Three Thessalonian Songs 3."THOU ART WORTHY”

Readings: Joshua 3:7-17, Psalm 43, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, John 3:16.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin on October 30th 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

What’s it worth? A question we ask about numerous things. We ask it about material things. In the T.V. program ‘Antiques Roadshow’ people bring their articles to the experts because they want to know, “Is this worth something; has it some value or is it just a piece of junk?” We’re asked to serve on some committee or invest our time in some activity and if we are sensible we will ask, “Is this worth my time? Do I have something I can offer? Is it worth the effort?”

We contemplate some new health kick “Will this diet work?” “Will giving up this and that or taking on a new exercise regime give us the results we are looking for?” What’s it worth to us to get in shape or alter our body weight or do this or do that?

Then there is the question of our faith. What of our beliefs? What is our religion to us? What is our church to us? How much does it matter? How much of us in invested in our relationship with God?

What of God? Let me pose the question in a peculiar way. How much is God worth? Is God a commodity that we can put a price on? Is time for God something we can choose to invest in or dismiss? What is God to us?

To Paul, God was worth investing his whole life in. The gospel inspired him and his fellow missionaries to go to extraordinary lengths that the message may be believed. The very question “What is God worth?” would be a no brainer to Paul.

Put a value on God? A price tag on the gospel? That idea would be incredulous, maybe even offensive, to Paul. His whole life was built upon the notion that what he had discovered through the Holy Spirit, the life of the resurrected Jesus Christ which was in him and around him and working through him was a priceless treasure! Paul’s heart response to God was quite simply, “Thou art Worthy O Lord”.

So it was in this morning’s lesson that he explained to the Thessalonians that when he came to them it was with the aim of preaching a gospel that had no price tag attached.
This idea of worth – he doesn’t here apply to God – but turns it around.

1Thessalonians 2:11-12 “You know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” He exhorts them, he encourages them, and he charges them “Lead a Life worthy of God”

In other words - Respond to the love and light that God has cast in your way – in a manner that is appropriate – that fits in with who God is and what God has done – that goes along with the amount that God feels that your life is worth.

Ever considered that one? How much your life is worth to God? What value is there upon your head from God’s perspective? We began this month gathering around the Lord’s table on World Communion Sunday. The service that day began with the words of John 3:16 ‘God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have everlasting life’.

If ever we doubt our worth to God, it is worth considering the simple truths that John 3:16 contains. For it was in the light of God’s commitment to us in Jesus Christ that Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to be faithful to God. Let us briefly think about John 3:16.

God so loved the world… Whose world? Our world! The one that we drift through day after day after day. Our family, our friends, our people, our situations, our problems, whatever it is that makes up our world, God so loved our world. When Paul went to the Thessalonians he didn’t stand far off, he sought to enter their world and understand their problems. He writes to them; ‘For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children’. He loved them because he was convinced that God loved them. He gave himself to their care because… well let us continue with our verse, God so loved the world …

That He gave His only begotten Son… Paul gave himself to them because he knew God had given Jesus Christ to live and die for them. Paul believed that this was the ultimate offering God could make. In Jesus Christ the gospel… the good news of God… had been revealed and had shown that God was willing to do the unthinkable to win the hearts of those who were alienated from God’s love.

In Jesus Christ God broke every barrier down that prevented people from feeling they could have no fellowship with the Divine. Sins were forgiven. Deliverance proclaimed. Forgiveness embodied. Reconciliation attained. Through Jesus Christ the doorway to God’s presence was flung wide open and we are invited to enter into fellowship with the God ‘Who calls you into His kingdom and glory.” (verse 12)

But how do we enter into and experience the love of God? Only through faith. Only through placing our trust and hope, not in what we can do, but in what God has done in giving His Son to die for us. Our verse continues God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…

So that everyone who believes in Him… ‘Believe in Him’. What does that mean? Believe He was a historical figure? Believe that He existed? Believe that He died? Believe that He rose again? No. That’s not belief – that’s assent – that’s just saying ‘Well. O.K. that’s what happened”. When Paul spoke about belief he was talking about an activity that revolutionized the way you live your life.

Believing in Jesus meant believing something about the purpose and nature of what happened on the Cross that touched you so deeply that you lived free and forgiven. Believing in the resurrection of Jesus meant that something had changed about the way the world is – something wonderful - that you can be part of - a something that is more powerful than death and decay and destruction. Our verse continues ‘so that everyone who believes in Him…

Should Not Perish.. Perish? What do we know about perishing? Look at what they did to Jesus! They accused Him falsely. They lied about Him. They spat upon Him. They beat Him and tortured Him. They forced Him to carry His cross through the insulting, unseemly, crowds that lined the street. They took His hands and feet and nailed them to the Cross. They pierced His side with a spear.

