Refreshing lives, transforming faith, at the heart of the community Haere Mai, Piki Mai
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A Sermon by The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Readings
Jeremiah 28:5 - 9
Romans 6:12 - 23
Matthew 10:40 - 42
Father may my words be true to your word and our hearts open to hear you.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen
Bishop Tom Wright tells this story, he says:
Imagine that I am a smallholder living out in the countryside, about a
thousand years ago. My little farm sits on the border between two great
estates, and for years the lord of the manor on whose land I actually live
has had me completely under his thumb.
In particular, whenever he has wanted
to fight a war or even a local skirmish he has called on me to join up and
fight on his side, and has threatened me with all sorts of unpleasant things
(like burning my house down, for instance) if I don′t come along.
What′s more, he has more than once made me get all my farm implements,
nice peaceful things like hoes and spades, and take them down to the
blacksmith to make them into swords and shields. So off we go to fight his
wars, when really I ought to be looking after the farm.
Well, eventually I saw the light and moved just across the river into the
other great estate. We built a new house, brought all our stuff across, and
settled down (fortunately my old landlord was away at the time or he′d
have tried to stop me). The noble lord who owns the land where I now live
gave us a wonderful welcome, and charges us a lot less rent than the other
one. From time to time my old boss has come down and threatened to send his
henchmen across and do, yes, all sorts of unpleasant things to me once more,
but I think he′s secretly afraid of my new landlord. I get on with my
work and look after my farm. And my new master gets me to help with his
work, which is quite different from the battles my old boss used to drag me
into. My new master is building schools and hospitals, especially for the
really poor people, and sometimes he asks me to bring my tools and help in
the work. And if someone′s in special need - a death in the family, a
fire, animals sick, whatever - he asks me to help out in this way or that.
Sometimes of course it′s and effort, but I′m glad to do it,
especially for him.
This story explains what it means to become a Christian and how to put it
into practice. What is involved is a change of master, to move from living
under the law to living under grace. When we become Christians we are no
longer slaves to sin, but are slaves to righteousness.
We still serve a master but one who offers grace, forgiveness, and a fresh
start every time we get things wrong.
In New Zealand we know little of slaves and masters, but it was very much a
part of life when Paul wrote his letter to the Romans.
But we do know about moving from one neighbourhood to another. We know about
addictions and freedom, we know about resenting what we do and feeling
trapped verses enjoying life and feeling valued. Paul tells us in Romans
6:18 that: "we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of
righteousness."
Most of us probably have a reasonable idea what sin means. Sin is falling
short of God′s standards, doing what′s wrong, its putting our
plans and desires ahead of God′s plans, it is choosing
self-centeredness above other-centeredness. Righteousness is probably harder
to define.
It is to do with obedience, obedience to God. When we are obedient we are
vindicated, we are in the right.
Bishop Tom Wright describes righteousness as: "the good purposes of the
creator to bring the world back from chaos into proper order and to bring
human beings into the right shape and the right relation to himself."
Jesus was putting the world to rights by setting us free from sin. He was
restoring right order and restoring God′s relationship with us. We are
set free. But this freedom comes with a framework. Just like passing a
driving test. When you pass your test you are now free to drive on the road,
but you must still obey the road rules. You cannot drive on the wrong side
of the road, or speed past a school bus. This framework is there for your
benefit and for the benefit of others, for your and their protection.
Christianity places radical demands on every aspect of life our values and
our resulting actions. The Christian framework leads us to righteousness.
It′s like choosing the direction that you travel in. Different roads
have different destinations. There may seem very little difference between
two exits from a roundabout but one could take you to Golden Bay and the
other to Christchurch! The decision to choose God′s ways above any
other option can seem quite a small difference. "And who would know anyway"
we may tell ourselves, but the resulting destination can be much further off
track than we first realise.
The end of this passage from Romans concludes with a very well known verse,
one which has been used and abused over the centuries.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life."
Romans 6:23
One road leads to death and the other road leads to life. Living in one
estate and working under one master leads to destruction and pain.
Living across the river on the other master′s estate leads to health
and life. God′s framework, his rules, are not there to squash us into
a particular shape whether we are happy or not, they are there because it
matters which road we take.
And there are rewards for choosing God′s ways! Rewards now and rewards
eternally. Which leads us to our Gospel reading.
