Be Still and Know (Remembrance Day Sermon 2014)

Psalm 46.1-11

If you have travelled to London to see the amazing installation around the Tower of London you will have been deeply impressed I'm sure. There’s a picture of it on the back of your booklets when our Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited it a few weeks ago.

888,246 ceramic poppies, each one representing one British life cut short in World War I, planted into the ground surrounding the tower, making a sea of red.

It takes something like this to help you see the scale of the loss of life not only our country, but others, suffered from 1914 to 1918.

I am so pleased today that we have a surviving relative of one of our parishioners who fell in that conflict. When, in August, Miriam showed me the scribbled letter announcing the circumstances of John Flower’s death sent to his next of kin I was very moved to hold it and read it. But, of course, hundreds of thousands of similar letters had to be written, despatched, opened and read as that atrocious war raged on.

Its pain was still felt decades on. In 2007, a ninety-seven year old woman laid a wreath at her father's grave at a war cemetery in northern France. Her note said: "Thank you for five years of real happiness... I've missed you all my life."

One of the things I have become aware of in this 100th anniversary year of the outbreak of World War I is the standard issue Saint John's Gospels, that were given to any serving soldier who wanted one, during the conflict.

I never knew this before, but 42 million Active Service Gospels like this one were printed and given away, which is a testament to the huge demand there was for them.

I came across an extract from a soldier’s diary this week that shows how they were sometimes used: “My pal was mortally wounded only a yard from me. I showed him his wife's photo and read her last letter to him, and part of St John 17, and so passed away a real Christian soldier. It was with a heavy heart and wet eyes that I left him with the snow falling on his body. All around lay dead and wounded, and I did what I could... You will gather how we suffered when I tell you that out of forty-two in our platoon, only eleven are left and I am one of them.”

I wonder what words from John 17 he read to his dying comrade? Maybe it was the verse where Jesus says, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

Chaplains on the front line asked if a decision form could be added to the back page of the gospels and their request was granted.

This is what it said. Decision Form. Being convinced that I am a sinner, and believing that Christ died for me, I now receive him as my personal Saviour, and with his help I intend to confess him before men.

Servicemen were invited to sign underneath as a gesture of commitment, for their own assurance as they faced the ever-present reality that this day might be their last on earth. And many did sign that decision page, drawing strength and peace from their spiritual commitment.

The trenches were a place where some lost faith, such was the raw horror of what they witnessed. But, in those years of hell on earth, many found faith too.

Scripture Gift Mission who printed these gospels, received many letters of gratitude from serving personnel and here’s a quote from one of them:

“When your small Testaments were distributed on the Common at Southampton I, among others, accepted one in a more derisive than complimentary manner. I little dreamed that I should use it and find in it great consolation in lonely hours. I have learned to realise the great personality of the saviour. When at night I have been on duty alone with him by my side, and the Germans but 30 yards away, I realised that I needed more than my own courage to stand the strain. When the shells of the enemy have burst periodically at my feet I have marvelled at the fact of still being alive.”

Here’s an extract from another letter: “Only recently I was in a very big engagement, when bullets and shells were bursting around us every minute, and none of us knew when one would burst and blow us to pieces. That was the time when I turned to God and prayed for protection, and he has answered my prayers.”

And just one more: “Last night during my watching time I remembered what you told me about the Lord Jesus and sin and the mercy of God. I was feeling the wings of death flying over my head, and at that solemn moment I prayed for the first time in many years.”

Our first reading from Psalm 46 affirms the truth of human conflict. “Nations are in uproar” it says. But it goes on to affirm this great reality; “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Those letters sent from the front lines are hard evidence of how true that is. This is not some academic lecture from an ivory tower. To have to leave your trench, go over the top, dash through no man’s land towards the enemy front line, with grenades going off all around you and deafening machine-gun fire taking men down on your left and your right - to do that and still be able to say “God is my strength, I can face without flinching the possibility that this may be my last day alive” - is a powerful testimony.