They left Him to die, as though He were an animal that had been hit by a truck and was left on of the road, of little consequence to those who sped by. Jesus Christ perished. This is the heart of the gospel. He perished that we might not perish.

As a young person I remember we used to have an evangelist come to speak at our meetings. I’ve never forgotten his name ‘Peter Partington’. The reason I’ve never forgotten his name was because on all his correspondence he used to write ‘Pastor Peter Partington Preaching Perfect Peace to Perishing People”

What does it mean to be perishing? Existing only to die. Living a life that has no future other than extinction. Having no hope for tomorrow. Just getting by. Just coping as best as you can with whatever life throws at you but never really knowing the peace that comes through faith that beyond it all is God trying to break into our everyday lives with little surprises of joy and grace and love.

At the end of our short passage from Thessalonians Paul rejoices at the way the church there had received the gospel. He praises them in verse 13 “You accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.” The message is pictured not as something static, but something that is life sustaining and active in their midst. So the ultimate purpose of John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish…

But have everlasting life… That we might not begin our days, live our days, or end our days far from God but live every day in the presence and with the blessing of God. Life today. Life now. Life Tomorrow. Life with God. And when this little slice of life is all burnt out and over, a life that continues with God.

Everlasting life is about the quality of life we experience. Life where eternity breaks in like the rays of the sun through a dark cloud. God didn’t send Jesus so that we can all live miserable lives today and only find redemption tomorrow in heaven. Jesus came that we may experience life, truth and freedom and joy in the now. The resurrection makes no sense until it is experienced in the present tense.

So Paul exhorts ... So Paul encourages… So Paul charges... “Live a life worthy of God” ... a life worthy of the God who loved our world with such great depth that Christ died for us whilst we were yet sinners.

This wasn’t just philosophy, or theology or any-ology. It was about the power of God transforming the way they lived. It was about realizing that they had lives deeply valued by God. The Cross confronts us with the value Jesus placed upon our lives. If we allow that gospel message to change us, truly we cannot remain the same.

It brings us to our knees. God cares more about us than we care about each other. The only enemies in the Kingdom of God are those He calls us to pray for. The only barriers to fellowship are the ones we put up through harboring resentments or not counting others as better than ourselves. And at times we lose sight of what God can do we need to address ourselves “Why so downcast Oh my soul, put your hope in God!”

We are called to do unto others as we would like them to do unto us, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to embrace others as God has embraced others, to see strangers as those God wants to bless… and so work for wholeness, to feed the hungry, heal the broken-hearted and proclaim release to the captives.

Let us then consider Paul’s challenge. He encourages us to live a life of worship to God, a life whose inner song is “Thou Art Worthy Oh Lord! He writes:

‘I exhort you,
I encourage you,
I charge you;
Live a life worthy of God.’

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit may we seek to live such a life, instructed by His Word, empowered through our worship and realized through our daily service. To God’s name be the glory. Truly, as we will sing in our closing hymn; ‘To God be the glory, Great things He has done”. AMEN.

Rev Adrian Pratt

Three Thessalonian Songs 2. "PASS IT ON”

Readings: Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on October 23rd 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

I’m continuing this morning to look at Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. Last week we saw how in the first chapter Paul gave thanks for the perseverance of the Thessalonian Church during a difficult time. He praised them for responding to God’s Call. He was pleased to see their concern for spiritual growth. He was delighted by the way they were allowing Christ to transform their lives.

In this second chapter He remains thankful for their faithfulness, and continues to encourage them in their walk with God. He had ignited the spark that started the fire of the gospel amongst them. It was now up to them to pass it on.

Before looking at chapter 2 it is helpful to read what happened the first time Paul bought them the gospel message. We are given that story at the start of Acts Chapter 17. (1-10).

“After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you." Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason's house. When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, "These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus." The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this. And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.”

The Thessalonian church was born in the midst of trouble! Jason, at whose home Paul and Silas were welcomed, was hauled before the courts and accused of disloyalty to Rome. Paul and Silas have to leave the town undercover of the night such is the strength of the antagonism against them. No wonder Paul started off his letter praising them for their perseverance.

The troublemakers are continuing to create trouble. Much of 1 Thessalonians Chapter Two answers accusations that were being made against Paul and Silas by those who were hostile towards the church. The fact that Paul and Silas escaped under cover of the night has laid them open to the charge that they were up to no good and being deliberately deceitful.

