Readings: Psalm 13, Romans 6:12-23, Matthew 10:40-42, Genesis 22:1-14
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on June 29th, 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
This morning’s scripture reading gave us the familiar, but shocking, account of God’s call for Abraham to sacrifice his son of divine promise, Isaac. What kind of God would ask that of anybody? What kind of father would consider actually going through with such an act?
In our contemporary setting, it is probably this aspect of the story that troubles us more than others; that Abraham is prepared to kill his child and do so with the justification that “God told him” to do it. At first glance it seems scandalous to suggest that we can learn anything from this passage about the love of God or the responsibility of those who put their faith in God.
But we need to dig deeper. We need to allow this account to speak to us from within its’ historical context, not interpret it according to the morality and expectations of the 21st Century. This is not an account that seeks to justify the abuse of children. On the contrary the climax of the story is the fact that Abraham does not go through with the murder of his son.
As far as revealing the character of God, this passage certainly suggests that God is more 'unknowable' and 'unpredictable' and a lot less ‘safer’ than the Deity we sometimes seek to define and imprison within our carefully worded theologies and doctrines.
The core of this story is that it’s about sacrifice. It suggests that to fulfill our destiny as the people of God, requires surrendering our dreams to God. It is a passage echoed in the words of Jesus to His disciples “To find yourself, you have to lose yourself”.
Applying this bible passage to the story of our own lives, it suggests to us that if our dreams are ever to be fulfilled then we need to let go of them. This fly’s in the face of conventional wisdom which tells us that if we are going to achieve anything great in life we have to hold on to our dreams with all that we are!
Abraham, though possessed by a dream – a dream that he was to be the father of a great nation – a dream that through his son Isaac such things were to be fulfilled – Abraham was not to put his faith in the dream, but in the God who gave the dream. Abraham had to take a ‘hands off’ approach if ever that dream were to become a reality.
It’s a spiritual principle that is hard to see. We so easily confuse our own desires with what God desires for us. It’s a spiritual principle, that before God can truly use a gift God has given us, we have to be prepared to give it up.
In my own life the thing that comes to mind is music. I was weaned on the Beatles and in my teens loved to play in bands and dream of maybe one day making a bit of money out of it. Some of the folk I grew up with succeeded in doing just that.
Becoming a Christian didn’t mean my musical hopes went away. On the contrary I then had the desire to use my skills for God’s glory. This was back in the seventies where in the area of the United Kingdom I lived in the idea of Christian Contemporary music hadn’t yet been dreamed up. So I formed a Christian band... and everything went really well and I thanked God for giving me this ministry of music which excited me and seemed to be working.
No sooner had such thoughts entered my mind then the whole thing fell apart. I felt God calling me to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament and I didn’t see how the two could work together. And I was really mad about it. This had been what I lived for up till then. The band. The music. I loved it!
This is what happened. I reached a point where I got on my knees and said to God, 'O.K. Lord. I don’t see the sense in this. I don’t understand why you would gift me with something and then take it away... but go on... take it… I’ll rip up every song I’ve ever written, I’ll sell the guitar and the instruments and I’ll never play a note again.'
I wasn’t fooling. I wasn’t playing games. I loved the music, but I loved God more. I sensed that spiritually if I didn’t sacrifice what I felt was one of the most blessed gifts God had given to me, then I could no longer be of use to God or anybody else. So I was convinced that I had to give it all up.
Having reached that point where I was prepared to give the whole thing up, it was as though God said, 'Just Testing. Just wanted to see what was really important in your life. Music or me! Now that we’ve set that straight, keep the guitar, O.K?'
The crazy thing is that since that time hardly a season has gone by when music hasn’t played a part of what I’ve been doing. I find myself playing music, writing songs, leading worship at Retreats, playing in church... in all sorts of unexpected little ways music has been a part of the ministry God has called me to.
Once I’d abandoned the dream of music being my ministry, God was able to use my musical abilities in the way God wanted to. As long as my hand was on the wheel, it was an idol, a sacred cow, a passion not under God’s complete control. I had to let it go!
