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.
It would be interesting to poll this congregation and ask - what do you think is the hardest problem to handle in the Christian life???
Your answer might be different than mine.
For me, the hardest problem I have to handle as a Christian is what to do when God does not do what I have been taught to expect him to do; when God gets out of line and does not act the way I think he ought.
We have an occasion like that in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
John introduces this last of the great miracles of Jesus in chapter 11 in these words:
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
When the message reached Jesus, this was his remarkable response:
"This illness is not unto death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."
The remarkable thing about that is, if you carefully check out the schedule of timing of this event, Lazarus was already dead when the message reached Jesus. It took two days for the messenger to get to the Jordan, so when Jesus returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.
It is difficult for us to believe that Jesus did not know that because of the insight that the Spirit of God had given him on numerous occasions. But he sees this as a signal from the Father that something tremendous is going to happen in connection with it, thus he sent back this remarkable word: "This illness is not unto death."
In verses 5 and 6 we get the real shocker here, however when we read:
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill... he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
That is incredible to us. That is the part of the story which is hard to handle.
Martha loved Jesus; Mary loved Jesus; Lazarus loved Jesus; and Jesus loved them. From the record of scripture we know that their home was filled with love and that it was one of the most welcome havens for our Lord during his three years of ministry.
But when Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick - what does he do?? He waits.
It is a tough thing to believe that Jesus deliberately waited. We are so used to critical illness being a signal for immediate action - wailing sirens, flashing red lights, frantic phone calls - get right down to the hospital, that it seems incredible that Jesus, knowing that his friend was ill, or in this case dead, he nevertheless stayed right where he was for two more days.
Somebody may well say,
"If he knew Lazarus was dead why would he hurry? There was nothing he could do."
But remember Mary and Martha's hearts were breaking. This was a dearly loved brother, and his death would be a grievous loss to them. Jesus' presence with them would have been a tremendous comfort even though he never did a thing about raising Lazarus from the dead.
Yet, knowing that they needed him there to comfort them, knowing that they longed to have him there to the point that they sent a messenger to let him know the situation, he deliberately remained two days longer at the place where he was.
Why?
That is the question we all ask.
Why?
When you have gone to God for help which you feel you desperately need and nothing happens, when your heart is breaking over something and you need God to intervene, but the heavens are silent, it is tough to understand, tough to accept, tough to get any kind of grip on.
But what this passage is telling us is that a delay in answer like that is not a sign of God's indifference or his failure to hear. It is a sign of his love. The delay will help us. It is for our sake. And it is so that Christ may be glorified through it.
Jesus deliberately delayed going to Mary and Martha because he loved them and knew this would strengthen their faith as they learned the ultimate outcome which God would work through Him.
That is a hard lesson to accept. I have struggled over this many times myself. But it works - something we expect and long for does not occur and then - bingo - sometime after we think that everything is lost and that there is no hope, God does something remarkable that totally reverses our view.
Think of the reaction in Bethany as the messenger returned with the news that when he told Jesus that Lazarus was ill, Jesus had said, "This illness is not unto death." Yet when the messenger got back with that message Lazarus had already been dead for two days.
What do you think the reaction of his sisters was? How do you think they felt?
According to the account, two days later Jesus acts. He says to his disciples
"Let us go back Judea... Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up."
The disciples, who had every reason to believe that if they returned to Judea that Jesus would be stoned to death, protest, saying:
"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
To which Jesus replies
"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"
Notice that Jesus says he was glad he was not there when Lazarus died, "for the sake of the disciples."
Just as Jesus delayed his going for Mary and Martha's sake in order that their faith might be strengthened by that delay, so that they might see His glory in it what will happen because of it. So he delayed as well for the sake of his disciples that they might believe.
I want to tell you there have been times when I have cried out to God for help and said, "Things are so bad it can't get any worse. Lord, do something. Help us." But no answer came. That is hard. It is hard to believe. It is hard to wait.
But I am gradually learning that this is never the end of the story, gradually learning what God said so clearly through the prophet Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways."
That is what is so difficult. God is sovereign. God is not a mortal that he should act like we act. There are dimensions of the problems which he sees that we do not remotely imagine. There are possibilities and opportunities in every situation that we cannot conceive of.
So we must wait and quietly trust, knowing that he is working out something.
"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"
As we go in the story, as Jesus arrives at the outskirts of Bethany - we see that Martha greets Jesus with a phrase that must have been frequently on all of their lips when Lazarus was sick.
How many times must they have said, "Oh, if Jesus were only here." They had said it so many times that it comes automatically to Martha's lips when she meets him: "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died."
I do not believe this is a word of reproach.
Martha is not saying, "Lord, why didn't you come sooner? We sent for you. If you had responded we wouldn't be in this pickle." It is clear from the account, that she realizes that the message did not reach him until Lazarus was dead. Martha's word rather is one of regret: "Lord, I wish you could have been here, because if you had, my brother would not have died."
Then she goes on to say, "But even now, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."
Many ask at this point, "What does she expect? What is it that she wants from him?" Some commentators say that she really did expect Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead, pointing to her words, "Even now."
These commentators miss the point because, of course, the very next word of Jesus is, "Your brother will rise again."
If Martha had any idea that would happen then, she would have said, "How wonderful, Lord! That is exactly what I expected you to do now that you have come."
But she does not say that. What she says is, "Yes, I know. He will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Clearly Martha is not looking for the immediate resurrection of her brother. What, then, is she looking for from Jesus? What does she mean by the words, "Even now, whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you?"
We have to conclude that she is looking for his comfort, for the release that God can give to a heart that is burdened and saddened, torn with grief, anticipating the loneliness and emptiness of the days ahead. God can give marvellous inward peace. Many have testified to that. This is what Martha is asking for, "Even now, Lord, even though he is gone..."
There is so much God can give us at a time like this. As we listen to the story we can see that Martha's faith is like the faith we so often have. She believes in what she thinks will happen now and then later, rather than in what God might make happen whenever God decides to make it happen.