Some are accusing them of perpetrating some kind of scam, as though the apostles were only in it for the money. Others have accused the disciples of using fancy words and false doctrines that had ‘brainwashed’ their hearers into accepting their message.

The accusations made against Paul have upset the congregation in Thessalonica enough that in Chapter 2 he feels a need to defend himself. The only defense he has is the example of his own life. He reminds them of how he came to them and of how he acted whilst he was with them. He wants to teach them how they could keep the fire burning and so pass on the gospel message to others. So he offers the following defense.

1) The Way he lived backed up the Word he preached

Although Paul was only with the Thessalonians for a short time he left a deep impression on those he stayed with. So much of an impression that within a short time they were prepared to risk their lives to defend him and see to it that he could continue on his missionary journeys.

They witnessed his boldness in the face of opposition. They witnessed, as day after day, he counseled with people and on the Sabbath entered into debate with them, that here was a man who truly believed in his words and showed evidence of having his own life transformed by Jesus Christ.

The content of his message was clear. Jesus Christ was the one the Old Testament scriptures pointed to as the Messiah. In accordance with what the scriptures proclaimed He suffered and died, and was raised from death. Paul, the one time enemy of Christ, was now a witness to the resurrection and sought for others to know God’s love in Christ -through the Holy Spirit working in their lives.

He is quite clear that what he had done amongst them was not for greed or personal gain. If that were the case he could have made much of the fact that, here he was, an apostle of God, deserving of support. In verse 6 he explains; “We could have made demands as apostles of Christ”. But no such demands are made. His mission was in no way a pretext for greed or for him to in some way advance his worldly status.

The most pressing evidence for the genuineness of his mission was the fact that he didn’t have to be there for any other reason than he felt God had entrusted him with the task of preaching the gospel.

Which leads us to a second thing,

2) He was more concerned about being accepted by God than being approved of by people.

In verse 4 he says, “We speak not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts.”

Maybe this is the most challenging statement of all to consider in this passage. Whose standards are we seeking to meet in our walk with God? The standards set by our church, or our culture, or our friends, or our family; or are we seeking to live a life that is being recreated and renewed and evaluated by God’s standards?

We can go through our whole life as people pleasers. Always concerned about what so and so may think or what such a person may make of us. There are times when it is a legitimate concern. If we go for a job interview, we try to make the best impression that we can, for we seek to be approved for the position we are applying for.

But living our whole life as though we were attending an interview is not advisable. In verse 6 Paul says, “we did not seek praise from men, whether from you or from others”. He’s crystal clear about whom he’s trying to be acceptable to. The desire for his life was to live life the way God wanted him to live. He didn’t care what people thought of that!

Now you could say, “Well I’m not Paul, I’m not on a mission from God to some strange city, I’m not a preacher, this is not my concern.” Fine. You are not all preachers, but you are all priests! One of the things that the Reformation rediscovered for the church is a doctrine known as the ‘Priesthood of all Believers”.

The plus side of the “Priesthood of all believers’ is that we don’t need to go through any body such as a priest or holy man in order to commune with God. We have a ‘direct prayer connection’ to God in Jesus Christ. The other side of the coin is that with that privilege comes a corresponding responsibility, which is to live as priests and ministers before God. It’s great being a star on the team, but guess what? If you are on the team, you have to play the game.

Paul knew that. The Thessalonians were getting the idea as well. If they were to ‘Pass it on’ to others they had to take on the responsibility of being people of God, shining as light in a dark world. They needed to be ambassadors for the Kingdom, torch carriers for the cause of Christ.

No doubt they had heard such a message before. But when Paul told them, they sat up and took notice. Why? Because of a third thing we see in this letter.

3) Paul had genuine love and concern for those He shared the gospel with.

They cared about what Paul said because they knew he cared about them. Paul cared about them, because he knew that God cared about him. It’s all about relationship. Our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. It all fits in with what Jesus said were the two most important commandments of all, “Love God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Paul tells them in verse 8 “Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”

True evangelism begins with people who realize that they are greatly loved by God. Anything less is not enough of a motivation to inspire us to “Pass It On”. But as we realize that we are chosen to be ambassadors of Gods love then our hearts cannot remain the same. As we begin to understand what the Holy Spirit can do in us and through us, we can’t help ourselves but share the love that is changing us.

As we consider the gospel message, the Cross of Jesus Christ, His life and message, His empty tomb, the dedication and lives of the apostles, and the witness of Christian people across the centuries, it can light a spark in our imaginations. Paul, through the example of his own life, offers us guidelines as to how we can go forward in mission. I’ve picked out three of those from our reading this morning.

