Loving our Community Tim Sheerman from STREETWORK

Let's pray.

God, as you led me in my preparation,

would you take the reins now and speak through me?

Would your Holy Spirit have its way in this service?

And would your will be done?

And at the end of it, would you be glorified?

Amen.

Longer than I can remember,

people have said to me,

don't judge a book by its cover.

Yet when you walk through a bookstore like Borders

or if there's a bookstore left in your neighbourhood,

how frequently you don't get past the cover

when you're trying to decide which book you're going to buy.

Every book is literally covered in things

designed to entice us to purchase.

There's reviews, there's decoration and art,

a short blurb, even a sticker

indicating that it's one of Oprah's favourite things.

All of these parts of the cover

very much drew us to judge the book,

yet still we preach the proverb,

don't judge a book by its cover.

Similarly, when we choose a piece of fruit

or vegetables at the supermarket

or at the farmer's market if you're cool,

we are naturally drawn to better looking pieces of fruit, yeah?

The ones that have symmetry,

the ones that don't have any blemishes

and there's lots and lots of colour.

Even though the funny looking one

that you probably grew yourself

has just as much nutritional content

and just as much flavour.

Still we say, don't judge a book by its cover.

Let me posture this idea.

What we see compels us to choose.

I'm going to say that again

because I'm trying to make a point.

What we see compels us to choose.

I was recently standing,

enjoying the last of the summer fruit,

picking myself out a couple of peaches.

I had this grand scheme of taking the wife

to the beach for a peach.

It's a cheap, simple date.

Boys, I don't have a patent on it.

You can use that.

Go for it.

A peach at the beach.

It's good value.

As I was trying to choose the best peach

from the selection,

a lady who was a little older than myself

decided she wanted to stand between me and the peaches.

She wanted to sidle in sideways.

Problem was,

there's about six inches between me

and the peach display, yeah?

I had to get out of her way

and I was quite excited to go

and tell Tanya the story of this lady

just having to squeeze in

to get to the peaches first.

I couldn't stop her.

The peaches were very compelling.

They were very good looking.

And as I said earlier,

what we see compels us to choose.

Sadly, I was not compelled to befriend this lady.

Yeah?

Instead, I just quickly went and told Tanya,

you won't believe what just happened at the peaches

and pointed the lady out.

Good or bad,

what we see compels us to choose.

I grew up on a small farm

about 30 minutes south of Dubbo.

Everybody say Dubbo.

Good.

Just checking.

I had an amazing childhood.

I have two older brothers

who are very musical

and a little sister

who was different

for all sorts of non-tonka truck

girly playing reasons.

Right?

I sold my cows

and I moved to Sydney

the day after my final HSC exam,

taking on the apprenticeship

as a cabin maker in Bankstown.

I wanted to live in this mystical land

my brothers had told me about

called Castle Hill.

Even though I understand now,

geographically,

they're very far apart,

from a country boy,

I thought I'd just live in Castle Hill

and commute to Bankstown every day.

And I did for four years.

This magical place,

Castle Hill,

was a mystical land

my brothers had told me about,

filled with big adventures

and pretty girls

and big houses

and all those sorts of things

a 17-year-old boy

leaving home

wants to experience.

I was there,

I wish I was there

for a more spiritual explanation,

although in hindsight,

I see God's hand

weaving a path

through my life,

which included leading me

to my wife in the hills.

Just saying that now,

though,

actually is quite funny.

It makes me laugh out loud.

Being a country boy,

you don't have the faintest idea

beyond school

or beyond my barbed-wired imagination

that I was very quickly

out of my league

once I arrived in Sydney

and I quickly started to miss home.

I even drove home for weekends

with boots full of fireworks,

things you can buy in Bankstown,

whenever I could afford.

As much as I enjoyed

the adventure of living in Sydney,

I felt as if it was living

in somewhere very unfamiliar

and for the first time ever

in my life,

I felt like I was in exile.

And maybe you felt

something similar.

Maybe you've worked abroad.

Maybe you've studied abroad.

Maybe you've taken a contract

away from loved ones.

The whole time,

you just can't wait

to come home, yeah?

In the first of today's scriptures,

the author speaks

to a people in foreign lands

longing for home,

longing for their promised land.

