REPEATING THEMES - 6
“CALLING”
Readings: Psalm 25:1-14, Jeremiah 29:11-14, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Matthew 4:17-22
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, August 29thth 2010
I am concluding today a series I began at the start of our summer services looking at repeating themes that flow throughout the books of the Bible. We have looked at themes such as 'Creating', 'Covenanting', ‘Dying’ and 'Living'. Today we are today going to take a look at the theme of ‘Calling’.
Sometimes people think of God’s call as something that only applies to ordained clergy or missionaries. But biblically speaking every one of us has a calling on our life. Every one of us is called to particular areas of service that God has uniquely gifted our lives towards. Some aspects of calling apply to all of us. Some are more specific.
1. The calling to ENCOUNTER
2. The calling to ENGAGE
3. The calling to EVANGELISE
The calling to ENCOUNTER
God calls each of us to encounter the love of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. I’ve talked previously of the story in the creation account in Genesis in which humankind falls from grace after their disobedience in Eden’s garden. God asks Adam a particular question; “Where are you?” The love of God is a love that seeks an encounter, a love that wants to find us.
A name we often use for Jesus is to describe Him as the Savior. The love of God that we can find through Jesus Christ is one that saves us from having lives disconnected to God. John 1:12 tells us “To all who received Jesus, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God”. In John 15:15 we find Jesus telling those who respond to His call to discipleship, “I have called you friends”.
Commenting on this close encounter God desires for our lives Paul speaks in his first letter to the church in Corinth of how; “God who has called you into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9). The word Paul uses for ‘fellowship’ is the Greek word ‘koinonia’, a word of deep intimacy and partnership. ‘Koinonia’ is a word that speaks of a love and unity with God that occurs when the Holy Spirit is allowed to transform us and renew us.
God calls to us “Where are you?” Where are we in our encounter with God? Do we know ourselves children of God? Is our encounter with God one of deep ‘koinonia’ fellowship? Is our encounter with Jesus Christ one in which we know ourselves His friends?
Such is the sort of encounter God wishes us to have through our faith in Christ. Oswald Chambers in his classic book ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ writes “God’s call is for you to be His loyal friend, for whatever purpose He has for your life”
The key to finding this close encounter with God is the grace of God. The realization that what we can never do for ourselves, God has already done in Jesus Christ and is seeking to do in our lives today through the Holy Spirit. Returning to that verse from Corinthians; “God who has called you into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9). God has put everything in place for us to encounter God’s love. God is faithful. As God calls “Where are you?” our answer needs to be “Here I am Lord! Ready and willing to do whatever You ask of me!”
Bill Bright, a Presbyterian and founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, commented one time on how to hear God’s call. “The most important way to know God’s will is to totally surrender to the Lordship of Christ. Ask Him to guide your steps. You are in God’s will if you are surrendered to Him. The God who created everything will guide our steps.”
Encountering God through God’s grace is not about what we can do, but about what God desires to do in us and through us! It’s about going with the flow. Allowing the current of God’s Spirit to move us and take us. Until we let go and let God we never get to experience that ‘koinonia’, that intimate relationship with God that God desires for us in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
There remains great truth in the words of Charlotte Elliot’s hymn; “Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou biddest me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come!” We must encounter God on God’s terms, not try and set the terms for ourselves. And as we encounter God we will hear a second type of call;
The calling to ENGAGE
The Psalmist muses about the faithful person that “God will instruct him in the way chosen for him” (Psalm 25:12). The first letter of Peter tells us “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Paul agrees when he writes to the Ephesian church, “For we are God’s workmanship (which means literally ‘valuable masterpiece’) created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah pictures God declaring to God’s people “For I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God calls us in order that we may be engaged in the work of God’s Kingdom. We are firstly called into relationship with God. We are then called to build on that relationship by engaging ourselves in the work God created us to enjoy. Hear again that promise of Jeremiah… “I have plans to give you hope and a future.”
But how do we find out what those plans may be? I would suggest that we discover those plans in two particular ways.
Firstly, by identifying our desires and passions. There are areas of life that resonate within us. There are things that we love to do simply because that’s what we love doing! Other people may find them boring. Others may not resonate in the same way towards them as we do. They are our passions.