1. Let the life you live enforce the words you speak.
2. Be more concerned about being accepted by God than for the approval of people.
3. Let your love be genuine.

That’s how we get the fire going.
‘Pass it On’
‘It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around can warm up in it’s glowing’
AMEN


Rev Adrian Pratt

Three Thessalonian Songs "1. STANDING ON THE PROMISES”

Readings: Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on October 16th 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

Standing on the Promises. I’m starting this morning a short series I’ve called ‘Three Thessalonian Songs” focusing on one of the New Testament Letters, the first letter to the Thessalonians. Hopefully along the way we’ll learn a bit about their church and the challenges that they faced, and by doing so learn some good stuff from God about our own lives and situation.

This morning what I want you to know about the Thessalonians is that they were a church facing a hard time at a point in history when Christianity was barely tolerated. It was a risky business for them to practice and proclaim their faith. It could mean imprisonment or even death. Yet they kept hanging on in there. Right at the start of this letter we are given some clues as to how they managed.

Just like the Thessalonians, we are living in an age of great change. People are asking a lot of questions, about life’s purpose and meaning, about religion and the values that belief can promote. We are surrounded by conflicting lifestyles and viewpoints, and many of them are extremely negative and intolerant of what for many years might have been considered as ‘traditional values’.

Near the beginning of the last century, in fact just after the First World War, (the so called “Great War”!), when there was tremendous loss of life and hardship, the English poet W.B. Yeats wrote a piece called “The Second Coming”. Not to be confused with any modern day Armageddon saga, the piece was a prophetic poem about approaching anarchy.

In that poem he uses the phrase; “things fall apart, the centre cannot hold”. The whole verse is about how all around him, certainties upon which people had built their lives were starting to crumble and fall to bits. He sensed that the culture around his life was disintegrating beyond repair and that there was no longer a stable centre.

His words were prophetic in that it was that very climate of confusion that allowed for the rise of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler’s taking control of a people desperate both for answers and somebody to blame. Through manipulating people’s fears and inflaming their prejudices countless numbers became part of a regime that justified unthinkable atrocities and led within a short time to the Second World War.

But – enough of ‘Adrian’s interpretation of European History – Volume One’ –back to the Thessalonians. They, like others before and after them, were living in one of those times where stability had gone. Worse still, they were being treated as scapegoats, as though they were the cause of some of the problems rather than part of the solution.

So how did they hold onto faith when, humanly speaking, it seems that faith was a rapidly evaporating commodity? To use the words of the hymn we will conclude worship with today, they traveled through that time by “Standing on the Promises of God”. Our latter identifies three ways that they did so, three centers that they gravitated towards that kept them on the right track.

One of them appears in verse 4. They found a centering for life as they:-

Responded Positively to the Initative of God

Paul, thanking God for the Thessalonians in Verse 4 uses this phrase:- “knowing brethren beloved by God, His choice of you”. Other translations speak of God’s election rather than God’s choice, but the meaning is the same. The Thessalonians could stand on the promises because they knew they were people that God had chosen; chosen to experience His love and care.

It’s very hard to put yourself wholeheartedly into something if you’re not sure you are the right person for the job. I’ve occasionally been asked to speak at functions and the person inviting me has said, “Well, we tried to get so and so and then we tried for what-is-name, but well none of them could make it so we thought you’d do instead.” In other words “We didn’t really want you, but we couldn’t get anybody else”.

Such invitations do not cause one to approach the engagement with great enthusiasm. “Hello, I’m sorry for being here tonight. I know you really wanted to hear Pastor Very Important speaking about the influential people he associates with or Rev Too-Good- to-Be -True on his latest mission to Mars, but here I am Reverend Last-on-the-List to speak to you about a topic you’re probably not the least bit interested in – so- unless you have something more interesting to do, like go home and watch paint dry - let’s get it over with shall we?”

On the other hand, if you’re invited to something where you know your input will be appreciated, where you actually have something to offer that is going to help others along, that there is significance to what you are doing, then it makes all the difference in the world.

Those Thessalonians, they knew that Jesus hadn’t called them to be disciples because He couldn’t get anybody else to do the job. The very fact that the Holy Spirit was at work in and around their lives meant they were at the center of something awesome, that then and there they were experiencing the Kingdom of God being near.

