John 12 verses 1 to 8.

John 12 verses 1 to 8.

I think today’s gospel reading from John is primarily about worship. We see Mary the sister of Lazarus – who was raised from the dead – expressing what she feels in her heart for Jesus.

In short she worships Him. She recognises him as God and falls at his feet and anoints them with an expensive oil. This action expresses her deep love for and devotion to Jesus.

And by looking at this act of Mary we can pick up some pointers ourselves about how we too should worship God.

First of all though I think we need to try and define what worship is.

I was looking at lots of definitions of worship and one that I liked was that to worship God is to acknowledge his worth in acts of praise as well as in our daily lives.

So before we can worship God we need to have some appreciation of his worth to us. We need to believe in our hearts that he is worthy of our praise.

Our worship is therefore a response to what God has done for us and an expression of what He means to us.

And worship isn’t just something we do on Sundays. It’s not just singing to God or taking communion.

Genuine worship involves our entire relationship with God and it should spring from a life that is lived in obedience to Him, as a follower of Christ.

The ritual of worship alone is not enough. It is our heart attitude to God that is important.

We shouldn’t be worshippers who sing His praise on a Sunday, but then ignore Him for the rest of the week.

If we are going to offer genuine praise and worship to God – then we should demonstrate it by the lives we lead – lives that honour Him and are fruitful.

A son or daughter may give their parent a mother or father’s day card expressing their love but then ignore them for most of the year.

On the other hand a child may give a card to their parent expressing a love that is obvious because they demonstrate that love by their actions and regular contact.

So let’s look at Mary’s act of worship.

The first thing we notice is that Mary’s act of worship is completely uninhibited.

Her love of God and her desire to worship him is stronger than any feelings of embarrassment she may have, and the focus of her attention is on Jesus - not on the looks of other people who are present.

Of course being British we can often feel embarrassed about expressing any sort of emotion – especially publicly, but ideally we should be free to express our worship to God in a way that feels appropriate.

We are made of body, soul and spirit and as far as God is concerned it is OK for us to express our worship physically – with our bodies as well as with our voices.

So, for instance during a worship song that means something to us, we may want to open our arms towards God or perhaps to kneel in reverence before Him, or just to sit quietly rather than to sing.

Now this may seem a bit alien to some of you, but if these actions helps us to express what we are feeling in our heart towards God they are perfectly natural and normal.

If you’ve been away for a while and you come home and meet a loved one it’s perfectly natural and normal to throw your arms round them and give them a hug or a kiss, because you’re pleased to see them.

If you just walked up to them and said I’m really pleased to see you but kept your arms at your side – they might be a bit surprised.

I used to dislike it when I saw Christians worshipping God with raised arms but God showed me that our bodies are an integral part of who we are, and that by shutting ourselves off physically when we worship we can actually also shut ourselves off emotionally and spiritually.

A flower that is closed cannot receive the sunlight. But a flower that is open can drink in the sun’s rays and reflect beauty.

Mary’s worship is free and uninhibited. She doesn’t just go up to Jesus and shake his hand and say thankyou so much. She kneels at his feet and wipes them with her hair.

She’s not afraid to express with her body what is going on in her heart.

Now I appreciate that we are a traditional village church but I’d encourage you to try and let go of your embarrassment when you are worshipping.

Focus on God and what He means to you more than on what your neighbour may think if your worship appears animated or emotional.

Close your eyes so that you can concentrate on God and try opening your arms just a little to express your worship.

Simply opening your hands out to Him like this can allow worship to flow out of you, and you may discover a new freedom and power to your worship.

The same type of freedom to express ourselves applies to our prayer lives, which are another aspect of our worship.

We are told by the writer to the Hebrews that during the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Again being British we can tend to keep a stiff upper lip when we are alone in our rooms praying to God.

God however wants to relate to what we are really feeling – whether it’s hurt or anger or a real passion for some individual or cause.

By suppressing what we’re feeling we can suppress the prayer in our heart.

It’s better to follow Jesus’ example and to let your tears or cries come before God and to express any deep feeling or emotion that is in your heart.

Mary also isn’t afraid to express what she feels for God in front of her family and friends.

I went to the funeral of a Christian lady a few weeks ago. She was a cousin and her daughter – who is also a Christian, wanted the service to be a celebration of her life.

We sung a worship song which I particularly liked but I didn’t hold out my hands to worship God as I was sitting next to some other cousins who I knew weren’t Christians and I felt inhibited and slightly embarrassed to express the worship that I was feeling in my heart.

I think being British we have a natural tendency to shy away from anything that we think others might view as odd or strange but perhaps we can learn something from Mary’s example here, and not be afraid to let our friends and neighbours know that we are Christians.

The next point we notice is that Mary’s worship involves giving Jesus a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard.

We are told that the monetary value of this perfume is 300 denarii. The average worker at that time was paid about 1 denarii a day, so this was worth about a year’s wages.

The point is though that Mary gladly gives Jesus this extravagant gift. Again, in her eyes he is worth it.

And if we believe that God is worthy of our worship, part of this should be expressed by our giving.

We should give generously to Christian causes or organisations that we believe are worth supporting.