And often they are closely related to what we can do. When we are good at things others find hard, then that’s a good sign that God has been preparing us to be engaged in those things. As an example I am useless at car maintenance. When I open the hood I look under there … it looks like an engine. I know there are some cars that have shinier engines, and some that have engines that don’t look anything like my engine, but to me its always going to be an engine.
But a mechanic looks under there and they see things I don’t see. They know what all that stuff is doing in there. All I know is that I’m really glad it is there… but I’m even more glad that there are people who get excited about what is in there, because God has not created me with the gift and desire to get excited about engines. So when they stop working, I see it as a problem, but they see it as a challenge!
God has created us with different abilities, different passions. There are things that we do and not only do them well but really enjoy doing them. Such things are usually part of our calling.
Secondly, God graces our lives with spiritual gifts. In a number of places in scripture there are lists of spiritual gifts that God graces people with to equip them for ministry. Sometimes these are things that don’t come naturally to us, but it is only as we try them or experience them that we find how they work in our lives. Passages such as Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12 all contain lists of such gifts.
1 Peter 4:10 tells us ‘Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.’ Likewise, Romans 12: verses 4-6 “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
A study of the different gifts is beyond the scope of this sermon, so for now it is sufficient to say that God desires to engage you in ministry using your passions and desires and through equipping you through the Holy Spirit to find joy in areas of service you may not even have on your radar at the current time!
We are called to encounter God and to be engaged in being the unique person God calls us to be. Thirdly, there is…
The calling to EVANGELISE
I understand that for some folk the word ‘evangelism’ has many negative connotations attached to it. It can conjure up images of manipulation, insincerity and used car salesman! That’s a shame because all evangelism is about is telling people some good news. Good news that there is a God and that God is crazy about us! Good News that God’s love can be found through encountering Jesus Christ! Good news that God’s Spirit is still in the business of recreating and empowering and making all things new!
The call to the first disciples in Matthew 4:19 is a call to all disciples of every age and every place. “Come follow me” invites Jesus, “and I will make you fishers of men”. So, we may say, ‘But I’m not a fisherman. How can I catch people by fishing?”
The point is that God made you ‘you’, and by being the best you ‘you’ can possibly be (and by openly pursuing being that person God is calling you to be) then you will catch other people up in wanting to be the best ‘them’ that they can be!
The greatest evangelistic tool God has given to your life is you! By being who you are meant to be in Christ, then you become an unconscious, underground, subversive, evangelist. As people observe you using your passions and gifts for God, and they see how God is blessing you in doing so, you won’t have to say a word, because you’ll be a living word of God!
That’s what evangelism is about and why it is so related to the idea of calling. Repeated time and time again throughout the 66 books that make up the Bible are stories of God calling people to be who they are in order to serve God’s purposes. Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Samson, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi, Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Matthew, Mark and Luke and John, the list goes on and on and on!
They make mistakes. They pursue their passions. They sometimes strive and struggle to understand how, why, where and who! But through them, the world comes to hear good news about the love of God that can make all things new!
I pray that today we will hear God’s call to encounter His love, engage in His work and reach out to others with the good news of the gospel message.
And to God’s name be all praise, honor and glory, Amen!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
REPEATING THEMES - 5 “LIVING”
Readings: Psalm 36:1-10, Jeremiah 31:8-14, Romans 8:1-11, John 10:1-11
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, August 15th 2010
I am continuing with a series I began a few weeks back looking at some of the repeating themes that flow throughout the books of the Bible. We have looked at themes such as 'Creating', 'Covenanting' and 'Dying'. Having last time taken the rather solemn topic of ‘Dying’ our theme this week is “LIVING”. I want to start with some words that Jesus said about His mission and purpose from John's gospel, Chapter 10, verse 10. Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
Life. Some have called the Bible 'The Book of Life' claiming 'all of life' flows through its pages. So it is surely a worthwhile exercise to spend a little time discovering what the different books of the Bible have to tell us about living.
In the earliest books of the Bible life is pictured as a gift from God. It is the breath that God breathes into all created things that God alone can cause to flourish and nurture. For the Old Testament prophets life is seen as something to be pursued. A distinction is made between ways that lead to death and ways that lead to life. The Old Testament prophets encourage people to enter into a covenant of life with their God.
Turning to the New Testament we find Jesus speaking of how life should be defined by more than just the life we live on earth and He encourages us not to be over-concerned with our lives but allow God to take care of us. He speaks of Himself as the Bread of life upon whom all can feast!