Something of that seemed to have been going on with Abraham. He had to let go of the dream before it could ever be fulfilled. Nothing could be allowed to take the place in the heart that God was meant to occupy. Abraham needed to see that. We need to see it too. So I suggest to you that this account is about 'Seeing God'. Through his willingness to sacrifice what was closest to his heart Abraham broke through to a deeper revelation of God and to a heightened sense of God’s presence around him and within him.
The action takes place specifically on a mountain named ‘Moriah’. In Hebrew Moriah translates as ‘The Lord Provides’ or ‘The Lord Sees'. On a number of different occasions in the passage the idea of ‘seeing’ is mentioned. This ‘seeing’ is both on the part of God and the part of Abraham.
It is God who 'sees' the place and the content of Abraham’s sacrifice. It is God who directs Abraham towards that place. It is God who looks deep into the heart of Abraham and 'sees' that this test of faith that he is being subjected to will result in Abraham having a deeper fellowship with God than he had ever experienced. Abraham’s 'seeing' comes by the way of obedience to what he believes God is showing to him. Abraham goes to the place God has shown him. Abraham recognizes the importance of sacrifice in this meeting he has with God.
At the stories conclusion, Abraham clearly sees that God did not require the sacrifice of Isaac, and it cements his trust in the God whom he had now encountered in a deeper and more powerful way than ever before. In the context of what I was saying earlier about my own dreams, music was my ‘Isaac’. I had to be bought to a place where I was prepared to sacrifice it, before God could use it.
As you think about your life, do you have an 'Isaac'? Is there a dream that is in your heart that takes precedence over doing the will of God? Where’s your passion? What has God gifted you with? And … what if God wants something more for you? Are you prepared to lay your heart on the altar and do with your life whatever God wants?
Or are we setting the conditions? Is our commitment to God along the lines of 'God, I’ll do whatever you want me to, I’ll go wherever you want me to, I’ll be whatever you want me to… just as long as I get to set the terms and define the conditions and specify the game-plan!' Whose hand is on the driving wheel of our life? Who’s steering our course? Who’s the Lord? Who’s the Master?
I do not believe that God would call us to do anything as unspeakable as sacrificing one of our children. I do though believe that God calls us to sacrifice our dreams on the altar of His love, in order that our whole lives can be under God’s care and guidance. Mount Moriah was the place of sacrifice.
As most of you know, we have a congregational meeting this morning after worship that has to do with myself being in transition from one church to another. Letting go of what you love is never easy. I have been greatly blessed by this congregation. You are a wonderful group of people and do some amazing things. It has been hard to even think about leaving. But time moves on, circumstances change and we have to go where we feel God is leading us as we sense the guidance of God's Holy Spirit. That's never easy. It often involves sacrifice that leads us toward deeper commitment and fellowship with God.
So I pray for us all that there may be “Mount Moriah Moments” in our spiritual journey's. That there may be those moments when we realize that God sees and knows what is best for us and we, correspondingly are prepared to give our best to God.
To God's name be the glory. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
What? More Tests?
Readings; Psalm 8, Genesis 1:1-2,4a, Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 13:5-13
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 15th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
The school year is over. All the exams and tests have been completed. At least that's what you thought! Our reading from 2 Corinthians suggests that there is one more test that we need to apply to ourselves. And nobody is exempt.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
There's a difference between this test and all the other tests you will ever have to take in your life. This one is self-adjudicated. The only examination board is yourself. There are no grades that are going to be given. This one is simply pass or fail. It's that simple.
And the curious thing about it is the person who invites you to take the test, the apostle Paul, is actually worried that they themselves may fail it! When he writes to the Corinthians he says, in verse 6; “I hope you will find out that we have not failed.”
Paul is concerned that all the things he has shared with them through his preaching and teaching has not taken any root in their lives. He is worried that he has been wasting his time, that his teaching has had no good impact on them. He's grading his own performance on the results that he sees in them. Had they learned anything about what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus?
