Sermon for Trinity 12: Sunday 3rd September 2017

MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH

Matt 16: 21 – 28

I wonder if you have ever overheard or been part of a conversation when you thought: ‘goodness that’s a bit over the top’. If you can pause for a second and not get swept up in it, you might ask yourself: ‘Where did all that come from?’

Well that’s a bit of what’s happening here when Jesus tells Peter to: “Get behind me Satan” v23. If you were here last week, listening to Anne’s sermon on the verses before these, you may be able to guess the answer to “where did all that come from?”

In case you weren’t, Jesus had asked his disciples: “who do people say that the Son of man is?” They give various answers – John the Baptist, one of the prophets. Then he cuts to the chase: “Who do YOU say I am?” Peter, always the first to reply, gave the right answer: “you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

But Peter’s moment of glory doesn’t last long, because as soon as Jesus tells his disciples what is going to be required of him, how he is about to walk right into the trap set for him in Jerusalem, where he will suffer and be killed and be raised from the dead, Peter explodes: “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Now does it make sense why Jesus seems so furious with Peter?

It is simply too much for Peter to imagine his wise young teacher coming to such a quick and bloody end, especially an end that can be avoided. Why walk into a trap when you can turn around and walk away? Why take a risk you do not have to take? Surely, Jesus,  you could heal a lot more people, preach to more people, set a lot more people free if you’d just stay out of harm’s way; take the safe option.

It strikes me as I read Stephen and Marie Shin’s last prayer letter that you could say the same to these link missionaries of ours. Aren’t there people in this country who need them to share the message?  Why take 2 little boys to this dangerous country? Why take a risk they do not have to?

We’ve all at least heard of people who have done risky things for the sake of others – running into a burning house to see if anyone is still alive. And less news-worthy stories of someone with a full time job who spends their free time helping that project with asylum seekers or the homeless.

We can admire such people but something in us is often afraid for them, especially if we know them well. Part of us like Peter wants to protest, “God forbid! Isn’t there an easier way to do what you want to do? Do you have to take such risks? What if you get hurt?”

Peter has a way of saying what the rest of us are thinking. But when he does say it, he gets this explosive answer from Jesus. “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

What a shock! What did he do wrong? As far as Jesus is concerned it was the voice of the ancient Accuser, the Tempter, who from the beginning of time has offered human kind alternatives to the will of God – easier alternatives, safer alternatives, anything that tempts us to be something other than what God has called us to do and be.

In Jesus’ case it was the temptation to play safe, to skip the trip to Jerusalem and find an easier way to save the world. And it must have been a very real temptation for Jesus – or else I don’t think he would have silenced Peter so harshly.

But Jesus goes on to say something perhaps even more disturbing: “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. We know that Jesus had to go to the Cross for us, so then why do we have to take up the cross?

It's probably something we would rather Jesus hadn’t said. So we try to get round it: let’s leave all this taking up the cross stuff to the early disciples and maybe a few more heroic people. It's quite hard enough to get up in the morning and face the challenges of the day, thank you very much.

Maybe we've been put off this verse by hearing some say: “this difficulty in my life is the cross I have to bear” but we don't see much of following Jesus in it. Or we may have seen someone denying themselves the smallest pleasures in life but when we see their souls poisoned with negativity, we think ‘surely that's not what it's about’.

And it isn't! The key to this verse is what Jesus has said about himself in v 21 “on the third day” he will “be raised to life” His taking the Cross led to Resurrection – to LIFE. And for us, taking up the cross, also leads to life, real living.

Peter wanted Jesus to save his life. He couldn’t bear to think of that beautiful life being spilled, wasted. What he didn’t realise was that Jesus’ supply of life was never-ending; and the more he gave of himself, the more he had to give; that when Jesus was raised from the dead, his life would be poured out, through the Holy Spirit, into all the world and into us.

The secret of Jesus’ hard words here is that the way to have abundant life is not to save it but to spend it, to give it away, because life cannot be shut up and saved anymore than a bird or a butterfly can be put in a box and stuck on a shelf. It has to be set free in order to live - and fly.

If we let our fear of suffering and death keep us from sticking our neck out, from taking the risks that make life worth living, we will save our own lives, yes, but we will lose something very precious - living a life that matters, a life for Christ’s sake.

There is quite a lot of pain involved in living this life especially in a world that counts on our fear of death to keep us in line. To follow Jesus means receiving our lives as gifts instead of guarding them as possessions. It means sharing the life we have been given instead of bottling it up for our own consumption.

But a life that pours itself out for others, without hardly thinking about it, knows that there is always more life where that came from, and even when our own lives run out God will have more life in store for us, because our God is a God who never runs out of life.

Sue Kiernan.

3 Sep 2017

Sermon for Epiphany 2 - becoming disciples

Sermon for Epiphany 2

January 15, 2017.

John 1:29-41

When an organisation has been in existence for a long time, it’s easy for it to lose sight of its priorities – what it was set up to achieve. It can get so consumed by its day to day activities that it loses sight of what it is there for – the vision that created it.