Moving through the sermons in Acts and into the letters of the New Testament we are encouraged to seek fullness of life in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and embrace an abundant life that shows itself through love we have for God and each other. The final book of the Bible, Revelation, speaks to us of eating from the 'Tree of life' and of how our names are written in a 'Book of Life' through faith in Jesus Christ.
Aware of the risk of over-simplification (because after all 'life' is a huge theme to condense under a few headings) but in mind of the verse I've mentioned from John's gospel, where Jesus says;”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” to truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
1. Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
2. Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
3. Allow the Spirit of life to redefine us.
Firstly, Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
In the second account of creation that appears in Genesis we read; “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. (Genesis 2:7). In the great drama of the Book of Job, his counselor, Elihu, seeks to remind him in the midst of all his troubles that “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 ). The wisdom literature of Ecclesiastes advises us “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).
You are alive! Your heart is still ticking away. Your lungs are still exhaling and inhaling. Your blood is still flowing through your arteries and veins. Your brain is still buzzing away like a vast super-computer making sure the machinery of your created being is functioning in a coordinated way and at the same time interpreting and reinterpreting all that is going on within you and around you. “I will praise thee” declares the Psalmist “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14)
Everything around your life may not be going exactly as you want it… there may be things that you really want to change about your life… but… listen if somebody comes up to you today and says “Get a life”, you can just smile at them and tell them; “I got one!”
The Old Testament is full of great advice as how to make the most of that life you have been gifted with. Life is something best lived in God’s way, knowing God’s guidance and blessing. The Psalmist declares “You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11-1). And again … ‘How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. (Psalm 36:7-9).
Life is seen as something that God can redeem and protect. Those who want to live life to the full are encouraged to share their lives with God, to become (to use some biblical terms) ‘like a watered garden’, like a ‘fountain’, like a spring of joy and blessing. The image of living water flows through many different books of the Bible.
We know the difference this time of the year between a garden that is well watered and one that is parched and scorched. So we are encouraged to be thankful for the breath of life God has given to us and encouraged to nurture that life by pursuing the things that Scripture teaches are good and wholesome and true. Which conveniently leads us to a second observation. In order to truly live…
Secondly, Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
In Matthew 6: 25 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Many times Jesus suggests to us that there is more to life than the day to day worries that greet us when we get out of bed each morning. That there are other dimensions and concerns that we should allow to break in on us. That there is an eternal dimension to life. That we should have lives that are defined by more than just life on earth, however wonderful or otherwise that life may be.
The verse I used at the start of our sermon had Jesus saying: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” And throughout the gospel of John abundant, eternal ‘life’ is a common theme. We discover Jesus declaring, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He speaks of Himself as ‘the bread of life ‘ and declares “Whoever believes has eternal life.” In probably the best known verse of the whole New Testament, John 3:16, we are told "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Bear in mind that when the biblical authors write about eternal life they don’t mean life after death. They are not saying ‘Whoever believes in Jesus will go to heaven” They are talking about life on a vast canvas, as being something that begins before the womb and goes beyond the tomb! Eternal life is not something for the ‘after-life’ but a quality of life to be enjoyed today, in the here and now, in the present!” John 8:12 tells us “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
Light, life, love… they are all tied up together in the life of Jesus, all part and parcel of this eternal, abundant life that God wants us to experience today. God’s desire isn’t simply that we be living, but that we are truly alive to all that God can do and all that we can be if we allow God’s love free reign in our hearts and lives. Which moves to our third observation. To truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
Thirdly, Allow the Spirit of Life to redefine us.
In 1 Titus 6:12 we read “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called”. How do we do that? How can we take hold of the eternal life that God is offering?
Firstly, we must see that allowing the Spirit to redefine us is a work of God’s grace. Paul when he writes about his qualifications to be an apostle of God tells the Corinthian Church; “We are not competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God… not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Did you catch that? ‘The Spirit gives life’. The Holy Spirit, the third dimension of our relating to God. To the Church in Rome Paul writes: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). Earlier in Romans chapter 6 Paul has told them “ We have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).