There were problems in Corinth. The church was split into different groups and the different groups were finding it hard to get along with each other. Each different group had their favorites that they followed and each one seemed to think that they were the most important ones.
Then there was the problem that some of the people in the church thought that when Paul told them God forgave them for their sins that it meant it didn't matter how they lived. If God forgave them, they could do whatever they liked and it didn't matter. Why? Because God was going to forgive them anyway!
And on top of all that there were people who thought that they knew better than Paul how to please God. In fact some of them seemed to have thought that they knew better than God how to please God and were making up their own rules to live by. It was as though they were saying, “I know you told us that Jesus taught that we should live this way, but we don't think that's realistic. We are going to do things our way instead!”
In verse 11 Paul puts it to to them 'Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.'
When we look back at how Paul taught them and the way the church would eventually grow and prosper, we can see that actually Paul did a great job as a teacher. Eventually the people in Corinth came to realize that the things he was teaching them made sense and that his encouragement to follow Jesus was worth following up on! It just didn't feel that way when he wrote the letter... and he was not one to hide the way he saw things. As he says in verse 8 “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”
These words have something to offer us as we today celebrate a number of different things. Firstly they are an encouragement to all who give their lives to the task of teaching others. Whether it's in the school system or here at the church. Take note of the fact that Paul was discouraged.
You can have those days when you feel that despite all the seeds you have sown nothing has taken root. We forget so easily that seeds take a time to grow. And sometimes the weeds grow more aggressively than the seeds. It's always been that way. You can't force people to learn, no matter how amazing the lesson is you are trying to share with them. Paul had the greatest lesson of all... the invitation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. His words were life-changing but you get the impression that some of those around him just gave the gospel a 'Whatever!' response.
So teachers, be encouraged! Maybe you, more than most can identify with Paul's words as he writes in verse 9 “For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect.” Learning life's lessons takes a lifetime!And we are all disciples ourselves, with a lot to learn. So remember that God is with you and keep on doing what you do!
It's Fathers Day. There are encouraging words here also for Father's. Paul speaks about “Using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.” It often falls upon the Father of a household to be the final authority. Often Dad's have the last word. I realize that these days we have many different kinds of households, but in every home there's always someone who has the final word.
Paul here encourages us to use our positions of authority, those places where we have the ability to make things happen, to use such leverage to 'build up' not to 'tear down.' In other words, don't just be encouraged, seek to be an encourager to others. Nurture those skills that help you be a good Father. Listen to those around you that you have to make decisions for. Seek their best, not just what may be easiest. Build up, don't put down.
And again, like Paul, you have those times when you don't feel up to the task. There is something very 'Father-like' in verse 7 '”We pray to God that you may not do anything wrong-- not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.” It's almost as though Paul is that parent who is saying, 'Look, it's not about me. I just want the best for you!” Some of us are fortunate to have had parents just like that, and we thank God for them!
This time of year is also graduation time. Graduation is a wonderful time of transition, moving from something you know to something as yet undiscovered. You look back at where you have been and you look forward to where you may yet be! There is both encouragement and caution in verse 5 where Paul writes “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?-- unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!”
He is telling us that we would not be where we are if God had not been with us. Through God's grace, Jesus has been with us every step of our journey. He's been in on everything we have done. So be thankful! Don't you realize that Jesus has been a part of your journey so far, helping you, guiding you, encouraging you?
Then we get that idea of the test, which is where we started this sermon today. The test we are to apply to our lives, be it as teachers, parents or graduates, is that we continue to seek for the presence of Jesus Christ to be in and around our lives. That where ever life may lead us, we will go forward knowing our lives are in God's hand, and indeed seeking to place them in God's care. That way, as Paul writes in the final verse of chapter 13 we fulfill what he most wished for our lives “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
I know we sometimes use similar words at the close of our service. They are indeed a great encouragement and very fitting for this day in the churches calendar, that also happens to be Trinity Sunday.