At the end of the Psalm it says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

The former head of the British Army, Lord Dannatt spoke two years ago about coming to saving faith on the field of combat as he himself did. "Many soldiers came to know that in the Somme in 1916" he said. "Others have come to know it today in southern Afghanistan. And I got to know it on 11th November 1977. That is the date of the anniversary of Armistice Day when… in 1918 the surrender of Germany to end the First World War was announced. A surrender is two things; it’s the end of the fighting and it’s the beginning of the peace. I found that day that if we surrender our lives to God’s will we can gain the peace and purpose in life that only trust in... Jesus Christ can give.”

As we make our bitter-sweet remembrance today, looking back with both sorrow and gratitude, let us also look forward and entrust our lives and our future to the God of peace who, as our Psalm says, makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.

As later this morning we stop and become quiet for two minutes, let us also be still and know deep in our soul that he is God. 

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 9th November 2014

The Secret of Getting Younger

Herbert Silverwood was a Yorkshire-born-and-bred pub comedian, turned old style evangelist who used to conduct beach missions. Quite a character... One very hot summer, he had been preaching all week on Great Yarmouth beach and he thought he’d go for a dip to cool off. The thing is, he couldn’t swim a stroke - but he said to himself he’d just go in waist deep and everything would be fine.

Alas, he hadn’t noticed that the sand sloped quite steeply a few yards in to sea; he lost his footing and started to flail his arms, splashing around and yelling for help.

It just so happened that a life guard was on duty nearby, so he dashed into the water, pulled the old boy out, and pumped him dry. “I don’t know Mr. Silverwood” he said. “All week long I’ve been listening to you preaching about heaven and how you can’t wait to get there. The first opportunity you have to go, you’re desperate to put it off!”

Silverwood, with all the quick reflexes of a stand-up comedian, just smiled at the hero who had saved his life and said, “Listen to me young man, would you want to face the last judgement dressed in these swimming trunks?”

November is maybe the month of the year when we are most aware of our mortality; many churches hold bereavement services around All Saints’ Day. Then there is Remembrance of course, the honouring of lives tragically cut short by war.  

As leaves drop off the trees and the days turn darker and colder, nature itself seems to remind us of the inevitability of the winter of our lives.

Every November, I add a year to my age. Someone once joked “One of the many things no one tells you about ageing is that it’s such a nice change from being young.” But there are advantages to getting older. This month, I turn 53 and the only way to fit that many candles on the cake is to get a bigger one.

Billy Graham once said, “You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole.”

I don’t think he was just talking about eternal life and the wonderful presence of Jesus, an illuminating glimpse of which we had at All Saints’ when Paul McWilliams came to speak last month. Paul told the remarkable story of how he came to faith after a serious accident from which he was not expected to survive and which resulted in his heart stopping several times. He told of his encounter with Jesus and of his extraordinary healing after the doctors had said he had no chance.

I think that Graham also meant that ageing, for Christians, is only what you see on the outside. On the inside, spiritually, we’re actually getting younger as grace slowly works Jesus’ character into ours - what the Bible calls “sanctification.”

This is surely what 2 Corinthians 4.16 means. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

I think that’s something to make a splash about.

Seven Marks of a Healthy Church (Acts 11.19-30 and 13.1-3)

Introduction

I was once walking around a town on the south coast of England in the late 80’s when I came across a church and noticed the large black sign board outside. It said in large gold letters “Mount Zion Chapel.” And underneath were three words. What three words do you think they’d want to say to the world outside? Welcome to all? Do come in? House of prayer? God loves you? Jesus is Lord? Believe me, I am not joking, the three words they chose were “strict and particular!”

The term actually refers to their policy on membership and communion. But I didn’t think to myself “That looks friendly, let’s go there on Sunday.”

In my research for this talk I found that that church no longer exists. It was sold for demolition and redevelopment. It’s dead.

Churches do become sick and sometimes die. The book of Revelation tells us that Jesus is prepared to close churches that forsake their first love. This church could close one day. There is a course of action we could take that would lead to decline, and eventual closure. I hope that will never happen but the truth is that it could.

How would we know if we were becoming sick? What are the signs of a healthy church? If you want a biblical model of a healthy church as a kind of yardstick, you could do a lot worse than the church at Antioch which is the subject of our two readings from Acts this morning.

