that can get in the way.

Two other things that my heart

wants to default to.

Imagine that I've been wronged.

Does anybody want to suggest a way

that I could have been wronged?

Nobody's, you know,

let's just say it's a car.

Let's just say James,

dear James, dear brother James,

I'll pick on him.

He's leading.

Thank you, James.

Thanks for putting your hand up there.

Let's say he's driven into my car.

Okay, let's say he's driven into my car.

Now, you know, when that happens,

I'm pumped up full of adrenaline

and I might want to respond

firstly by striking back.

I might be very angry

and I might want to go

and put my dear brother in a headlock.

Or maybe I won't respond physically.

I'll respond with words

and I will, you know, shout him.

What are you doing?

What are you looking?

You're looking at your phone.

What are you doing, James?

I might respond quickly

by trying to strike back.

Or in the case of the Corinthian church,

they were suing each other.

James, I'll tell you what,

I'm going straight to your insurance.

You are paying for every,

Dom, you're seeing my car fixed.

Or I might hold a grudge.

I might say to James' face,

don't worry, brother, it's fine.

I forgive you.

But I might actually hold onto a grudge.

Because what a grudge does,

it gives me power over someone else.

You owe me for hurting me,

for damaging my car.

And I'm going to bring this up

every now and then.

Oh, James, you know,

you remember that time

you smashed into my car?

It's okay, I forgive you.

But you know what,

I'd love a coffee right now.

And I'm going to remind other people,

Ash, you remember that time James

smashed into my car, you know?

And I could use that as a tool

to belittle you.

Maybe I'll actually just hold onto this grudge

for many years,

and then one day I'll just cut you off

and have nothing to do with you.

Neither of these options

are influenced by the resurrection of Jesus.

They're influenced by selfishness and pride.

They're the things that my heart quickly responds to.

I'm sure that your heart does the same.

Years of responding in conflict in our relationships

can leave us with destroyed families,

split churches,

damaged marriages,

and hurt friendships.

And so the resurrection calls us to forgive.

And this is really hard.

It actually means that we need to bear the cost.

Instead of recouping the cost,

I actually need to bear this cost.

And that's what God has done with our sin.

He has borne the cost in Jesus' death.

Now this might sound good in principle.

It might sound fine.

But it can be very difficult.

It's very difficult.

Because do you know what?

I like to hold onto a grudge.

Because I gain something out of that.

I've been wronged.

And if I need to let go of that,

it feels like I'm letting part of me die.

And it is.

But the beauty of the gospel

is that when we let our anger

and our grudges die,

we see life.

We see the resurrection life in us,

the Holy Spirit working in us

so that we can forgive

and we can show God's love

and life to other people.

So to have hope for relationships,

even before we get to

more difficult relationships

like ones across ethnicities and classes,

we need to be people

who practice forgiveness.

forgiveness.

So to have hope

for relationships,

our forgiveness has to come

from the resurrection.

We come now to a more complicated issue,

one of race and ethnicity.

Please turn with me to Galatians chapter 2

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

as we see the resurrection hope for racism.

In Galatians chapter 2, verse 11,

Galatians 2:11

when Cephas came to Antioch,

Paul said that he,

I opposed him to his face

because he stood condemned.

For before certain men came from James,

he used to eat with Gentiles.

But when they arrived,

he began to draw back

and separate himself from the Gentiles

because he was afraid

of those who belong to the circumcision group.

So Paul corrects Peter,

Paul rebukes Peter

because he has separated himself

from the Gentiles.

Verse 15,

we who are Jews by birth

and not sinful Gentiles

know that a person

is not justified

by the works of the law

but by faith in Jesus Christ.

So we too

have put our faith in Jesus

that we may be justified

by faith in Christ

and not by works of the law

because by the works of the law

no one will be justified.

Paul had to go and remind Peter

of where salvation came from.

It did not come from the law

but it came from God's grace.

And what Paul does

is something really interesting here.

He connects God's love

and his grace

and his justification

to cultural identity.

And he actually says that

one is stronger than the other.

The identity that we have

as Christians

is far stronger

than our family heritage,

our cultural identity.

Now Paul himself

was a proud Hebrew.

He continues to refer

to himself as a Hebrew.

He doesn't say

I'm a Christian now

so everything that came before

doesn't matter.

He follows Jesus

and he also says

he's a Hebrew.

He's proud of his heritage.

And Paul is talking to Peter.

Peter is the guy

who had seen a vision

from God

that all people

were considered

to be clean.