By giving to God and to Christian work, we show Him honour. Psalm 50 says "Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honours Me."

Paul tells us in his second letter to the Corinthians that each of us should give what we have decided to in our hearts, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver

Some Christians aim to tithe which is to give approximately ten per cent of their income to God. Some give more than this and some less.

Really it’s between us and God. The point is though that we should give with a generous heart attitude that expresses thanks to God for what He has given us – and because we want to bless some project or organisation that we believe will use the money wisely for a good cause.

For instance if you regularly attend this church, you should be contributing something towards its running costs.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Mary’s act of worship is that it is rooted in her life as a follower of Christ.

Luke tells us of another occasion when Jesus visited Mary and her sister Martha. While Martha was pre-occupied with getting the dinner ready, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to his teaching.

Martha was a bit cross and told Jesus that her sister should be helping her get the food ready but Jesus said that Mary had chosen what was better.

Mary worshipped Jesus in her daily life and this act of devotion sprang from this daily worship.

Our worship of God should also involve every day of our lives – not just Sundays.

There has been a L’Oreal cosmetics advertisement on telly recently with the catch-line ‘because you’re worth it.’

And this should be our attitude towards worshipping God.

As Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians, we should make it our goal to please Him in our lives and we do this because He’s worth it.

In practical terms this means we should aim to have a daily quiet time with God - a time we put aside to be alone with Him, to wait on him and to pray for others – because He wants us to and because He’s worth it.

We should be regularly reading the bible and seeking to grow in our understanding of God’s word – because He wants us to and because He’s worth it.

And we should be meeting together to study his word with others and to pray, because He wants us to and because He’s worth it.

These things are all integral parts of being a Christian – someone who follows Christ, and should be part of the expression of our worship.

Often we may not feel like going up to our room to pray or putting aside time to read our bibles or going to a study group or prayer meeting when it’s cold or wet - but these are things we choose to do because we know that God wants us to do them and because we believe that He is worth it.

John tells us in his first letter that the way we express our love for God is by being obedient to his commandments. So by doing these things we express our love for God.

Above all of course we should be seeking to serve Him in our lives in whatever way we feel He is asking us.

Then our church going will be much more than just a weekly ritual and our worship will be heartfelt and pleasing to God.

I’ll conclude with some words from Paul’s letter to the Romans; Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

In the name of the living God Amen.

John 18 ; 33 to 37

John 18 ; 33 to 37

We can read the newspapers and look around us at what is going on in the world and think quite frankly - what a mess. Where is God in all this? What’s gone wrong with the world?

In fact lots of people when they see poverty and war and injustice decide that there can’t be a God or the world wouldn’t be like this.

Well in today’s reading from John’s gospel, Jesus goes some way to explaining why the world is in such a mess. He says in verse 36, “my kingdom is not from this world.” The New Living translation puts it as; “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.”

In other words Jesus’s kingdom isn’t established in this world, and we don’t see life lived as God desires. We see people hating and hurting each other. We see greed and immorality and injustice.

But why is this - and what’s gone wrong?

Well the answer is given to us in the first few chapters of Genesis, where we see that everything went wrong right at the very beginning just after God had created a perfect world.

We see Adam and Eve when tempted by the Devil, choosing to disobey God and in so doing, to allow evil and sin and death - into the world.

God is perfect. He is perfectly wise and loving and good, so when we choose to disobey him, and to go our own way, imperfection results.

And this is what has happened to the world. Since people were first created mankind has chosen to go its own way in life and to disobey God.

So now we see a world that is locked in persistent rebellion against its creator and the mess we see around us is the chaos that results.

Of course there is also a spiritual dimension to the darkness and chaos we see as the story in Genesis makes clear.

The bible explains that this dark spiritual dimension is ruled by Satan or the devil – who was a powerful angel that rebelled against God’s authority long ago before the world was created.

Satan and his demonic followers are squarely opposed against God and so there is a battle going on in the world between the forces of evil and God and his angelic host.

Of course God is infinitely more powerful than the Devil, but for the time being until he is ultimately defeated, Satan and his demonic host have a degree of influence in the world.

Satan encourages people towards death and destruction. He delights in sorrow and misery and discord and hatred and he seeks to blind people to the truth of the gospel.

We see this battle in the gospels when for instance Jesus himself was tempted by the Devil to disobey his heavenly father and again when Jesus cast out demons from people.

Jesus could see when the spiritual forces of evil were oppressing people and he set them free.

We get a brief glimpse of what the world would be like if God’s kingdom were truly established on earth in the book of Revelation where we read about the future New Jerusalem – a time when God will dwell with his people and will wipe every tear from his people’s eyes and where death will be no more and where mourning and crying and pain will be no more.

But sadly as we all know the world isn’t like this at the moment.

Now this probably all sounds a bit depressing and I don’t want you to go home feeling depressed. There is good news and this is that although Jesus’s kingdom may not yet be established on earth – he is in fact a king. The NIV translates verse 18 of today’s reading as; 

“You are right in saying I am a king.”

Jesus is the king of the heavenly realms – the spiritual domain - and as he explains to Pilate, the reason he was born was to reveal the knowledge of his kingship and his kingdom to the world – to testify to the truth as he puts it in verse 37.