In the first letter of, not Paul but John we find these words “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1John 5:11-13)
That’s a whole lot of scripture and theology I just shot across your bows, so let me unpack it a little! ‘Abundant life’ is about allowing God to redefine our lives and make our lives more Christ-like. Such is a process that we can not achieve by self-effort alone. God sends to us the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who inspired and lived in Jesus, to encourage us and teach us. God’s presence is with us in such a tangible way that Scripture talks about us being “In Christ” and “Christ living in us”.
We open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit through worship and prayer and Scripture reading. We open ourselves to the Spirit by serving others and treating others in the same sort of ways as we would like to be treated ourselves. It’s not just about us; it’s about all of us!
One of the lesser-known letters of the New Testament, the letter of Titus, tells us the way Christians should conduct themselves. “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” (1Titus 6:18-19). As we nourish our personal spiritual live and open our hearts in generosity to those we share life with, so we will find our lives become redefined by the love of God.
The final book of Scripture, the Book of Revelation, speaks of people of God as being “Those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Revelation also invites us: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The theme of life is one that is echoed throughout the biblical books, from beginning to end!
Jesus said:”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. How can we find that abundant life?
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, August 15th 2010
I am continuing with a series I began a few weeks back looking at some of the repeating themes that flow throughout the books of the Bible. We have looked at themes such as 'Creating', 'Covenanting' and 'Dying'. Having last time taken the rather solemn topic of ‘Dying’ our theme this week is “LIVING”. I want to start with some words that Jesus said about His mission and purpose from John's gospel, Chapter 10, verse 10. Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
Life. Some have called the Bible 'The Book of Life' claiming 'all of life' flows through its pages. So it is surely a worthwhile exercise to spend a little time discovering what the different books of the Bible have to tell us about living.
In the earliest books of the Bible life is pictured as a gift from God. It is the breath that God breathes into all created things that God alone can cause to flourish and nurture. For the Old Testament prophets life is seen as something to be pursued. A distinction is made between ways that lead to death and ways that lead to life. The Old Testament prophets encourage people to enter into a covenant of life with their God.
Turning to the New Testament we find Jesus speaking of how life should be defined by more than just the life we live on earth and He encourages us not to be over-concerned with our lives but allow God to take care of us. He speaks of Himself as the Bread of life upon whom all can feast!
Moving through the sermons in Acts and into the letters of the New Testament we are encouraged to seek fullness of life in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and embrace an abundant life that shows itself through love we have for God and each other. The final book of the Bible, Revelation, speaks to us of eating from the 'Tree of life' and of how our names are written in a 'Book of Life' through faith in Jesus Christ.
Aware of the risk of over-simplification (because after all 'life' is a huge theme to condense under a few headings) but in mind of the verse I've mentioned from John's gospel, where Jesus says;”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” to truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
1. Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
2. Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
3. Allow the Spirit of life to redefine us.
Firstly, Embrace the breath of life that is within us.
In the second account of creation that appears in Genesis we read; “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being”. (Genesis 2:7). In the great drama of the Book of Job, his counselor, Elihu, seeks to remind him in the midst of all his troubles that “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 ). The wisdom literature of Ecclesiastes advises us “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).
You are alive! Your heart is still ticking away. Your lungs are still exhaling and inhaling. Your blood is still flowing through your arteries and veins. Your brain is still buzzing away like a vast super-computer making sure the machinery of your created being is functioning in a coordinated way and at the same time interpreting and reinterpreting all that is going on within you and around you. “I will praise thee” declares the Psalmist “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14)
Everything around your life may not be going exactly as you want it… there may be things that you really want to change about your life… but… listen if somebody comes up to you today and says “Get a life”, you can just smile at them and tell them; “I got one!”
The Old Testament is full of great advice as how to make the most of that life you have been gifted with. Life is something best lived in God’s way, knowing God’s guidance and blessing. The Psalmist declares “You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11-1). And again … ‘How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. (Psalm 36:7-9).
Life is seen as something that God can redeem and protect. Those who want to live life to the full are encouraged to share their lives with God, to become (to use some biblical terms) ‘like a watered garden’, like a ‘fountain’, like a spring of joy and blessing. The image of living water flows through many different books of the Bible.
We know the difference this time of the year between a garden that is well watered and one that is parched and scorched. So we are encouraged to be thankful for the breath of life God has given to us and encouraged to nurture that life by pursuing the things that Scripture teaches are good and wholesome and true. Which conveniently leads us to a second observation. In order to truly live…
Secondly, Pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
In Matthew 6: 25 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Many times Jesus suggests to us that there is more to life than the day to day worries that greet us when we get out of bed each morning. That there are other dimensions and concerns that we should allow to break in on us. That there is an eternal dimension to life. That we should have lives that are defined by more than just life on earth, however wonderful or otherwise that life may be.