That we go on our way, knowing that the grace of Jesus goes ahead of us. That we move forward knowing that God's love is moving all around us. That we can trust that God is surrounding our life with the presence of God's Holy Spirit, the most wonderful communion our lives can experience.
We have come full circle. Be we teachers, Fathers, Graduates … or wherever life has placed us... we can all apply to our lives Paul's words with which we started. 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
May we each simply seek to be the people God is calling us to be and do those things that God is calling us to do, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and conscious of the love of God that surrounds our lives. Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 15th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
The school year is over. All the exams and tests have been completed. At least that's what you thought! Our reading from 2 Corinthians suggests that there is one more test that we need to apply to ourselves. And nobody is exempt.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
There's a difference between this test and all the other tests you will ever have to take in your life. This one is self-adjudicated. The only examination board is yourself. There are no grades that are going to be given. This one is simply pass or fail. It's that simple.
And the curious thing about it is the person who invites you to take the test, the apostle Paul, is actually worried that they themselves may fail it! When he writes to the Corinthians he says, in verse 6; “I hope you will find out that we have not failed.”
Paul is concerned that all the things he has shared with them through his preaching and teaching has not taken any root in their lives. He is worried that he has been wasting his time, that his teaching has had no good impact on them. He's grading his own performance on the results that he sees in them. Had they learned anything about what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus?
There were problems in Corinth. The church was split into different groups and the different groups were finding it hard to get along with each other. Each different group had their favorites that they followed and each one seemed to think that they were the most important ones.
Then there was the problem that some of the people in the church thought that when Paul told them God forgave them for their sins that it meant it didn't matter how they lived. If God forgave them, they could do whatever they liked and it didn't matter. Why? Because God was going to forgive them anyway!
And on top of all that there were people who thought that they knew better than Paul how to please God. In fact some of them seemed to have thought that they knew better than God how to please God and were making up their own rules to live by. It was as though they were saying, “I know you told us that Jesus taught that we should live this way, but we don't think that's realistic. We are going to do things our way instead!”
In verse 11 Paul puts it to to them 'Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.'
When we look back at how Paul taught them and the way the church would eventually grow and prosper, we can see that actually Paul did a great job as a teacher. Eventually the people in Corinth came to realize that the things he was teaching them made sense and that his encouragement to follow Jesus was worth following up on! It just didn't feel that way when he wrote the letter... and he was not one to hide the way he saw things. As he says in verse 8 “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”
These words have something to offer us as we today celebrate a number of different things. Firstly they are an encouragement to all who give their lives to the task of teaching others. Whether it's in the school system or here at the church. Take note of the fact that Paul was discouraged.
You can have those days when you feel that despite all the seeds you have sown nothing has taken root. We forget so easily that seeds take a time to grow. And sometimes the weeds grow more aggressively than the seeds. It's always been that way. You can't force people to learn, no matter how amazing the lesson is you are trying to share with them. Paul had the greatest lesson of all... the invitation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. His words were life-changing but you get the impression that some of those around him just gave the gospel a 'Whatever!' response.
So teachers, be encouraged! Maybe you, more than most can identify with Paul's words as he writes in verse 9 “For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect.” Learning life's lessons takes a lifetime!And we are all disciples ourselves, with a lot to learn. So remember that God is with you and keep on doing what you do!
It's Fathers Day. There are encouraging words here also for Father's. Paul speaks about “Using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.” It often falls upon the Father of a household to be the final authority. Often Dad's have the last word. I realize that these days we have many different kinds of households, but in every home there's always someone who has the final word.
Paul here encourages us to use our positions of authority, those places where we have the ability to make things happen, to use such leverage to 'build up' not to 'tear down.' In other words, don't just be encouraged, seek to be an encourager to others. Nurture those skills that help you be a good Father. Listen to those around you that you have to make decisions for. Seek their best, not just what may be easiest. Build up, don't put down.