So when we read the gospels we see Jesus starting to put things right in the world. Where people are sick he heals them. Where people are possessed or oppressed by demons he sets them free. Where people have died before their time – he raises them back to life.

Where people are willing to confess their mistakes and to change – he enables them to experience forgiveness and acceptance by God.

We see the kingdom of Jesus – the kingdom of heaven, start to spill over into the life of the world.

God in the person of Jesus came to earth to restore and put right what is wrong with the world, and to reconcile human beings to their creator.

Thus Luke records that right at the start of his ministry Jesus says; “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

And this is the commission he has given to his church, to those who believe in him today.

With the help of his Holy Spirit – who lives in the heart of believers – we are to continue Jesus’ work, to bring peace and healing and the knowledge of salvation to our small corner of the world.

God is in the business of putting right what is wrong with the world and he does it person by person, individual by individual, heart by heart.

There’s part of a verse in the song ‘I vow to thee my country’ – about God’s kingdom, which I particularly like.

It reads; “And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase, and her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.”

God’s kingdom is established in the world as individuals repent and cease rebellion against their creator and seek to serve him in their lives.

Jesus’s message was repent because the kingdom of heaven is close at hand, and this is his message to people today.

God can only start to put things right in the world as we as individuals - cease rebellion against him and start to try and do things his way.

He calls us to acknowlege our wrongdoing – our contribution to the mess the world is in – and to start to try and live our lives in obedience to him – to kneel before him and to acknowledge his kingship in our lives.

I know some of you here have had military careers. Well when you joined the army you were required to swear an oath of allegiance to queen and country.

You chose to dedicate your life to the service of your monarch and her country and to be obedient to the orders you received.

Well God asks us to do something similar if we are to join his army of followers.

He asks us to the best of our ability, with the help of His Holy Spirit, to commit ourselves by faith to the service of His kingdom and to be obedient to what He asks us to do.

And his kingdom can only start to be established in our lives as we do this.

Jesus says in verse 37 that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice.

In other words those who are genuinely on God’s side will listen to what he says and act in obedience to it.

With his help, they will seek to bring the knowledge and power of the kingdom of heaven into the lives of those around them.

With his help they will seek to bring peace and reconciliation and healing where there is hatred and discord and sickness.

And what can we expect when we choose to follow Christ and to serve others in this way?      

Well we will find that God starts to restore his divine order to our own lives and to make us whole.

I’m sure most of you have seen some of these house restoration programmes on telly where someone buys a run-down house and gradually restores it to its former glory.

Well this is what God will do with us. As we follow him and seek to serve him, he will help us to become more like Jesus.

He will help us to put things right in our lives. This will be relationships with other people but also most importantly our characters. He will help us to become more Christ like – more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle and self controlled.

He will also gradually heal our personalities from past hurts and disappointments.

When I first became a Christian I was a fearful and insecure person and at one stage I got very depressed.

In the depths of my depression God told me that he would put my feet on rock, and over the years this is what he has been doing.

I am now a much more confident and secure person and things that in the past would have caused me to be fearful no longer do so.

As we seek to reach out and serve others and follow Christ, God gradually transforms our own lives and makes us fit for the kingdom of heaven.

This may also include physical healing if we need it.

As his kingdom becomes established in our lives we are gradually made whole by the King.

So I think the question we need to ask ourselves today is do we recognise Jesus as a king?

And if we do, are we obedient subjects? Do we kneel before the king of heaven and with the help of his Holy Spirit seek to serve him in our lives.

Are we seeking in our own small way to bring God’s kingdom into the lives of those around us?

Is the prayer of our hearts – thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven - or are we still continuing to live in rebellion against God?

That might sound a bit harsh but the bible says that we can’t sit on the sidelines. There is no middle way. There is no centre ground.

Jesus says in Matthew 12 verse 30 – “Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.”

If we are not actively serving God, then we are opposing him.

Since the time of Jesus, God has been raising up an army of people around the globe - who are willing to acknowledge his kingship and to actively serve him – who are seeking to extend his kingdom in their corner of this messy world.

Have you enrolled in that army yet or are you still a member of the opposing army?

In the name of the living God. Amen

December 16th Sermon; Luke 3 verses 7 to 18

December 16th Sermon; Luke 3 verses 7 to 18

Advent is not only about preparing for the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.

It’s also about preparing for Jesus Second Coming - at some point in the future - when he will come as the Judge of mankind.

What would you do I wonder if you lived close to a volcano and were warned one day by the local authorities that it was about to erupt.

I suspect you’d heed the warning and act upon it. You’d quickly gather your family together, and if you had room in your car, friends or neighbours, and drive to a place of safety

Well in today’s gospel reading from Luke we have a warning about the judgement that will occur when Jesus does come again, and the sensible thing for us to do is to heed the warning and to act upon it – to flee from it as John the Baptist puts it in verse 7.

Let’s look at the passage in a bit more detail. The first thing we notice is that John the Baptist doesn’t pull his punches. He’s very blunt and direct. He tells the Jewish people exactly what their situation is and what they need to do about it.