The verse I used at the start of our sermon had Jesus saying: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” And throughout the gospel of John abundant, eternal ‘life’ is a common theme. We discover Jesus declaring, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He speaks of Himself as ‘the bread of life ‘ and declares “Whoever believes has eternal life.” In probably the best known verse of the whole New Testament, John 3:16, we are told "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Bear in mind that when the biblical authors write about eternal life they don’t mean life after death. They are not saying ‘Whoever believes in Jesus will go to heaven” They are talking about life on a vast canvas, as being something that begins before the womb and goes beyond the tomb! Eternal life is not something for the ‘after-life’ but a quality of life to be enjoyed today, in the here and now, in the present!” John 8:12 tells us “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
Light, life, love… they are all tied up together in the life of Jesus, all part and parcel of this eternal, abundant life that God wants us to experience today. God’s desire isn’t simply that we be living, but that we are truly alive to all that God can do and all that we can be if we allow God’s love free reign in our hearts and lives. Which moves to our third observation. To truly be 'living' in a biblical sense we must;
Thirdly, Allow the Spirit of Life to redefine us.
In 1 Titus 6:12 we read “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called”. How do we do that? How can we take hold of the eternal life that God is offering?
Firstly, we must see that allowing the Spirit to redefine us is a work of God’s grace. Paul when he writes about his qualifications to be an apostle of God tells the Corinthian Church; “We are not competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God… not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Did you catch that? ‘The Spirit gives life’. The Holy Spirit, the third dimension of our relating to God. To the Church in Rome Paul writes: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). Earlier in Romans chapter 6 Paul has told them “ We have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).
In the first letter of, not Paul but John we find these words “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1John 5:11-13)
That’s a whole lot of scripture and theology I just shot across your bows, so let me unpack it a little! ‘Abundant life’ is about allowing God to redefine our lives and make our lives more Christ-like. Such is a process that we can not achieve by self-effort alone. God sends to us the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who inspired and lived in Jesus, to encourage us and teach us. God’s presence is with us in such a tangible way that Scripture talks about us being “In Christ” and “Christ living in us”.
We open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit through worship and prayer and Scripture reading. We open ourselves to the Spirit by serving others and treating others in the same sort of ways as we would like to be treated ourselves. It’s not just about us; it’s about all of us!
One of the lesser-known letters of the New Testament, the letter of Titus, tells us the way Christians should conduct themselves. “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” (1Titus 6:18-19). As we nourish our personal spiritual live and open our hearts in generosity to those we share life with, so we will find our lives become redefined by the love of God.
The final book of Scripture, the Book of Revelation, speaks of people of God as being “Those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Revelation also invites us: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The theme of life is one that is echoed throughout the biblical books, from beginning to end!
Jesus said:”I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. How can we find that abundant life?
- Firstly, we can embrace the breath of life that is within us. Acknowledge that it is God who gave us life and God alone who can truly help us live life to the full.
- Secondly, we can pursue the abundant life that Jesus offers us. In practice that means realizing that is more to life than just getting by. That life has an eternal dimension that is only found through committing our lives to Jesus Christ.
- Thirdly, we must allow the Spirit of life to redefine us. This we do through both our love of God and our love of our neighbor, through serving others and helping ourselves a dynamic and living relationship with God through worship, prayer and study of God’s Word.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Monday, August 9, 2010
REPEATING THEMES - 4 “DYING”
Readings: Psalm 116:1-15, Genesis 8:1-17, John 12:20-32, Romans 6:1-11
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, 8th August, 2010
We continue a series of sermons based on the idea of “Repeating Themes”. Last time we looked at ‘Covenanting’ and the importance of agreeing with God that God knows best. Previously we talked about ‘Creating’ and the importance for a life of faith in believing that God is in the business of creating order out of chaos. Today I want to reflect on the theme of dying! I’ll give you three reasons why.
At the center of our faith is the story of Jesus Christ who came to die. Jesus did not die as a defeated hero. He died purposefully and intentionally to defeat the darkness and destructive evil of sin. He teaches in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”.
