The Christian faith may be ‘Good News’ to many – to many millions indeed throughout the world; but it is considered ‘bad news’ by many more. Christianity has been despised by the proud, the prurient, and the powerful since its beginning. As I said in last week’s talk entitled ‘Truth at odds with the World’, it is in the Christian ‘Gospel’s’ challenge to those political, social, cultural and sexual mores increasingly popular or accepted in the world today that we encounter such heartfelt animosity and, yes, fear; and where Christianity is most despised and Christians increasingly persecuted.
But right there at the beginning it was Christianity’s challenge to the Roman Emperor and to Roman life which caused Roman writers to describe it with such derision and disparagement: what Christianity advocated unashamedly undermined almost everything the Romans held dear and built their life upon! When the Romans threw away their sick, the Christians founded hospitals; when the Romans threw away their unwanted babies, the Christians found them homes; the Romans idolised might, the Christians revered love. We know this to be true because the Romans wrote it down!
I don’t think most people realise just how much Christianity was at odds with the Roman world. But then I don’t think most people realise just how much Christian moral, social, and sexual ideas formed Western society and still, despite opposition, permeate so many of the ideas and ideals the majority of people still hold dear. They may think or choose to believe that these ideas just somehow came about naturally; but history tells us very different. And I don’t think most people realise how much so-called ‘new’ understandings of what life is and what human beings are, are in fact regressions to the very moral and spiritual darkness from which Jesus, the Light of the World, called us and calls us still to shine into that darkness as saving lights to him.
And so the words in this morning’s two readings serve a timely reminder that in every generation Christ’s truth will be despised and, if his followers remain faithful, we will, in Jesus’ own words, ‘be persecuted on his account.’ It always has been thus; and so each and every Christian disciple in each and every generation needs to examine honestly and as objectively as possible these two things - ourselves and the society we live in: and we need to ask ourselves this. If our society is at odds with Christianity and despises it, what am I, called to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in the world for Jesus’ sake, doing about it? And then, if we’re brave enough, this much more challenging and disturbing question. ‘If my honest examination of contemporary society reveals that increasingly it can no longer be described as ‘Christian’, if I have not recently been ‘persecuted and had all kinds of evil uttered against me for Jesus’ sake’, then what is the current state of my ‘salt’ and the location of my ‘light’?
These are tough questions, I don’t deny it; which is why telling the whole truth about Jesus and his saving love for us must be told, and not just the comforting, cosy part. He calls us in his love to find in him rest and peace for our souls; but he also calls us to ‘take up our cross and follow him’. This is why he can say, as he does there in verse 12 – and remember this is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, so we are talking about the very heart of his teaching – ‘rejoice and be glad!’ And before that in v 11 ’Blessed are you’. Why? Because you have stood up for me and been faithful: our reward in Heaven is given to us not because of achievement but because of faithfulness.
When we look at our society today, increasingly we see social and moral problems which require the major surgery of God’s truth and his love but which receive instead either sticking plaster solutions or quack medicine or worse. And when we examine these issues with an open and objective mind, and a Christian one, we find that at the root of them are the proud, the prurient, and the powerful - people interested only in themselves, their sexuality, their power over others. There has been a concerted campaign going on for years now to undermine Christianity and all it represents, the traditional family and all it represents, love and respect for home and country and all they represent. This is not to say that there are not perfectly healthy and respectable different ways to be ‘made in the image of God’ and a member of society, but we should not be foolishly naïve about the forces trying their hardest to destroy these precious things and set up the most dystopian alternatives.
Let me give you just a few examples of where we Christians can be the ‘salt’ and ‘light’ these situations need. If you disagree with me, of course come and argue your case after the service: otherwise, join me with your placards!
On 14th Feb 2020 in the High Court, the judge ruled for Harry Miller, an ex-policeman, against The College of Policing and The Chief Constable of Humberside regarding an alleged ‘hate crime’ because he tweeted a Christian view on transgenderism. It transpired in the case that Humberside Police held over 130, 000 registered offences of such ‘non-criminal cases’. They accepted that these could be pointed to in any vetting search on the person concerned by a potential employer. (I couldn’t take my placard to Humberside Police Headquarters, but I did go to their website and make my views known.)