His approach wouldn’t win any prizes for tact or diplomacy, but it seems to do the trick as crowds come to be baptised by him and cleansed form their sins – as they truly repent.

Why initially – in verse 7 - does he call those coming to him a brood of vipers?

Well Satan is portrayed in the bible as a snake - for instance in Genesis when he tempts Adam and Eve. So John is effectively calling the people children of the devil.

It’s not the most endearing term of greeting but it’s true. Many people assume that we are all children of God, but actually this is not our default position.

Unfortunately – just like the devil – we all rebel against God and seek to please ourselves. We then inevitably hurt other people and offend God.

We only become children of God as we come to recognise our predicament, and repent, which of course is what John was urging the crowds who came to him to do.

But as he makes clear in verse 8, our repentance must be genuine. If we’ve truly decided that we want to cease rebellion against God and to start to live in co-operation with him, our lives should show a change.

We should bear fruits worthy of repentance as John puts it.

I watched a short video on the Holy Trinity Brompton website the other day. Holy Trinity Brompton Church or HTB is where the Alpha course - which I’m sure most of you have heard of - originated.

This video was an interview with a man called Shane Taylor who’d been one of Britain’s most violent criminals. In fact he was so violent that at one stage he’d been locked away in solitary confinement as he’d stabbed two prison officers.

However he’d ended up going to a prison Alpha course and then eventually he’d repented.

He said he hated what he’d become and he really wanted to change.

He asked Jesus to forgive him and invited him into his life and he was a changed man.

He said that afterwards prison officers became his friends and having been released from prison he no longer goes into pubs looking for a fight but for someone to tell about Jesus.

He is now bearing fruit that is worthy of repentance.

John the Baptist says to the crowds don’t say to yourselves “We have Abraham as our ancestor, for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

In other words we shouldn’t sit here today and say well I’m OK because I’m an Anglican and I’ve been confirmed.

Confirmation is only of value if we genuinely mean the promises we undertake, if we sincerely turn away from what we know to be wrong and turn to Christ

Similarly the water used in baptism isn’t magic. It is only symbolic, and again the efficacy of baptism depends on the promises that are made - being lived out.

My old vicar used to say that if baptismal water really did have special powers he’d fix up a hosepipe and squirt the local school children with it.

As John the Baptist points out in verse 9, what God is really looking for is good fruit in our lives.

Now this fruit can only be borne by those who have genuinely repented and invited Jesus into their lives.

And this fruit is brought forth as people use their God given talents under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

It’s interesting that John compares us to trees. Trees have sap in them and the sap that must be in us in order to bear good fruit, is the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Jesus.

Jesus says that apart from him we can do nothing.

In other words we of ourselves have no power to change people’s lives – only God can do that.

However as we seek to walk with God and to serve him, He can work through us to bless and heal people, to draw them to him, and to open their eyes to know him.

Christians are the body of Christ in the world. We are Jesus hands and feet and his mouth. He uses our bodies, our words and our hands to bless those around us, but he is the source of any fruit that we bear.

For instance as you know, we have prayer for healing at the communion rail once a month. If you have experienced physical or emotional healing – realise that it was Jesus who healed you because he loves you.

Campbell and I have absolutely no power to heal anybody. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. We can only invite God to work through us by His spirit and pray that He will.

So if you’ve experienced any sort of healing please do say thankyou to God and realise who your healing has come from.

Verse 9 speaks of the judgement that is to come and echoes verse 17.

Of course no one really wants to hear about judgement but it is an inescapable part of the gospels.

There is good news but there is also bad news. There is heaven but there is also hell.

We like the idea of Jesus as kind and gentle and loving and forgiving, but we don’t particularly like the idea of him as a judge.

However God is perfect and so he is perfectly just. As humans who are made in the image of God, we also share a sense of justice.

We don’t like it if something seems unfair and if we are wronged we look for justice.

Because God is just He cannot simply turn a blind eye to sin and say ‘there there never mind – it doesn’t matter.’

When people hurt and hate each other and damage each other’s lives and in so doing offend God, there is a price to pay.

As humans we have a choice as to who pays that price. It’s either Jesus or if we reject his offer of forgiveness - we will have to pay the price ourselves.

Because he loves us, Jesus has paid the price for our sins himself on the cross and has been punished in our place.

But in order to avail ourselves of his forgiveness, as John the Baptist makes clear - we need to genuinely seek to follow him in our lives, and our lives should then show a change.

In verses 10 to 14 John gives practical examples of the types of things the people should be doing if they really have changed.

Notice that in all these examples the changed behaviour of an individual has a knock on effect to those around them.

So the person with 2 coats helps someone else who has none, and the tax collector improves the lives of those people on his round by not taking too much money from them. And the soldier no longer harasses and bullies others.

Life around the changed individual improves for those they come into contact with, and ideally it should be the same with us.

In the last few verses of today’s gospel reading John the Baptist announces the coming of Jesus and in verse 17 we get another stark warning about the day of judgement.

Jesus as the judge of mankind, will separate the wheat from the chaff.

Now as I tried to illustrate with my example of a volcano about to erupt, it’s extremely important that we heed these warnings and take action.

Christianity isn’t just a lifestyle choice that we should consider along with membership of the gym or golf club.

