Sunday 16 November 2008 - No Buried Treasure

This sermon is based on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30

Introduction

For the last two Sundays, the subjects of our Epistle and Gospel readings have been the Second Coming of Christ (and the reign of the Kingdom of God) and our place as believers in that Kingdom (the resurrection life) Today is no exception as the assigned Scripture readings continue to look at these subjects from yet another angle.

As I said last week, Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians is an answer to the concerns of the church at Thessalonica - 'When Christ returns to earth in our lifetime and the Kingdom of God comes, what is going to happen to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have already died?' And Paul's answer to them (he's still expecting Christ to return in his generation) is 'Don't worry, they will not be second class citizens in God's Kingdom but they will also participate fully in the Kingdom life'.

The Gospel as Light of the World

Today's reading from Thessalonians is part of Paul's closing of the letter. And Paul takes the opportunity to remind them that the coming of God's Kingdom has already begun and that they are a part of it. And he uses the images of darkness and light to make his point. In 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 (NIV) he writes: 'But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.'

I suppose that many of the Thessalonians and many people in society today might want to respond incredulously 'How on earth can anyone claim that the Kingdom of God has already begun? Are you blind to all the evil that is going on in the world? Blind to the Roman occupation? Blind to the suffering in the Congo? Blind to people in Gaza who are starving? Blind to the current economic crisis?'

And I think that, theologically, the church's answer is 'No we are not blind to evil and injustice, but we also have hope for the future that God's certain intention is that evil and injustice will end and that they will be replaced by his Kingdom.' We believe that God has promised that as surely as the sunrise follows the nighttime, that evil and injustice will most certainly end. Paul makes this point a number of times in his first letter to the Thessalonians and, now at the end of his letter, he reminds us once again of the Church's glorious hope: The Gospel of Christ is the light of the world and we have been entrusted with that light.

The Gospel as a Great Treasure

In today's reading from Matthew, we have yet another image of the the Gospel message: the image of a great treasure.

How great a treasure is the Gospel? Well, it's like fifteen years' wages for a labourer (one talent). And that's just for starters because, although one of the servants in the story was given 15 years' wages, another servant was given 30 years' wages and still another 75 years'. The message of the Gospel is a huge treasure! As a child might say, the Gospel is as wonderful as a hundred million gazaillon years' wages.

And what does God want us to do with that treasure? God wants this treasure to be invested, he wants the talents to be spread around and wants the light to make the whole world glow But instead of spreading God's light all over the world, the church is often times guilty of hoarding it for ourselves, like a treasure buried for safekeeping.

Don't Bury Your Treasure

So if we are share our treasure better, what might this mean for church-going Christians at a practical level?

First of all, you might be glad to hear that I'm not trying to say that I think we should be out knocking on doors asking people if they've accepted Jesus into their hearts. Personally speaking, I actually think that this form of witnessing comes under the category of the third servant: it's an activity that meets our needs rather than the needs of others. As someone put it, it comes under the category of 'Because I need to tell you this, therefore you need to hear it.' Which is exactly the sort thing that this parable is warning against, I think.

But hold on to your pews because this parable is certainly not meant to make us comfortable or complacent. Rather this parable is a call to believing that the Kingdom of God will come on earth as it is in heaven not by things staying the same but rather by things changing. If the church doing things the way we've always done them were the key to the Kingdom of God, then the Kingdom would have come along time ago.

Now, I have to confess that I don't have any easy answers at a practical level about how to magically turn 10 portions of the Gospel into a great harvest. But I do have a few observations from the text.

First of all, the third servant was following the traditions and customs of his time: valuable treasures were to be buried. It was actually the first and second servants who we acting in a way that the prevailing culture would have called irresponsible.

The third servant was behaving as if God was that 'better safe than sorry' God who I talk about sometimes: He thought that God's main demands on his disciples is that we shouldn't break rules. When, in fact, God's main concern is that we spread his treasures about with abandon.

Church Idols?

But worse than that, the third servant seems to think that the religious customs of his time are not human-made customs, but that they actually are the will of God. I think that perhaps this is a lesson to the church: 'Which of our human customs do we confuse with God's calling? Which of our human customs do we idolise?

I honestly don't think that God cares if we have pews or chairs (although the Methodist Property office certainly does!) I don't think that God cares if we sing traditional hymns or Matt Redman worship songs. I don't think that God even cares if we stop worshipping on Sunday mornings and have a meal and a worship mid-week instead.

Thinking about some of these changes might make us nervous but I think this parable is asking us to stop and consider what it is that we might be doing simply as human custom that hinders the working of the Holy Spirit in us to spread the treasure of the Gospel.

Before I end, I want to say that I don't have a hidden agenda and I'm not to drop a bombshell on you. I'm simply trying to reflect on this passage.

This year, our circuit did a circuit review and, along with other churches in the circuit, we've seen the positive benefits of that exercise. I think it's important that we don't think of review and change as a one-off but rather as something that we must do on an on-going basis as part of our discipleship.

But in the middle of all this remains God's Good News: the coming of the Kingdom has begun and the Kingdom will reign on earth as it does in heaven. If the early church could profess this Good News whilst living in the middle of an occupation army, then we too can profess it in our own circumstances. Our God is a God of freedom and not of fear. His Spirit is there to guide us through the challenge of change. Spirit-led change is an adventure and not a threat.

