Urban Vineyard

This is the first sermon in our new teaching series exploring the implications of Jesus' ascension. The doctrine of the ascension has largely disappeared from view in the contemporary Church. This has left a void in our understanding of Christ's ongoing work in us and the world. Traditionally, the ascension of Jesus was understood as the crowning of Jesus' tripartite role on earth as prophet, priest, and king. A deeper understanding of three roles or ministries helps us to understand where Jesus is now and what he is doing.In this sermon, Jonathan explores how the ascension crowns and extends Jesus' ministry as our great priest. In the end, the invitation is to simply allow Jesus to minister to us; washing us of all the muck that get's stuck in our soul and bringing us home to the Father.

In the final of our series on the Vineyard, Lloyd shares on the value of worship as touching God's heart. He reflects on the immediate responses to the resurrection by Jesus' disciples as a paradigm for our worship – bowing as a sign of reverence and clasping Jesus' feet as a sign of intimacy.

Jonathan shares on the centrality of Jesus' resurrection as the Truth that shapes all truth and the Meaning that shapes all meaning. He also reflects on the reality of living with the presence of death in life and the pain that it brings whilst we wait for the culmination of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. In the end, the encouragement is to learn how to weep with those who weep and to "be steadfast and immovable in hope, always giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord because we know that our labour is not in vain" (1 Cor 15:58).

To mark the beginning of Holy Week and Palm Sunday, Jonathan reads the story of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem and explores what the event teaches us about the kind of king Jesus is, the king of kingdom he is bringing, and the kind of worship we can offer him.

In a timely one-off sermon, Peter speaks on the way God comes to us in our grief and walks with us.

In the third of our four part series exploring what it means to belong to the Vineyard tradition, Jonathan talks about our value for doing 'the stuff' of the kingdom of God, not to prove anything, but instead to become completely turned over to Jesus and his heart for the sick, the poor, the outcast – all those who find themselves at the advancing edge of God's expanding kingdom.

In this second message on our series on what it means to belong to the Vineyard Church tradition, Jonathan brings attention to our unique emphasis on pursuing the presence of God, showing how it connects to a robust theology of God's kingdom.

In this first of a four week series, Lloyd Rankin, former national director of the Association of Vineyard Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand, tells the story of the Vineyard in the context of global and local Church history. In doing so, he sets up the next three sermons which will reflect on questions like: what does it means to be 'Vineyard'? What does it mean to care for that "sacred trust" God has given us so we can offer it as a gift to the world and the wider body of Christ? And what does it mean for each of us to belong to such a people? At one level, to be Vineyard means to recognise that we carry and cherish similar values. For instance, our desire for intimacy in worship and an openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our gatherings. Perhaps it also means a willingness to be trained and equipped to carry on the work of Jesus (rather than leaving it up to the professionals). It probably also means a commitment to a life of service, caring for the poor in particular, and cultivating an expectation that the kingdom of God can break into the present moment bringing with it all the signs of Jesus' lordship... We don't always get these priorities right, or in the right order, but for the next three weeks we are going to explore some these values with the hope that we can remember once again who God has called us to be, and what he has called us to do. 

We were so blessed to have our dear friend Matthias Bühlmann share with us on the joyful and exhilarating 'world-adventure' of God. Reflecting on Colossians 1:13-27, Matthias reminded us of the magnitude of the Gospel, or what the Apostle Paul described as "the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but now disclosed to the saints" (v26). For Paul, the gospel is, quite simply, Christ in you, Christ in us, "the hope of glory" (v27). Matthias then encouraged us not to give into the 'venom of neo-stoicism' which is the shrunken life of self-preservation and fatalistic detachment from the world at large, but instead to join with our adventurous God in his 'world-adventure' of revealing his glory through the work of the church.

As part of a special Waitangi Day Sunday, Pete reminded us of the story, characters, and spirituality that shaped Te Tiriti and established the bi-cultural foundation of Aoteaora/New Zealand. He then provided space for us to reflect, as a church, on what it means to be followers of Jesus in a bi-cultural context. As Christians living in these islands, the story of te Tiriti sits within the nested stories of our lives, the life of our city, the life of our nation, the life of the global church, the story of Scripture and the ultimate story of God’s redemptive plans. The more we understand the trajectory of these interconnected stories, the more we will be able to live lives attuned and responsive to God’s sovereign plans for his world.