Was it a perfect church? No. We know Antioch had some difficulties. For example, two of its leaders had a barnstorming argument at the end of Acts 15. Paul held up the churches in Philippi and Thessalonica as shining examples for other churches to emulate but he never did for Antioch. Maybe knew a few home truths about it that we don’t read in Acts.

But there are 7 signs of health in this local church that I long for at All Saints’.

And here they are;

Contagious friendship   

Wider-church partnership

Teachable membership                               

Prophetic worship

Generous stewardship                                 

Inclusive fellowship

Team leadership                                                                             

1) Contagious Friendship

No one knows who started the church in Antioch. It came into being, humanly speaking, almost by accident. After Stephen was stoned to death in chapter 7, persecution broke out and many Christians had to leave Jerusalem, running for their lives. This is where we started today out in v19.

It's natural that some of these believers would head for Antioch, even though it was about 300 miles away, because it was a large city, well over half a million people at that time. In fact, it was the 3rd city of the Roman Empire (only Alexandria and Rome itself were greater in size).

As these displaced believers fled with their families, naturally enough, they talked to people about Jesus. “You’re not from here, what are you doing in these parts?” “Oh, we had to leave Jerusalem because people were trying to kill us.” “Why was that then?” “Well, it’s because of our faith. They’re trying to wipe us out.” “Oh? What faith would that be then?”

And as they began to share their faith with people they met and got to know, others became Christians. This is what I call contagious friendship.

Raise your hand please if at least part of the reason you are a Christian today is because of someone else you admired or who loved you or brought you to church or something like that? You see? Contagious friendship. That’s how the church started to form and grow.

That’s the main reason churches grow now. People talk about Jesus to others. Churches become unhealthy when nobody in the church really knows anyone or talks with anyone outside the church about Jesus any more.

Up till this point, some Gentiles had come to Christ. The Ethiopian official. Cornelius and his household. But this was the first time anyone had heard about Jesus without knowing something of the Old Testament. These new Christians in Antioch were complete outsiders.

Verse 21 tells us that the Lord's hand was with them, (that’s wonderful isn’t it? Do you feel that the Lord’s hand is with you?) A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

2) Wider-church Partnership

The second sign of a healthy church is wider-church partnership. In v22-23 the church down south sent Barnabas the encourager to support them. Then in v25-26 Saul the Bible teacher came down from Tarsus to give them some foundational teaching in God’s word.

In v27 they bring in some prophetic ministry from Jerusalem to speak into their life of the church. In v30 they send Saul and Barnabas out with some financial support to the churches in Judea.

I love this flowing in and out from different churches of people and ministry. It’s not “you in your small corner and I in mine.”

This is why we’re part of New Wine, an international network of churches. We want the inspiration of the wider church to impact us. Wasn’t it great to have Paul McWilliams with us last month?

We have Ashley here thanks to our partnership with Youth for Christ and the Vine. In healthy churches ministry flows two ways.

In Antioch, they gave away the best they had. In chapter 13, v2-3 they sent out two valued, key leaders, 40% of their leadership team, in one go. Why would they do that? They wanted to bless others with the gospel. Give it away. They had a bigger vision than just watering their patch.

When you think of this church releasing John and Janet out to Long Newton 15 years ago, sending Alan and Nicky out to Stockton seven years ago and Sylvia to Egglescliffe nine months ago, so have we. Although we love them and miss them, we can see blessing being carried out from here and bringing life to other places. Long Newton and the Parish Church were on the verge of closure. They’re now brimming with life. And new people are starting to come into the church at Egglescliffe as well.

I believe this is the fulfilment of a prophecy we had here some years ago of the river of life, a torrent of blessing flowing from the chancel, through the nave and out the doors to the wider area.

I want All Saints’ to keep resourcing other churches and help them come alive in the Holy Spirit. And as we give away blessing, God pours more in. Healthy churches reproduce life.

3) Teachable Membership

                                               

Every healthy church will have sound Bible teaching. I’ve mentioned that Barnabas brought Saul in to do some teaching with them. There were so many non-Jews coming to faith in Christ with no knowledge of the Bible at all and they needed a lot of teaching so v26 says that for a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

Ben Stuart, who leads a fruitful student ministry in Texas, said at the Desiring God conference this year, “I have never met a strong Christian who doesn’t read God’s word every day. And I have never a weak Christian who does.”