This is the guy

who had had a vision

from God

that all people are clean

that there is no division

between Jew and Gentile.

And yet

the racial division

between Jews

and Gentiles

ran deep.

It was full

of mistrust,

disrespect

and suspicion.

His fear of the Jews

separated himself

from others.

It was just

racism in practice.

So Peter

stopped eating food

with the Gentiles

and food

is such a clear sign

of relationship.

It's such a wonderful thing

when we get to eat food together.

I'm looking forward

to eating food

with a whole bunch

of people

coming over to my house today.

But here

Peter's racial identity

became more important

than his spiritual identity.

And in effect

he may have said

one thing

with these words

God's love

is for all people.

God offers forgiveness

to all people

but in practice

he denied

the gospel of grace

because he was just

spending time

with the Jews.

Jesus didn't die

for just one ethnicity.

There is no one group

of people

that are more special.

He was the God

he is the God

of the Israelites

and a specific country

but he is also

the God

of the whole world.

At the end of Galatians

in chapter 6

Paul says

neither circumcision

nor uncircumcision

means anything.

What counts

is the new creation.

Paul says that

because of the resurrection

the ethnic

and cultural

differences

are no longer important.

In the new creation

cultural and ethnic

differences

don't create tension

but they are made pure.

They are just one

aspect of who we are.

And I love

Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 7

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

has this beautiful picture

of the new creation

where there will be

people from

every tribe

nation

people and language

praising God

together.

Ethnic and cultural

differences

are a good

part of creation

and they are

purified

and they endure

past the resurrection.

In the ancient world

religion was just

one aspect

of a culture's

identity.

If you were from

Athens

you worshipped

the god

Athena

Athena

Athena

thank you

thank you

Narlene.

If you were

a Delphian

your god

was Apollo

if you were

from Olympus

your god

was Zeus

if you were

from Corinth

a city

by the sea

your god

was Poseidon.

Christianity

fundamentally

changed

all of that.

Everyone

of every

city

every

ethnic group

every

nation

all people

were called

to worship

the same

god.

The implication

then is that

this god

relationship

with this god

unites us

far deeper

far stronger

than any

cultural bond

any place

that we've

come from.

And yet

following Jesus

putting off

the old self

and old way

of doing things

doesn't mean

that I can

actually put

off my

cultural

identity.

There is

no way

to be

culturally

neutral.

I will

forever be

someone who

is influenced

by being

an Aussie

male

growing up

in Wollongong

in the

1990s.

I'm a

90s child

that's just

that's who

I am

and I can't

actually change

that.

It's impossible

to change

that.

But what

I can seek

to do

is to have

my cultural

way of

doing things

changed

and made

pure.

No longer

can I blame

culture.

No longer

can I just

say that's

just what

people from

Sydney do.

That's just

what Aussies

do.

I can actually

choose to

stand apart

to put off

idolatrous

ways and

be a

Christian

with a

culture

shaped by

God.

What if

I as

a white

36 year

old male

was listening

to a

younger

Asian

Christian

sister

speak of

the

casual

and

deliberate

racism

she's

received

just

because

of

her

ethnicity?

How would

I respond

to that?

I think

my instinct

would be

to defend

my culture

to defend

the way

I grew

up and

the people

I grew

up with.

I probably

want to

default to

saying something

like oh

look it's

not real

racism

it's just

jokes.

That's just

what Aussies

do.

They're just

boys being

boys it's

one of

those type

of excuses

and just

dismiss her

concerns.

Maybe I'd

even push

it back to

victim blaming

oh look you're

actually not

able to

take a

joke.

It's

actually

your fault.

I might

even say

look racism

now isn't

as bad

as it

was 20

30 years

ago when

I was

growing up.

It's so

much better

now so

don't worry

about it.

or I

can remember

that my

old self

because of

my pride

in ethnicity

is an

idol and

what it

does is

it actually

blinds me

to actual

racism and

I need to

remember that

I'm a

Christian first

and a

white male

second and

I must

treat this

sister as

an equal

child of

God and

who God

is using

to speak

to me in

that moment

to work

on my

idolatry.

Each of

us needs

to be

aware of

our own

cultural

blindness

and not

believe that

our way

of being

a Christian

just because

it's the

way we've

grown up

is necessarily

the right

way.

Now what

I would

love to

do at

this point

is I

would love

to encourage

you to

go on a

holiday to

another

country.

A little

bit difficult

I don't

have money

to give

you to

fly

anywhere

we might

be able

to go to

New Zealand

in a week.