And again, like Paul, you have those times when you don't feel up to the task. There is something very 'Father-like' in verse 7 '”We pray to God that you may not do anything wrong-- not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.” It's almost as though Paul is that parent who is saying, 'Look, it's not about me. I just want the best for you!” Some of us are fortunate to have had parents just like that, and we thank God for them!
This time of year is also graduation time. Graduation is a wonderful time of transition, moving from something you know to something as yet undiscovered. You look back at where you have been and you look forward to where you may yet be! There is both encouragement and caution in verse 5 where Paul writes “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?-- unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!”
He is telling us that we would not be where we are if God had not been with us. Through God's grace, Jesus has been with us every step of our journey. He's been in on everything we have done. So be thankful! Don't you realize that Jesus has been a part of your journey so far, helping you, guiding you, encouraging you?
Then we get that idea of the test, which is where we started this sermon today. The test we are to apply to our lives, be it as teachers, parents or graduates, is that we continue to seek for the presence of Jesus Christ to be in and around our lives. That where ever life may lead us, we will go forward knowing our lives are in God's hand, and indeed seeking to place them in God's care. That way, as Paul writes in the final verse of chapter 13 we fulfill what he most wished for our lives “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
I know we sometimes use similar words at the close of our service. They are indeed a great encouragement and very fitting for this day in the churches calendar, that also happens to be Trinity Sunday.
That we go on our way, knowing that the grace of Jesus goes ahead of us. That we move forward knowing that God's love is moving all around us. That we can trust that God is surrounding our life with the presence of God's Holy Spirit, the most wonderful communion our lives can experience.
We have come full circle. Be we teachers, Fathers, Graduates … or wherever life has placed us... we can all apply to our lives Paul's words with which we started. 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
May we each simply seek to be the people God is calling us to be and do those things that God is calling us to do, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and conscious of the love of God that surrounds our lives. Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Burning Lamps
Readings; Psalm 131, Isaiah 9:2-7, Matthew 6:25-34, Acts 20:7-12
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 1st 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our Bible reading from the Acts of the Apostles spoke of Paul's last visit to Troas. Come with me and picture the scene on that day. It's late. We're in an upstairs room, gathered to here the words of a great man, a great preacher. We're all crammed together, like sardines, because he's going away tomorrow and we'll never have a chance to hear him again. As he speaks we are hanging on every word.
Sitting on the window sill is John Smiths son Jimmy. The preachers been talking for a while. It's late. Jimmy is starting to nod off. In fact he literally 'Falls asleep', falls out of the upstairs window onto the ground. "Oh No!" shouts somebody "Jimmy just fell out the window!"
There is a great commotion as we all push and shove down a narrow flight of stairs out into the street of the town. At this late hour lights start going on in the surrounding homes as people are awakened by our commotion. Mrs. Smith runs over to where Jimmy lies, picks up his head.. he's not breathing... there's no pulse. It can't be. He's dead? A silence descends on us all as a couple of the guys try and offer help. We stand around like dummies in a shop window.
Then the preacher makes his way through the crowd. He hadn't rushed down stairs like the rest of us. He beckons the guys trying to revive Jimmy out of the way and throws himself down on the ground next to Jimmy's corpse and hugs him. You don't know what to do. It's embarrassing. Visiting preachers don't usually embrace corpses. 'Don't worry', He smiles as he gets to his feet, 'He's still alive'.
The lad opens his eyes, sits up, looks around and gives the kind of look that says, "What am I doing down here, why are you all staring at me, and am I grounded for this?" We run back up stairs, some dumfounded, some talking... "He can't really have been dead". "He was y'know, I felt for a pulse..."
We share together in broken bread and then settle down to listen to what the speaker has to say. This time nobody drops off to sleep, but everybody is encouraged and comforted and when we do finally leave it is with a great sense of peace, joy and wonderment.
Such is a similar scenario to what took place when the apostle Paul visited Troas. It's one of the few pictures in Scripture of what happened when Christians in the early church met for worship. Apart from warning about the dangers of falling asleep during the sermon, it has a whole lot to teach us about what Christian worship could be like. One of the most illuminating verses in the passage comes at Acts 20, verse 8. "Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room."