How many times have you said to yourself, "I know God has worked in the past, and I know that he will work again in the future, but today, well, this is not the day of miracles..."
This is Martha's faith: in the future, at the resurrection of the last day, yes, the program of God is certain. But for today - well - that is a different matter.
The same thing can be said of Mary - who greets Jesus with the same words that Martha used: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.".
Neither Martha, nor Mary, nor any of those who accompany her to the grave side - nor the disciples expect what happens next. They do not even hope for it.
How often are we in the same position with regard to the Lord's work in our lives?
In our brokenness - in our experience of grief - in our despair- we weep, as Mary wept - we weep and we expect nothing - nothing but heartache for today and for as long as we live and breath..
Jesus wept too - It says that Jesus asked where they had laid Lazarus, and as he started out to the tomb, that "he wept".
He weeps not because he loves Lazarus - not because Lazarus has died - for he knows what he is about to do - he weeps because Mary weeps. He weeps because he is sharing the heartache of the sisters - because he sympathizes with them in their pain..
I read once of a little girl who hurt her finger, and she ran to her daddy, who was busy studying for an exam in his den. She showed him her finger, but he was so caught up in what he was doing he just looked at it and said, "Oh, that will be all right," and sent her on out. She ran to her mother, weeping and crying, and her mother said, "Oh, dear, does it hurt so much?" The little girl said, "No, mummy, it's just that daddy didn't even say, 'Oh.'" That is what she wanted, somebody to say "Oh" with her.
In Romans 12, Paul tells us to "weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice." Here our Lord himself sets the example of this. Knowing that he is going to turn it all around, he yet feels the sorrow of their hearts and weeps.
Now we come to the actual miracle.
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone."
Notice how he answers. He does not rebuke her, he encourages her in the words, "Remember what I said." "Did I not say to you that 'if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
Then Jesus turns to do the great deed. He begins with a simple prayer.
And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
Notice the many times in this account that what Jesus did he did for the sake of the ones involved.
Earlier he said to the disciples, "I am glad I was not there for your sake. He stayed two days where he was when the message reached him "because he loved Mary and Martha." Now he prays out loud for the sake of the people there.
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
What does this miracle say to us this morning?
One answer to that is given by the apostle Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy. Timothy was a young man who was left in the pagan city of Ephesus. He had to struggle to live as a Christian in that polluted, pagan environment, just as we have to today in our society here in Hong Kong,where Christians are a minority. He was sometimes discouraged, sometimes defeated, facing many problems. He was a little afraid. He was frail of health.
What were Paul's words to him?
"Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Remember Jesus right where you are. Remember he is with you."
This is his word. He is with you. He knows how to handle the situation you are in. He knows how to lead you through it, he can - and in fact will even raise the dead. He can do anything.
Focus your faith on him, not on the solution to the problem or the eventual working out of it.
Trust in him, despite the delays - turn to him, knowing that he is able - and knowing that whatever illness may strike, with him it is never an illness unto death - rather it may well be the pathway to new life.
Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Ephesians 5:8-14; Psalm 23; John 9:1-41
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.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Thus began this morning's Gospel Reading.
The entire passage that Ricky read today deals with blindness - but strangely enough it is not the blindness of the man who was born blind that is central to the passage - despite how this man is mentioned throughout it, rather it is the blindness of those around him and most especially the blindness of the religious teachers and authorities that is central to the passage - their blindness and their sin.
And this is so much so that the closing words of the story about the Man Born Blind - which come after the man born blind has been questioned, his parents questioned, and he has been questioned again and then thrown out of the synagogue by the priests and teachers of the law and has then been found by Jesus and has professed his faith in him and worshipped him are these:
"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
And then we hear that some Pharisees who were with Jesus heard him say this and asked,
"What? Are we blind too?"
And Jesus replies
"If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
What are we to make of the story of the man born blind? Well, it is a very rich passage - and today I have time only to touch on a couple of things.
The first thing I would like you to grasp is this - while all people sin and fall short of the glory of God, not all afflictions, perhaps not even most afflictions, can be blamed on the sin of the person who must bear that affliction, or - as in the case of a genetic defect or a birth accident like that the man born blind must have had - upon the sin of the parents.
God doesn't work that way.
While some afflictions obviously are the result of one kind of sin or another - for example someone driving drunk may have an accident in which they are crippled for life or in which they cripple someone else for life - for the most part many other afflictions can't be blamed on someone, nor should we try to blame them on someone.
Rather we should try to bring healing to those who are afflicted
Which is the second point I want to make.
Jesus answers the question about who sinned that the man was born blind by saying:
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. "
And he healed him with mud and spit and the touch of his own precious hand.
This is how God operates. This is what Jesus is about. He has come to give us relief from those things which afflict us - to give sight to the blind and to heal the lame - and to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to those who are poor.
Indeed - even if - and this is a big if - even if the particular affliction or tribulation that rests upon a person is the result of a direct sin for example that drunken driver who has wounded himself or some one else - even if this is the case - Jesus still wants them to be whole. He still wants to make the work of God manifest in their lives.
That is what the cross is ultimately all about - bringing forgiveness and salvation to sinners, and showing the love of God to those who, by any other standard, are unlovable.
But some will not accept this. They didn't in the past. And they don't now.
As with some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old, they will persist in denying that there is anything good that could come out of Nazareth. They will deny the good that they see done around them is being done by a servant of God. And they, despite their love for God, will attempt to stop the one doing good from doing good.
There are many modern day self-righteous ones, both in the church and outside of it. They don't want the boat to be rocked - they don't want to have to change their comfortable accommodation with the status quo, they don't want to change the way they see the world.
And like some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old they will continue to seek to blame the condition of the poor upon the poor; and of the sick upon the sick; and the oppression of the oppressed upon the oppressed.
It is safer that way isn't it?
It means that they - or is it we - don't have to do anything - we don't have to change.
We can give tax breaks to the rich while we close down hospital wards by not giving enough budget to medical care, can you believe that in a rich place like Hong Kong, our Financial Secretary only increase the medical budget by 8%! We can ignore the hunger in the third world while spend massive amounts on ski trips and vacations. Or we can call those who seek to help the street people and defend the abused women in our society unrealistic idealists who don't fully understand that those people are responsible for their own condition - and cheer as the welfare rolls are reduced and funding for shelters and for counselling programs cut.