Christianity is about our eternal destinies. It’s about making peace with God and finding a relationship with Him that will carry on into eternity.

And when we’ve found that relationship it’s about reaching out to others and helping them to find the same relationship.

There will one day be a day of judgement and it will be a terrible experience for those who find themselves on the wrong side of God.

It is essential therefore that initially we ourselves make the decision to repent and to follow Christ and then seek to work with God to lead those around us to make their peace with their Creator.

God loves every human being he has created and it is his desire that everyone should be saved.

And he has done everything necessary himself on the cross for everyone to be saved, but people can only be saved as they make the decision themselves to cease rebellion against their creator and invite Him into their lives.

And in most cases this can only happen as the gospel is preached and lived out.

You are unique and you have a unique set of God given talents and abilities.

You also have a unique circle of family and friends and acquaintances. God desperately wants to reach out to these people through you, using the talents he’s given you.

He wants you to love them and to tell them that He loves them and has died on the cross for them.

If you haven’t yet made your peace with God I urge you to do so today – not just for yourself but for those you love and regularly come into contact with  – so that God can reach out to them through you.

And if you’re already a Christian I’d urge you to renew your concern for those around you, to commit yourself to praying for them and to make every effort to tell and show them that God loves them so much that he died on the cross to save them from judgement.

Let’s pray.

Perhaps this morning in this season of Advent - you would like to make your peace with God and escape the coming judgement described in today’s gospel reading.

Firstly ask God to forgive you for all the wrong things you’ve done in your life, and if there’s anything that you particularly regret - mention it to him now.

Now thank Jesus for dying on the cross for you – and paying the debt for your wrong doing.

And lastly in your own words invite Jesus into your life – so that you may come to know his love for you and those around you. AMEN

STUDY QUESTIONS - John 14 ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life’

STUDY QUESTIONS - John  14 ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life’

1. Despite the comfort and assurance offered by Jesus in this passage, its unequivocal exclusiveness – his claims both about himself and about his being ‘the only way to the Father’ – some people do find a touch disturbing if not indeed very hard to accept. Why is this so and how would you reassure them about the wholly inclusive nature of Jesus’ exclusive claims?

2. Can you pick out in the passage the claims, direct or indirect, which Jesus makes about his identity that support the doctrine of the incarnation – that Jesus was ‘God come in the flesh’?

3. Is Jesus saying here that there is nothing good in other religions? Can you think of some of his encounters with gentiles during his ministry? What bearing do these have on our understanding of those of other religions or those who have not heard the Gospel? What can WE do about it?

4. In what ways can our preconceptions about God and about how He acts or ought to act affect our understanding of God’s self-revelation in Jesus? How strong an influence are other world views, religious, scientific, cultural, or otherwise on our faith? How might these adversely affect our call to evangelise, for example?

5. Why is doubt the easy way out? How can we guard against it?

6. Why are we in many respects in a more advantageous position then the disciples to understand who Jesus was and the purpose of his coming?

7. Doing ‘greater works than these’ and ‘asking anything in my name’; how do you understand these phrases in this passage? What does it mean and require of us to share in his ministry of reconciliation?

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 11TH November 2013

REMEMBRANCE  SUNDAY 11^TH  November 2013

As we gather here today our thoughts and thanks quite rightly will be foremost for those who have given their lives in previous conflicts; for today is their day when we remember the sacrifice of their deaths, sacrifices made in order that you and I might enjoy the freedom to live and to live in freedom. It is a day which, if we are truly grateful, ought to prompt us to honest reflection about how we choose to use that freedom; to repent of misuses of that freedom and actively to seek out ways in which we might employ our gifts and talents, experience and expertise, in sacrificial service of our fellow human beings.

But our thoughts and prayers must also be for the living, for those fighting, even as I speak, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, facing every day the prospect of sudden death. I can remember myself, as a young rifle platoon commander in Northern Ireland some 30 years ago now, what that felt like before each and every patrol or ambush. Of course, in your early 20s, you think not only that you are infinitely better than the enemy, you also tend to believe yourself indestructible. Yet talking with some riflemen, recently returned from Afghanistan, the nature of the conflict there, together with the sophistication of the enemy’s devices now, serve to produce a feeling of utter vulnerability: no matter how well trained, how professionally competent, the spectre of imminent death or terrible injury looms exceedingly large in their thoughts.

Now I am not here to speak on the pros and cons of our military presence in Afghanistan; I am here to invite you to ‘remember’ with real gratefulness the sacrifice of all those who have given their lives in the fight against evil, and to encourage you to pray, not only for all those currently fighting against evil but also, and perhaps especially so, for all those who are doing so but struggling; struggling, that is, with the moral issues and choices they face each day, or just with their being there, because the world and the morality of its politics today make so many of the choices our service personnel have to address far less black and white and a great deal more complex than in most previous conflicts. So for them our prayers today and everyday are immensely important.