Nicky Gumbel tells the story of a man who went to see his vicar and he said, “I don’t read my Bible.”  And the vicar said, “Well, you should, why don’t you?” He said, “Oh, it interferes with my work.” So the vicar said, “Interferes with your work?  What do you mean?  What do you do?”  He said, “Well, I am a pick-pocket!”

The biggest reason, I think, that people don’t grow in their Christian faith is because they don’t read the Bible. Healthy children will only grow if they eat and in the same way this is food. Jesus said, “People cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. It’s spiritual food.  And we need it grow. 

As we read, we are encouraged. As we read, we see the lives of the great men and women of God that challenge us. As we read the Psalms we read about people who are going through the same difficulties that we have.  Each day, as we read this book, if we do it on a regular basis, God will speak to us.

David Suchet, the actor who plays Poirot, came to faith reading a Gideons New Testament in his hotel bathroom and said this, “I find the Bible fascinating because on every page I meet God, and in meeting God I meet Jesus.”

4) Prophetic Worship

But Antioch didn’t only have teachers, they had prophets as well. A teacher in the church helps people see truth by opening the scriptures and it takes study and planning to do that. Prophets don’t prepare sermons; they bring direct revelation, a visual picture or a picture or some other revelation from God.

There were two Christians in a train when there was an announcement from the driver that the brakes had failed and the train was running down a hill, out of control. One Christian says to the other "Oh no, we're going to die!" His friend just yawns and looks at his companion and says, "don't worry, it's going to be o.k. There's unfulfilled prophecy in my life."

People are screaming and panicking. The first Christian says "What prophecies?" "Well", says the second one "Someone once had a word from the Lord that I was going to walk away from a train accident without a scratch.” The first one says, “What else did the prophecy say?” The second one says, “That I'd be the sole survivor!"

Actually, the Bible says that "those who prophecy speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." (1 Corinthians 14.3).

What is prophecy? Is it God's word? The Bible certainly is God's word. So is prophecy equal with scripture? If not, how much of God's word is there in prophecy? If someone prophesies do we have to follow what he or she says?

Prophecy is saying something that God has spontaneously brought to mind. V27-28 say this: “During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.”

There are detailed records of this period and the reign of Claudius was indeed remarkable for frequent famines. (They occurred in the 1st, 2nd, 4th 9th and 11th years of his reign). There were food shortages and blighted harvests all over the empire during that time. But there never was one great empire-wide famine.

Agabus was obviously inspired but not 100% infallible. So when we prophesy it’s part God's revelation and part our interpretation of it.

That's why 1 Thessalonians 5 says "Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good." Clearly implying "don't hold on to the not so good." 1 Corinthians 13 says “We prophesy in part.” So we need to catch what God is saying and filter the bits that are from us.

And 1 Corinthians 14 says "Let two or three prophets speak and let others weigh what is said." You don’t weight scripture to discern which bits are true. It’s all true. So, prophecy today should not be considered as equal to God's word in authority.

Healthy churches will encourage prophetic ministry. In healthy churches people eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.

5) Generous Stewardship

The fifth mark of a healthy church is generous stewardship. “I think” said Jim Carrey that “everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it's not the answer.”

A healthy Christian is a giving Christian and a giving Christian is a joyful Christian.

The church accounts say as much about our spiritual health as any other document in this church.

Susie Thorp, who used to be a curate here, once taught me a prayer to say as the offering is brought forward. You lift the plate up with its envelopes, its banknotes, and its loose change and you pray, “No matter what we say or do, this is what we think of you.”

And that’s true because Jesus said “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

In verse 29 the Christians in Antioch decided, each according to his or her ability, to provide financial and material help for their brothers and sisters in Judea. That's an expression of generosity in itself. But when you look a little closer, you see it's not just generous, it's sacrificial.

Reading from verse 28, you notice that this collection of funds for victims of famine was a response to Agabus’ word that famine would affect the entire Roman Empire. Antioch was in the Roman Empire. In other words, they decided to give away some of what they had, knowing that they themselves would be hit by shortages.

If you knew you were going to lose your job tomorrow, you might tighten your belt a bit. The Antioch reflex reaction is to not to say: "how can I manage?" but "how can I bless others who will lose their income at the same time?"