There is none so blind as those who will not see.
There is none so blind as those who will not accept the call of our Lord: the call to allow the work of God to be displayed in their lives - the call of God to bring healing and salvation to those around us who really need it - regardless of what sin those who need healing may have or may not have committed.
I don't know if you noticed, but all the hymns this morning except "Give To Us Laughter" and the "23rd Psalm were written by the same person.
"All the Way My Saviour Leads Me", "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross", "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine" and "Pass Me Not Gentle Saviour" were written by a lady by the name of Fanny Crosby.
I chose hymns by her today because Fanny Crosby could not see.
When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was totally blind.
If that happened to some people, I am afraid they would be very bitter and would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for themselves. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:
Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh
Because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!
Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, instead of blaming the doctor for his "sin" against her and dwelling in darkness all her days, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.
We might know who caused her blindness - but to Fanny knowing who caused her blindness didn't matter. Nor did it matter to her that she was blind - because in her mind - and in mine - she could see.
As a Australian preacher by the name of Bruce Prewer put it this way in a discussion of the story of the Man Born Blind some years ago:
"Some people have excellent eyesight but do not see further than their noses. Some have good vision yet choose to see only a little of the way, the truth and the life. And some have no physical sight yet who see brilliantly along the path of Christ"
Christ didn't heal the physical blindness of Fanny Crosby as he healed the sight of the man born blind, but like that man at the end of today's Gospel reading - when he knelt at Jesus' feet and worshipped him, she saw more than we can imagine - she saw more - and felt more blessed - than millions about her with eyes to see, but no will to look past themselves and their own vision of what is and what should be..
The next time we you someone who is afflicted - in body, mind, or spirit - remember what Jesus said about the man born blind - remember how Jesus said that his affliction happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life and then healed him .
And the next time you see someone else engaged in disputes about who is doing the right thing and who is doing what is wrong - quietly remember what Jesus said to those who were confident of their rightness and all to ready to judge him and most others as less worthy of God's love than themselves.
Remember how Jesus said "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." And remember too how he added when they asked him if they were blind too, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Remember too - all of you are blessed - you are blessed to be a blessing.
Amen.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Thus began this morning's Gospel Reading.
The entire passage that Ricky read today deals with blindness - but strangely enough it is not the blindness of the man who was born blind that is central to the passage - despite how this man is mentioned throughout it, rather it is the blindness of those around him and most especially the blindness of the religious teachers and authorities that is central to the passage - their blindness and their sin.
And this is so much so that the closing words of the story about the Man Born Blind - which come after the man born blind has been questioned, his parents questioned, and he has been questioned again and then thrown out of the synagogue by the priests and teachers of the law and has then been found by Jesus and has professed his faith in him and worshipped him are these:
"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
And then we hear that some Pharisees who were with Jesus heard him say this and asked,
"What? Are we blind too?"
And Jesus replies
"If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
What are we to make of the story of the man born blind? Well, it is a very rich passage - and today I have time only to touch on a couple of things.
The first thing I would like you to grasp is this - while all people sin and fall short of the glory of God, not all afflictions, perhaps not even most afflictions, can be blamed on the sin of the person who must bear that affliction, or - as in the case of a genetic defect or a birth accident like that the man born blind must have had - upon the sin of the parents.
God doesn't work that way.
While some afflictions obviously are the result of one kind of sin or another - for example someone driving drunk may have an accident in which they are crippled for life or in which they cripple someone else for life - for the most part many other afflictions can't be blamed on someone, nor should we try to blame them on someone.
Rather we should try to bring healing to those who are afflicted
Which is the second point I want to make.
Jesus answers the question about who sinned that the man was born blind by saying:
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. "
And he healed him with mud and spit and the touch of his own precious hand.
This is how God operates. This is what Jesus is about. He has come to give us relief from those things which afflict us - to give sight to the blind and to heal the lame - and to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to those who are poor.
Indeed - even if - and this is a big if - even if the particular affliction or tribulation that rests upon a person is the result of a direct sin for example that drunken driver who has wounded himself or some one else - even if this is the case - Jesus still wants them to be whole. He still wants to make the work of God manifest in their lives.
That is what the cross is ultimately all about - bringing forgiveness and salvation to sinners, and showing the love of God to those who, by any other standard, are unlovable.
But some will not accept this. They didn't in the past. And they don't now.
As with some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old, they will persist in denying that there is anything good that could come out of Nazareth. They will deny the good that they see done around them is being done by a servant of God. And they, despite their love for God, will attempt to stop the one doing good from doing good.
There are many modern day self-righteous ones, both in the church and outside of it. They don't want the boat to be rocked - they don't want to have to change their comfortable accommodation with the status quo, they don't want to change the way they see the world.
And like some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old they will continue to seek to blame the condition of the poor upon the poor; and of the sick upon the sick; and the oppression of the oppressed upon the oppressed.
It is safer that way isn't it?
It means that they - or is it we - don't have to do anything - we don't have to change.
We can give tax breaks to the rich while we close down hospital wards by not giving enough budget to medical care, can you believe that in a rich place like Hong Kong, our Financial Secretary only increase the medical budget by 8%! We can ignore the hunger in the third world while spend massive amounts on ski trips and vacations. Or we can call those who seek to help the street people and defend the abused women in our society unrealistic idealists who don't fully understand that those people are responsible for their own condition - and cheer as the welfare rolls are reduced and funding for shelters and for counselling programs cut.
There is none so blind as those who will not see.
There is none so blind as those who will not accept the call of our Lord: the call to allow the work of God to be displayed in their lives - the call of God to bring healing and salvation to those around us who really need it - regardless of what sin those who need healing may have or may not have committed.
I don't know if you noticed, but all the hymns this morning except "Give To Us Laughter" and the "23rd Psalm were written by the same person.