Be aware. God’s calling your name today. Jesus wants you on the team, not because He can’t get anybody else but because you are you and there is a uniqueness and significance to your life that makes you the ‘you’ God is looking for. He didn’t make another you! You are the only one. Take a look at your thumbprint. Think about your unique genetic coding, how it’s all working together to make you into the weird creature you’ve turned out to be!

Guess what? God’s calling you to make a positive response to the initiative launched on the Cross of Calvary where Jesus died for your sins. Wake up! There’s a resurrection going on and God wants it to be going on in your life! Know yourself called and loved and cared for and wanted by God and that’s going to center your life in a way nothing else can. Then truly, we can stand on the promises. The Thessalonians knew God’s call and were therefore empowered to face hard times.

A second thing that centered them was that they:-
Concentrated on Spiritual rather than Economic Growth.

Verse 2 Paul writes “We give thanks to God always for you all… constantly bearing in mind your work of faith.” Verse 6 speaks of how the Thessalonians had received the gospel “in much tribulation”.

Reading between the lines it is clear that, in economic terms, this congregation didn’t have a lot going for them. They weren’t growing in numbers or involved in any great outreach plan for saving the city. They were just hanging in there.

It is this tenacity of faith that greatly impresses Paul. He uses the Greek Words ‘pantote’ and ‘adialeipios’, meaning ‘always’ and ‘constantly’, to express how impressed he was and how much he thanked God for their persistence and courage in remaining faithful in the midst of continuing alienation by society at large.

In church circles, where we should know better, we often measure success by worldly rather than godly standards. How big is the budget? How many attend? What’s the membership? In a book called “The Cynical Society”, Jeffrey Goldfarb comments that we believe “that if something is profitable it is true, real and good; if it is not, then it is without true meaning”.

Paul was more concerned about their spiritual growth than their economic or numerical growth. ‘The quality of our witness to the wider world, depends not on our statistics, but on our stability as people of God’ (New International Bible Commentary). We could have the fanciest church in Baldwin, the biggest membership, the greatest choir, the most on the membership roll, and still be the least godly church on Long Island.

It is significant that when Jesus set about changing the world He did so by nurturing the lives of a small group. As that small group nurtured other small groups, so the message spread. The crowds? Well they were fickle, sensation seeking and shallow. He often withdrew from them or sent them away in order to concentrate on nurturing His disciples.

It challenges us to consider what we recognize as growth. On a personal level would we feel greatly blessed to have more money in the bank, or because we have broken through to a new level in our understanding of God’s Word? Would we consider that our church was successful because we were consistently reaching out to a lot of folk beyond our doors, or because we had a reasonable congregation once a week on a Sunday?

Finally, the Thessalonians were centered because,
They were allowing God to Transform Them

What they believed was making a difference to the way that they lived. People today say that they believe in all kinds of things. In this letter ‘Belief” was an activity, not just giving assent to a number of propositions. Belief was not reciting a creed or going through a ritual to make you feel better about yourself.

To believe that Jesus came into the world to make it a better place meant going out and working to make the worlds a better place in His name. Believing that the ‘Kingdom was Near’ meant going out of your way to see that others felt it’s nearness. Believing that God cared meant caring about those God cared for. Believing in love meant loving others in practical ways. So in verse 3 Paul speaks of their ‘work of faith,’ their ‘labor of love’ and their ‘patience of hope’.

A meaningful life of faith requires active participation. It is not a round of fads and fashions or words that fail to hold up when the hard times come. It is unfortunate that many people rest their lives on things that cannot hold; on beauty that fades, on supposed truths that last only for a season. If we build our lives on things that fall apart it is impossible to maintain a consistent faith.

What was it that helped the believers in Thessalonica remain stable?

They responded positively to the initiative of God. They knew God had called them for a purpose. They concentrated on spiritual rather than economic growth. They were allowing God to transform them. It was their active response to God’s unstoppable Word that provided stability to their faith and lives.

Today that unfailing truth of God's promises can provide us with a center that holds. When everything else goes crazy, the word of God remains a ready and reliable resource. It is both a bridge and a buffer—a bridge bringing security to otherwise insecure lives—and a buffer to shield us from self-destruction. R. Kelso Carter was right to sing:

“Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling winds of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.”

Rev Adrian Pratt

WHO? ME? A DISCIPLE?

Readings: Psalm 23, Exodus 32:1-14, Philippians 4:1-9.Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 9th 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

“Who? Me? A person of faith? The sort of person who could be a disciple of Jesus? You must be joking! A person of faith. I don’t think so.”But…..

Our readings this morning gave us three examples of people who did not consider themselves full of faith or virtue. Jesus had room for each of them in His scheme of things. Three very different people in very different circumstances. If Jesus called them to be followers…. Why not you?