Antioch is a great role model for giving. I love it that over and above our committed giving to the Lord’s work here we sent over £2,000 to Christians in Iraq and Syria last month. I love it that, over and above our committed giving to the Lord’s work here, we’re blessing communities who have nothing in Romania with these shoe box gifts of love. I love that. Because healthy churches are generous churches.

6) Team Leadership

Sixthly, team leadership.

Two guys were working along the roadside. Someone came by and couldn't understand what they were doing. So, he said, "I see how hard you're working, but it seems that one of you digs a hole, and then the other guy fills it back up again." So they look at him and say "Oh, the third guy who plants the trees in the hole is off sick today."

I’ve been on leadership teams like that… Not here thankfully. In 13.1-3, we get a glimpse of the leadership of a healthy church. No trace of one man ministry. It was a fully functional team.

There are five leaders with different but complementary gifts. They pray together, fast together, worship together, seek the Lord's face together and hear from God together.

Healthy churches raise up leaders with spiritual gifts to work in teams.

Some leaders are DOTs – doers of tasks. The best leaders are DOPs – developers of people. If you’re a doer of tasks, you get things done but when you eventually go, there’s no one around who can do what you do. If you’re a developer of people, when you leave, you’re hardly missed because you’ve left a legacy of trained teams who are leading ministries.

7) Inclusive Fellowship

Those mentioned in v1-3 were obviously from different backgrounds. Barnabas was a Cypriot, Simeon was a black African, Lucius was a Jew from North Africa, Manaen was from high places and Saul was a Roman citizen from Tarsus. It was a diverse, multi-ethnic and international church.

I once had an ethnic Jew from England and an ethnic Arab from Morocco in a church I led. Jews and Arabs; two peoples who have hated each other since Isaac and Ishmael. But these two guys were great friends. They would hug each other during the Peace and bless one another with tears because the Holy Spirit has made them brothers in Christ. Isn’t that beautiful? That’s just so Jesus isn’t it?

Ending

Finally, I want to say this. When the church started in Antioch there was a problem. Nobody knew what to call them? Up to this point, believers in Jesus were just considered as eccentric Jews. But in this new church, most of the believers were Gentiles. So the question arose, what should we call these people?

Verse 26 says that was, in fact, the locals who gave them the nickname ‘Christians.’

Some churches are named after what most distinguishes them. A group of charismatic believers in the 17th Century used to shake as the Holy Spirit fell on them so people called them... Quakers. Another group of Christians sprung up in the 18th Century who were rigorous and methodical so people called them... Methodists.

Other churches are named after their leaders. Lutherans are named after... Martin Luther. Mennonites are named after... Menno Simons (you knew that didn't you)? 

As the believers in Antioch became a recognisable group, people will have asked them out of curiosity, “What’s your religion all about?” Christ. “Which gods do you worship?” Just one; Christ. “Who’s your leader then?” Christ. “Yes, but who’s in charge?” Christ. “I know, but who actually runs this church?” Christ.

It’s like that story of the little boy who learned by the age of 5 that the answer to every question his Sunday school teacher asked was Jesus. Until one day she said, “Who can tell me what’s small and red with a big bushy tail and stores nuts for the winter? So he put his hand up and said “Miss, I know the answer’s Jesus, but I think it’s a squirrel!” 

I will measure the health this church by how much people love to talk about Jesus and what he’s done for them. It’s all about him.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 2nd November 2014

Dealing with the Opposition (Acts 13.1-12)

I’d like you to imagine this is some years hence and you are considering candidates for a new vicar. You have looked at the profiles of several promising candidates when a new folder lands on your desk.

You open it to find, first of all, a physical description of your potential new minister. I quote: “He has a small and contracted body, crooked and bow legged. He has a little head and strange eyes; his eyebrows join together; his hook nose is bent and somewhat long; his beard is thick and he has a sprinkling of grey hairs on his otherwise bald head. His face is pale and looks rather old.”

But not to be swayed by what are after all superficial matters, you read down his CV and it includes the following facts. “He rarely stays more than twelve months in one place, usually upsets people every time he opens his mouth, is often hard to understand, is known to be publicly argumentative with colleagues, has often found himself in trouble with the police, is frequently in court, has spent several terms in prison, apparently hears voices, is by his own admission an unimpressive public speaker and earns a bit of money by making camping equipment.”