He was a servant willing to make the ultimate sacrifice that we may know ourselves loved by God. He was One who would rather perish than see our lives destroyed. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We believe that His death was not in vain. That in an unexplainable and barely imaginable way His was a death that strangely sets us free to truly live. A death that enables forgiveness to be birthed in our relationships with each other. A death that bridged the gulf between the holiness of God and the wretchedness of the human condition. A death that offers AT-ONE-NESS with God (or using the more traditional theological phrase … ‘At-one-ment’).
His death; paid the price, redeemed the lost, bridged the gap, healed the breach, joins that which was separated, destroyed the devil’s work. In the terminology of one my favorite hymns, His death bought about “Death of death and hells destruction” and through His death we live in the hope that one day we will land “Safe on Canaan’s side”.
In other words... that when this life is over, through the death that Jesus died, we are enabled to enter into a new life reborn, and recreated. In the words of the bluegrass classic, “When I die, Alleluia by and by, I’ll fly away; I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away’
It is a death described with such words as “Triumph”, “Victory” and “Conquest”, not something that causes us to lose heart but something to inspire and embolden us and grant us the courage to live lives out loud with love. We believe in a Savior who died.
Secondly… We believe that the way to experience the fullness of life He offers is to:
2. Die to self and live to God
Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, expresses it this way. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11).
To the Corinthians he writes “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (Corinthians 5:17)
To the Ephesians he counsels that “You put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22)
The re-occuring theme throughout scripture is that in order for the new to be spiritually birthed in us, the old ways, the old patterns, the things that haven’t been working, have to be let go. They have to die and stay dead! The self, the old man, the former ways are to be replaced by new life in Christ, by new creation and new patterns for doing things.
This theme is played out in Noah and the story of the Ark. Before a new order can be established the old has to be washed away. The story of Noah’s Ark and the waters of the flood evoked images of baptism for the early Church. The old had gone, baptism symbolized its washing away. The new had come and it was God’s work that had to be responded to through faith.
In the story of Abraham, Abraham and Sarah at first laugh in unbelief when it is suggested to them that they would become parents of a great nation. They had to let their cynicism and unbelief die before the nation could be birthed. The strange story of the call for Abraham to sacrifice their son Isaac seems to reinforce the idea that we have to lay all our hopes on the altar, and be prepared to let them die, before God can truly use us in God’s service.
Moses is brought up as a prince in Egypt with all the privilege that such a position carried. As God’s call comes to him we witness his struggle to determine whose child he truly was, and with whom his loyalties lay. He has to let his allegiance to Egypt die before he can lead the people towards their promised land. The death of the eldest sons of Egypt during Passover was a vivid reminder to the people that in order to be free there was a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made.
The life of King David reads like a rag to riches story. Yet rumbling beneath the narrative is the notion that David was great only to the extent that he sought to live in God’s way and not the way of unbelief. When later in life he falls into temptation and unfaithfulness the results are painful to witness. There is loss and death before restoration comes his way.
Time and time again the theme of dying to the old and embracing the new is reinforced through the prophets and in the lives of the faithful people of God whose stories are narrated in the Old Testament.
They, in Paul’ words, considered themselves dead to sin, but alive to God. When they lost sight of the source of their spiritual life they lost their way. And the way back was always to say “No… that was then… that was the old way… the old man. That’s the way that needs to die so I can truly live!”
In our lives there has to be a leaving behind of the old if we are to embrace the new life Jesus offers to us. It’s not something that just happens. It’s something we have to apply ourselves to. We seek to replace old patterns of behavior with higher ones. We no longer seek to get even, we seek to forgive. We no longer look after number One. We love our neighbor. We no longer consider ourselves as Rulers and Masters of our own domain. We seek to enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord of our hearts and lives.
We believe in a Savior whose love was shown through His dying.
We hear the call of Scripture that we should die to self and live to God.