"All the Way My Saviour Leads Me", "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross", "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine" and "Pass Me Not Gentle Saviour" were written by a lady by the name of Fanny Crosby.
I chose hymns by her today because Fanny Crosby could not see.
When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was totally blind.
If that happened to some people, I am afraid they would be very bitter and would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for themselves. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:
Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh
Because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!
Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, instead of blaming the doctor for his "sin" against her and dwelling in darkness all her days, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.
We might know who caused her blindness - but to Fanny knowing who caused her blindness didn't matter. Nor did it matter to her that she was blind - because in her mind - and in mine - she could see.
As a Australian preacher by the name of Bruce Prewer put it this way in a discussion of the story of the Man Born Blind some years ago:
"Some people have excellent eyesight but do not see further than their noses. Some have good vision yet choose to see only a little of the way, the truth and the life. And some have no physical sight yet who see brilliantly along the path of Christ"
Christ didn't heal the physical blindness of Fanny Crosby as he healed the sight of the man born blind, but like that man at the end of today's Gospel reading - when he knelt at Jesus' feet and worshipped him, she saw more than we can imagine - she saw more - and felt more blessed - than millions about her with eyes to see, but no will to look past themselves and their own vision of what is and what should be..
The next time we you someone who is afflicted - in body, mind, or spirit - remember what Jesus said about the man born blind - remember how Jesus said that his affliction happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life and then healed him .
And the next time you see someone else engaged in disputes about who is doing the right thing and who is doing what is wrong - quietly remember what Jesus said to those who were confident of their rightness and all to ready to judge him and most others as less worthy of God's love than themselves.
Remember how Jesus said "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." And remember too how he added when they asked him if they were blind too, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Remember too - all of you are blessed - you are blessed to be a blessing.
Amen.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-42
"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen.
I once read an article that I would like to share with you. It was titled: "In Times of Stress, Just Call on Fred". It goes like this:
When it comes to times of stress, the most reassuring companion is not your sweetheart - it's your schnauzer.
A study has found that people who were under stress showed the least amount of tension when accompanied by their dog. The stress levels were highest when the people were with their husbands or wives.
"I think that dogs are non-evaluative, and they love us", said Karen Allen, a research scientist.
This item caught my attention, not because of what it says about stress and our spouses - I don't happen to find its assertion in this regard to be true in my experience the years in which I have been married to Carmel. NO, it caught my attention because of what asserts about how dogs love us - and of the benefits that kind of love has.
There is something very biblical in the assertion made by Ms. Allen that non-evaluative love, non-judgmental love, reduces tension.
In fact the scriptures testify that this kind of love does far more than reduce tension - it in fact gives life - it gives hope - it gives assurance - to all who receive it.
Non-judgmental - accepting - all embracing love is the essence of the gospel message: it lies behind such statements as: "Do not judge others lest you be judged - for the judgement you give will be the judgement you receive" and it is at the root of what has happened whenever we find Jesus being criticized by the scribes and pharisees for the company that he keeps.
Jesus accepts and embraces those whom others find wanting. He loves those who seem unlovable - to others - and to themselves.
I'm not much of gardener (if you look at the plants I kept you will be in total agreement that I am not much of a gardener, but one thing I do know is that every plant needs water to grow.
And I know this as well - the plants that are in the driest soil: - the ones that are struggling the hardest and beginning to wither - the ones whose leaves are beginning to curl and which look worse than the rest need more water than those who are in damp ground and whose leaves are rich and full of moisture.
And I know too that dry plants respond better to water than they do to added heat - that they thrust down their roots to where they can find it or turn their leaves over so that they better receive it - and receiving it - they change - they begin to look better - they begin to grow - and at length - they produce the fruit that they have been designed to produce.
We are the plants in God's garden - placed here for a reason and a purpose - and some of us are awfully dry - and some of us aren't.
But each one of us, whether we be dry or moist at this very moment, needs the living water that Jesus says he has come to give: - that water which wells up to eternal life, - that water which overflows and brings life to other plants near to it.
I give thanks to God today for his love - for that love shown by Christ - that love which was poured out me when I was withering and perishing as a young man - alone in a large city and which even now is poured out upon me -even though I am far from perfect.
I give thanks for his love which has given me hope that I never had, a peace that at one time I could only long for, and an assurance that I thought I would never see at work in my life.
In giving thanks before you today I do what thousands, indeed millions of people have done before me, I do what the woman at the well did after first encountering Jesus: I point to the one who is the Saviour promised from long ago, I point to the one who has accepted me - the one who calls me brother and does not hold my human failings against me - the one who encourages me and challenges me and never - even when I argue with him - rejects or condemns me.
That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well. He accepted her.
He accepted her though she was a Samaritan and an enemy to his people.
He spoke to her of God though she was a woman and not thought worthy of such conversation.
He offered her his blessing - even though she debated with him and questioned his statements.
He regards her as a dear sister - and gives her the same title of endearment he gave Mary when he calls her woman in verse 21 and asks her to believe his words concerning how the time is coming when true worshippers will worship Father in Spirit and in Truth.
And that is why she sang his praises in her village. Because of his acceptance - because of his love.
It was not just because he knew her past. It was not just because he could tell her things that no stranger should know that she spoke of him to her friends and neighbours.
It was because in knowing her - in knowing her nationality, her gender, her religious attitudes, and the mixed history of her marriages he none-the-less treats her as if she was an equal, as if she was a person worthy of respect, worthy of affection - worthy of love.
And that is where it is at.
When we treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated - when we can talk to kings and to beggars and not show any preferences to the one and not the other, when we can debate with sinners and with saints - and have both feel that you respect them - when we can open our homes to both friends and strangers - and have both feel welcomed - when we can encounter people and not judge them - not put them down - not patronize them - then we know something of God's love, then we show something of God's love.
Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.
I once read an article that I would like to share with you. It was titled: "In Times of Stress, Just Call on Fred". It goes like this:
When it comes to times of stress, the most reassuring companion is not your sweetheart - it's your schnauzer.
A study has found that people who were under stress showed the least amount of tension when accompanied by their dog. The stress levels were highest when the people were with their husbands or wives.