In a continuation of the conversation on repentance/choosing life in 2024, Jonathan explores the significance and efficacy of baptism as a concrete sign and means of grace by which we choose life. For those who have been baptised, the invitation is to constantly remember the moment we crossed from death to life in the saving floodwaters, and for those who haven't been baptised, the invitation is to make an appointment to get baptised this year.

Jonathan shares an encouragement from Deuteronomy 30 to "choose life" by living in a continual state of openness before God, ourselves, and each other, returning again and again whenever we fail, and holding fast to the life that is always ours in the Lord.

Jonathan reflects on the difference between optimism and hope in the Biblical imagination by looking at Abraham and Paul's life experiences. He also tells some of his story about the perils of 'hoping' for an outcome that is never strong enough to carry the weight of our deepest hope. The episode ends with a benediction from Romans 15:13. Pray it over yourself and others this Advent season as often as you can. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

As part of our Advent series, Lloyd returns our attention to Jesus, the true image of God, as a way of preparing us for His second coming as well as inviting us to experience His 'advent' or arrival in our life right now.

– RE-RECORDING – We had some issues with the recording from Pete's sermon. The live version is still available in our podcast feed; this is the exact same message but re-recorded without the glitchy issues.

Pete continues our series on Being the Image of God by addressing some of the wider implications of what it means to be made male and female. He highlights the way Jesus scandalously embraced people in their brokenness while also calling everyone to a righteousness that far exceeded the narrow religiosity of his time. In this sense, we are reminded of our calling as a church to embrace each other as Christ has embraced us, and call each other to be renewed in the image of God, as Christ has done for each one of us.

Jonathan concludes the conversation from last week on the significance of being made male and female in the image of God. Working from the ground up, he shows how the male and female body, when united as 'one flesh' is designed, in its original intent, for life and fruitfulness. This reveals much about God's nature as a divine community of love that exists between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He then looks at a often misunderstood passage from Ephesians 5 where Paul speaks of marriage as a profound mystery, or sacrament, which reveals God. However, lest we fall into the trap of thinking marriage is the ultimate goal of human life, he also shows how life in the presence of the future in-breaking kingdom of God relativises singleness and marriage as equally valid ways of expressing Christian faithfulness. In the final analysis, Jonathan argues that the Gospel offers a uniquely liberating path for men and women irrespective of whether they choose to marry or remain celibate in that it reveals the path to satisfying our deepest longings in union with God.

Genesis 1:27 is one of the most radical statements on the status of males and females as equally bearing the image of God. Genesis 1-2 not only teaches us that our physical embodiment holds the key to understanding what it means to bear God's image, it also teaches that our sexed bodies, and the reciprocal relationship between male and female, reveal something important about God's relational character. In a world where many stereotypes around gender roles have squashed people into painfully constrictive and dehumanising boxes, its tempting to see our sexed bodies as a curse. In this sermon, Jonathan shows how Jesus, Paul and the early Christians overturned the dehumanising gender stereotypes of their day in formational and transformational ways to help believers uncover their true identity in God and according to the pattern of creation.

Sarah continues our series on Being God's Image by exploring the relationship between human embodiment and our identity as image bearers. She makes the important point that being an image bearer is not based on our capacity for certain functions (e.g. moral reasoning, rational thinking, creativity etc) but simply on the fact that we have (and are!) human bodies. All bodies – young, old, male, female, fragile, strong, impaired, growing – are an image of God and there is no ontological or value hierarchy between them. She meditates on the story from John 9 where Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth and in doing so, troubles the categories of ideal bodies by showing how impaired bodies are also the site of God's glory.

In carrying on our series on Being God's Image, Lloyd teaches into the vital issue of how suffering and human frailty doesn't invalidate our status as image bearers but instead reveals, in the pattern Christ established, our deepest identity. This is an important message.