Case Study 1: Matthew
Matthew was a tax collector. A task that was considered unworthy for any decent person. It wasn’t that collecting taxes was a bad thing.. but the fact that these were taxes paid to an occupying force… and the fact that there were tax collectors who cheated those paying their taxes by way of taking extortionate commissions for their services.

Was Matthew one of these? We don’t know. Scripture seems to say that it was bad enough in the religious peoples eyes that he was a tax collector. They are deeply offended when Jesus goes to Matthews house, and eats there. After all everybody knew it was a place crawling with sinners and other tax collectors, and well, everybody knew what low life sort of people they were!

That’s not the way Jesus saw things. He says, that actually, it was sinners He was looking for, not the religious folk. The religious folk presumably had everything figured out, so what help could He be to them? “Those who are well” He explains, “Have no need of a physician, but those who are sick”

Jesus saw something in Matthew that the religious folk never saw. Faith. A heart that was ready to follow anything that was real and authentic. The capability for a faith that didn’t care what anybody thought about it. Matthew wasn’t trying to win any popularity contests. You didn’t do his job if you worried what people thought of you!

One suspects that Matthew saw right through the religious peoples thin veneer of righteousness and was not impressed. For sure he had encountered their hostility and rejection in some way or other. Jesus, however, was not like them. Matthew recognized something authentic and startlingly different about Jesus. Something that made it possible for the likes of him.. a tax-collector.. to say “Yes, I will follow You!’

Case Study Two : An unclean woman
Matthew made a choice to live outside the rules of polite and correct society. But the woman had done nothing to transgress any moral boundaries. She was unwell with some kind of blood related disease that rendered her unclean according to the Bible.


Leviticus 15:25-33 (selected passages) “Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days….. she is unclean….. everything she sits on is unclean…anybody she touches is unclean. You shall keep the sons of Israel separated from such uncleaness, lest they die in their uncleaness by defiling my tabernacle that is among them.”

“This is the word of the Lord” explained the Pharisees. The woman was unclean and that was that. God had spoken and only a sinner would question the eternal, unchanging, everlasting Word of God. Either that or, well, go ahead defile and yourself and die in your sins.

She does the unthinkable. Pushes through the crowd and touches Jesus. According to the law that meant Jesus was unclean now as well as her! The dirty woman touches the holy man. Surely He would have something to say about that! He knew the Scriptures! But what happens? “Jesus turned, and seeing her He said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.”

Did you hear that? He called her his daughter! Imagine claiming a woman like that was His daughter? And if that wasn’t bad enough instantly the woman becomes well. Which is great for the woman, but as always the critics of Jesus would suggest that the end never justified the means. That she was irrelevant. It still went against the Word of God and therefore must be wrong.

Case Study 3: The Official whose daughter Died
This one is different again. Matthew was by choice, an outsider. The woman, by the twists of fate, had become unclean. This guy, the synagogue official, had a lot going for him. People didn’t get to his position in the synagogue without the approval of influential folk like the critics of Jesus. This man is in with the in-crowd.

His daughter just died. Like any Father would be, he is cut to the core by her loss. What could he do? The doctors had failed him. His religion had failed him. His prayers for his daughter’s recovery had been unproductive. All his position and power and prestige couldn’t do a thing.

Jesus could. Somehow he knew that. And right then, the awareness that Jesus could change things, made everything else he stood for completely secondary. He was past caring what others thought. In his heart was one thought, that he had to get Jesus to be with his daughter. Now!

Rather like Noah, in the midst of people who failed to hear God, he was hearing God loud and clear and God’s Word to him right then was ‘Trust in Jesus”. And like Noah, those who witnessed his actions thought it was a huge joke. “The situations hopeless, you confused idiot… she’s dead. All is lost. Let it go!”

What happens? Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and the girl gets up. “Not dead” explained Jesus, “Only sleeping”. How do you explain all of that? Not just the daughters recovery, but the fact that this leader in the synagogue, a leader amongst the very people who were against Jesus, is turned around, by God, to seek out the One he has previously condemned, seek Him out, not as a last hope, but with genuine faith that Jesus could make a difference!

Three very different people. In each case it would not be unreasonable to suggest that they could rightly say, “Who? Me? A Disciple?” Jesus saw in each of these, things that everybody else was blind to. In Matthew he saw leadership potential. In an unclean woman He saw a daughter needing a Father’s touch to make her whole. In a Father who had lost his daughter he saw an opportunity for the exercise of great faith in the midst of hostility.