Or again, last week I mentioned how the truth is often buried because it is regarded as ‘bad news’ by those wishing to promote a particular cause or agenda. In America, a commonly used hormone blocker has been found responsible for over 6000 deaths including some children, whilst a report in an Australian medical journal in October 2019 said this about the use of such a drug on children and teenagers:
‘Puberty blockers are given to adolescents so that they will have enough time and serenity to make up their minds about which path to take.’ So transgender doctors say, but the report also says this:
“How can the child be expected to ‘think straight’ when denied the sustaining effect of, in particular, GnRH on various parts of the brain that integrate memory, cognition and emotion into rational action? “What effect can be expected from the administration of cross-sex hormones on the growing brain? There are no relevant studies, but imaging of brains of adult transgenders has revealed shrinkage of male brains exposed to oestrogens at a rate ten times faster than ageing, and has revealed hypertrophy of female brains exposed to testosterone. Neuronal death has been noted on bench studies.” The report continues. ‘Nearly all teenagers are bundles of unfamiliar hormonal activity which provoke increased risk-taking, heightened anxiety, romantic interests, mood swings, and new friends. What transgender medical treatment may do is scramble these on top of suppressing pubertal changes.’’
Or something quite different. In United Nations established refugee camps, Christian refugees are regularly denied access or vital supplies. Why? Because the camps are in reality controlled by extremist Islamist groups. You have only to look at how few Syrian Christian refugees have made it to this country.
Or thinking of those Roman babies left out to die but collected up by the Christians and found homes. Can you think of a modern equivalent? I can! There are groups who believe that women should be offered the opportunity to have their unwanted child, and have parents waiting to adopt the baby rather than destroy it. But increasingly they are being prevented even from giving women all the facts so that they can make an informed choice.
There are many more cases in many walks of life both at home and abroad.
So what can you and I do? Are we to sit quietly and say nothing because, well, it’s all too complex, too difficult, and we might upset people, people we know! Or will you be ‘salt’ and ‘light’? Will you not only consider the issue but get stuck in? Will you hide your light, or will you allow it to shine so that people are drawn to it and can see the issue more clearly?
We don’t have to be perfect examples of humanity before we take up our cross and follow him. We don’t have to hold Oxbridge degrees in Theology before we speak of him. (In my experience that has often been a hindrance rather than a help to many Christians but I’m not going there this morning.) We do not have to have the gift of the gab: as Paul said to the Corinthians in our reading just a couple of weeks ago, ‘I did not come to you with great eloquence.’ He could have done – he was a very bright button - but he did not: the ‘Good News’ of Jesus can be presented to the ignorant and the blind in simple terms. Some certainly will despise it and us for sharing it. You and I Jesus calls not to change people but to share his truth and his love with them in order that they might have the opportunity to change: and to the humble and sincere searcher for truth Jesus promised to make himself known.
We are to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in order to draw attention to him. When we do some loving or ‘neighbourly’ act, when we say something wise or helpful to another …..and don’t mention him, we draw attention to ourselves, and so people go away thinking ‘what a nice person’ rather than ‘he or she did or said that because of this person Jesus Christ.’ Salt and light, remember!
I havn’t had time this morning to touch on Psalm 2 but I do recommend you pray it through. Verse 4 reminds me of the adage, ’If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.’ And ‘with fear’ in v 11 is the English translation. Translating is often tricky. Here ‘fear’ is better translated ‘with appropriate awe and wonder’.
Let me finish as I finished last Sunday with this thought. If you feel uncomfortable because what the world says is ‘ok’ you feel is not - as a woman, as a man, as a parent, as a disciple – because God’s word tells your mind it is not, and God’s Spirit stirs your heart to feel profoundly that it is not, then you can be sure that God is with you. But then you need to do something about it. He will not leave you on your own; but it is in our sufferings ‘on his account’ that we really get to know Jesus and grow in confidence in our faith in him. So be salt! Be light! And ‘rejoice and be glad!’ As the Psalmist says in the last verse of his psalm, ‘Happy are all who take refuge in him.’
Tuesday 25 February 2020
Sunday 16 February 2020
'Truth at odds with the world’
In my experience, and I’m sure in yours too, people who claim to know the truth about life’s big issues tend to be taken with a large dose of scepticism. ‘Who are you to say what the truth is?’ ‘What makes you think, whatever your academic or technical credentials, that you can tell me the truth about matters which are complicated and complex beyond belief?’
So many people these days have given up, not only on the idea that some one or some group might just know the truth about life’s big issues, but even on the concept of truth itself. Sure, we can agree at the micro level – the truth that, for instance, 2 + 2 make 4: but at the macro level? No. There seem to be so many different and differing understandings and interpretations of the truth about this life and our part in it that people just give up and become no longer interested in truth – it’s all too difficult, they say, or else they just become cynical. And who can blame them?
