Sunday, January 23, 2011

Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

When Christ called the first disciples he set himself a task - the task of making them into fishermen.

"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "follow me, I will make you fish for people."

That is what God wants us all to do. - It's what Jesus did - in Galilee and in Samaria and in Jordan and Judea and Jerusalem, - And it's what we are all supposed to do - in John and in Nancy, in Edward and in Charles.

We are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God - into that creel known as salvation, as redemption, as everlasting peace.

But are we? Are we fishing that is? And if we are fishing - who are we fishing for? For God and God's glory? For the sake of those we talk to each day? Or for ourselves and for the sake of those people to whom we are loyal - albeit in a worldly way?

There is so much power that flows when you witness to the love of God - when you share with others what it does for you and what it can do for them - when you have an chance to engage someone who is troubled, or curious, or hungry, and bring them before the one who can sooth their pain, satisfy their yearnings, and feed their soul.

I was talking to someone who lives in Cheung Chau the other day whose father is an alcoholic. He was sharing with me how his family coped with the problem - and naturally Alcoholics Anonymous Hong Kong came up in the conversation. From that it was but a short step to the concept of the Higher Power which is at the heart of that program - and then to the concept of believing that the Higher Power can help you with your problem and that one should surrender to that Power - to "Let go and let God."

What a prescription for life that is - and how wonderful it was to be able to share it - as any believing person is able to share it - whether or not they have read through the AA program.

It was wonderful to be able to share with someone that God ready and able to help them.

There is power in witnessing - in sharing one's faith - in being a person who fishes for people, because there is power in the message and power in the God the message is about.

But sometimes we don't experience that - most often - perhaps - we don't experience that.

We don't experience the power and we don't succeed at the task of fishing for people - indeed most often we don't even begin that task, because we are involved with and committed to the wrong things in life.

Although every one of us believes in God - our energy - our focus - is all too often fixed elsewhere.

It is as if we belonged to another - and indeed we often do. We often belong to other things - to other people - to other teams - and God gets the short end.

But my friends, when God gets the short end from us, so do the people around us, so do our families, so does our church, and so do we ourselves.

When Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians there were a lot of problems in the congregation.

There was arrogance, there was pride, there was indifference. There was gluttony and laziness and intolerance, and there was depression, and anger, and despair. And it all tracked itself down to one simple fact - the people in the congregation at Corinth had fixed their focus on themselves and on one another instead of fixing it on Christ and on the power of his cross.

That's not to suggest that the Corinthians never paid attention to God - or that they totally ignored Jesus. Far from it. It's simply to say that most of their attention went elsewhere.

Instead of using the gospel as a filter by which to see the world around them and of asking God at each moment of decision to direct their words and their actions - they fell into their old routines, routines that are programmed into us by our genes and by the expectations that others have of us and by our own reluctance to really trust God for everything.

They relied upon the teachings of others for their own understanding of the gospel. They formed loyalties with those who first showed them the love of God and quite naturally they defended those teachers when questioned about them. And because their was a contrary spirit in Corinth, they soon began to quarrel about who was better and who was worse - some saying Paul, others Apollos, and still others Cephas, and even some entered the fray saying that they belong to the party Christ and that he was, and therefore they were, better.

In short the Corinthians missed the point of what the gospel is all about and instead of knowing the joy and the peace that comes with the fellowship of the faithful - instead of being powerful in their witness and being to catch people for God - their congregational life collapsed and their sense of well being evaporated.

People complained about each other and about their leadership, they became confused about what was right and wrong, and they bickered about issues that made no sense then and even less now.

The King James Version of the Bible says that problems at Corinth could be traced to the believers there having a party spirit.

I once heard a young brother joke and said that this meant that the Corinthians stayed up too late and drank and danced a bit too much - that they played even more than they worked - but really it is no joking matter.