My prayer this morning is that we will always continue on a journey of trying to discern how we can share the Gospel in a way that serves the needs of others rather than in a way that serves the needs of the Church. And I also pray that we can live joyfully in the freedom of the Holy Spirit so that we are not afraid of change. Amen

Sunday 13 April 2008 - The Good Shepherd Leads Us

This sermon uses the lectionary readings for Easter 4 in conjunction with the observance of 'Vocations Sunday'. I was a visiting preacher, but the sermon was also preached in the context of an on-going circuit review. Readings are: Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10.

Introduction

Today’s scripture readings offer to us the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when the image of Jesus as a good shepherd is mentioned, what springs into my mind is a picture that looks something like this

Isn’t this classic? An idyllic country scene, with a beautiful sunset in the background and a flock of sheep obediently following Jesus. And Jesus is lovingly cuddling a little lamb in his arm.

This idyllic picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a beautiful image. It’s a picture that we use with our children, both literally and figuratively. I couldn’t find the picture, but there is also picture that has been used in Sunday Schools of Jesus the Good Shepherd protecting human children as well as sheep and lambs.

A Foundation of Trust and Love

This is an entirely appropriate picture to use for our children. It is important to communicate to them that both God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ love them as fiercely as do their own parents. We want our children to learn that, no matter what happens in life, that the Good Shepherd is right there among his sheep and that his guidance and protection are to be absolutely trusted.

And this very same picture of the Good Shepherd is very often invoked at a funeral service. When we mourn, we especially need to be reminded of the fact that we are commending those who we love into the hands of a loving God who is, above all things, to be trusted. He is the good shepherd who protects his children from evil when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And it is not just at the beginning and at the end of life that we need to be reminded of the goodness of God. Within the history of Christianity, all traditions of spiritual discipline ask their students to ground their spiritual growth and their discipleship on the firm foundation of God’s love and of his providential care for us.

Knowing oneself to be both lovable and loved are the basic requirements for human beings to grow into the people that God intends us to be.

This is the Good News in today’s Scripture readings from John and from the Psalms: Jesus is the Good Shepherd. God loves you and me and he knows us by name. God cherishes each one of us individually and he walks with us in our journey through life.

We are not Sheep Safely Grazing

Are you waiting for me to say ‘but’? OK, here comes the ‘but’.

The image of the shepherd and the sheep has its limits. And the image of Christian disciples as sheep is especially limited and limiting. I don’t think we really want to characterise the Christian life as being the life of an obedient sheep. Good sheep meekly follow wherever they are led. They always comply. They stay safe. They are not animals known for exploring or exposing themselves to risk.

The problem is that, as human beings, we need to be able to take risks from time to time in order to grow.

As I mentioned earlier, today is ‘Vocations Sunday’ and I believe that fundamental to the concept of ‘vocation’ is that it involves a journey of change and transformation. Who are we and who are we being called to be? Both as individuals and also as a Christian community? There is an image in verse 3 of today’s reading of Christian disciples as being called out: ‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.’

Being a Christian is not just about finding and remaining in a safe place. If we see God’s love as a safe place that we don’t grow beyond, then Christianity becomes something that is just for children but has very little to offer to adults. Several weeks ago, a young woman in her early twenties said this to me in so many words: ‘I went to Sunday School and to the youth club when I was a child, but church is for children, it’s something that you grow out of.’

If all that Christianity has to offer is a safe place with no transformation and no growth, then it doesn’t offer humanity very much. To be human is to be on a journey of transformation and change. We need to go on this journey in our work lives, in our emotional lives, in our family lives and in our spiritual lives.

So, while it’s very important and appropriate that Church should be the place where we touch base on a regular basis to remind ourselves of the love of God and of his presence here among us… It’s also important that our church and our faith help us grow and others to growth and that our faith doesn’t hinder us or cause us to stagnate.

Expect Transformation

So, how do we embark on a journey of transformation and change?

I think that we have to expect change and transformation and, dare I say it, we even have to pray for it and ask God to guide us in the process of change. Change is always somewhat difficult and sometimes it’s even downright painful.

Since church communities are often called upon to be pastoral to those in pain, I think that we sometimes assume that if a change is painful that it must not be of God. And I think that there is also a wider assumption in society that since God does not change that the church should not change either.

I’m not suggesting that our core doctrines should be altered, but beyond these, individuals and congregations might be called upon at different times to make changes that might feel painful.

Not just the obvious changes that people tend to grumble about like pews versus chairs or old hymns versus new worship songs, but God may call us to take up activities that we don’t feel entirely comfortable with. And he may ask us to give up prized activities that we are comfortable with which are no longer serving his purposes.

I’m a visiting preacher this morning. I have no idea what sort of transformation God is calling you to, either on an individual level or a congregational level. That is something that only you can discern through prayer, by looking at where your gifts and talents lie and by discerning the needs of those around you.

What I do know is that growth and transformation require change. And I do not believe that God has called the church to be unchanging (although you are always free to disagree with me).

Conclusion and Good News

The Good News in all of this is that the Good Shepherd is trustworthy and he wants to lead us.

Human beings were made for growth and for transformation and, just as certainly as the Good Shepherd is with us at the beginning and at the end of our lives, so too is he with us in the journey, even when that journey is difficult or confusing or downright painful.

So my prayer this morning is that we may each hear the voice of the Good Shepherd more clearly as he calls us and leads us in the journey of transformation. Amen