42Sunday13`

SUNDAY 13

26 June - 2 July

Matthew 10: 34-42 (Sermon 1: “Self Assertiveness?”)

Romans 6: 12-23

Genesis 22: 1-14 (Sermon 2: “What Price Our Faith?”}

Psalm 13.

PREPARATION

The smallest thing, under the influence of the eternal God,

is made infinitely precious and eternal.

If we come to worship focussing on our needs,

we will go away feeling let down.

If we come wanting a God made in our own likeness,

we will be disappointed.

If we come rigid in our ideas and set in our ways,

we will leave as empty as we arrived.

If we put God first,

we shall never worship in vain.

Listen to this, you people of God:

The Lord you God is One

and you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart

with all your mind

and with all your strength.

Give to God your praise.

Give to God your love.

Give to God your life.

It is far more blessed to give

than it is to receive

The Lord Jesus Christ said:

Whoever tries to save their life will lose it,

but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

The wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life.

I will sing praise to you, loving God,

for you have dealt so generously with me.

I have trusted in your mercy,

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Holy Friend, from a pernicious preoccupation with our own thoughts, prejudices and wants, we turn to you. Disturb us that we may drop our defences, unsettle us that we may be open to change, overawe us that we may cast aside our self contredanses and find our true centre in you. Please confront us with your glory. Bring us to that point where we let go of all that is tatty or second rate and launch out into sincere and joyful praise. Through Christ Jesus our divine Brother.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

It is not easy being a Christian in this irreligious era; but that is no excuse for our lapses into the ways of the world. Now is the time for confession.

Let us pray.

Regretfully but sincerely, loving God, we confess

that we don’t often live in the style of Jesus;

Too readily we adjust to the values and attitudes of the rest of the community; sometimes there is nothing distinctive or winsome about us.

Regretfully, loving God,

we confess that we do not make the most of our faith;

In the times we have to ourselves in this busy life, we do not make space for reflection and prayer; we leave you at the edges instead of embracing your at the centre of our days.

Regretfully, loving God, we confess

that we have looked for you in remarkable people and spectacular events;

Yet we have ignored you in the ordinary circumstances, in ordinary friends and neighbours, and in ordinary church members.

Regretfully, loving God, we confess

that we have not been very fair to ourselves;

We have hidden our gifts behind false modesty, withheld strengths lest others expect a lot from us, and been too afraid that our faith may be mocked if expressed openly.

Regretfully, loving God, we unfold our lives before you.

Please forgive and expunge the things that are sloppy, unloving or rotten.

Please mend the things that are torn or distorted or fractured.

Please rehabilitate that soul-image of yourself that exists in each of us,

and give us the desire and the will and the strength

to make a good fist of living by faith in this new week.

In the name of Christ Jesus our Saviour, we pray.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I ask you to accept God’s saving grace, putting your sins and mistakes behind you, and letting go of regrets and fears. Now face the future with the measured optimism of those who know they are destined to ultimate victory. By saving grace you are released; you are at liberty!

Thanks be to God!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

Why is it, God, that we always want to get our own way,

even when we know it will not make us any happier?

Why is it that we are usually so selfish,

even though we find selfishness so ugly in other people?

Please, loving God,

help us change the way we think and feel,

change the way we treat one another,

change the way we follow Jesus

so that we may not drag far behind

but stay closer to him and his unselfish love

which brings real happiness and peace.

Amen!

PSALM 13

How long will it be, God, before you remember me?

How long will you remain incognito?

See page 68 “Australian Psalms”

Ó B D Prewer & Open Book Publishers

TWO WORLDS

Matt 10:38-39

I saw this mechanical press

stamping out brass crosses

at forty per minute

very cost efficient.

Nearby some beggars sat

outside a bishop’s court

waiting for a few crumbs

from tonsured consciences.

A cathedral squatted huge

hoarding its golden soul

serving wine to its priests

from rubied chalices.

Outside in long shadows

cast by the chancel wall

gaunt and ragged children

fought over a plastic ball.

The machine spewed out crosses

enough to pave the land

each one smooth and shiny

and comfortable in the hand.