Last Saturday some members of our church council met to reflect upon the vision for our church. Vision can be a hard word to get your head round – it’s like a slippery bar of soap to get hold of. What does it really mean, and how do you get a vision?

A friend of mine has a great definition for vision for organisations and groups. He says vision is the ability to remember the purpose of the work. What are we really here for, and how do our plans and ideas line up with that?

It’s a wonderful coincidence, therefore, that today’s passage is all about the fundamental purpose of the Church. You may remember that in Matthew 28, at the end of his ministry on earth, Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. It’s the great mission statement for the whole church. And here in this passage at the start of his ministry, we see the first people become disciples.

But what is a disciple? Aren’t they specially qualified expert? Well, no they’re not. The word disciple means learner. A disciple is not a finished product. They are people who have decided to follow Jesus, to learn from him, and to get to know him better and that is a lifetime’s process. You and I, if we call ourselves Christians, are all disciples. That’s not being presumptuous, it’s saying that we don’t know it all, but we have decided to follow Jesus, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives learning what that means.

Now our passage naturally splits into two halves – the first half is about the one we follow, and the second half is about following.

The passage is packed with titles for Jesus – Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, Teacher, Messiah, Christ. There’s a lovely 35-40 minute sermon we could have on that, but I’ll spare you this morning! John the Baptist uses two crucial titles here, which explain why Jesus is a compelling person to follow, and why his command through the ages to us to help others to become disciples is worth attending to.

At the end of this first section (verses 29-34) John says Jesus is the Son of God – in other words, Jesus is unique. He is God entering our world, immersing himself in our experiences. Have you ever heard someone complain about politicians or perhaps the boss of a company, saying they don’t know what life’s really like:

“They’ve never done a proper day’s work”.

“They don’t know what it feels like to live here.”

What they’re saying is that the person hasn’t stood in our place, felt our pain, experienced our hardships, walked in our footsteps. John here is making the amazing statement that God is indeed doing that – he is standing in our place, feeling our pain, walking in our footsteps, because he has come in Jesus. And he knows Jesus is the Son of God, because he has witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon him.

But at the beginning of this passage in verse 29, John said something else which is also amazing. Here is the Lamb of God. Lambs were slaughtered in the Jewish religion. At Passover it would have been on an industrial scale. Sacrificed lambs were either burned as sacrifices, or at Passover eaten as part of the sacred meal Jews share in their homes for that important festival. Either way, it is a reference to sacrifice. He’s saying that God through Jesus will go to any lengths, even suffering and death, to open up his love for us, to reassure us to our value to him, and to make his love known. Any lengths for us to become his friends.

Now I think that is a very compelling opening for any group of Christians to start thinking about vision.

Then in part 2 (verses 35-41) people actually become disciples. Now when people like me start talking about faith-sharing, or to use that big scary word evangelism, my hunch is that many of us here might want to opt out in our heads in some way. “I’m not academic”, “I’m not clever”, “I’m not outgoing”, “I’m not good with words”.

I’m not a gambling man – I’ve never even bought a National Lottery ticket, but I would bet that everyone here has a friend. Yes? I bet that at some point you have introduced someone to a friend. Bert, I’d like you to meet my friend Sid. Beryl, come and meet my friend Cynthia. And you get chatting. How long have you been friends? Where did you meet? Were you at school together, etc.

Look at this passage – it’s not in a religious building, and it’s not at a religious service or ceremony. No Temple, no synagogue, no church, no cathedral. John says – look here is the Lamb of God, and the two follow Jesus. Well it’s all right for John, he’s a bit special. But look further down. All Jesus does is ask them to come along to where he is staying and spend time with him. And one of them was Andrew. Now we know Andrew is just a fisherman – no theology degree, no clever words. All he does is go to his brother (Simon, who is renamed Peter, by the way) and brings him and introduces him to Jesus.

If any of us can introduce someone to a friend of ours, then we’re already most of the way there. Sharing our faith is simply introducing someone to a friend of ours – Jesus.

When I was a teenager, I wasn’t a natural churchgoer. I wasn’t interested in going to church for its own sake – although I know some people are for the music, or the social life. However in the youth group I went to, people introduced me to Jesus as a friend – by talking about their experiences, their answers to prayer, by grappling with the Bible stories about him, by sharing their questions, their struggles and their joys. I met people whose lives were informed by, inspired by, and shaped by the life and teaching of Jesus and that – He - excited me. They showed me uncommon generosity and hospitality, which surprised me and made me wonder why that was. That’s when I started attending church regularly, because I wanted to share fellowship with others who followed him, and learn alongside them. It wasn’t always easy (still isn’t!), but I knew I needed to be there. Someone had introduced me to their friend.

So, today’s reading asks us all firstly whether we are disciples. In other words, are we people who have decided to follow Jesus and who are engaged in a lifelong journey of learning about him, getting to know him better, and living lives inspired, informed and shaped by him. That’s quite personally challenging. And if we are, then we are called to introduce others to this person who has become so important for us.

And the test of any vision we might have for our own church community is that it serves these aims – does it help us to be disciples, and does it help others to become disciples. And if it does, it will change us, our church, our community, and possibly even the wider world.

Mike Peatman