Sermon St Anne’s, Brown Edge 14th
October 2018
Do you prefer tea or coffee?
How do you like your tea or coffee?
Varieties of
teas have been around for some time, but not so much choice over coffee.
Milk and
sugar where the two main options.
Today of
course that has shifted massively. I was in London when coffee shops really
began to pick up pace with Starbucks, Nero’s and Costa’s popping up all over
the place.
My personal
preference is fresh coffee, usually an Americano, strong, no sugar with just a
hint of milk.
Back in 1909
Henry Ford allegedly told his sales team that people could have any colour
Model T Ford as long as it was black.
And who
remembers the tangerine three-wheeler Bond Bug?
Today you can
buy a smart car with hundreds of personal choices about colour and design.
And when it
comes to phones and electronic gadgets you can spend a life time analyzing
which one to get.
We had a bit
of this recently when exchanging our car. It was all about gaining something
and loosing something and making comprises and then hopefully making the right
choice in the end.
Our Gospel
story tells us about a rich young ruler who runs up to Jesus and kneels down in
front him (what does that tell you) and with deepest respect addresses Jesus as
‘good teacher. He wants to know how he can inherit eternal life.
Remember here
we not talking about eternal life in some kind of ethereal spiritual heaven,
but as a good Jew, as this man was by all accounts, how could he be assured of
living in the Age to Come.
Briefly, the
Jews believed and still believe in two Ages, the Present Age and the Age to
Come.
The Age to
Come is spoken about cryptically, in poetry, in metaphor and by many and varied
means throughout the whole of the Old Testament.
It would be a
time when Israel would be free from oppression, (no more Romans) when nations
would come to Mount Zion, from where the Law of the Lord would go forth.
A time of
peace and prosperity, when the lion and the lamb would lie down together on
God’s holy mountain.
And the young
man wants to know how he can be part of that Age to Come.
Jesus gives a
good Rabbi answer about keeping the commandments, referring in particular to the
Ten Commandments, not all the clauses, and sub clauses and the sub sub clauses
that had developed, particularly by the Pharisee’s.
We ourselves can be so familiar with the Ten Commandments that we can fail to notice
what commandments are omitted.
The ones referenced are all to do with the horizontal level, how we relate to each
other.
What Jesus
omits are the first four which are primarily about our relationship with God and
putting Him first and foremost above everything.
And then
without fear or favour, with no compromise, with no gilding the lily or
sugaring the pill Jesus puts his finger right at the heart of the problem with
this young man’s concern.
The heart of
this man’s problem was the problem of the heart.
His heart was
wedded to his wealth, and no doubt his prestige and standing in the community.
He was trying
to ride two horses which is never a good idea.
And it is in Jesus’
response to the young man that a radical rephrasing of the Ten Commandments is
brought into sharp focus.
Remember the
question, ‘how can I be assured that I will be a part of the Age to Come.’
And Jesus’
answer, once he has said that he has to let go of everything, is then an
invitation to follow him and in him, Jesus, there is a true treasure.
Jesus has
rephrased the first four commandments and brought them around to a focus on
himself and the community of disciples he was establishing.
Sadly we know
that the rich young man could not bring himself to that position
And having
laid down the challenge Jesus doesn’t try and bargain with the young man or
offer payment by installments – it is all or nothing, right here and right now
you have to make this decision.
Jesus then
speaks about how difficult it is for people with wealth to enter the Kingdom of
God.
Wealth in and
of itself it not the problem, it is not money that is the root of all evil, but
getting that correct, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.
That was this
young man’s problem, he manifestly loved his money, his wealth his prestige
more that he did the offer of entering into God’s Kingdom by becoming a
follower of Christ.
On the 4th
October the Church celebrated the life of St Francis and I watched snippets
from the 1972 Zefferilli film, Brother Son Sister Moon.
A tad over
the top and yet it brings home how much Francis was willing to give up to
follow Jesus. How other rich young men also took up the same challenge as his
rag tag community grew.