Except instead of mentoring

through the steps

to urgently return home,

they do something else.

Gordon Fee puts it,

the book of Jeremiah

is a collection of oracles,

mostly poetry,

mostly against Judah and Jerusalem.

This is a crazy time

for Judah and Jerusalem.

And there isn't a time

for a full history lesson

or a mansplaining.

But Jeremiah and,

but Jerusalem and Judah

found themselves

a soccer ball

between Egypt and Babylon.

As the both of them

were jockeying

for the possession

of all the lands

along the Mediterranean there.

Jeremiah 29

is written shortly after

as the scripture gave us

the context

in the first section.

Nebuchadnezzar just brought

an end to the three-month reign

of Jehoiakim

and carried off

the people to exile.

Jehoiakim was one

we didn't spend much time on

in Sunday school, right?

I think he was in

the flannel board collection

of characters.

Jehoiakim was only there

for three months

as the ruler.

What's really interesting

is that the exiles

long for home.

And Jeremiah speaks

in this instance

of God's pro-exile stance.

Spoiler alert,

the pro-exile bit

is contrary

to a couple of prophets

from the earlier chapter

who died.

Double spoiler alert.

Jeremiah comes out

very strong in verse 4.

Let me read for you.

This is what the Lord Almighty,

the God of Israel,

says to all those

I carried into exile

from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Build houses

and settle down.

Plant gardens

and eat what they produce.

Marry and have

sons and daughters.

Find wives for your sons.

Give your daughters

in marriage

so that they too

may have sons and daughters.

Increase in number there.

Do not decrease.

Also,

seek the peace

and prosperity

of the city

to which I have carried

you into exile.

Pray to the Lord

for it

because if it prospers,

you too

will prosper.

God carries them

into exile.

I love that.

God carries them.

On the eve of a federal election

here in Australia,

Facebook news feeds

are being filled

with many Christian friends

of mine

crying at the death

of our Christian governance

and laws.

Does it scare you

that God could carry us

as a nation

into exile?

Into a country

that could be different

to what you grew up in?

I actually get excited

and draw hope

from the practical application

of verse 7.

Seek peace

and prosperity

for where God

has carried you.

Pray to the Lord

for it

because if your city

prospers,

you too

will prosper.

As Streetwork,

we work

to help young people

turn their life around.

We do whatever

it takes.

Whatever it takes,

we'll do it.

A recent review

of the work

we do at Streetwork

by PwC,

if you're cool,

but Price Waterhouse

and Coopers,

if you don't know

who PwC is,

show that the work

we did in that one year

here in the North Shore

of Sydney,

mostly Chatswood,

saved the local community

just over $8 million.

And we did that

on a shoestring budget.

Youth Week

is cheap.

I'm regularly reminded

when I open

my bank balance.

We see young people

starting on the

trajectory of life

of crime

transform into

contributing members

of the community.

It's a really

rewarding job,

but it's also

a living testimony

of how

seeking for peace

and prosperity

in your local area

brings prosperity

for all the community.

I've moved

by the ongoing support

of so many

in the community,

many of whom

aren't even church people.

They're just motivated

to see this community

prosper.

Also,

I think the idea

of exile

can be strangely

foreign to us

as many of you

will have grown up

here in the North Shore,

lived your entire life

here in the local area.

Maybe you were even

here at St. Paul's

in 1980

when Peter Hobbs,

a member of this church,

birthed Street Work

with the help of

many members

of this church,

I believe.

See,

when I moved to

Castle Hill

back in 1999,

the Young Adults Ministry

was called Embassy.

I loved this so much.

I shared earlier

how much I liked,

I felt like I was

in exile moving to Sydney

from my homeland

of Dubbo,

which sounds funny

to say.

Here was a community

that acknowledged

as citizens of heaven,

we were all exiles

in a strange land.

And the Hills District

definitely qualifies

as strange lands.

But here on earth,

here in Chatswood,

was where God

had carried us.

And while our citizenship

was secured

by what Christ had done

on the cross,

our job was not yet done.

We were in exile

and it was a good thing.

Being a part of Embassy

was what got me involved

in volunteering

with young people

17 years ago now.

and it's led me

to being involved

with youth ministry

and youth work

ever since.