‘Bad news’, which so often means ‘the truth’, is ‘buried’ by those powerful enough to do so: all three of my careers to date have certainly convinced me of that! We are all of us flawed, fickle and fallible human beings: can anyone be believed? Is it not therefore wise to be sceptical? Take, for example, climate change. Whose evidence about the truth of what is happening and what is predicted are you going to believe? There are Nobel Prize-winning scientists on either side of the debate; and we know, going back to my first point, that unhelpful truths in this particular debate quickly get buried.
And so it’s really not surprising that for many people ‘truth’ becomes ‘whatever works for me’. And if something else ‘works’ for you, then that’s fine by me. As long, that is, until our truths clash; and then we have a problem. How are we going to resolve it? On what basis, what standard, what authority?
A few weeks ago I spoke about Jesus Christ’s claim to be ‘The way, the truth, and the life’, and about the incredibly compelling factual evidence to support his claim - his claim not only to ‘know’ but to ‘be’ the truth. Such a claim by anyone would generally be regarded as at best bonkers, at worst evil. But when people have examined closely him, his life, his teaching, his claims about who he was, and, so very importantly, what happened to him after his death - they have realised that he presents a most disturbing challenge to their ideas about the world, about humanity, about themselves.
The fact (t?) is that Jesus’ truth, though he intended it first and foremost to be wholly liberating for us, is at odds with the world and what the world believes. And what so many people find so uncomfortable in his teaching is that he refused to compromise - however well-meaning or well-intended - with the views of the world - by ‘the world’ I mean, as he meant, ‘those beliefs at odds with his’ – because he knew that views contrary to his truth lead not to liberation but to frustration, not to freedom but to slavery, the frustration and the slavery which take hold when, ironically, we think we know better about ourselves and about the world, both of which were his design, his creations.
I would like to take just three areas this morning where the truth Jesus taught was and increasingly is at odds with current and popular thinking. And I must add, because it is a most worrying and dangerous matter, that in all three areas members of our very own Church of England, in the House of Bishops and in General Synod, have begun to be taken in by or given in to the world’s views on these matters, to the Spirit of the Age, the Zeitgeist, to accommodation …just as Jesus and his Apostles warned us would happen.
Almost certainly the most shocking and insulting statement of Jesus, as far as most people are concerned, is his statement on the main reason why he came; his firm and clear statement that human beings need to be ‘saved’ from our sins and from our ‘selves’ or, if you like, the ‘selves’ which are responsible for the sins we commit and which, says Jesus, are a barrier between us and God and which spoil our relationships with one another. But he also made it clear that he and he alone could solve this problem for us – but only his way. As you read the record of Jesus’ life and teaching in the Gospels, it becomes crystal clear, crystal clear, that God is not at all happy with how we are. But Jesus presents God as our ‘Heavenly Father’ who loves us more than we can conceive of or imagine and hates to see the damage we do to ourselves and to others by our selfishness and our sinfulness. And as would any concerned parent, he must do something about this because he loves us. The Gospels show clearly Jesus’ love and compassion for all; but they do not show him coming to indulge our views of ourselves, to flatter our egos, to tell us that we need not change. Rather, he warns us to believe him and to believe in him; that only he can put us right with God and give us new lives freed from the destructive slavery to ourselves and to the temptations and demands of the other gods in our lives - all those things which blind us to the truth about life’s most profound and pressing issues, beginning with ourselves and our relationship with God and our fellow human beings.
The world tells us, subtly but o so persuasively, that it can satisfy our pursuit and longing for ‘identity’, whereas Jesus says that our true identity is to be found in relationship with him. The world tells us that we must be ‘affirmed’ in whoever or whatever we are, whereas Jesus says that we need to ‘repent’ and to be ‘born again’ through faith in him. The world tells us to indulge our narcissism and our hedonism – our preoccupation with ourselves and our appetites, whereas Jesus says, ’Come to me with all your burdens and I will give you rest. Take my truth to heart and you will find peace for your souls.’
No, this need to be ‘saved’ is so greatly at odds with the world’s understanding of the human condition and what it means to be human.
A so a second, idol-smashing, way in which Jesus’ truth is at odds with the way the world sees things is in his view of what human beings are and how we need to be transformed. Jesus says that we are made in God’s image by him and to live in relationship with him; that to know him and to obey his commandments is to enjoy a freedom the world cannot give. Indeed, the world without God can only offer, as I mentioned, frustration and slavery, the delusion that we can recreate ourselves into whatever we want to be.