© B.D. Prewer 1983

COLLECT

Holy Friend, please infiltrate our lives with your Holy Spirit, that we may possess the courage to pick up the cross of discipleship and carry it as a high honour. Make us ashamed of nothing except our own sin, and afraid of nothing except the temptation to turn aside for an easier, downhill path. Make us ready to pay the price of faithfulness, to the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen!

SERMON 1: SELF ASSERTIVENESS?

Matthew 10:38-39

They who do not take up their cross and follow me, are not worthy of me. Whoever tries to save life with lose it, and those who lose life for my sake, will find it.

There seems to be a conflict between the contemporary self-assertion gurus and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said:

“Take up your cross and follow me; give away your life and you will find it. Hoard it and you will lose it.”

At other times he says:

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Turn the other cheek, go the second mile.

Those who put themselves first will be relegated to last, and those who are last will be promoted to first.”

In contrast, the more radical wing of the self-assertion movement says: put yourself first and don’t let any one get in your way.

The less radical express it this way: “Assertiveness involves the recognition and expression of individual wants, values, needs, expectations, dislikes and desires”.

There we have it.

Jesus says: follow me in serving God, boldly.

The assertive advise you: do your own thing, boldly.

Can there be any meeting point between these two sets of life style? Or must it remain an ongoing conflict, each deriding the other?

EXAMPLES of SERVILITY and SELF ASSERTION

Let me give you two extreme examples from both sides. One of servility and one of vigorous self assertion. Both are based on real people known to me.

Example A/ Duncan. The case of a self-denying Christian. I will name him Duncan.

Duncan is a devout Christians who aims to deny himself in following Christ. He is quietly spoken, modest in dress and demeanour, forgives his enemies, does not answer back, tries to turn away anger with a soft answer.

At home he tends to be at the beck and call of his wife and children. He tries to fulfil their expectations for him as a good husband and father. He is patient, tolerant, generous, and forgiving. Observers believe that the wife and children take Duncan too much for granted, and that the more he does for them, the more they expect.

Duncan Is employed as draftsman in a small company run by a devout Christian family belonging to another church denomination. He works incredibly hard for these bosses, does not get paid for overtime, nor does he complain about extra jobs off-loaded on to him. He has never asked for a salary raise, believing that because they are Christians they will surely always do the right thing by him. Most nights he takes work home, to be completed late in the evening before getting a few hours sleep.

When his more worldly brother Ted questions whether he gets adequate remuneration, Duncan shakes his head and says “You don’t understand, little brother. It’s the Lord’s work.”

You see, Duncan is most impressed by the overt piety of his employers. He always attends a prayer meeting which the bosses hold at the beginning of each week, an hour before starting time. Moreover, because the management have often spoken of the way they support overseas missions, Duncan does everything possible to minimise costs and build up profits.

Rarely does he receive thanks for the money he saves the firm. They seem to take it for granted and then expect more. Yet Duncan does not complain. He suffers from blood pressure, is often exceedingly weary, and wears a permanent worried look. Yet in all this, Duncan really believes that he is denying himself for Christ’s sake.

Example B/ Katrina .The case of a self assertive young woman.

A young woman, whom I will call Katrina, had received self assertion training from a pseudo-religious sect which charges very high fees for services rendered. Katrina now acts with supreme self confidence, no longer feels any need to apologise for mistakes, believes in her absolute right to go and get whatever she wants.

There was a chance meeting with an old friend, Alice. At first, Alice was more than impressed with the transformation in Katrina. Her confident behaviour was not at all like the gentle character she used to know. Katrina suggested they go and have a meal together at a popular, quality restaurant.

On arriving they found a long queue waiting for a table. Alice thought they should move on and try somewhere else. Katrina would have none of that. She firmly took her friend’s hand and, exuding confidence and authority, she marched to the head of the line. Confronted by the receptionist she said: “The table I ordered for two please; in the name of Mss Carmichael. She continued walking towards an empty table that a waitress was just finishing setting.”

The receptionist said: “We have no record, madam, of your booking.” Katrina smiled in a condescending way: “That’s your problem, not mine.” And proceeded to sit down at the table.