My experience

as a young adult

in that ministry

was one of two

defining experiences

God carried me into

in that season.

The other was

as an apprentice.

As an apprentice

cabinet maker,

I also became friends

with a guy named James.

And James was

from Lakemba.

And James,

which is a much more

sensible place

to commute from,

yeah,

to Bankstown.

James was from Lakemba

and James had

daily normal habits

the likes of which

most of us in this room

would rarely encounter.

From substance abuse,

he collected weapons,

he had an inappropriate

expertise

in hydroponics

and what I can only

describe as a genuine

sex addiction.

James was the polar

opposite of my upbringing

and my church world

and we strangely ended up

the best of friends.

James used to steal my phone

on lunch breaks

and he would call

the girls from my church

that I liked.

He would ask them

why we hadn't had sex

and if I was gay.

Stuff that probably

shocked them

and if I'd been able

to stop him,

I would have.

But they were genuine

questions he couldn't

make sense of

because of how different

our lives were.

I think my world

was as confusing to James

as James was to me.

I even brought him

to church once

and he genuinely

was too afraid

to come in.

He sat in the car,

both of us sat in the car

while he smoked

some cigarettes

and we listened

to the singing inside.

Later that night,

James rang me

and said,

Tim,

can you go back

to church

and light a candle

for me?

I said,

James,

you should have

come in,

mate.

It's really not

that kind of church.

I still haven't

had the privilege

of introducing

James to Jesus.

We talk regularly

over Facebook

when we don't

see each other.

I know he's

going to meet Jesus.

He's been looking

for him

but he's still

not ready to let go

of some of those

things that hold

him back

even though

he knows

they heard him.

It was great

being carried

into exile

into a place

like that

and meeting

someone like

James.

For a good

little church

boy like me,

James was

unique but

the reality

is,

our city

is full

of Jameses.

I pastored

with Tanya

here in Chatswood

for many years.

I was a youth

pastor.

Tanya was the

worship pastor

at a church

the other side

closer to Willoughby

and we worked

on the same

streets I now

work on as a

youth worker

except now

the cafes

that I always

used to have

my pastoral

meetings in,

I know the

kids that deal

drugs in them.

Sometimes they're

armed.

Apparently they'd

always been there.

They'd been there

for years and years

and years but I

just didn't

recognize them

before when I

was busy with

my flock and

my songs and

my sermons.

They were

invisible to me.

Please don't

think that's a

cheap shot at

clergy either.

Each has our

crucial role in

this God-ordained

exile, yeah?

Clergy and you.

My point is that

on the North Shore

we don't think we

have a problem.

We don't talk

about it.

Our leading

politicians are

from here and

we don't know

why our issues

are invisible.

I keep dragging

out crazy

conspiracy theories

about house

prices and

things and why

we don't talk

about our

problems.

Here in

Chatswood we

have some of

the highest

incidents of

shoplifting,

drug use and

sexually transmitted

diseases among

young people per

capita in the

entire country.

We think those

problems are out

west or in

Dubbo, right?

Not only are we

seemingly unaware

but when preparing

this sermon I

spent ages praying

about whether it

was even

appropriate to

share this with

you from the

pulpit.

Would it be a

cool thing to

tweet and go

back to normal

or is it

something that

might touch a

nerve and call

you to action?

Some of you

might be

interested to know

that within 500

metres of the

train station in

Chatswood there

are 16 illegal

brothels.

Does that

terrify you?

That's a stone's

throw from here

literally.

Thankfully Jesus

calls us not

just share the

BuzzFeed article

about him but

into action and

doing something.

In today's second

scripture from

Matthew 5, you

are the salt of

the earth but if

that salt loses

its saltiness how

can it be made

salty again?

It is no longer

good for anything

except to be

thrown out and

trampled underfoot.

How good is salt?

Tanya and I

lived nearly

three years in

exile in

Southern California.

The whole time

we took Australian

salt with us.

You can laugh at

that because it's

funny that we did.

They have every

kind of salt you

can imagine there.

In fact the

supermarket had a

whole aisle of

salt and

variations of salt

but we liked

this pink

Australian salt

which I can't

even remember

the name of.