Sadly, I have talked with so many who, looking at themselves and at their lives, have realised the frustration and the slavery – to job, to wealth, to success, to ambition, to appearance, to feelings, the list goes on: yet will not take the step of faith to trust Jesus’ offer of new life. And so they just carry on. I have also talked with those who, having examined themselves and their lives, have taken that step of faith and found in Jesus the peace and the freedom he offers discovering their true ‘identity’ in him. But the world is very cunning in its propaganda and in its temptations and in its apparently credible but innately specious arguments, drip fed as they are through the media and by groups whose aims are anything but the genuine freedom of the individual. Jesus came to set us free: they offer only slavery to appetite and to destructive addiction. When the New Testament writers spoke of ‘transformation’ and of ‘identity’ they were not speaking of what the world speaks of today regarding those things: ‘transformation’ was not about changing our God-given and scientifically and medically identified sex, it was about becoming like Christ, in whom we find not only our true identity but also the freedom to live fulfilling and abundant lives beyond the prison of the self.
All this leads to the third area in which Jesus’ truth is at odds with the world; and that is in how we behave to and with each other. The great and powerful thrust of the world’s propaganda is towards the deification of the self: it puts the self in the place of God and even declares that we are God. The trouble with this though is that the more we concentrate on satisfying our own appetites, the less time and space we have in our lives for others: this alone speaks volumes as to why loneliness, suicide, alienation, family break up, violent crime, and much else are on the increase. The facts simply do not allow us to blame it – though it is very consoling to do so – on economics, on poverty, and much else. The truth, uncomfortable though it is, lies much closer to home – in the preoccupation and infatuation with the self. It may start small; but it gets bigger and bigger as the world strokes and inflates our egos. We have to choose between two incompatible gospels. The world’s gospel centres on ‘me’, on my ‘identity’, on my ‘sexuality’, all of which must be ‘affirmed’ as they are and as I see them - or else! And today ‘or else’ has come to mean such socially destructive weapons as ‘no platforming’ or ‘hate crime’. This ‘gospel’- and powerful forces, even within the Church of England, are promoting it - can seem just and reasonable, appearing to be compassionate and in the name of equality and justice. But it flatters…. to deceive. On the other hand, there is the true Gospel which centres on God and his redeeming and transforming love in Jesus Christ, confirmed and made real in our hearts and minds by his Holy Spirit. There is no possibility of compromise between these two gospels, however much the world and the wolves in sheep’s clothing in the Church try to use Christian vocabulary in support of their views and even change its meaning to suit their own deceitful purposes. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop the true vine of Jesus for the diseased vine of the spirit of the age. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop Agape for Eros. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop the communion of the saints of God for the ‘radical inclusion’ of those who deny God - simply in order to remain the ‘established’ church of this land. And we would be both faithless and foolish to believe that accommodation with world views at odds with God’s revelation in Jesus Christ are ‘harmless’. If we are prepared to stand up for Christ’s truth however, we will find ourselves being persecuted. If so, said Jesus, we should ‘rejoice’! (?!) Let me finish by saying this. If you feel uncomfortable because what the world says is ‘ok’ you feel is not - as a woman, as a man, as a parent, as a disciple – because God’s word tells your mind it is not and God’s Spirit stirs your heart that it is not, then you can be sure that God is with you. Remember. As John put it in his letter, ‘He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world’.
So many people these days have given up, not only on the idea that some one or some group might just know the truth about life’s big issues, but even on the concept of truth itself. Sure, we can agree at the micro level – the truth that, for instance, 2 + 2 make 4: but at the macro level? No. There seem to be so many different and differing understandings and interpretations of the truth about this life and our part in it that people just give up and become no longer interested in truth – it’s all too difficult, they say, or else they just become cynical. And who can blame them?
‘Bad news’, which so often means ‘the truth’, is ‘buried’ by those powerful enough to do so: all three of my careers to date have certainly convinced me of that! We are all of us flawed, fickle and fallible human beings: can anyone be believed? Is it not therefore wise to be sceptical? Take, for example, climate change. Whose evidence about the truth of what is happening and what is predicted are you going to believe? There are Nobel Prize-winning scientists on either side of the debate; and we know, going back to my first point, that unhelpful truths in this particular debate quickly get buried.
And so it’s really not surprising that for many people ‘truth’ becomes ‘whatever works for me’. And if something else ‘works’ for you, then that’s fine by me. As long, that is, until our truths clash; and then we have a problem. How are we going to resolve it? On what basis, what standard, what authority?
A few weeks ago I spoke about Jesus Christ’s claim to be ‘The way, the truth, and the life’, and about the incredibly compelling factual evidence to support his claim - his claim not only to ‘know’ but to ‘be’ the truth. Such a claim by anyone would generally be regarded as at best bonkers, at worst evil. But when people have examined closely him, his life, his teaching, his claims about who he was, and, so very importantly, what happened to him after his death - they have realised that he presents a most disturbing challenge to their ideas about the world, about humanity, about themselves.