Our Gospel passage this morning gives us a real sense of what terrifying uncertainty and the prospect of imminent death or loss of friends is like. However, at the same time it also offers to all of us, whatever we are facing in this life in terms of trials or terrors, loss or loneliness, or just trying to make sense of this life and our place and part in it, a source of security, comfort, purpose and hope; something which then enables us to become realists about this life and about what happens thereafter. I say ‘realists’ because the source of this information is Jesus himself, the one whom Christians believe – on the basis of the evidence of his birth, life, death, and resurrection – to be exactly whom he claimed to be - our Creator God come in person as one of us in order to save us. This ‘saving’ is not from trials or terrors or wars, but rather from sin and from ourselves. He does this in order that we might become people fit for heaven. 

Indeed, as Jesus states very clearly here, he is the only way to heaven, inviting all who hear this to put their faith and hope of eternal life in him.

But as we can see from this passage, still his own disciples did not really or fully understand who he was and what he was about. It was only after his resurrection that it all fell into place for them and they understood, at last, just who it was they had been with for those two or three years.  The evidence for the resurrection is still there for all to see but, sadly, will never be sufficient for those who are predisposed, for whatever reason, not to see it.

But this morning just put yourselves in the position of his disciples there. How sad, how bewildering, how terrifying it must have been for them: things looked very bleak indeed. Jesus understood this and as a good, strong leader must, encourages and rallies his disciples for the tough tasks ahead. How are they to calm their hearts for the future with all its present fears and uncertainties? For being associated with Jesus would come to mean, as in many countries it still does today, the prospect of torture and death. 

Well, they are to trust; to trust in God and in him.v1 ‘Trust in God; trust also in me.’

Yet it seems their trust in God is perhaps a little shaky, a little vague, to say the least. 

Jesus, in inviting them to put their trust in him, effectively challenges them to regard him as they would God himself. Now that is some claim!

Jesus then says that he is going to prepare a place for them and that he will return for them, comforting them with the information that there is space enough in ‘my Father’s house’, a reference of course to heaven. But here again we are challenged with this very exclusive idea that it is Jesus who is able to prepare us a place in Heaven. Why? 

Because it is, v2 ‘my Father’s house’.

Then comes this note of reassurance v4 ‘You know the way to the place where I am going’, which seems to suggest, does it not, from Thomas’ reply, that Jesus has misjudged his disciples. At one level it is obvious that they don’t think they know the way! But again Jesus is asking them to trust him: it is precisely, he is saying, because they know him that they therefore know the way.

Poor Thomas v5 is still mystified. The Gospels reveal him as a loyal and courageous disciple but one liberally endowed with misapprehensions and doubts – just another typical middle-of-the-road Anglican churchgoer really!

And then in v 6 Jesus answers Thomas’ question with perhaps the most clear and audacious statement in the Gospel records Jesus makes about himself. ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ Jesus is the way to God precisely because he is the truth of God and the life of God. He may properly be called ‘God’ because he is God’s gracious disclosure of himself in human form – as v7 makes clear.

To many people today such an exclusivist claim to being the only way to God is anathema: and of course if we prefer the secular dogmas of so-called inclusiveness or our own imaginings on this, then we will find Jesus’ teaching here hard to swallow. I would just say this: it is so important we look at the life and the credentials of those who argue against the teaching of Jesus and ask ourselves who, on the balance of evidence, is more credible? I realise that the ‘all roads lead to Heaven’ or ‘all religions are fundamentally the same’ assertions can seem very comforting, and they have some very colourful and attractive celebrities who advocate them; but study their credentials before you decide, and compare them with the credentials of Jesus. Our Heavenly Father is loving and merciful, and will never turn away anyone who genuinely seeks to be with him: but whoever they are, whatever their religion to date, and whatever their track record, Jesus says they may only come through him.

Something of these great truths and hard facts are perhaps illustrated if I briefly recount a little incident from the jungle. Some of you know that I am a qualified jungle warfare instructor – a very useful training I have found for surviving in the Anglican church – and one day on my instructor’s course we were out doing a map reading exercise. If ever there is a test of faith, it has got to be map reading and compass work in the jungle. I remember our instructor stressing that to get from point A to point B that afternoon there was only one way. ‘Gentlemen, you may choose to take a short cut or you may choose to take the scenic route; neither of these will get you to your objective by the right time - if at all. There is one way only, and you miss it at your peril.’

Well, if you sympathised with Thomas, here now is Philip. In spite of everything they have seen and heard, these disciples are still hanging on to their preconceptions and their safe assumptions about Jesus, preconceptions and assumptions which combine, as they still do for people today, to blind them to life’s greatest spiritual realities. The disciples did not have all the advantages that you and I have, if only we will take advantage of them – the New Testament and the Holy Spirit. Of course, the resurrection changed all that for them; but if we are sincere in our seeking after the truth about this life, its purpose, and our destiny, then it is surely the utmost folly to subordinate the teaching of Jesus about these things to our own or others’ limited imaginings.

There’s more than a hint of sadness, I think, in the words of Jesus in v9 as he realises that he has more work to do in order to convince them. And I suppose it warns us that spiritual insight and spiritual maturity are not so much a matter or product of a length of time as they are of a willingness to set aside one’s prejudices and to be open to knowing Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

Jesus continues, asking them to believe what he has said to be true v11 and then, in appealing to them to have faith in him, turns the focus in these last verses to the fruitfulness that believers will have when they do seek to serve him. When you and I unashamedly make known the truth and the love of Jesus to others – that he is the way, the truth, and the life; when we take on the role of Good Samaritan and give the glory for our good works to God; when we self-sacrificially support the poor or our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, we demonstrate something of the truth of v12. The contrast here is not between the works Jesus did and the works his disciples will do after his death and resurrection, but between the works Jesus did and the far greater works he will do in and with his disciples from the Day of Pentecost onwards.