To Alice’s amazement, it worked. They ended up occupying that table and soon had a meal before them, while the long queue waited. Alice whispered that she felt embarrassed. They should not have gate crashed like that.

“Why not?" asked Katrina, with a self satisfied smile and commanding voice. “I can’t help it if others don’t stand up for themselves. Good luck comes to those who claim it, not to those who stand docile like silly sheep.”

It was one of the more discomforting evenings Alice had spent. Her friend had certainly changed, but she decided she liked the old Katrina far more, and was glad when the evening was over.

Comment:

In those two stories from real life, we have extreme positions taken. On the one hand there is a self-effacing, devoted Christian, Duncan. On the other is self-assertive, dominating Katrina, a very contented customer of a pseudo-religious sect.

Duncan would have looked askance at Katrina’s attitude and actions. Katrina would looked with scorn on humble Duncan’s self-effacing way of life. She would have called him a door mat. He would have shaken his head but refrained from calling her anything, except maybe something polite like “misguided.”

Of course, to be fair to both camps, there are many Christians not as servile as Duncan, and many self assertive folk much more sensitive and caring than Katrina.

But allowing for the more moderate people on both sides, is there anything compatible between the whole theory and practice of self-assertion and Christianity? Or are the two mutually exclusive?

ASSERTIVENESS, JESUS STYLE

Turn to Jesus of Nazareth and see what we find there.

The first thing we notice is how strong he was in standing up for those who were neglected or rejected. He was assertive for their sakes: For the lepers, the mentally deranged, tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, women, the poorly educated, children, and the mass of common people of the countryside, those whom the pious scorned and the powerful exploited and bullied.

Jesus loved and treasured these folk, he respected them and assisted them to stand tall and look the world in the eye. For Jesus that had an essential dignity. They were all the precious children of God, members of the family of his loving Abba. He went out of his way to respect them, uplift them, to enable them to take charge of their lives.

At considerable cost to himself, he was assertive for their sakes.

The second thing to notice is that he was, in his uniquely humble way, also self assertive. In loyalty to his God, he was radically self-assertive.

He refused to allow any bullying individual, or any pressure group, to control his values and actions. He would not bow down to the educated elite of the Scribes and Pharisees, nor toady to the priestly hierarchy of the Sadducees... He refused to share the common hatred for the ruling Romans, and would not agree with the methods of underground terrorist organisations like the Iscari (the dagger men) who were intent on a violent solution.

In his home town of Nazareth, Jesus refused to allow His friends and neighbours to make him conform to their expectations for the son of a carpenter. He would not even allow his widowed mother Mary, nor his brothers and sisters, to change his beliefs and activities.

At the end of his short life, he chose the time and place when he would allow himself to be arrested. He declared that nobody was going to rob him of his life; he was going to give it up of his own free will.

He was self assertive for God’s sake. For the glory of God he would not allow any person or authority to dominate him.

A red light moment!

Any attempt, therefore, to turn Jesus into a kindly, pious door mate, who allowed others to walk all over him, is in error. Any attempt to make Christians into a servile group who bow their pious heads and allow the world to push them around, is also gravely misguided.

The Gospel is not a call to be a self effacing lackey of others, pushed this way and that by the powerful or the manipulators. The call of the Gospel is to take up our cross and be assertive for Christ’s sake.

BEING SELF ASSERTIVE FOR CHRIST’S SAKE

And what does this mean; to be self assertive for Christ’s sake?

It means to be assertive for the sake of our true soul, for the image of the living God which is in us... Adopt the Bible estimate of your personal worth: “Made only a little less that the gods.” From this core of self respect, the valid form of self love, we are set free to be also assertive for the sake of others and for the glory of God.

When we do this, asserting our right to be whom we are called to be, and from this firm ground readily giving ourselves in service to God and humanity, we find a most unexpected yet wonderful thing happens: we find an enlarging “true self” which is more wonderful than we imagined possible. We find our own destiny. We find ourselves growing and enlarging and becoming fulfilled.