"I think that dogs are non-evaluative, and they love us", said Karen Allen, a research scientist.
This item caught my attention, not because of what it says about stress and our spouses - I don't happen to find its assertion in this regard to be true in my experience the years in which I have been married to Carmel. NO, it caught my attention because of what asserts about how dogs love us - and of the benefits that kind of love has.
There is something very biblical in the assertion made by Ms. Allen that non-evaluative love, non-judgmental love, reduces tension.
In fact the scriptures testify that this kind of love does far more than reduce tension - it in fact gives life - it gives hope - it gives assurance - to all who receive it.
Non-judgmental - accepting - all embracing love is the essence of the gospel message: it lies behind such statements as: "Do not judge others lest you be judged - for the judgement you give will be the judgement you receive" and it is at the root of what has happened whenever we find Jesus being criticized by the scribes and pharisees for the company that he keeps.
Jesus accepts and embraces those whom others find wanting. He loves those who seem unlovable - to others - and to themselves.
I'm not much of gardener (if you look at the plants I kept you will be in total agreement that I am not much of a gardener, but one thing I do know is that every plant needs water to grow.
And I know this as well - the plants that are in the driest soil: - the ones that are struggling the hardest and beginning to wither - the ones whose leaves are beginning to curl and which look worse than the rest need more water than those who are in damp ground and whose leaves are rich and full of moisture.
And I know too that dry plants respond better to water than they do to added heat - that they thrust down their roots to where they can find it or turn their leaves over so that they better receive it - and receiving it - they change - they begin to look better - they begin to grow - and at length - they produce the fruit that they have been designed to produce.
We are the plants in God's garden - placed here for a reason and a purpose - and some of us are awfully dry - and some of us aren't.
But each one of us, whether we be dry or moist at this very moment, needs the living water that Jesus says he has come to give: - that water which wells up to eternal life, - that water which overflows and brings life to other plants near to it.
I give thanks to God today for his love - for that love shown by Christ - that love which was poured out me when I was withering and perishing as a young man - alone in a large city and which even now is poured out upon me -even though I am far from perfect.
I give thanks for his love which has given me hope that I never had, a peace that at one time I could only long for, and an assurance that I thought I would never see at work in my life.
In giving thanks before you today I do what thousands, indeed millions of people have done before me, I do what the woman at the well did after first encountering Jesus: I point to the one who is the Saviour promised from long ago, I point to the one who has accepted me - the one who calls me brother and does not hold my human failings against me - the one who encourages me and challenges me and never - even when I argue with him - rejects or condemns me.
That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well. He accepted her.
He accepted her though she was a Samaritan and an enemy to his people.
He spoke to her of God though she was a woman and not thought worthy of such conversation.
He offered her his blessing - even though she debated with him and questioned his statements.
He regards her as a dear sister - and gives her the same title of endearment he gave Mary when he calls her woman in verse 21 and asks her to believe his words concerning how the time is coming when true worshippers will worship Father in Spirit and in Truth.
And that is why she sang his praises in her village. Because of his acceptance - because of his love.
It was not just because he knew her past. It was not just because he could tell her things that no stranger should know that she spoke of him to her friends and neighbours.
It was because in knowing her - in knowing her nationality, her gender, her religious attitudes, and the mixed history of her marriages he none-the-less treats her as if she was an equal, as if she was a person worthy of respect, worthy of affection - worthy of love.
And that is where it is at.
When we treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated - when we can talk to kings and to beggars and not show any preferences to the one and not the other, when we can debate with sinners and with saints - and have both feel that you respect them - when we can open our homes to both friends and strangers - and have both feel welcomed - when we can encounter people and not judge them - not put them down - not patronize them - then we know something of God's love, then we show something of God's love.
Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Genesis 17:1-7,15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
Let us Pray - Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.... (And) -- He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
A Pastor wrote to an on-line study group with this message:
"I'm having difficulty with the Gospel this week; what is this cross that I am to take up, and what am I to deny in following Jesus?"
A seminary student once wrote:
"I find this a hard gospel text because it talks about suffering rather than joy"
The cross has always caused problems to people. Brutal and barbaric - the cross was a tool of political power for the Romans. They maintained their power because of the fear of death on the cross.
When one was condemned by the state, the condemned literally had to "take up his cross" and carry it to the public place where he was to be crucified. It was part of the humiliation process, the mechanism of social control for which crucifixion was invented.
The cross was an instrument of suffering and shame - and no more so than among the Children of Israel - where the scriptures themselves declare: "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree".
To die on a cross was a sign that one died cut off from God, and cut off from the people of God - a sign that the person was rejected. And of course in the case of Jesus this was very true.
Jesus went to cross as one who was rejected and abandoned. Rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and abandoned almost completely by his disciples too. Jesus didn't die as a hero or a martyr. He died as a blasphemer.
The cross was the worst form of execution - for the people of Israel and for the Roman Empire as a whole. Indeed it was a social faux pax to mention crosses or crucifixion in the presence of women and children of high social standing.
Yet Christianity in contrast to many of the other religions of the day, which celebrated the search for beauty, truth, and the good, had, and still has, at its centre this most awful symbol of death and disgrace.
This must be dealt with - and understood correctly.
I say this because with our gold and silver crosses adorning our altars, and worn as jewellery around our necks, and with so much wrong-headed preaching on cross-bearing, preaching which reduces bearing the cross to little more than performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations we risk transforming our faith into just another religion - a religion that celebrates many good things - but which avoids the difficult truths about life and about faithfulness to God.
Jesus is clear. To be his disciples, to enter the Kingdom of God, we must deny our selves and pick up our crosses - and follow him.
So what is the cross we are called to bear?
FIRST, what the cross is not.
The seminary student I quoted at the beginning of the sermon, as part of his work towards his degree meets with a study group that looks at the gospel passage for the coming Sunday. After telling them that he found today's gospel reading a hard passage because it talks about suffering rather than joy, the group discussed the passage.