We could spend a long time exploring the different aspects of these three faith examples. Instead I just want to pick out one thing about each character.

Firstly, Matthew. Matthew reminds me that it’s not my place to judge people, but to seek to ignite the spark of God that is in their hearts. O.K, so their lifestyle or their beliefs or their morals may not be everything that some of us feel is right. But if we wait for them to clean up their act to our standards, we’ll wait for ever. And who says our standards are so great in the first place? At best we are simply sinners redeemed by Grace. We’ve got nothing to boast about except the Grace of God.

Secondly, the healing of the unclean woman reminds me that, whatever life may do to us or we may do to ourselves and each other, we share a common humanity that goes deeper than religious rules or expectations. The Pharisees saw ‘the unclean woman’ as an impersonal object capable of defiling their holy lives. Jesus called her ‘daughter’. We need to look at others through the eyes of Jesus rather than the narrow perspective of our limited vision!

Thirdly, the synagogue rulers “Conversion to Christ” (for that truly is what happened to him!) calls me to embrace a vision in which not only those who are outside the faith can be motivated to discipleship, but also those who have lost faith can find their passion re-ignited. Maybe Jesus can say to them “No, your faith hasn’t died, it’s only sleeping” Under the touch of God’s Spirit faith truly can live again!”

There really is a whole lot more in these passages. I leave you with this one thought. That whenever you feel like saying, “Who? Me? A Disciple?” remember that God has a place for You.

Whatever you have been, whatever you are right now, wherever you feel life has taken you recently, God’s love for you has not let up. God’s not mad with You. Christ is calling you to come as you are and welcome His companionship.

So you have doubts? So you’ve made mistakes? Well, welcome to the club! You worry that what God asks is more than you are capable of giving? Guess what? You’re not the only one! So life has been unfair? You know... that’s life for a whole lot of people!

So quit with the excuses and open your heart to the Jesus who loved you so much that He died on a Cross for you, open your heart to the God whose awesome love can embrace anybody, open your life to the influence of the Holy Spirit, breathing into your days a clear fresh breeze of the peace and healing and refreshing of God.

Who? Me? A disciple?

Yes.
You.
A disciple!

Believe it.

Rev Adrian Pratt

MARI JONES AND THOMAS CHARLES

WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
Reading: Psalm 19:7-10, Joshua 1:6-8, John 7:37-43, Romans 10:9-15
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 2nd 2011

A printable PDF file can be downloaded here

We all have things that we take for granted. We expect trains to arrive when we are waiting for them. We expect there to be food in the shops. We expect electricity to be provided in our homes. We expect water to come out of the tap when we turn it on. When things don’t run properly we are reminded of how important they are. In our better moments we even remember that there are many in our world that would consider what we call basic necessities to be luxuries.

Transport, Food, Medicine, Utilities… we take them for granted. But there’s something else that we take for granted; that we may not be so aware of. And that is this…. Our Bibles. Bibles today are so easy for us to find. We can go online and read scripture. You can go to almost any bookshop and find copies available for less than 10 dollars. If you go to a hotel you often find one in the drawer, provided by organizations like the Gideons.

But that has not always been so. If you go back a few centuries the only Bibles you could find would be chained to the pulpit in a church… and the only people granted access to them would be the clergy or the wealthy. In many countries today access to the bible is still restricted, either because the politics of the region or because the bible has yet to be translated into the language of that country.

So this morning I wanted to tell you a true story about a little girl who lived in the part of the world I came from before moving to the USA, the land of Wales. The girls’ name was Mari Jones and she was born on the 16th December 1784 in a small village called Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, at the foot of a mountain called Cader-Idris.

Now back in those days there were very few schools in country areas but a man named Thomas Charles had begun what were known as ‘Circulating Schools’… teachers who could travel from village to village teaching children to read and write and learn the basics of arithmetic and other subjects.

When Mari was eight years old a school was established about an hours walk away from her home. Every day school was in session she would walk the hour it took to get there, stay as long as she could, and then walk back home again. She quickly began to read and her favorite books to read were the books of the Bible. She wished she had a Bible of her own, but they were a poor family and there was no way they could spend all their money on such a thing.

A neighbor though did have a Bible, and every Saturday afternoon Mari went to read Mrs. Evans' Bible for several hours. Mrs. Evans was not poor like the Jones’s, and lived in a house filled with beautiful things. The comfort and riches around her, however, did not distract Mari. She read through book after book of the Bible.