You and me he calls to join him in his continuing work of reconciling people to their Heavenly Father through him. He is the way, the truth, and the life: he longs for all to know this, and he calls you and me to make him known to them.

THE ‘I AM’ SAYINGS OF JESUS - ‘I am the True Vine’ John Ch 15 vv 1 – 8

THE ‘I AM’ SAYINGS OF JESUS  - ‘I am the True Vine’ John Ch 15 vv 1 – 8

Did you know that farmers and Jesus have something very important in common; they share a common goal, a common hope. Now, you’ve all heard, I’m sure, those jokes that start, ’What’s the difference?’ For example, ‘What’s the difference between an elephant and a post box?’ To which the answer, for those of you who havn’t heard it, is, ‘Well if you don’t know, you’re certainly not posting any of my letters!’ But this isn’t a ‘what’s the difference’ question; it’s a ‘what do they have in common?’ question. And the answer is that they are both extremely interested in fruitfulness.

Just as the farmer wants to see his orchards produce apples, his fields corn, barley, wheat or whatever, his cows milk, so Jesus wants to see spiritual fruit from his followers, his disciples. The goal of our discipleship is, first and foremost, fruitfulness.        As I have said on so many occasions, the Gospels teach us quite plainly that the goal of discipleship is not goodness but effectiveness: any goodness in you or me of any value in Jesus’ eyes, any goodness worth having at all, will always be as a consequence of our being effective disciples for his name’s sake.   And in our Gospel passage this morning, which contains the next in our series of Sunday morning talks on the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel, 

Jesus here explains not only the key truth that fruitfulness is the goal of discipleship but also here he explains how such fruitfulness may be achieved.

So it really is a very appropriate topic on the occasion of our Harvest Festival, when we come together to thank God for all his gifts and blessings of creation, for the fruit of our labours, and to sing that great pride-busting, humbling Harvest hymn which reminds us that ‘all good things around us are sent from Heaven above’, that we are reminded too that we are each one of us called by Jesus, in whatever work or season of life, to be fruitful for him to God’s glory.

The picture or metaphor Jesus uses here is that of the vine which was used in the Old Testament to describe the people of Israel. But always and consistently the prophets were calling them to repentance because they were not producing the fruit God wanted. And Jesus takes up this picture and claims to be himself the ‘true vine’.

So let’s see what this passage has to tell us about Jesus, about you and me in relationship to him and to each other, and about what it involves and requires of you and me to fulfil our calling to be fruitful, to be effective disciples. 

Our passage is in two intricately connected parts (verses 1-8 and verses 9-16) which inform and comment on each other. Both sections speak of ‘remaining’ or ‘abiding’: the first, of remaining in the vine (vv 4-7), that is, Jesus; the second, of ‘remaining’ in Jesus’ love (vv9-10); both parts hold up ‘fruitfulness’ as the disciple’s goal (vv 5,16); both tie such fruitfulness to prayer (vv 7-8, 16). Both sections are designed to move the listener or reader away from the old covenant to the new covenant in Jesus, from Israel as the vine to Jesus as the true vine. Remember, as we learned at the outset of this series, John is writing primarily to help Jewish converts grasp the fundamental and liberating truth that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s dealings with his people, and therefore to move away from relying on the old practices. Also, Jesus moves our understanding of our relationship with him from that of ‘servants’ to ‘friends’.

Taken together then, as they are supposed to be, these two sections help us to appreciate more deeply the relationship between Jesus and his disciples, and between Jesus and you and me. Our relationship with Him is defined but not exhausted by such terms as obedience, perseverance, revelation, and love: it is this picture or metaphor of the vine which helps us to understand that this relationship with him includes fruitfulness, dependence on him and on each other, vital union with him and with each other, and the uncomfortable one – pruning; pruning away what is diseased or non-fruit-bearing in order to make us more like Jesus.

Again, as with the bread of life metaphor we looked at a couple of weeks ago, there is nothing in this passage about the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion – though many have claimed it in order to support some of their interpretation of Holy Communion. The simple truth is that John is speaking here of the union of believers with Christ, apart from whom they can do nothing effective as his disciples. This union, originated by him and sealed by his sacrificial death for us, is completed by our responsive love and obedience. It is the very essence of Christianity. There are, unfortunately, so many things that the Church and culture have tried to make of Christianity and for various reasons. Sometimes they have tried, with good intentions, to change, develop, or improve it; or, misguidedly, tried to make it easier for people to accept by watering it down or accommodating it to the prevailing culture; or to discredit it: but any understandings of 

Christianity which place greater weight on any such additions or subtractions tend by and large to undermine fruitfulness. Such and such may be our time-honoured custom or comforting habit, but do these things make us more effective disciples? Do our preferred ways of ‘doing Church’ help or hinder others to learn of God’s truth and love for them?