I'm sure it was literally true, they would need lamps because it was dark. But you can also interpret this verse in a spiritual sense. In Troas many peoples hearts were burning with the desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ, catching fire under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is in that spiritual sense I'd like to think on those words today, "Many lamps were burning", for many hearts were hungry for God to speak.
The result of those burning lamps was worship that had a dynamic intensity. Theologian, Karl Barth, a man of great depth and intellect, penned these challenging words. "Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life." I'm not the only one who has been in services where the most momentous thing that has happened has been if the pastor has tripped on the steps or someone has dropped a hymnbook!
Christian worship is meant to be dynamic. Whether or not it is depends on how brightly the light of Christ burns in our hearts. Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. But what set those people alight? Their worship was focused on the great drama of crucifixion and resurrection. At the center of any Christian worship service must be a profound appreciation of the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection to life. It is that experience of death being overcome by life that lies at the heart of the gospel message. It is towards that experience that the celebration of communion directs us.
It was a message that was vividly demonstrated by Paul's revival of Eutychus, the young man who fell out of the window. It is a message reinforced time and time again in the New Testament. Think, for example, of the Fathers words over the prodigal son who returned home. "He was dead, but now he's alive, Lost but now he's found".
Every year, till he passed away, I received a Christmas Card from Rev Eric Evans, a retired Welsh Presbyterian minister and ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, who attended the church I was nurtured in, that of Moreton Presbyterian in Merseyside, England. As a young person in that church, we always loved it when Eric preached. He was a fiery preacher. He'd shout when he was excited. He'd bang on the bible and wake up the little old ladies who had fallen asleep on the back rows. He had a few phrases that always let you know when a good story was coming, usually something along the lines of, "I remember a time when I was driving my car to Cardiff".
When I received a call to the ministry Eric was delighted. He used to write me encouraging letters at college. In one of them, after I'd preached at Hoylake, he wrote; "Adrian, if I had one word of advice for you it would be this. Preach often on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many things you can talk about, all sorts of interesting subjects you can preach about, but only the message of the crucifixion and the resurrection can bring a person from death to life and out of darkness into the light. Your calling is not to entertain people with fine words but to set them on fire with the Holy Spirit.".
One thing that can set our worship alive is to have that individual appreciation of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He died for us and was raised for us and because of God's grace we are saved.
I find it fascinating to attend events where people get really excited about their salvation in Christ. Because, after all, remember I am British. And we're bred not to be excited about anything except for football matches and cricket games. The 'stiff upper lip' and keeping your feelings to yourself, they're one of the few things the British could beat the world at if only they'd make it an Olympic Sport.
But; unless you have a bit of the Lord's fire in your life, it is nigh on impossible to really worship Him. What are we going to sing about if all those hymns about salvation are outside our experience? How can we be excited about prayer if we've decided we are not the praying type? How can we draw near to God if we have intellectually distanced our self from the personal, Parent God of Scripture who reveals God's love to us in Jesus Christ?
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room. Many hearts excited about their faith and coming to worship in expectancy. What is burning in our heart this day? What are the burning concerns that we have brought to this time of worship? What burns in us?
Could be fear. "What is the world coming to. How can I cope with this?" Could be complacency. "I'm all right. I don't need a Savior. "Could be unbelief. "Don't care what any preacher says. I'm going to do my own thing." Could be desire. "I want this, I want that and unless I get it I will never be satisfied"
What burns within us? We have an idea what we should be thinking about in church. We know, maybe, why we should come to church. But what really burns in us? What do we really want? The answer we give will determine how dynamic and momentous our worship is!
Eutychus, in our bible reading, wasn't burning with much desire, except to go to sleep. He couldn't stay awake. He fell out of the window. He was dead when they got downstairs. I know people fall asleep sometimes in church. I can see you all from the pulpit. So, listen, if your feeling sleepy, get out of the pew and sit in the window ledge. Then think about what happened to Eutychus and I guarantee you won't find it so easy to snooze.