The fact (t?) is that Jesus’ truth, though he intended it first and foremost to be wholly liberating for us, is at odds with the world and what the world believes. And what so many people find so uncomfortable in his teaching is that he refused to compromise - however well-meaning or well-intended - with the views of the world - by ‘the world’ I mean, as he meant, ‘those beliefs at odds with his’ – because he knew that views contrary to his truth lead not to liberation but to frustration, not to freedom but to slavery, the frustration and the slavery which take hold when, ironically, we think we know better about ourselves and about the world, both of which were his design, his creations.
I would like to take just three areas this morning where the truth Jesus taught was and increasingly is at odds with current and popular thinking. And I must add, because it is a most worrying and dangerous matter, that in all three areas members of our very own Church of England, in the House of Bishops and in General Synod, have begun to be taken in by or given in to the world’s views on these matters, to the Spirit of the Age, the Zeitgeist, to accommodation …just as Jesus and his Apostles warned us would happen.
Almost certainly the most shocking and insulting statement of Jesus, as far as most people are concerned, is his statement on the main reason why he came; his firm and clear statement that human beings need to be ‘saved’ from our sins and from our ‘selves’ or, if you like, the ‘selves’ which are responsible for the sins we commit and which, says Jesus, are a barrier between us and God and which spoil our relationships with one another. But he also made it clear that he and he alone could solve this problem for us – but only his way. As you read the record of Jesus’ life and teaching in the Gospels, it becomes crystal clear, crystal clear, that God is not at all happy with how we are. But Jesus presents God as our ‘Heavenly Father’ who loves us more than we can conceive of or imagine and hates to see the damage we do to ourselves and to others by our selfishness and our sinfulness. And as would any concerned parent, he must do something about this because he loves us. The Gospels show clearly Jesus’ love and compassion for all; but they do not show him coming to indulge our views of ourselves, to flatter our egos, to tell us that we need not change. Rather, he warns us to believe him and to believe in him; that only he can put us right with God and give us new lives freed from the destructive slavery to ourselves and to the temptations and demands of the other gods in our lives - all those things which blind us to the truth about life’s most profound and pressing issues, beginning with ourselves and our relationship with God and our fellow human beings.
The world tells us, subtly but o so persuasively, that it can satisfy our pursuit and longing for ‘identity’, whereas Jesus says that our true identity is to be found in relationship with him. The world tells us that we must be ‘affirmed’ in whoever or whatever we are, whereas Jesus says that we need to ‘repent’ and to be ‘born again’ through faith in him. The world tells us to indulge our narcissism and our hedonism – our preoccupation with ourselves and our appetites, whereas Jesus says, ’Come to me with all your burdens and I will give you rest. Take my truth to heart and you will find peace for your souls.’
No, this need to be ‘saved’ is so greatly at odds with the world’s understanding of the human condition and what it means to be human.
A so a second, idol-smashing, way in which Jesus’ truth is at odds with the way the world sees things is in his view of what human beings are and how we need to be transformed. Jesus says that we are made in God’s image by him and to live in relationship with him; that to know him and to obey his commandments is to enjoy a freedom the world cannot give. Indeed, the world without God can only offer, as I mentioned, frustration and slavery, the delusion that we can recreate ourselves into whatever we want to be.
Sadly, I have talked with so many who, looking at themselves and at their lives, have realised the frustration and the slavery – to job, to wealth, to success, to ambition, to appearance, to feelings, the list goes on: yet will not take the step of faith to trust Jesus’ offer of new life. And so they just carry on. I have also talked with those who, having examined themselves and their lives, have taken that step of faith and found in Jesus the peace and the freedom he offers discovering their true ‘identity’ in him. But the world is very cunning in its propaganda and in its temptations and in its apparently credible but innately specious arguments, drip fed as they are through the media and by groups whose aims are anything but the genuine freedom of the individual. Jesus came to set us free: they offer only slavery to appetite and to destructive addiction. When the New Testament writers spoke of ‘transformation’ and of ‘identity’ they were not speaking of what the world speaks of today regarding those things: ‘transformation’ was not about changing our God-given and scientifically and medically identified sex, it was about becoming like Christ, in whom we find not only our true identity but also the freedom to live fulfilling and abundant lives beyond the prison of the self.