One day as Mari was doing her chores, washing her family's clothes in the river, she had the idea that she could earn some money by washing for other people and save enough money for a Bible of her own. When Mrs. Evans heard of Mari's plan, she gave Mari some chickens to raise. When the chickens became hens, Mari could earn money by selling the eggs. Mari soon found other ways for earning money too; looking after children, weeding gardens, knitting socks.

It took Mari six years of working and saving until she had enough money to be able to afford a Bible. When she asked at school where she could buy one, the only place that sold them was the hometown of Thomas Charles, the founder of the circulating schools which was in a town called Bala, which was a long way to travel.

After six years of scrimping and saving Mari wasn’t going to let that stop her. In the summer of 1800, when just sixteen years old, Mary set out alone on the twenty-five mile journey over the mountains to Bala. Because she was worried about wearing out her shoes, most of the way she carried them and went barefoot.

There was a friend of her family who lived in Bala, who was able to take her to meet Mr. Charles. Mari was exhausted, but excited, because they had heard that Thomas Charles had just received a new shipment of Welsh Bibles from London.
Mari was introduced to Mr. Charles and she made her request.

But Thomas Charles only had one Bible left, and had told somebody else they could have it. Weary from her travelling poor Mari couldn’t hold back the tears. The look of disappointment on Mari’s face caused Mr. Charles to think again and he decided that Mari’s need was far greater than the person he was holding it for. So Mary had her bible…. and walked the 25 miles back to her home in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, this time carrying both her shoes and her newly aquired treasure!

There are things we take for granted. The Bible surely is one of them. But our story isn’t over yet. Mari’s journey had more of an impact than she could ever have imagined.

Thomas Charles was an influential minister and his heart was greatly moved by Mary’s passion to have a Bible in her own language for her self. The next year he was in London and shared with some fellow ministers the story of Mary and her quest for a Bible of her own. He gathered together a group of leaders and business folk, from across the denominational spectrum; Episcopalians and Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and Congregationalists.

On March 7, 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed "for the wider distribution of the Scriptures, without note or comment." Their concern became distributing Bibles throughout the whole world, and within a few months the Gospel of John was issued in the Mohawk language. They continued to translate and distribute Scriptures. By 1907, the BFBS had distributed 203,931,768 Bibles, Testaments and portions of Scripture all over the world.

The work of the Bible Society continues today. More than half the world’s 6,912 languages still wait for even one book of the Bible. They are presently involved in more than 550 translation and re-translation projects, bringing the Bible for the first time to those who have never been able to hear or read it in a language they understand.

They are also aware that for millions, having the Bible in a printed format is of little or no help at all for those who don’t read, and those who are visually or aurally handicapped. So they also work to make Bibles available though audio, Braille and sign language. Aware that billions of people in our world live in poverty they seek to make scriptures available at no charge to those who could never afford to buy a bible in their own language. The spark that set the whole movement in motion? A little girl in a small Welsh village who simply wanted a bible of her own!

What became of Mari? She later married a weaver of Bryn-Crug named Thomas Lewis. She died in 1864 and was buried at the graveyard of Bryn-Crug Calvinistic Methodist Chapel. The bible she obtained from Thomas Charles is now kept at the British and Foreign Bible Society's Archives in Cambridge University Library. Written by her own hand on the inside cover it reads;
‘I Bought this in the 16th year of my age. I am Daughter of Jacob Jones and Mary Jones His wife. The Lord may give me grace. Amen.’

Where the cottage once stood in her village there is now a memorial obelisk that has inscribed upon it; -

IN MEMORY OF MARY JONES, WHO IN
THE YEAR 1800, AT THE AGE OF 16 WALKED
FROM HERE TO BALA, TO PROCURE FROM THE
REVD. THOMAS CHARLES, B.A.
A COPY OF THE WELSH BIBLE. THIS INCIDENT
WAS THE OCCASION OF THE FORMATION OF
THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.
ERECTED BY THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS OF MERIONETH

Our Scripture reading this morning contained the words of Romans 10:15 "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!" The beautiful tired feet of Mary Jones launched a worldwide movement to make the Scriptures available to all. We are fortunate in so many ways. We live in a nation blessed with unimaginable riches. Amongst those riches are Bibles, freely and easily available to each one of us.

One of things our Bibles teach us is that Jesus asked that we remember His love by gathering around a table laid with bread and wine. All around the world people will be doing so, in their own lands and hearing the good news of Jesus love in their own languages.

So today I invite you to join with a vast community of the present, the past and the future around this table, around the world, to pray for peace and seek the love of God to strengthen us in the journey we make together.

Rev. Adrian J. Pratt