Ephesians 5:15 has these words, which maybe Paul spoke to Eutychus. "Awake sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you". Eutychus woke up. Eutychus rose from death. Eutychus knew that Christ's light shone on him, and that night many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. Jesus said, "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people so that they will see the good things you do and Praise your Father in heaven." There is a way to be light in a dark world. God says so. The light is rekindled through worship. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room, because there had been many lamps burning throughout the past week. At times maybe they flickered. Some may even have gone out altogether. Some were still waiting to be lit. But when the people of God come together with their minds set on worship, hearts are set on fire to serve the Lord.
Praise God we have been granted another opportunity to rekindle our faith. May our burning desire right now be to enter into communion with Jesus Christ, that God's Spirit may renew our lives and that His Presence be our guide throughout the days that lie ahead.
"There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room." AMEN!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 1st 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our Bible reading from the Acts of the Apostles spoke of Paul's last visit to Troas. Come with me and picture the scene on that day. It's late. We're in an upstairs room, gathered to here the words of a great man, a great preacher. We're all crammed together, like sardines, because he's going away tomorrow and we'll never have a chance to hear him again. As he speaks we are hanging on every word.
Sitting on the window sill is John Smiths son Jimmy. The preachers been talking for a while. It's late. Jimmy is starting to nod off. In fact he literally 'Falls asleep', falls out of the upstairs window onto the ground. "Oh No!" shouts somebody "Jimmy just fell out the window!"
There is a great commotion as we all push and shove down a narrow flight of stairs out into the street of the town. At this late hour lights start going on in the surrounding homes as people are awakened by our commotion. Mrs. Smith runs over to where Jimmy lies, picks up his head.. he's not breathing... there's no pulse. It can't be. He's dead? A silence descends on us all as a couple of the guys try and offer help. We stand around like dummies in a shop window.
Then the preacher makes his way through the crowd. He hadn't rushed down stairs like the rest of us. He beckons the guys trying to revive Jimmy out of the way and throws himself down on the ground next to Jimmy's corpse and hugs him. You don't know what to do. It's embarrassing. Visiting preachers don't usually embrace corpses. 'Don't worry', He smiles as he gets to his feet, 'He's still alive'.
The lad opens his eyes, sits up, looks around and gives the kind of look that says, "What am I doing down here, why are you all staring at me, and am I grounded for this?" We run back up stairs, some dumfounded, some talking... "He can't really have been dead". "He was y'know, I felt for a pulse..."
We share together in broken bread and then settle down to listen to what the speaker has to say. This time nobody drops off to sleep, but everybody is encouraged and comforted and when we do finally leave it is with a great sense of peace, joy and wonderment.
Such is a similar scenario to what took place when the apostle Paul visited Troas. It's one of the few pictures in Scripture of what happened when Christians in the early church met for worship. Apart from warning about the dangers of falling asleep during the sermon, it has a whole lot to teach us about what Christian worship could be like. One of the most illuminating verses in the passage comes at Acts 20, verse 8. "Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room."
I'm sure it was literally true, they would need lamps because it was dark. But you can also interpret this verse in a spiritual sense. In Troas many peoples hearts were burning with the desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ, catching fire under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is in that spiritual sense I'd like to think on those words today, "Many lamps were burning", for many hearts were hungry for God to speak.
The result of those burning lamps was worship that had a dynamic intensity. Theologian, Karl Barth, a man of great depth and intellect, penned these challenging words. "Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life." I'm not the only one who has been in services where the most momentous thing that has happened has been if the pastor has tripped on the steps or someone has dropped a hymnbook!
Christian worship is meant to be dynamic. Whether or not it is depends on how brightly the light of Christ burns in our hearts. Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. But what set those people alight? Their worship was focused on the great drama of crucifixion and resurrection. At the center of any Christian worship service must be a profound appreciation of the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection to life. It is that experience of death being overcome by life that lies at the heart of the gospel message. It is towards that experience that the celebration of communion directs us.