Let’s take a closer look at some of the verses. Sadly, we do not have time to delve very deeply in a short Sunday morning talk but, as with the other talks, this talk will be on our website, together with study questions; and after half-term there will be an evening Study Group if you have been unable to attend the afternoon one on Tuesdays here in the snug New Room in church.

Notice v1 . Although the Son’s role is central, the Father’s is not mere background: it is He who trims and prunes the branches, which is of course a necessary operation in order to produce new, more, and more abundant growth. I know we don’t like being told that we need pruning: there is always the tempting and comforting thought that, in terms of our discipleship, ‘Well, you’re really not doing too badly’ – if only in comparison to some others! And there will always be some kind and comforting soul around to confirm my view of myself, my character, my good works, or my achievements. But be careful; flattery is not the same thing as encouragement: and we all of us need to spend quality time with him, listening to his loving and gentle voice explaining where and why some pruning is necessary if we want to be fruitful for him.                          

V2 Jesus is the vine; you and I are the branches. The branches derive their life from the vine; the vine produces its fruit through the branches. But then comes the pruning and the cutting off of the dead wood. In short what Jesus is saying here is that fruitfulness is an infallible mark of true Christianity; there are no true Christians without some measure of fruit. This is hard-nosed, challenging teaching: Jesus did not suffer from the Anglican sin of ‘niceness’. Coming to church, being baptised, reading your bible, believing that there is a God, are all worthless unless we are producing fruit. Ninety year olds can produce fruit; children can produce fruit: paraplegics can produce fruit; terminal cancer patients can produce fruit. What matters is the state of the soil in our hearts. 

V5 We see here that the branch’s purpose is to ‘produce much fruit’. What is the fruit we are to produce? Well, I think we must envisage a tree or bush that has the potential to produce a whole range and variety of fruits. Let’s not try to restrict or confine possibilities but expand them! So we are talking about: the Fruit of the Spirit, Christian character, love for others, but above all – if we remember the calling God gave to the Israelites – to be ‘a light to the Gentiles’. And if we take into account Jesus’ teaching elsewhere about the purpose of discipleship, this ‘fruitfulness’ concerns at heart the making known of Jesus to others who know neither his truth nor his love.

In verses 7, 8, and 16 we see that any such fruitfulness is the consequence of obedience to Jesus’ words, prayer in Jesus’ name, and offered to the glory of the Father. So when we are examining or testing whether or not any claim to fruitfulness is genuine, we need to apply this three-stemmed litmus test: is it a consequence of faithfulness to Jesus’ revelation (his words), of prayer in Jesus’ name, and to the Father’s glory?  Why is this necessary? Well because, sadly, there are often too many things that the Church and Christians do that do not pass this test: rather, they are the product of purely human invention and pride or cultural and worldly pressure. Jesus makes the point here too that such fruitfulness in believers is one of the ways that Jesus Himself glorifies his Father.

I said that the second section (vv 9-16) is really a commentary on and expansion of the first 8 verses. A very important thing we need to grasp here, something that is frequently mentioned in chapters 13 – 17, is that the relationship Jesus has with his Father is the example or paradigm for the relationship He wants between us and him. This is why prayer is so important in the Christian’s life: we need to get to know God better and to discover what it is He wants us to be doing as Jesus’ disciples. And Jesus in this second section moves into a deeper presentation of God’s love for you and for me: the agricultural metaphor is very useful, but on its own it cannot express adequately the wonderful truth that ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you’. 

Then, in v12, we see explained the imagery of the vine as it touches upon our relatedness with one another. 

So in effect what these 16 verses are is a picture, an unpacking, and an application of the two great commandments, a kind of loving that necessarily contains a profound element of self-sacrifice. And in v 11 is surely, what I would want to call, the ‘break through truth’ for anyone’s understanding of why the two great commandments are so important and why  the very best and most rational and sensible goal in life, the true and only happiness worth having, is to become a disciple of Jesus.

Finally, together with this self-sacrifice, we see, from the idea of the disciples’ ‘going out’ and producing ‘fruit that will last’, that the fruit Jesus has in mind is primarily the winning of new converts to him. Above all else this is fruitfulness, this is the goal of discipleship, this is what genuine, effective, and joy-giving Christianity is all about.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. When you hear or read this metaphor of the vine, what thoughts and feelings does it create in your mind and heart? Do you find it helpful or encouraging?

2. When you think of the vine metaphor and its branches, how far do the branches stretch?

3. The vine expresses our relatedness and interdependence? In what ways is, can, and ought this to be shown and practised?

4. Can you think why Jesus places such emphasis on ‘fruitfulness’ and on evangelism (telling others about Jesus) in particular?

5. How does having the objective of ‘fruitfulness’ help my own spiritual growth and maturity?

6. In what ways are we tempted not to bother about ‘fruitfulness and fall back instead on our own private spirituality?

7. Why is prayer central to discipleship?

8. What is the point of our ‘fruitfulness’ being ‘to the glory of the Father’?

9. Why is self-sacrifice at the heart of the Christian understanding of love?

10. In what way has this passage of Jesus’ teaching encouraged you?