All this leads to the third area in which Jesus’ truth is at odds with the world; and that is in how we behave to and with each other. The great and powerful thrust of the world’s propaganda is towards the deification of the self: it puts the self in the place of God and even declares that we are God. The trouble with this though is that the more we concentrate on satisfying our own appetites, the less time and space we have in our lives for others: this alone speaks volumes as to why loneliness, suicide, alienation, family break up, violent crime, and much else are on the increase. The facts simply do not allow us to blame it – though it is very consoling to do so – on economics, on poverty, and much else. The truth, uncomfortable though it is, lies much closer to home – in the preoccupation and infatuation with the self. It may start small; but it gets bigger and bigger as the world strokes and inflates our egos. We have to choose between two incompatible gospels. The world’s gospel centres on ‘me’, on my ‘identity’, on my ‘sexuality’, all of which must be ‘affirmed’ as they are and as I see them - or else! And today ‘or else’ has come to mean such socially destructive weapons as ‘no platforming’ or ‘hate crime’. This ‘gospel’- and powerful forces, even within the Church of England, are promoting it - can seem just and reasonable, appearing to be compassionate and in the name of equality and justice. But it flatters…. to deceive. On the other hand, there is the true Gospel which centres on God and his redeeming and transforming love in Jesus Christ, confirmed and made real in our hearts and minds by his Holy Spirit. There is no possibility of compromise between these two gospels, however much the world and the wolves in sheep’s clothing in the Church try to use Christian vocabulary in support of their views and even change its meaning to suit their own deceitful purposes. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop the true vine of Jesus for the diseased vine of the spirit of the age. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop Agape for Eros. We would be both faithless and foolish to swop the communion of the saints of God for the ‘radical inclusion’ of those who deny God - simply in order to remain the ‘established’ church of this land. And we would be both faithless and foolish to believe that accommodation with world views at odds with God’s revelation in Jesus Christ are ‘harmless’. If we are prepared to stand up for Christ’s truth however, we will find ourselves being persecuted. If so, said Jesus, we should ‘rejoice’! (?!) Let me finish by saying this. If you feel uncomfortable because what the world says is ‘ok’ you feel is not - as a woman, as a man, as a parent, as a disciple – because God’s word tells your mind it is not and God’s Spirit stirs your heart that it is not, then you can be sure that God is with you. Remember. As John put it in his letter, ‘He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world’.
Sunday 9 February 2020
Where are you in the game?
1 Corinthians 2: 1 – 16 and Matthew 28: 16 – 20
A few weeks ago I spoke about Jesus’ claim to be ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life’. That was the message Paul brought to the Christians at Corinth, and then reminded them of in the portion of his letter we have just heard. It was, it is, a message which centres on ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’.
That second part, ‘and him crucified’, is a sobering reminder to us of the great cost of his love – his unique and life-changing love for us and for everyone in the world. It also reminds us of the primary focus of the Christian message, our message, and the challenge it presents to people. It reminds us that our message to the world must never be anything less than ‘Christ crucified’, and that we are not at liberty to change it, or to water it down, or leave out the uncomfortable side of it, the side that reminds us that Jesus DIED for you and for me and for the sins of the whole world, with its most uncomfortable challenge to human pride in ourselves and in our foolish ideas that we do not need Jesus, nor to be forgiven, and the delusion that we are just fine as we are.
People come to church for different reasons; people are at different stages in their journeys in or into faith: but until a person embarks on the road of discipleship, of active commitment to Jesus and to unashamedly being known as a ‘Christian’ – and that is becoming even in this country increasingly difficult and dangerous – however else people think of themselves as being ‘Christian’, it is something very much less than how Jesus explained and sees it.
As far as Jesus and the New Testament writers are concerned, to be a Christian is to be a disciple. And if we consider his parting words in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, read a moment ago, we discover what it means to be a disciple.
First of all, Jesus assures us that the authority we have for our task as disciples comes from him; from him to whom (v 18) ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given.’ That is to say, there is no higher authority: no-one, however high their authority on earth, can tell you or me that we cannot do what Jesus has commanded. They may think they can, they may persecute or kill us and often do so: but our authority is from God himself. So, let’s be quite clear here: we do not offer opinions or advice; we speak with authority, his.
Secondly, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be publicly committed to him and wholeheartedly engaged in carrying out the mission he has given us, a mission in which EVERY Christian has a part to play. Specifically – and when local churches these days are being asked to draw up mission statements, and mission plans, and mission whatever the buzz word or trendy topic happens to be today – it must be focussed on, contain, and be nothing less than what Jesus told his disciples, for all times and all countries, in verses 19 and 20.
‘Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything I have commanded you.’
Now I think that’s pretty clear: and so when you hear other Christians or churches or church leaders suggesting anything different, be warned! But thirdly - and this is so encouraging, so heart-warming when we’re feeling feeble or futile or fearful as disciples, faced perhaps with a tricky situation at home or at work – we have his presence with us every step of the way. (v 20 again) He has promised his Holy Spirit to provide us with whatever we need to be effective disciples – even the very words we speak to proclaim his truth. And it is this third aspect or condition of being a disciple that Paul so very much relies on in explaining himself and his mission to the Christians at Corinth.