In scripture we also see that:-
3. Where there is no death there can be no resurrection.
In John’s gospel Jesus tells would be disciples “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ (John 12:24 NRS). Jesus says this in the context of the journey His life was making towards His death upon the Cross. He asks of His Father if there were any other way of doing things. “What should I say-- 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." (John 12:27-28 NRS)
If there were a better way of doing things or a different path that could have been taken then surely Jesus would have traveled down that road, instead of the one that took Him to the agony of the Cross. He even calls us to take up our Cross and daily be His followers. The mystery is in that when we seek to lose our lives then we begin to find ourselves. Again some words of John’s Gospel illuminate this principle. “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” (John 12:25 NLT)
There is pictured here a seemingly foolish abandonment of ourselves to the will of God without any thought for the immediate consequences. It conjures up those moments in Scripture when Jesus called people to follow Him and they just dropped what ever they were doing and said “Yes. O.K. I’ll follow”. Or disciples of old like Abraham who left home to act upon God’s initiative; “Not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NRS) but looking “Forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 NRS)
Such moments as that are like little deaths. There is no going back. The old has gone. But the new will come because the death called for is a response to the promise of God that something greater is just down the road!
In the life of Christ, had there been no death, there would be no Resurrection. If there had been no Resurrection there would be no Ascension. If there had been no Ascension there would be no Pentecost. If there had been no Pentecost there would be no church. If there had been no Church then there would be no ‘us’ here this morning. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Because Jesus died the fruit and work of His Holy Spirit has transformed the world in which we live. It is He who calls us to turn from the old ways and pursue the ways of His Kingdom.
Let us be prepared to lay our lives before God to do with us as God wishes. That is how we put to death the old person and allow the new creation to shine through. We abandon our own way and seek God’s way. We stop living by our own rules and values and seek to apply the principles that come to us through the Scripture to have their rightful place in our lives. We turn from the worship of the fading things of this world to the worship of the awesome God who bought all things into being and holds all eternity in His hands.
Throughout the books of our Bible the theme of ‘dying to live’ weaves in and out of its stories and teaching. May such a theme also be a significant part of our own spiritual journeys. To God’s name be the glory. Amen.
Adrian Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, 8th August, 2010
We continue a series of sermons based on the idea of “Repeating Themes”. Last time we looked at ‘Covenanting’ and the importance of agreeing with God that God knows best. Previously we talked about ‘Creating’ and the importance for a life of faith in believing that God is in the business of creating order out of chaos. Today I want to reflect on the theme of dying! I’ll give you three reasons why.
- We believe in a Savior who died
- Scripture teaches that we are to die to self and live to God
- Without a death there cannot be a resurrection.
At the center of our faith is the story of Jesus Christ who came to die. Jesus did not die as a defeated hero. He died purposefully and intentionally to defeat the darkness and destructive evil of sin. He teaches in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”.
He was a servant willing to make the ultimate sacrifice that we may know ourselves loved by God. He was One who would rather perish than see our lives destroyed. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We believe that His death was not in vain. That in an unexplainable and barely imaginable way His was a death that strangely sets us free to truly live. A death that enables forgiveness to be birthed in our relationships with each other. A death that bridged the gulf between the holiness of God and the wretchedness of the human condition. A death that offers AT-ONE-NESS with God (or using the more traditional theological phrase … ‘At-one-ment’).
His death; paid the price, redeemed the lost, bridged the gap, healed the breach, joins that which was separated, destroyed the devil’s work. In the terminology of one my favorite hymns, His death bought about “Death of death and hells destruction” and through His death we live in the hope that one day we will land “Safe on Canaan’s side”.
In other words... that when this life is over, through the death that Jesus died, we are enabled to enter into a new life reborn, and recreated. In the words of the bluegrass classic, “When I die, Alleluia by and by, I’ll fly away; I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away’
It is a death described with such words as “Triumph”, “Victory” and “Conquest”, not something that causes us to lose heart but something to inspire and embolden us and grant us the courage to live lives out loud with love. We believe in a Savior who died.
Secondly… We believe that the way to experience the fullness of life He offers is to:
2. Die to self and live to God
Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, expresses it this way. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11).
To the Corinthians he writes “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (Corinthians 5:17)
To the Ephesians he counsels that “You put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22)
The re-occuring theme throughout scripture is that in order for the new to be spiritually birthed in us, the old ways, the old patterns, the things that haven’t been working, have to be let go. They have to die and stay dead! The self, the old man, the former ways are to be replaced by new life in Christ, by new creation and new patterns for doing things.
This theme is played out in Noah and the story of the Ark. Before a new order can be established the old has to be washed away. The story of Noah’s Ark and the waters of the flood evoked images of baptism for the early Church. The old had gone, baptism symbolized its washing away. The new had come and it was God’s work that had to be responded to through faith.