The Corinthians placed their loyalty in things other than the things of God - in persons other than the person of Jesus Christ, and they suffered because of it - they suffered a loss of power - they suffered a loss of love - they suffered a loss of joy in believing and in sharing.

The Corinthians did this - they misplaced their loyalty - they missed the point of the gospel - they formed up into party, cliques, and factions, not because they were wicked or mean or stupid, but because they looked elsewhere and forgot what they were to be about, because, most of all, they forgot who they believed in and what who they believed in was, and is, about.

The effective Christian life is based on three simple facts:

- the fact that God loves us unconditionally,
- the fact that apart from God we can do nothing that is worthwhile,
- and the fact that God is pleased to work through us if we allow him to, and around us if we will not.

Sometimes we look out upon our families, or upon our congregation, or upon our club or lodge, or upon our place of employment, and we say to ourselves:

- "things would be better if only Irene would cut x and y out", or
- "if only Stephen would do this or that everything would be fine".

Who hasn't heard the old song that is sung by close to everyone - if only my father hadn't been so stern, if only my parents hadn't gotten divorced, if only my mother had been more affectionate, if only my secondary school had a better program, if only my boss wasn't such a hard person to please.

Who do we belong to? What holds onto us because we hold on to it?

Do you look out and assign blame for what problems exist upon some people - and apportion credit for what good is happening to still others instead of alternately - either asking God to work through you to make things better or thanking God for making things as fine as they are.

Too many judge things, too many judge people just as they always used to instead of judging them by the standard show them by Christ when he went to the cross for them

We prefer our friends to our enemies, quite naturally. We prefer our comfort to our discomfort, quite naturally. We would rather fit in than stand out. We would rather be praised than be criticized, and we would rather be served than serve - all quite naturally.

But we are not meant to be natural people any longer - we are meant to be the children of God -
to be a spiritual people who live by spiritual principles to be a people who live by the power of the cross of Christ rather than a people who live by the ways of the world.

Do you recall what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place?

Sometimes a night light glows down the hall, providing a small amount of light, of security, against the darkness of the night. Sometimes a light has been left on in the den down the hall and its steady glow allows you to navigate safely when you have rise to raid the fridge or do what is necessary. And that is great.

But what foolishness it would be if you got up, as you do when you are at home, and, ignoring the fact of whether there is any light on or not, you try to navigate your way to the kitchen or the bathroom by making all the usual twist and turns. It's a sure fire way to experience some form of pain - I mean think of what happens if someone simply moves something in your home without telling you about it, if for some reason they leave the seat up instead of down, or some other unexpected thing...

But we do this all the time - in a metaphorical sense at least.

We forget that we have been called to a new way of living, and that we are meant to navigate our way through our new life by the light that God provides rather than by our old channel markers.

Do you have a problem - don't worry about fixing blame - check out the possible solutions in the word of God. Do we have something that is hampering our life together - let not accuse one another - lets pray together and then let's work the works that God calls us to, both individually and collectively.

The church at Corinth was a weak church.

It was weak because the people there forgot that they were called to a new way of life. It was weak because they forgot that the true and only real source of transforming and healing power comes from the cross of Jesus Christ. And it was weak because they forgot that their sole and only task as his followers was to show HIS love to others - that they were to live in such a manner and to speak in such a manner that others might be touched by God - that others might know the lure - the attraction - the wonder of God through us -and so be moved to claim Christ as their own.

I started this message today by saying we are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God into that creel known as salvation, as redemption - as everlasting peace.

That is, my friends, the central calling of every disciple and every apostle, and every teacher, and every evangelist, and indeed of everyone who bears the name of Christ.

And it is a wonderful calling - a calling in which we have the privilege of witnessing God at work, - a calling in which we are shown a portion of the love and the joy that exists in heaven.

Turn to Christ and place your allegiance in his person, your focus on his cross, your energy on his work, and all that God has in mind for you will be yours in this life as well as in the next.

Blessed Be God, Day by Day, Amen

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