He reported that for the next 90 minutes he listened to the most amazing series of stories of survival. The members of the group talked about the death of a husband, the death of an infant son, the near-death of a teen-aged child, divorce, chemotherapy, bankruptcy - and how they look back now and know they weren't alone - that in all these events God went with them - supporting them - wiping the tears from their eyes - and bringing new hope and new life out of tragedy. Praise God for that!
He ended his report by saying that the members of the study group thought they were talking about picking up their crosses and that he was very much inspired by their talk.
But my friends - while I praise God for the testimony of the members of his study group about how God went with them in their suffering and affliction - they were not necessarily talking about either the cross of Jesus or the cross that he calls us to bear.
I say that because most people make a fundamental mistake when talking about the crosses they bear. They confused the suffering that is inflicted upon them by the world - a suffering that comes without their choice or decision - with that which comes because we have chosen to be faithful.
Think about it for a moment. Think about the cross of Christ. Think about how he could have avoided it, how he could have called legions of angels to his rescue, how he could have turned away from the confrontation in Jerusalem and ministered quietly in Galilee.
A cross is something we pick up because we desire to follow Jesus. It is not something falls upon us because we are made of mortal flesh and live in a decaying world, though how we react to those things may, in fact, turn them from an affliction that we bear to a cross we bear.
I think of the aging husband or wife who faithfully tends for and cares for their spouse even when that spouse can no longer recognize them or communicate with them. They have made a decision to be faithful - and the burden they bear is indeed a cross and simply an affliction.
SECOND - the cross we are called to bear is not exactly the same as Christ's cross. Our crosses are our own - they are shaped specially for us by our own life issues and by the call of God upon our lives.
There is a true story in a wonderful book called "A Cloud of Witnesses", by Douglas Weaver. He writes:
There were 40 soldiers of the Twelfth Legion of Rome's imperial army who were Christians. Their captain announced one day that Emperor Licinius had issued an edit requiring all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.
The forty soldiers replied, "You can have our armour and even our bodies, but the allegiance of our heart belongs to Jesus Christ."
It was mid-winter, AD 320. The captain had the men march out to a frozen lake. Their clothes were stripped off of their backs, and they were told either to renounce Christ or to die. Baths of hot water waited on shore as a temptation to deny their faith.
Throughout the night, the men huddled together and sang, "forty martyrs for Christ, forty martyrs for Christ..." One by one, the soldiers fell in death.
Finally, only one soldier was left. His courage failed; he stumbled to shore, renouncing his faith in Christ. But the officer of the guard who had been watching the drama had secretly come to believe in Christ. When he saw the fortieth soldier come to the shore, the officer walked out onto the frozen lake, disrobed, and confessed his faith. As dawn broke the next morning, there were forty bodies on the ice.
As commentary, the book goes on to quote Tertullian, the great North African defender of the faith: "We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.
Many people assume that the cross we are called to carry is like this - like Christ's - that it is a literal willingness to die for the sake of the gospel.
Naturally, they can't relate to that very well, because these days, in the Western World at least, we are not placed in such situations - where our physical death can result from witnessing to Christ.
But there is more than one kind of death, more than one kind of martyrdom, more than one kind of witness. And that brings me to say what the Cross IS for us - and how it is like Christ's.
Our Cross is like Christ's in the sense that it involves offering ourselves to God and our neighbours in complete and total love and obedience to God, no matter where that love and obedience may take us.
It may involve us in less than physically dying for Christ (depending on what part of the world you live in), but it will involve us in far more than simply performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations.
Our cross will involve us in the denial of self so that we may live to God, much as the faithful husband or wife in dealing with the sick partner deny their own needs, their own pleasures, and live for their mate.
Our motives for doing things will not be - how will this help me - but instead how will it serve Christ? How will it serve God?
I am struck by verse 35 in today's gospel reading. Those words that say:
"Those who save their life will lose it, those who lose their life for Christ's sake, and for the sake of good news, will save it."
Too many Christian folk are concerned about whether or not they are saved. They worry about whether or not they am going to heaven.
If that is our focus then Jesus is very clear that we have missed the boat. Our attempts to save our own lives won't do it.
If however I lose my life, that is, if I give it away to others in service to Christ and Christ's good news, then and only then have will I save it.
Giving my life is my only hope. Giving my life away in service to God - for God's sake - for the sake of Christ - is where it is at. Loving others with the love of God is where it is at. Otherwise all we are doing is trying to work our way into heaven.
There's a message here for the church.
Focus on the health of the church, or the denomination it belongs to, spend your energy on the latest church growth gimmick, look for money to simply keep the doors open and we will die.
But if the church gives its life away, if it focuses on the mission that God calls it to, if it seeks to obey and serve God, if it spends itself on proclaiming the good news and invites others to support its vital work of life saving it will, inadvertently as it were, saves its own life.
I would like to conclude this sermon by saying three things about what "denying oneself" means. There is much more than what I will hold up for you, but there is not much more in the way of time this morning.
First, denying oneself means refusing to judge others or oneself, but rather leaving all judgement in the hands of God.
One of the things we struggle with most often is our sense of our own worthlessness; it is so easy for us to listen to the condemning voices in my head telling me that I am a failure, a fraud.
Jesus invites us to deny our own evaluation of ourselves (and others), to give up making judgements about ourselves and to accept the grace, the special relationship we have with God through Christ at face value, to accept God's evaluation of us.
That is denial indeed. No more can I say, "He's such a nice fellow!" or "She's horrible!", but rather I must say, "this person is a child of God, one for whom Christ has given his life". And what I say about others, I must also say about myself. God finds me worthwhile. I am acceptable - and God will help me to grow in his grace as I yield more and more to his will for me.
This sort of denial would eliminate the boundaries we erect around the gospel - around God. There would be no more insiders and no more outsiders. All of us are out (there is none righteous, no not one) and all of us are in - since Jesus has taken away the sins of the whole world...
Would that ever make for a different Church, and a different world, if I and the people ever came to believe it!
Second - denial of self means the refusal to feel ashamed about the gospel.