Yeah, the Murray

River salt and

it's complicated but

it was our little

bit of home and

dinner every night

while we were in

exile.

Good salt,

there's nothing

better than it.

Salt comes in

different shapes,

sizes, different

colours, different

origins, textures,

you name it, it

exists, you can

find it.

The important

character of salt

that defines it as

good salt though is

its saltiness,

yeah?

Salt's ability to

taste salty.

Added to a soup,

it goes from bland

to I need more of

that, you know.

Tanya likes to

sprinkle it on top

of her cheese on

toast which turns a

lazy dinner into oh

my gosh can I

have more of

that, it's

delicious.

Good salt has

that effect.

Jesus continues in

514,

you are the light

of the world,

a town built on

a hill cannot be

hidden, neither do

people light a lamp

and put it under a

bowl, instead they

put it on its stand

and it gives light to

everyone in the

house.

In the same way

let your light shine

before others that

they may see your

good deeds and

glorify your

father in heaven.

I'm going to be

really honest with

you here, when I

read this I don't

see a call for me

Tim to go and

enroll in apologetics

class.

You might and

that's good if you

hear that, go do

that.

I see a call to go

do something salty,

something seen,

something that

glorifies our

father in heaven.

I think in 17

years of youth

ministry I'm now

full of stories of

young people I've

been blessed to

introduce to Jesus.

Ironically, I was

recently going over

my transcript from

my Bachelor of

Theology and I

failed apologetics

the first time

around.

I'm terrible at

it, the theory,

but I'm sorting

that out at the

moment, second

time around.

Right back at the

start of this

sermon I talked

about books and

fruit and veggies

and I postured this

point, what we see

compels us to

choose, yeah?

But let me add,

what they see out

there will compel

them to choose.

I think if you're

prepared to embrace

that we're living in a

post-Christian society,

you can then also

embrace that this is an

exciting time for the

church in this

country.

We shouldn't be

crying that it's

harder to get a

table at a cafe on a

Sunday morning than a

pew in a church.

We should be excited to

actually face that

challenge and do

something about it,

yeah?

See, I believe

loving God and

loving others is

things we have to

do.

They're verbs,

doing words.

That's how I was

brought up in

Dubbo in primary

school, right?

A verb is a

doing word.

We need to be

salty.

We need to go and

do salty, yeah?

Like salt is salty,

we need to be

loving, we need to

be seen.

that what we do

may glorify he who

is worthy of all

glory.

And what they see

will compel them to

choose.

You can have an

impact on what they

see.

You don't need to

wait for church to

present you with an

opportunity to do

something.

You just have to do

something.

One thing you could

do is to come and be

a part of what we're

doing at Street

Work, particularly if

you failed apologetics

class like me.

And we need people

to sit in prison

cells with young

people that have

just been arrested.

We need mentors for

young people that are

doing it tough.

I really need people

who are happy just to

turn sausages on a

barbecue.

You don't have to do

everything.

In fact, if the

recent movie is any

indication, Superman

really are unhelpful.

We just have to do

something.

Something salty.

If you want to talk

more about it, let's

come back this

afternoon at 3.30 and

Hugh and I are going

to talk to you about

that.

I also ask that you

would pray for us at

Street Work, as we

did this morning.

Hold us on your

prayers.

We regularly

encounter dangerous

situations.

Yeah?

My staff, I'm the

manager.

My staff are really

skilled, but we

frequently have weapons

and things involved in

what we're doing.

And please hold them

up in your prayers.

As I come to a

conclusion with this

short message, I

actually want to sing

a song.

And then I want to

give the microphone

back to Steve.

this is a song that we

sung in my youth

ministry in Southern

California while I was

in exile there, while

Tanya was doing her

PhD.

And this song is about

this very topic.

And it's a song we used

to sing in worship.

And God used to do

something in the youth

ministry when we sang

this together.

Now, you don't know it,

so I'm sorry.

If you do know it,

please sing with us.

My prayer for you today

is that this song will

have a similar impact

in you.

That on Pentecost

Sunday, the Holy

Spirit will touch you

in a way that inspires

you to do something

salty.

Do something.

And what they see will

compel them to choose.

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