In the story of Abraham, Abraham and Sarah at first laugh in unbelief when it is suggested to them that they would become parents of a great nation. They had to let their cynicism and unbelief die before the nation could be birthed. The strange story of the call for Abraham to sacrifice their son Isaac seems to reinforce the idea that we have to lay all our hopes on the altar, and be prepared to let them die, before God can truly use us in God’s service.
Moses is brought up as a prince in Egypt with all the privilege that such a position carried. As God’s call comes to him we witness his struggle to determine whose child he truly was, and with whom his loyalties lay. He has to let his allegiance to Egypt die before he can lead the people towards their promised land. The death of the eldest sons of Egypt during Passover was a vivid reminder to the people that in order to be free there was a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made.
The life of King David reads like a rag to riches story. Yet rumbling beneath the narrative is the notion that David was great only to the extent that he sought to live in God’s way and not the way of unbelief. When later in life he falls into temptation and unfaithfulness the results are painful to witness. There is loss and death before restoration comes his way.
Time and time again the theme of dying to the old and embracing the new is reinforced through the prophets and in the lives of the faithful people of God whose stories are narrated in the Old Testament.
They, in Paul’ words, considered themselves dead to sin, but alive to God. When they lost sight of the source of their spiritual life they lost their way. And the way back was always to say “No… that was then… that was the old way… the old man. That’s the way that needs to die so I can truly live!”
In our lives there has to be a leaving behind of the old if we are to embrace the new life Jesus offers to us. It’s not something that just happens. It’s something we have to apply ourselves to. We seek to replace old patterns of behavior with higher ones. We no longer seek to get even, we seek to forgive. We no longer look after number One. We love our neighbor. We no longer consider ourselves as Rulers and Masters of our own domain. We seek to enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord of our hearts and lives.
We believe in a Savior whose love was shown through His dying.
We hear the call of Scripture that we should die to self and live to God.
In scripture we also see that:-
3. Where there is no death there can be no resurrection.
In John’s gospel Jesus tells would be disciples “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ (John 12:24 NRS). Jesus says this in the context of the journey His life was making towards His death upon the Cross. He asks of His Father if there were any other way of doing things. “What should I say-- 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." (John 12:27-28 NRS)
If there were a better way of doing things or a different path that could have been taken then surely Jesus would have traveled down that road, instead of the one that took Him to the agony of the Cross. He even calls us to take up our Cross and daily be His followers. The mystery is in that when we seek to lose our lives then we begin to find ourselves. Again some words of John’s Gospel illuminate this principle. “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” (John 12:25 NLT)
There is pictured here a seemingly foolish abandonment of ourselves to the will of God without any thought for the immediate consequences. It conjures up those moments in Scripture when Jesus called people to follow Him and they just dropped what ever they were doing and said “Yes. O.K. I’ll follow”. Or disciples of old like Abraham who left home to act upon God’s initiative; “Not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NRS) but looking “Forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 NRS)
Such moments as that are like little deaths. There is no going back. The old has gone. But the new will come because the death called for is a response to the promise of God that something greater is just down the road!
In the life of Christ, had there been no death, there would be no Resurrection. If there had been no Resurrection there would be no Ascension. If there had been no Ascension there would be no Pentecost. If there had been no Pentecost there would be no church. If there had been no Church then there would be no ‘us’ here this morning. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Because Jesus died the fruit and work of His Holy Spirit has transformed the world in which we live. It is He who calls us to turn from the old ways and pursue the ways of His Kingdom.
- We believe in a Savior whose love was shown through His dying for us all at Calvary.
- We hear the call of Scripture that we should die to self and live to God.
- We recognize that where there is no death there can be no resurrection.
Let us be prepared to lay our lives before God to do with us as God wishes. That is how we put to death the old person and allow the new creation to shine through. We abandon our own way and seek God’s way. We stop living by our own rules and values and seek to apply the principles that come to us through the Scripture to have their rightful place in our lives. We turn from the worship of the fading things of this world to the worship of the awesome God who bought all things into being and holds all eternity in His hands.
Throughout the books of our Bible the theme of ‘dying to live’ weaves in and out of its stories and teaching. May such a theme also be a significant part of our own spiritual journeys. To God’s name be the glory. Amen.
Adrian Pratt
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