This is a great passage! Yes there are rewards for being God′s
prophets and disciples, but Matthew tells us even welcoming someone who is
serving in God′s name reaps for us the same reward! The same reward as
a prophet or a disciple or a righteous person! In fact even giving a cup of
water to a little child in the name of a disciple will bring us a
disciple′s reward! Jesus is telling us that if we welcome the
messenger we are welcoming the message, and the message, the good news,
brings life. Welcoming God′s representatives brings us rewards for all
service ranks the same with God. If I stand here and preach and you receive
this word from God and make it your own, you receive just the same reward as
I do. We are all treated the same because the reward is a free gift on offer
to all! Grace brings us freedom and an unearned relationship with God, we
are put right with God through Christ′s free gift.
I know I′ve shared this definition of Grace before but I really like
it. Grace means: God′s Riches At Christ′s Expense. What more
reward could we ask for than the riches of God freely given! And already
paid for! It′s all a matter of priorities. Jesus is teaching us how to
be God′s people.
Earlier in Matthew chapter 10 we have seen the 12 apostles being sent out,
then Jesus warns them about coming persecutions and families divided because
of their beliefs. Jesus′ words are very challenging and people
don′t like to be challenged. But Jesus is saying that for those who
accept the challenge of following him and his ways, despite the costs, there
will be great rewards. For one thing Jesus will own us before his Father in
heaven. We belong to Christ and are honoured by Christ.
So what is being asked of us exactly?
It is to serve our fellow human beings out of love for Christ.
"What you do to the least of these you do to me"
Matthew 25:40
This simple truth changes lives, ours and those we reach out to. As we saw
in our opening story, once we serve under grace, we are asked to help
others when they are in need.
In our OT reading we see that Jeremiah foretold of a time when there would
be peace. That the coming of peace would confirm that the Lord had truly
sent the prophet because only God could bring about such peace. This is not
peace as the world understands it, but the peace that comes from living in
God′s grace. Living under the rule of God′s estate. Living
within the framework of God′s righteousness.
And how do we bring about this change of life?
Well just like the farmer, we decide to move. We choose to serve a different
master We choose to leave behind ways of life that are destructive,
un-peaceful. We all have freewill and we can all call upon God for the
strength to make changes in our lives. In fact we need God′s strength
to make it happen. Once we cross the boarder we then come under God′s
protection. Grace is a free gift with no strings attached, but we do need to
accept the gift, to choose a new path and a new destination.
We only have to listen to the news to know that people are making wrong
choices all the time. There have been so many murders, abuse of children,
attacks on the elderly, on shopkeepers, on people in their own homes. Some
people are definitely living lives of violence, greed and hate, lives full
of hurt and desperation. These are not God′s ways; they are not
God′s choices for our lives. It′s always easy to identify such
high profile choices, but we make choices all the time too. We choose
whether we follow God′s framework for living, God′s rules.
Do we always tell the truth, the whole truth? Are we honest in all our
financial dealings? Do we choose righteous ways even when there is a cost?
or do we opt for the easy path? Easy paths usually lead in the wrong
direction.
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy
that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is
narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find
it."
Matthew 7:13 - 14
I can only tell you about what God has done in my life, my experiences. That
doesn′t mean that "Look at me, I′ve got it right!" It means
what God has and still does for me he can help you with too. No matter how
long we travel on the wrong road we can still turn back. I became a
Christian as a teenager, but it wasn′t until I was 31 when I really
put God in the driving seat of my life, or to use Paul′s analogy, when
I made God master of my life. That doesn′t mean I′ve got all the
answers or that everything runs smoothly - it doesn′t! But is does
mean that I can say with confidence that God accepts and loves me just as I
am, faults and all! He has forgiven and forgotten the wrong choices I made
in the past, and he has helped me to learn new ways of relating to people
and relating to God. Through Christ′s presence continually at work in
my life I can keep on the right path - or at least know when I start to
wander off!
Jesus is asking us to choose his ways daily, to put him in the driving seat
of our lives. We don′t have to do anything to earn God′s love,
but we do have to live in obedience to experience his blessings, the rewards
of righteousness. Right choices usually involve perseverance, integrity and
delayed rewards. Living under grace is not the easy option, but it is the
right option and because of this free gift of grace we are no longer living
under the law, and for this we can be eternally thankful.
I pray that God will enable each one of us to receive this message,
to receive the free gift of grace,
to ask for strength to change our paths
and to live lives of righteous obedience, serving God.
And I ask this in Jesus′ name. Amen.
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
This sermon was written and delivered by The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf at Nelson Cathedral, 29 June 2008 at 8:00 and 10:00