Let me just pick out a few of the vital things we need to know, things that will help us understand about the mission to which each of us has been called. Taking the passage as a whole, these things are clear and ought to give all of us every confidence and encouragement to be disciples of Jesus. The key word here is ‘simple’. First, the role of disciple requires simple people, ordinary people, people who won’t let their egos get in the way of the message entrusted to them. (verses 1, 4, 13) Secondly, our message needs to be simply presented (verse 1, 4, 13 again) Thirdly, the message itself is a simple one, that is, a plain and straightforward one (v2)
Fourthly, in everything we can rely on God and on the power of his Spirit in us, in our very words, and in their effect on others. When you and I simply and faithfully speak to others of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’, it is the Spirit of God who will be at work in the minds and the hearts of those listening. And to those, to anyone, who is genuinely and humbly seeking the truth, our words will register. That is to say that those whose ears are sincerely open will then be in a position to make an informed decision about Jesus Christ. In everyday life we will find ourselves battling, on their behalf, against all kinds of myths and misunderstandings people hold about Jesus and Christianity; we will find ourselves battling against ignorance, against pride, against the temptations of and often slavery to other gods – to wealth, to success, to popularity, to self. But to the humble in heart, to the sincere, the message of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’ will be not the ‘foolishness’ the wisdom of the world claims it is, but the ‘Good News’ of (v9)’the things God has prepared for those who love him.’
Like Paul then we go to others not as philosophers, politicians, or salesmen but as ambassadors: and here Paul describes the simplicity of what that means and involves, and the great power that is at work in those who will work with Jesus.
The wisdom of the world rejects Christianity as ‘myths’ or ‘unscientific’. But the wisdom of the world cannot answer the questions only Christ and Christianity can. Myths and science by their very nature cannot explain who made us, why we exist, how we should live, what happens when we die. Only the one who created the world and us can explain these things and so much more.
We need to have (v 16) ‘the mind of Christ’ to understand and to proclaim these truths. And, says Paul, those who belong to Christ, those who have begun on the road of discipleship do have his mind, that is to say, his wisdom. The question remains then for each of us, ‘Where am I on the road?’
So let me leave you with this thought; something to consider and pray about this week. Where are you on your faith journey and have you yet committed to the road of discipleship? It might help if I use a footballing analogy and ask, Where are you in the game? Perhaps you are already in the forward line, taking on the opposition and keen to score goals against the world, the flesh, and the Devil? Or perhaps you are in defence, providing a wall for your team against shots at goal aimed at defeating God’s word or his people? Perhaps you are in midfield acting as a vital link between the two, supporting both attack and defence with your gifts of encouragement, discernment, prayer, and whatever other gifts God has given you to get you to play an active and useful part in the game? Or are you perhaps still somewhere in the stands, watching your team play but playing no really active part yourself? I can only guess that because you are actually here today, you havn’t entirely lost interest in the game and left before the final whistle!
The words here of Jesus and of Paul set out very clearly what it means and requires of those who call themselves ‘Christians’: that each one of us is called to discipleship, a calling in which we know what our mission is; we know on whose authority we have it; and we know that we are never on our own because ‘Remember, surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
A few weeks ago I spoke about Jesus’ claim to be ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life’. That was the message Paul brought to the Christians at Corinth, and then reminded them of in the portion of his letter we have just heard. It was, it is, a message which centres on ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’.
That second part, ‘and him crucified’, is a sobering reminder to us of the great cost of his love – his unique and life-changing love for us and for everyone in the world. It also reminds us of the primary focus of the Christian message, our message, and the challenge it presents to people. It reminds us that our message to the world must never be anything less than ‘Christ crucified’, and that we are not at liberty to change it, or to water it down, or leave out the uncomfortable side of it, the side that reminds us that Jesus DIED for you and for me and for the sins of the whole world, with its most uncomfortable challenge to human pride in ourselves and in our foolish ideas that we do not need Jesus, nor to be forgiven, and the delusion that we are just fine as we are.
People come to church for different reasons; people are at different stages in their journeys in or into faith: but until a person embarks on the road of discipleship, of active commitment to Jesus and to unashamedly being known as a ‘Christian’ – and that is becoming even in this country increasingly difficult and dangerous – however else people think of themselves as being ‘Christian’, it is something very much less than how Jesus explained and sees it.