It was a message that was vividly demonstrated by Paul's revival of Eutychus, the young man who fell out of the window. It is a message reinforced time and time again in the New Testament. Think, for example, of the Fathers words over the prodigal son who returned home. "He was dead, but now he's alive, Lost but now he's found".
Every year, till he passed away, I received a Christmas Card from Rev Eric Evans, a retired Welsh Presbyterian minister and ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, who attended the church I was nurtured in, that of Moreton Presbyterian in Merseyside, England. As a young person in that church, we always loved it when Eric preached. He was a fiery preacher. He'd shout when he was excited. He'd bang on the bible and wake up the little old ladies who had fallen asleep on the back rows. He had a few phrases that always let you know when a good story was coming, usually something along the lines of, "I remember a time when I was driving my car to Cardiff".
When I received a call to the ministry Eric was delighted. He used to write me encouraging letters at college. In one of them, after I'd preached at Hoylake, he wrote; "Adrian, if I had one word of advice for you it would be this. Preach often on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many things you can talk about, all sorts of interesting subjects you can preach about, but only the message of the crucifixion and the resurrection can bring a person from death to life and out of darkness into the light. Your calling is not to entertain people with fine words but to set them on fire with the Holy Spirit.".
One thing that can set our worship alive is to have that individual appreciation of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He died for us and was raised for us and because of God's grace we are saved.
I find it fascinating to attend events where people get really excited about their salvation in Christ. Because, after all, remember I am British. And we're bred not to be excited about anything except for football matches and cricket games. The 'stiff upper lip' and keeping your feelings to yourself, they're one of the few things the British could beat the world at if only they'd make it an Olympic Sport.
But; unless you have a bit of the Lord's fire in your life, it is nigh on impossible to really worship Him. What are we going to sing about if all those hymns about salvation are outside our experience? How can we be excited about prayer if we've decided we are not the praying type? How can we draw near to God if we have intellectually distanced our self from the personal, Parent God of Scripture who reveals God's love to us in Jesus Christ?
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room. Many hearts excited about their faith and coming to worship in expectancy. What is burning in our heart this day? What are the burning concerns that we have brought to this time of worship? What burns in us?
Could be fear. "What is the world coming to. How can I cope with this?" Could be complacency. "I'm all right. I don't need a Savior. "Could be unbelief. "Don't care what any preacher says. I'm going to do my own thing." Could be desire. "I want this, I want that and unless I get it I will never be satisfied"
What burns within us? We have an idea what we should be thinking about in church. We know, maybe, why we should come to church. But what really burns in us? What do we really want? The answer we give will determine how dynamic and momentous our worship is!
Eutychus, in our bible reading, wasn't burning with much desire, except to go to sleep. He couldn't stay awake. He fell out of the window. He was dead when they got downstairs. I know people fall asleep sometimes in church. I can see you all from the pulpit. So, listen, if your feeling sleepy, get out of the pew and sit in the window ledge. Then think about what happened to Eutychus and I guarantee you won't find it so easy to snooze.
Ephesians 5:15 has these words, which maybe Paul spoke to Eutychus. "Awake sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you". Eutychus woke up. Eutychus rose from death. Eutychus knew that Christ's light shone on him, and that night many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. Jesus said, "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people so that they will see the good things you do and Praise your Father in heaven." There is a way to be light in a dark world. God says so. The light is rekindled through worship. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room, because there had been many lamps burning throughout the past week. At times maybe they flickered. Some may even have gone out altogether. Some were still waiting to be lit. But when the people of God come together with their minds set on worship, hearts are set on fire to serve the Lord.
Praise God we have been granted another opportunity to rekindle our faith. May our burning desire right now be to enter into communion with Jesus Christ, that God's Spirit may renew our lives and that His Presence be our guide throughout the days that lie ahead.
"There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room." AMEN!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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