Maybe we might then understand the words of the 17th pastor, Thomas Traherne, who in a sermon pleaded: “Enter your own inner ground, therefore, and act from there, and all your works will become living works

Jesus was absolutely right. When we believe in ourselves enough to genuinely love others, we find blessedness. There is greater happiness in generous giving than in greedy grabbing. There is more joy in helping others than being obsessed with helping ourselves. The meek do more truly possess the profound riches of this earth than do the arrogant.

By following Christ, we become fulfilled in a way that those who are assertive for selfish reasons can never attain. There is no arrogance, no hubris, in Christ’s way. He gives us a good opinion of ourselves which is not based on pride, but on God’s love. It does not lead to the putting of others down in order to build up oneself, as in so often the case in this foolish world.

If we try to find fulfilment by saving our own lives; if we try to find our true selves by pushing ourselves to the front, trampling on others, building on our own insatiable ego, then we are doomed to failure. That is the way of loss. It is the way of perpetual restlessness, and finally of despair and death.

Whoever tries to save life with lose it, and those who lose life for my sake, will find it.

A MESSAGE FROM THE WESLEYAN REVIVAL

There are good lessons to be learned from the religious revolution that followed the remarkable evangelical ministry of John and Charles Wesley, and of George Whitfield, in England in the 18th century.

Thousands of previously disheartened, despised, and downtrodden men and women began to stand tall and assert themselves as God’s children. A new dignity was released among the servant classes, the miners, and the farm hands of England, Cornwall and Wales.

It unsettled those upper classes who were used to lording it over those they saw as the lower classes. Writers of that era, like William Smollet, took a perverse delight in satirising the new-born souls of that evangelical revival. People like Smollet parodied the butler who suddenly became proud to be himself, the scullery maid who felt she was now able to discuss with her ladyship the wonders of God’s love, the stable hand who actually felt sorrow and compassion for his arrogant master, the Lord of the Manor.

Deprived people stood up in a new way. They stood tall as the children of God. They stood up for one another. They stood up for God. They became self assertive in the Spirit of Christ.

The Wesleys did not organise classes for self-assertiveness training. They did not talk about ad nauseam about the individual’s right to express their personal “wants, values, needs, expectations, dislike and desires.”

The Wesleys and their pastors and preachers introduced people to the Saviour, who despised no one. Through the uplifting grace of Jesus they were introduced to their own worth, as children of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus in an everlasting kingdom where every soul was equally a prince and princess, yet also where every soul was servant to each other just as Jesus was to his disciples.

Those people discovered their birthright. The fact that a writer like Smollet satirised them, and that his caricatures could be readily recognised by his readers among the elite, shows us how widespread and effective the revolution had been. The common people had become a force to be reckoned with. It was not a matter of ego and a new found arrogance, but a spirit of assertion for the value of themselves in the eyes of God. This new spirit was created by the Holy Spirit within them.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

From this we can recognise that there are indeed some things in common between the modern gurus of self assertiveness and the way of Jesus. Numerous people, who have for too longed lacked self confidence and devalued their own gifts, have been mercifully assisted by the some self assertiveness tutors. But it is the roots (and sometimes the methods) that make them different from Christ’s way... One is ultimately rooted in ego and the other in God.

It is inconceivable to me, that any follower of Jesus, should think (like Katrina in my opening story} they are fulfilling their true selves by jumping a long queue at a restaurant.

It is also inconceivable to me, that a uplifted follower of Jesus was meant to be as self effacing as the character Duncan, who allowed both his family and his employers to walk all over him.

We are not called by Jesus to lord it over any person. Jesus empathically forbid it for those who became his disciples.

Nor are we called to let others lord it over us, no more than Jesus permitted the arrogant to push him around.

In Christ all things become changed.

In Christ we do experience a unique way of assertiveness.

We do experience the healing paradox of surrendering our life to find a larger one.

We embrace a loss which precipitates an immense gain.

We live with a new humility which is full of robust dignity.

We take up our own cross and discover it is in fact a crown.

To our everlasting joy, Jesus said:

They who do not take up their cross and follow me, are not worthy of me. Whoever tries to save life with lose it, and those who lose life for my sake, will find it. Matthew 10:38-39

SERMON 2: WHAT PRICE OUR FAITH?