As far as Jesus and the New Testament writers are concerned, to be a Christian is to be a disciple. And if we consider his parting words in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, read a moment ago, we discover what it means to be a disciple.
First of all, Jesus assures us that the authority we have for our task as disciples comes from him; from him to whom (v 18) ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given.’ That is to say, there is no higher authority: no-one, however high their authority on earth, can tell you or me that we cannot do what Jesus has commanded. They may think they can, they may persecute or kill us and often do so: but our authority is from God himself. So, let’s be quite clear here: we do not offer opinions or advice; we speak with authority, his.
Secondly, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be publicly committed to him and wholeheartedly engaged in carrying out the mission he has given us, a mission in which EVERY Christian has a part to play. Specifically – and when local churches these days are being asked to draw up mission statements, and mission plans, and mission whatever the buzz word or trendy topic happens to be today – it must be focussed on, contain, and be nothing less than what Jesus told his disciples, for all times and all countries, in verses 19 and 20.
‘Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything I have commanded you.’
Now I think that’s pretty clear: and so when you hear other Christians or churches or church leaders suggesting anything different, be warned! But thirdly - and this is so encouraging, so heart-warming when we’re feeling feeble or futile or fearful as disciples, faced perhaps with a tricky situation at home or at work – we have his presence with us every step of the way. (v 20 again) He has promised his Holy Spirit to provide us with whatever we need to be effective disciples – even the very words we speak to proclaim his truth. And it is this third aspect or condition of being a disciple that Paul so very much relies on in explaining himself and his mission to the Christians at Corinth.
Let me just pick out a few of the vital things we need to know, things that will help us understand about the mission to which each of us has been called. Taking the passage as a whole, these things are clear and ought to give all of us every confidence and encouragement to be disciples of Jesus. The key word here is ‘simple’. First, the role of disciple requires simple people, ordinary people, people who won’t let their egos get in the way of the message entrusted to them. (verses 1, 4, 13) Secondly, our message needs to be simply presented (verse 1, 4, 13 again) Thirdly, the message itself is a simple one, that is, a plain and straightforward one (v2)
Fourthly, in everything we can rely on God and on the power of his Spirit in us, in our very words, and in their effect on others. When you and I simply and faithfully speak to others of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’, it is the Spirit of God who will be at work in the minds and the hearts of those listening. And to those, to anyone, who is genuinely and humbly seeking the truth, our words will register. That is to say that those whose ears are sincerely open will then be in a position to make an informed decision about Jesus Christ. In everyday life we will find ourselves battling, on their behalf, against all kinds of myths and misunderstandings people hold about Jesus and Christianity; we will find ourselves battling against ignorance, against pride, against the temptations of and often slavery to other gods – to wealth, to success, to popularity, to self. But to the humble in heart, to the sincere, the message of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’ will be not the ‘foolishness’ the wisdom of the world claims it is, but the ‘Good News’ of (v9)’the things God has prepared for those who love him.’
Like Paul then we go to others not as philosophers, politicians, or salesmen but as ambassadors: and here Paul describes the simplicity of what that means and involves, and the great power that is at work in those who will work with Jesus.
The wisdom of the world rejects Christianity as ‘myths’ or ‘unscientific’. But the wisdom of the world cannot answer the questions only Christ and Christianity can. Myths and science by their very nature cannot explain who made us, why we exist, how we should live, what happens when we die. Only the one who created the world and us can explain these things and so much more.
We need to have (v 16) ‘the mind of Christ’ to understand and to proclaim these truths. And, says Paul, those who belong to Christ, those who have begun on the road of discipleship do have his mind, that is to say, his wisdom. The question remains then for each of us, ‘Where am I on the road?’
So let me leave you with this thought; something to consider and pray about this week. Where are you on your faith journey and have you yet committed to the road of discipleship? It might help if I use a footballing analogy and ask, Where are you in the game? Perhaps you are already in the forward line, taking on the opposition and keen to score goals against the world, the flesh, and the Devil? Or perhaps you are in defence, providing a wall for your team against shots at goal aimed at defeating God’s word or his people? Perhaps you are in midfield acting as a vital link between the two, supporting both attack and defence with your gifts of encouragement, discernment, prayer, and whatever other gifts God has given you to get you to play an active and useful part in the game? Or are you perhaps still somewhere in the stands, watching your team play but playing no really active part yourself? I can only guess that because you are actually here today, you havn’t entirely lost interest in the game and left before the final whistle!
The words here of Jesus and of Paul set out very clearly what it means and requires of those who call themselves ‘Christians’: that each one of us is called to discipleship, a calling in which we know what our mission is; we know on whose authority we have it; and we know that we are never on our own because ‘Remember, surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
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