And it is
community that is very important here.
Jesus didn’t
simply ask the young man to impoverish himself and then make the best of his
life as a pauper or beggar.
He invited
him into a different kind of community.
Much the
same, following Jesus example, St Francis invited people into a community of
mutual love and support.
Today we
begin Prisoner Week and a few weeks ago I was in HMP Stafford and preaching on
a Sunday morning.
The men there
have made choices and bad decisions that have led them to where they now find
themselves.
In my sermon
I said that they had an opportunity to make a different set of choices and one
very important one.
They could
choose to be ‘born again.’
And although
that phrase is often mocked as denoting one type of Christian and of one type
of Christianity, we should always remind ourselves that it is a solid Biblical
metaphor used by Jesus.
It remains a
useful picture, especially for those men and woman currently in prison. They
can be ‘born again’ into a new way of life - born again into a new family –born
again so that the past does not have to define who they are and determine their
future.
Today and each and every day you and I will be
making all sorts of choices.
Some will be life changing others more
mundane.
One life
changing choice was made by Sister Elizabeth Carr of the Church Army.
I well
remember her sermon in February 1977 at the Church Army Training College, then
situated in Blackheath, London.
She spoke on
this passage and talked about giving up on marriage and children and having a
home of her own to follow God’s call into Church Army.
And yet she
said, in her ministry as a Church Army Officer she was now in charge of a
Mother and Baby Home for teenage mum's.
So, she had plenty of children to look after, she had also found herself
living in all sorts of houses and found that she was part of a great family in
Church Army and also as part of the wider Church.
We all face
the same choice as this rich young ruler – are going to go the way of the
kingdom of the world or the Kingdom of God?
It is as
stark, clear and at one level as simple as that.
Chose to
follow Jesus and then everything changes.
All our
subsequent decisions become lined up with His life and power now living within us.
Or at least
that is what we strive for as we grow in our Christian faith.
As St Paul
said in the Letter to the Romans…
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould,
but let God re-mould your minds from within…
To help us
with that we have the Word of God, the Scriptures and in our reading from
Hebrews we heard this challenge and promise…
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from
marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And
before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes
of the one to whom we must render an account.
That may sound very scary and demanding –
but then we read on…
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our
confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been
tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the
throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.
When you next
go into your favourite coffee shop or café I would not suggest you need to seek
God’s will on what type of coffee or tea and you should have.
However if
you have lined up your life with Christ you may well ask God to guide you to a
certain seat where you might get into conversation with someone. Or even
overhear a difficult time someone is having and you can quietly pray into that
situation.
You might ask
questions about the ethical sourcing of the coffee/tea and if they are using
recyclable cups if they are take-away ones.
You certainly
can chose to treat the Barista with kindness and courtesy.
The choice to
follow Jesus is the most important choice we can ever make in our lives.
However,
having made that choice and then seeking to line up our lives with Jesus and
His community of followers, the Body of Christ, the Faith Community, the
Church, further choices then follow.
In January
many Gyms see a peak in membership applications followed by a drop in actual
attendance at the gym as the months go on. There is only going to be a value if you regularly attend the gym, simply joining it does not make a lot of difference.
If the men in
HMP Stafford make a choice to be ‘born again’ then that has to be worked out in
their lives both while they serve out their sentence and then once back out
into the community.
I made the
choice to line up my life with Jesus on the 1st January 1975 – it
was the best and most important decision in my life.
If you make a
choice to line up your life with Jesus today you will begin a journey where the
choices you make and the decisions you take have to be lined up with the life
of Jesus.
If you made
that choice some years ago – then ask yourself how are doing in lining up your
life with Jesus.
Are you occasionally
trying to ride two horses – a bit of the world and a bit of God – it won’t
work.
Jesus’
challenge to this rich young ruler remains the same challenge to you and to me
today.
Who are you
going to follow?
What choice
are you going to make?
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