Genesis 22: 1-14

How much is OUR faith worth? What price do we put on it?

That is the unsettling question the Bible puts to us this day. It is stated plainly in the Gospel reading, and placed in story form in the OT reading from Genesis 22.

Just in case your mind was wandering at the time the Old Testament was being read (as mine has been known to do on occasions) let me remind you. We heard again the primitive story of a man who was reluctantly willing to offer up a human sacrifice to his god, with his precious son as the unsuspecting victim. Abraham took Isaac up a mountain and there bound him and placed him on an altar.

MY PROBLEMS WITH THIS STORY

Let me immediately confess that I have major problems with this story; both emotional and intellectual problems.

As a child I was fed this story in a Sunday school conducted not by my family’s church (our denomination had no Sunday School in that rural district) but by a smaller, much more simplistic church. Even in my early childhood the Old Testament featured largely in the syllabus. My teacher was a sweetie in many ways, yet she toed her denomination’s party line and gave us the story of Abraham and Isaac complete with a heavy theological interpretation.

I can still remember her picture book from which she read the story. It showed a terrified little Isaac tied up on his back and flat on a stone altar, and a tall, long-bearded Abraham bending over him with a knife raised for the sacrificial kill. The knife, by the way, was a very large curved one, almost big enough to be a scimitar. Nearby, caught in some scrub, was a ram, but Abraham has not yet noticed the ram.

That scene was the stuff from which children’s nightmares are constructed. It troubled me greatly. Would my father kill me if God asked him to?

One evening, after dinner when my Dad sat in his favourite chair, and I was sitting on his knee, I plucked up courage to ask him whether he would be like Abraham if God asked him.

Poor Dad! Looking back now I can see that he was totally unprepared for that question. Torn between his desire to uphold the Bible and his love for me, he made a mess of answering his child. I did not know the word prevaricate then, but that is what he did. I took his awkward response as an unlikely yet grim possibility. It did not do much to alleviate nightmares.

You can see why I still have emotional problems with this story. I also have serious intellectual problems with it. Putting it simply: Would a loving God ask a man to kill his child as a means of proving his faith?

What would we do with any man today who was caught taking his son up a mountain in order to sacrifice him? We would arrest him and put him behind bars. If he continued to insist that he was obeying the Word of God, we would insist that he receive psychiatric care. The idea of human sacrifice is repugnant to us. We would see it as utterly immoral and suspect that the poor fellow was not dealing with God but with the Devil.

WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT?

Does that mean that morally we are superior to the God of the Old Testament? How can one reconcile the Old Testament God with the God of Jesus? Are agnostic humanitarians today more ethical than the God of Genesis?

This is not a new question posed by us, the extra clever little citizens of the twenty first century, who are inclined to feel superior to the generations that went before us. It troubled early Christians also. One such person was a fellow called Marcion, the son of a bishop. Marcion went to Rome and taught that the God of the Old Testament was fickle, cruel secondary being (Demiurge) who had nothing in common with the true God of Jesus. Marcion formed a powerful sect, and only permitted a Bible made up of the Gospel of St Luke and ten epistles of St Paul.

Marcion’s views were strenuously rejected by the main body of Christianity. His own father, the bishop of Sinope on the Black Sea, excommunicated his son Marcion. (Which no doubt confirmed Marcion’s opinion of the bad God of the Old Testament?)

The story of Marcion reminds us that we are not the first to have reservations about some of the Old Testament. His answer was unsatisfactory, but we can feel for him. Some passages are offensive to our sensibilities; the very same sensibilities that Christ Jesus has shaped within us.

KEEPING A CLEAR PERSPECTIVE

There are two things of which I need to remind myself, and maybe remind you, this morning if we are to keep things in perspective.

The first thing: The Old Testament foreshadows Jesus

Listen the whole Old Testament; don’t get bogged down in the awkward bits. The Old Testament also reaches the mighty heights of belief:

The trusting, intimate faith of the twenty third psalm,

The opening of Genesis with the declaration that God’s own breath is in us,

The high morality of the ten commandments,

The glorious, honest faith of Job,

The universal love of God depicted in the little book of Jonah,

The lofty ethics of social justice in the great prophets like Amos, Micah, and Amos,

The compassion of Hosea and Isaiah and the loyal love of Ruth,

and the beauty and faith of psalm 139

“Where shall I go from your Spirit, where can I be outside your Presence? If I ascend into

the heavens you are there, if I make my bed in hell, you are also there with me.”