What I'd

love for you

to do is

to go to

another

culture

spend a

significant

amount of

time there

because what

that does

is it

actually makes

you realise

these Christians

do things

differently to

those Christians

back home.

I wonder

why.

When we

get out of

our own

culture it

helps us

to ask

questions

of our

own way

of doing

things.

We are

a multi-ethnic

church here

and we are

seeking to

have a

culture shaped

not by

racism

not by

ethnic

preference

not by

the culture

that I've

grown up

in

but shaped

by Jesus

and his

resurrection.

We can be

a voice

of love

to hurt

and broken

people in

our

polarised

neighbourhood

as we

hold out

God's

love.

Let me

encourage you

call out

racism

when you

see it.

Call out

racism

in the

workplace

even if

it means

you don't

get the

next

promotion.

Call out

racism

within

friendship

groups

even if

it means

you lose

friends.

Don't keep

quiet in

fear like

Peter.

Show active

love to

people of

all nations

and I

think most

importantly

we actually

need to

seek to

listen to

people who

are different

to us.

In the next

couple of

weeks I'm

hoping to

read a

book called

Reading

While

Black.

It's

written by

an African

American

called

Esau

Macaulay

and he

writes

about

what it

means to

be a

Christian

growing up

in the

South

of America

and I'm

looking forward

to reading

that because

it is such

a different

cultural

perspective

on what it

means to

be a

Christian

and he

has a

whole

different

voice on

what it

means to

be an

African

and insight

into the

Africans in

the Bible

so I'm

really looking

forward to

that.

Let me

encourage you

seek out

different

voices to

understand

people from

different

places.

I think

SBS is a

wonderful

channel because

it is so

multi-ethnic.

Watch documentaries,

learn about

people from

other places.

So let me

encourage you,

as we seek to

be influenced by

the resurrection,

to love people

who are different,

let me encourage

you to listen.

Listen to

people's stories.

We've looked at

relationships between

each other,

how we need to

forgive,

across ethnicities,

how important

it is to

listen,

and now we

come to the

resurrection hope

we have for

the classes,

for different

social groups.

Have a look

with me at

Luke chapter

Luke 14 · chapter mention

14.

Jesus is at

a banquet.

I actually

wonder if this

is the first

type of banquet

like this Jesus

has gone to.

Growing up as a

tradie, I

wonder if this

is the first

time he's gone

to a meal like

this.

In chapter 14

it says,

when he noticed

how the guests

picked the places

of honour at

the table,

he told them

this parable.

When someone

invites you to

a wedding feast,

do not take

the place of

honour,

for a person

more distinguished

than you may

have been

invited.

Jesus is at

this banquet

and he is

watching the

social interactions

around him.

He's watching

how the class

based system

functions.

Those who

were closer to

the top of

the table,

they were

considered to

be more

important.

They sat

with the

more important

people and

they would

have conversations

to advance

themselves.

It was a

form of

ancient networking

before LinkedIn

or however

people do it

these days.

The purpose

of this

dinner was

to grow

social relationships

so that you

could climb

the ladder.

You know,

you wanted to

sit next to

a person who

could help

you to open

doors, to

invest in you

and you would

invest in them

and you

would buy

products.

So, you

know, you'd

sit next to

the property

developer and

you'd ask,

you know,

where's the

next land sale

going to be?

Where's the

next boom

suburb?

You tell me

where that is

and I'll buy

in there and

you'll get

more money.

And then if

you need me,

you do a

favour for

you, I'll

do that.

You know,

I'm going to

sit next to

the person who

works for the

government so I

can get my

DA through

quicker and

when it does

that I will

give your

political party

an extra kickback.

You scratch my

back, I scratch

your back.

Jesus says

into this

context,

don't try and

take the places

of honour and

power for

yourselves.

But that's a

crazy thought

into this

context.

That was the

whole point of

going to this

event.

You wanted the

place of honour

because you

want to talk to

those people

around you so

that you can

climb so you

can get ahead.

I didn't come

to this feast

to talk to

poor people.

They are not

going to help

me at all.

I came to

get an

advantage.

The whole

social system

was designed

to meet

people to

do favours

for each

other, to

try and get

control and

power and

influence and

money.

Jesus says

something radical.

Instead of

focusing on

yourself,

focus on

others.

You don't

need to gain

power and

control and

money because

you have a

God who

richly blesses

you and he

is in control

of all things.

And so Jesus

breaks free of

this system in

verse 12.

Jesus said to

his host,

when you give

a luncheon or

dinner, do not

invite your

friends, your

brothers or your

sisters, your

relatives or your

rich neighbours.