Shame or embarrassment is a self centred feeling. Every time we hesitate to share the faith because we will be thought foolish or a religious fanatic - we are thinking more about ourselves than about the good of others...
Jesus is clear - if we are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of us.
Part of our denial of self is to put off feelings we may have about speaking about our faith and to share the good news we believe in with others even when we think that maybe they will not appreciate it.
This doesn't mean that we must go about knocking on doors and making a nuisance of ourselves - but does mean that we must be a little less afraid to rock the boat - to be a little less afraid of standing out in the crowd, a little less afraid of "being different"
If we truly believe that God alone makes the difference to human life and that faith in Christ sets one free, then how can we not share that?
Again - it is not about us and what we do or don't do; it is about God and what God can do and will do - if we let him, if we get ourselves out of the way.
And third, self denial means be willing to take risks, to let go of the familiar things, the familiar thoughts and to let God lead us - much as he led Abram and Sari into a new land, a land they did not know, and there gave them new names and a new life.
Christ calls us beyond our known borders. He says, "join me, follow me"
Christ is always well beyond us in vision, but he also beside us to help us walk with him into the new land, the promised land.
Like Abraham and Sarah, and indeed like the people of Israel in the wilderness, we are not worry about how we eat, what we will wear, or where we will lay down our heads - but to trust that if God is calling us - then God will make the way ready for us....
Most of us spend our lives working for tomorrow - for our children's education - for our future when the children leave home - for retirement - even for our pre-arranged funerals - and so we miss the riches of today, we miss discovering what it is that God is doing amongst us.
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Yes - it is difficult stuff, this stuff about the cross, this stuff about denying ourselves - but it is made easier by the fact that when we begin to do so some marvellous things being happen - we begin to see with the eyes of God and we begin to experience a portion of what God has promised that we will experience when we live by faith, an experience that not only includes the cross, but the resurrection.
Praise be to Christ - the Lord of the living and the dead. And praise be to God the Father - who raised him up from the grave. Amen.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.... (And) -- He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
A Pastor wrote to an on-line study group with this message:
"I'm having difficulty with the Gospel this week; what is this cross that I am to take up, and what am I to deny in following Jesus?"
A seminary student once wrote:
"I find this a hard gospel text because it talks about suffering rather than joy"
The cross has always caused problems to people. Brutal and barbaric - the cross was a tool of political power for the Romans. They maintained their power because of the fear of death on the cross.
When one was condemned by the state, the condemned literally had to "take up his cross" and carry it to the public place where he was to be crucified. It was part of the humiliation process, the mechanism of social control for which crucifixion was invented.
The cross was an instrument of suffering and shame - and no more so than among the Children of Israel - where the scriptures themselves declare: "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree".
To die on a cross was a sign that one died cut off from God, and cut off from the people of God - a sign that the person was rejected. And of course in the case of Jesus this was very true.
Jesus went to cross as one who was rejected and abandoned. Rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and abandoned almost completely by his disciples too. Jesus didn't die as a hero or a martyr. He died as a blasphemer.
The cross was the worst form of execution - for the people of Israel and for the Roman Empire as a whole. Indeed it was a social faux pax to mention crosses or crucifixion in the presence of women and children of high social standing.
Yet Christianity in contrast to many of the other religions of the day, which celebrated the search for beauty, truth, and the good, had, and still has, at its centre this most awful symbol of death and disgrace.
This must be dealt with - and understood correctly.
I say this because with our gold and silver crosses adorning our altars, and worn as jewellery around our necks, and with so much wrong-headed preaching on cross-bearing, preaching which reduces bearing the cross to little more than performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations we risk transforming our faith into just another religion - a religion that celebrates many good things - but which avoids the difficult truths about life and about faithfulness to God.
Jesus is clear. To be his disciples, to enter the Kingdom of God, we must deny our selves and pick up our crosses - and follow him.
So what is the cross we are called to bear?
FIRST, what the cross is not.
The seminary student I quoted at the beginning of the sermon, as part of his work towards his degree meets with a study group that looks at the gospel passage for the coming Sunday. After telling them that he found today's gospel reading a hard passage because it talks about suffering rather than joy, the group discussed the passage.
He reported that for the next 90 minutes he listened to the most amazing series of stories of survival. The members of the group talked about the death of a husband, the death of an infant son, the near-death of a teen-aged child, divorce, chemotherapy, bankruptcy - and how they look back now and know they weren't alone - that in all these events God went with them - supporting them - wiping the tears from their eyes - and bringing new hope and new life out of tragedy. Praise God for that!
He ended his report by saying that the members of the study group thought they were talking about picking up their crosses and that he was very much inspired by their talk.
But my friends - while I praise God for the testimony of the members of his study group about how God went with them in their suffering and affliction - they were not necessarily talking about either the cross of Jesus or the cross that he calls us to bear.
I say that because most people make a fundamental mistake when talking about the crosses they bear. They confused the suffering that is inflicted upon them by the world - a suffering that comes without their choice or decision - with that which comes because we have chosen to be faithful.
Think about it for a moment. Think about the cross of Christ. Think about how he could have avoided it, how he could have called legions of angels to his rescue, how he could have turned away from the confrontation in Jerusalem and ministered quietly in Galilee.
A cross is something we pick up because we desire to follow Jesus. It is not something falls upon us because we are made of mortal flesh and live in a decaying world, though how we react to those things may, in fact, turn them from an affliction that we bear to a cross we bear.
I think of the aging husband or wife who faithfully tends for and cares for their spouse even when that spouse can no longer recognize them or communicate with them. They have made a decision to be faithful - and the burden they bear is indeed a cross and simply an affliction.
SECOND - the cross we are called to bear is not exactly the same as Christ's cross. Our crosses are our own - they are shaped specially for us by our own life issues and by the call of God upon our lives.
There is a true story in a wonderful book called "A Cloud of Witnesses", by Douglas Weaver. He writes:
There were 40 soldiers of the Twelfth Legion of Rome's imperial army who were Christians. Their captain announced one day that Emperor Licinius had issued an edit requiring all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.