That which we later find in the lovely, loving Jesus of Nazareth, is already there, to some

degree, in the Old Testament. The Old Testament must be interpreted in the light of the

New Testament. It prepares for Christ Jesus. It leads us surely to Christ Jesus.

The second thing: Read things in context.

I must tell myself to always keep in mind the importance of reading things in their context.

This can prompt me to consider two possibilities in interpretation.

1/- Abraham stands at the early stage of the developing faith of the Hebrew people.

His understanding is limited, but he knew that God must come first in all things. Maybe he got the way to express his faith wrong when he took his son up that mountain, but he did have his priorities right. He does show complete faith and love for his God.

2/- It may be that God is limited, in each generation, to dealing with us (foolish

creatures of limited understanding) in the limited ways we can comprehend?

Maybe even today God has to settle for using aspects of our life which will be repugnant to future generations, in order to help us grow in faith. If human sacrifice in Abraham’s day was the high expression of devotion to the gods, and if the offering of one’s own child was widely seen as the highest expression of devotion, then maybe God had to use that to extend the faith of Abraham to the fullest extent.

(Remember in the story as it is handed down to us, at no stage does God intend that Isaac will be killed.)

It is right that we today, followers of Christ Jesus, should find the idea of human sacrifice repugnant. But that does not mean that it should have seemed wrong to Abraham that God wanted him to do such a thing. We must not judge the story by our post-Jesus consciences.

THE MAIN MESSAGE AS I SEE IT

Let me now highlight the main feature of that old story which should speak to us and challenge us:

For Abraham God came first. Absolutely first. No conditions. No fine print.

Is our faith and love anywhere near that level? If it is not, then let us be humble in the presence of the story of Abraham.

For Jesus, God comes first.

In a very different setting, Jesus takes up the same issue with his disciples.

“He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Notice that there are two warnings in this hard saying of Jesus.

The first is that our loyalty to no person, no matter how dear to us, can take priority over our loyalty to Christ.

The second is that our own life must not precede Christ’s claim on us- taking up the cross is the metaphor to describe the putting one’s own life on the line for Jesus.

Unlike the Abraham story, Jesus is not asking us to sacrifice our loved ones on some altar. He is asking us to put them second to our loyalty to God.

Many people are still offended by this saying of Christ. They accuse him of cutting across that which is most precious and dear. I don’t see it that way. He is asking us to allow nothing to limit that which is the most precious and dearest and enduring thing of all: our love of God.

Factually, in most cases, putting God first will enable us to express our love for dear ones much better than we ever have before. In a minority of cases, putting God first may cause a rift from which it is hard to love our dear ones in practical ways, but it does not stop us loving them at a most profound, intense, God-deep level.

God first. We are willing to lose all in the cause of Christ. That is what matters most.

SUMMARY

Whatever the faults in the story of Abraham and Isaac going up the mountain, there is an admirable message there.

We hear the voice of the curious child asking: “Father, I can see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” To which the poor father, already grieving, can only say: God will provide a lamb for the offering, my son.” Abraham had it right in putting God first. God had it right in providing another lamb for the sacrifice.

After that event, Abraham experienced even a greater sense of blessing. It was the blessing of those who, being prepared to lose their life, everything most precious, find life in greater fullness.

That is a blessing worth coveting.

I BELIEVE

I believe in the God of Abraham and Jesus,

of sinner and saint, doubter and believer.

I believe in God who does not require costly offerings,

but love, loyalty and truth.

I believe in God who loves our dear ones

better than we can ever love them,

yet asks us to put them second,

so that we may better love them.

I believe in the God of grace, mercy and peace,

whom to serve is perfect freedom.

I believe that what I believe today is only a fraction

of the glory that is to come.

PRAYER OF THANKS

That there is a planet circling the sun, which we call earth, our first, wonderful home.