If you do, they

may invite you

back and so you

will be repaid.

But when you

give a banquet,

invite the

poor, the

crippled, the

lame, the

blind and you

will be blessed.

Although they

cannot repay you,

you will be

repaid at the

resurrection of

the righteous.

So the

resurrection

influences how

we view people

in different

social situations.

Now what Jesus

is talking to,

he's talking to a

culture of

reciprocity.

A culture where

if I do

something for you,

you have to

reciprocate.

You do

something for

me.

It's true of

other cultures

today, some

Asian cultures

are still very

reciprocal.

Gifts were

never free.

There was

always strings

attached.

And so you

would never

invite a poor

person to a

feast.

First of all,

it says something

about the

host.

Other people

would feel that

their time was

wasted.

Why is this

poor person

here?

I get nothing

out of them.

I'm not going

to talk to

them.

And then the

poor person

themselves would

be embarrassed

because they

can't offer

anything else

back to the

host.

They can't

invite the

host back

next week

for a feast

because they

can't do

that.

And so the

poor would

just be

excluded for

their sake and

for everybody

else's sake.

And so what

would happen is

the poor would

get poorer and

the rich would

get richer.

Jesus is

critical of this

system.

And so he

says, you

know what,

let's just

start a new

one.

Let's start

a new

system, not

based on

giving each

other gifts,

one based on

the resurrection

where God

values us

all equally

and has given

us the gift

of his son.

All richly

blessed.

Instead of

seeking people

to actively

gain a benefit

from them,

I'm going to

use this person

to get ahead.

I'm going to

befriend them

to open doors.

No, choosing

to love other

people just

to love them.

The resurrection,

salvation itself

is our

advantage and

not what we

gain from

each other.

Christians are

called to be in

relationships with

people from

other social

circles and

cultures as an

expression of

God's love,

of God's

generosity to

us.

It's a whole

new world view

of how people

are viewed not

as tools to

get ahead,

but as people

loved by God

to be loved.

Jesus has

blessed us,

he's brought

us out of

poverty and

given us life,

so we're

called to

imitate him

in generosity.

Belief in

the resurrection

should change

our relationships.

It should

change how we

calculate the

value of

people.

It should

end the

constant thoughts

in the back

of my mind,

I'll pick on

James again,

is this person

actually worth

my time?

Should I

spend time

with him?

Is he just

going to drag

me down?

He's going to

need a lot of

work.

Do I really

have time?

Is he actually

worth it?

And if I spend

time with him,

does he appreciate

it enough?

Does he thank

me enough?

What do I

actually get out

of this

relationship?

The resurrection

should actually

end our

stinginess with

our time and

our wealth and

our lives,

because the

resurrection calls

us to

generosity?

Today we've

spoken about

big social

change,

of

relationships,

of racism,

of resources,

and I want to

encourage you,

instead of

just seeing

the national

and international

conversations and

thinking, oh,

I need to engage

with that,

I need to talk

about these big

things,

just to engage

with the most

recent Black

Lives Matter

march or

these kinds of

things,

instead of just

engaging with

those things,

start with the

people around

you.

It is much

easier to

forgive, to

show generosity,

and to listen to

the people that

are in front of

you.

So look out for

opportunities of

social inequality

people around

you.

My community

group, we

got together a

whole heap of

food for the

asylum seeker

center in the

city to serve

people who are

in need.

Look out for

opportunities in

your community

around you to

show the influence

of the resurrection

and not just

see the big

national debates

and think it

is too hard.

The resurrection

calls us to

forgive each

other and to

see relationships

restored.

The resurrection

calls us to

listen so that

we see the

gospel that

binds us

together and

not cultural

differences.

The resurrection

calls us to be

generous because

we have a

generous God.

And so let's

be a church,

let's be a

people that do

these things,

that forgive,

that listen and

are generous.

Let me pray.

Dear Heavenly

Father, Lord I

thank you for

all of your

goodness to us.

Lord it is

easy for us to

forget how much

we have been

forgiven, how

generous you

have been and

how you

know our

condition because

Jesus became

one of us.

Heavenly Father

we ask that you

would remind us

of the impact

of the resurrection

on our daily

lives.

Lord give us

much patience

when we are

faced with

conflict that

we would be

quick to

forgive.

That when we

see cultural

differences we

would not be

quick to see the

differences between

us and others

but be quick to

see the gospel

that binds

us.

And Father

help us to be

generous to other

people Lord

knowing your love

for us.

We ask this in

your son's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.