The forty soldiers replied, "You can have our armour and even our bodies, but the allegiance of our heart belongs to Jesus Christ."
It was mid-winter, AD 320. The captain had the men march out to a frozen lake. Their clothes were stripped off of their backs, and they were told either to renounce Christ or to die. Baths of hot water waited on shore as a temptation to deny their faith.
Throughout the night, the men huddled together and sang, "forty martyrs for Christ, forty martyrs for Christ..." One by one, the soldiers fell in death.
Finally, only one soldier was left. His courage failed; he stumbled to shore, renouncing his faith in Christ. But the officer of the guard who had been watching the drama had secretly come to believe in Christ. When he saw the fortieth soldier come to the shore, the officer walked out onto the frozen lake, disrobed, and confessed his faith. As dawn broke the next morning, there were forty bodies on the ice.
As commentary, the book goes on to quote Tertullian, the great North African defender of the faith: "We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.
Many people assume that the cross we are called to carry is like this - like Christ's - that it is a literal willingness to die for the sake of the gospel.
Naturally, they can't relate to that very well, because these days, in the Western World at least, we are not placed in such situations - where our physical death can result from witnessing to Christ.
But there is more than one kind of death, more than one kind of martyrdom, more than one kind of witness. And that brings me to say what the Cross IS for us - and how it is like Christ's.
Our Cross is like Christ's in the sense that it involves offering ourselves to God and our neighbours in complete and total love and obedience to God, no matter where that love and obedience may take us.
It may involve us in less than physically dying for Christ (depending on what part of the world you live in), but it will involve us in far more than simply performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations.
Our cross will involve us in the denial of self so that we may live to God, much as the faithful husband or wife in dealing with the sick partner deny their own needs, their own pleasures, and live for their mate.
Our motives for doing things will not be - how will this help me - but instead how will it serve Christ? How will it serve God?
I am struck by verse 35 in today's gospel reading. Those words that say:
"Those who save their life will lose it, those who lose their life for Christ's sake, and for the sake of good news, will save it."
Too many Christian folk are concerned about whether or not they are saved. They worry about whether or not they am going to heaven.
If that is our focus then Jesus is very clear that we have missed the boat. Our attempts to save our own lives won't do it.
If however I lose my life, that is, if I give it away to others in service to Christ and Christ's good news, then and only then have will I save it.
Giving my life is my only hope. Giving my life away in service to God - for God's sake - for the sake of Christ - is where it is at. Loving others with the love of God is where it is at. Otherwise all we are doing is trying to work our way into heaven.
There's a message here for the church.
Focus on the health of the church, or the denomination it belongs to, spend your energy on the latest church growth gimmick, look for money to simply keep the doors open and we will die.
But if the church gives its life away, if it focuses on the mission that God calls it to, if it seeks to obey and serve God, if it spends itself on proclaiming the good news and invites others to support its vital work of life saving it will, inadvertently as it were, saves its own life.
I would like to conclude this sermon by saying three things about what "denying oneself" means. There is much more than what I will hold up for you, but there is not much more in the way of time this morning.
First, denying oneself means refusing to judge others or oneself, but rather leaving all judgement in the hands of God.
One of the things we struggle with most often is our sense of our own worthlessness; it is so easy for us to listen to the condemning voices in my head telling me that I am a failure, a fraud.
Jesus invites us to deny our own evaluation of ourselves (and others), to give up making judgements about ourselves and to accept the grace, the special relationship we have with God through Christ at face value, to accept God's evaluation of us.
That is denial indeed. No more can I say, "He's such a nice fellow!" or "She's horrible!", but rather I must say, "this person is a child of God, one for whom Christ has given his life". And what I say about others, I must also say about myself. God finds me worthwhile. I am acceptable - and God will help me to grow in his grace as I yield more and more to his will for me.
This sort of denial would eliminate the boundaries we erect around the gospel - around God. There would be no more insiders and no more outsiders. All of us are out (there is none righteous, no not one) and all of us are in - since Jesus has taken away the sins of the whole world...
Would that ever make for a different Church, and a different world, if I and the people ever came to believe it!
Second - denial of self means the refusal to feel ashamed about the gospel.
Shame or embarrassment is a self centred feeling. Every time we hesitate to share the faith because we will be thought foolish or a religious fanatic - we are thinking more about ourselves than about the good of others...
Jesus is clear - if we are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of us.
Part of our denial of self is to put off feelings we may have about speaking about our faith and to share the good news we believe in with others even when we think that maybe they will not appreciate it.
This doesn't mean that we must go about knocking on doors and making a nuisance of ourselves - but does mean that we must be a little less afraid to rock the boat - to be a little less afraid of standing out in the crowd, a little less afraid of "being different"
If we truly believe that God alone makes the difference to human life and that faith in Christ sets one free, then how can we not share that?
Again - it is not about us and what we do or don't do; it is about God and what God can do and will do - if we let him, if we get ourselves out of the way.
And third, self denial means be willing to take risks, to let go of the familiar things, the familiar thoughts and to let God lead us - much as he led Abram and Sari into a new land, a land they did not know, and there gave them new names and a new life.
Christ calls us beyond our known borders. He says, "join me, follow me"
Christ is always well beyond us in vision, but he also beside us to help us walk with him into the new land, the promised land.
Like Abraham and Sarah, and indeed like the people of Israel in the wilderness, we are not worry about how we eat, what we will wear, or where we will lay down our heads - but to trust that if God is calling us - then God will make the way ready for us....
Most of us spend our lives working for tomorrow - for our children's education - for our future when the children leave home - for retirement - even for our pre-arranged funerals - and so we miss the riches of today, we miss discovering what it is that God is doing amongst us.
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Yes - it is difficult stuff, this stuff about the cross, this stuff about denying ourselves - but it is made easier by the fact that when we begin to do so some marvellous things being happen - we begin to see with the eyes of God and we begin to experience a portion of what God has promised that we will experience when we live by faith, an experience that not only includes the cross, but the resurrection.
Praise be to Christ - the Lord of the living and the dead. And praise be to God the Father - who raised him up from the grave. Amen.
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