I wouldn’t blame you if you replied to that particular applicant “We’ll let you know.”

But you’d be turning down the Apostle Paul. The physical description is the earliest we have and dates from the second century.

The biography on the CV is all taken from the Bible. He was perhaps the least promising candidate imaginable for ordained ministry (as we call it) but he was one of the greatest missionaries that has ever lived.

If ever there was a perfect demonstration of the truth that man looks at outward appearances but God looks at the heart, the Apostle Paul is surely it.

Today’s reading from Acts describes how that all started. He didn’t wake up one morning and decide on a career move. He was sent out with the blessing of his church after it had been made clear to them that he was called to the work.

His sending church was in Antioch, a city quite some distance north of the Holy Land. Up to this point, believers in Jesus were just considered to be eccentric Jews. But in this church, most of the believers were not Jews but Gentiles. So the question arose, what should we call these people? It was, in fact, the locals who gave them the nickname ‘Christians’ and it’s obvious why.

As J. John once said, “If you take ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christian’ you’re left with ‘Ian’. And Ian isn’t going to get you to heaven!”

It’s clear from the descriptions in the first few verses that there was a diversity of religious background, country of origin, background culture, ethnicity, and professional training in that church in Antioch.

These verses also tell us about the diversity of their spirituality. Four features of it are mentioned; two of which are instantly recognisable in today’s church and two of which have rather fallen into disuse.

Their services had a mixture of teaching and prophecy. Teaching is the proclamation of eternal truths applicable at all times and in all places. That’s what I’m doing now. But prophecy is inspired words from God for local situations and specific times. We see less of that today perhaps but we need both ministries if the church is to be healthy.

We’re also told they prayed and fasted. Prayer needs no explanation. Fasting is a denial of the physical appetite in order to sharpen our spiritual hunger. If I’m wondering if I left the gas on while I pray, it’s distracting. Fasting clears the decks to pray with focus. Like prophecy, fasting is somewhat neglected in the contemporary church. But again, we need to both pray and fast if we are going to see the kind of spiritual dynamism they had in the Acts of the Apostles.

So Paul was sent out with his co-leader Barnabas and they went to Cyprus, where Barnabas was from, and they travelled the length of the island.

They started with those who were nearest to God. They went to the synagogues and explained what the Old Testament says about Jesus.

They started with people who believe in God but don’t know Christ. These are the best people to share faith with in our country.

And it is in fact most people. A 2007 YouGov poll on attitudes to faith in this country showed the following:

I believe in God - 28%

I believe in “something” but am not sure what - 26%

I am an Atheist - 16%

I am Agnostic (no one can know if there is a God) - 9%

I would like to believe and envy those who do but can’t  -5%

I haven’t given it much thought - 10%

I don’t know - 3%

Other - 3%

If you take away those who say there is no God and those who say it’s impossible to say, there are still about 75% of people with whom you can have a proper discussion about your faith.

Put it another way. Judy Hirst from our diocese was telling the MDT on Thursday night that society is, broadly speaking divided into 5 categories.

10% are churchgoers – at least once a month. That’s us.

A further 10% are the what she called the fringe. That’s those who come occasionally, or who attend Little Ted or the Drop-in. It's unbelieving spouses of members here. It's those who we have contact with through weddings and funerals. They are on the edge of church life but can’t really be considered as members.

A further 20% used to come to church but don’t any more. Maybe they got too busy. Maybe they moved and didn't settle in a new church. Maybe children came along and there was nothing really for them. They would be open to coming back – but just haven’t got round to it.

A further 20% also used to come to church but don’t any more. However, these ones are closed about the idea of coming back. They’ve had a bad experience. Someone upset them. The vicar got their mum’s name wrong at a funeral. The church committed the unforgivable sin of getting rid of the pews. They took offence and are determined to never come back.

And the final 40% are unchurched. Apart from the odd wedding of a distant relative or Auntie Flo's funeral, they have never been inside a church. They have no idea what the church is like, what it stands for and what it does. It just does not feature in their world at all.

Which do you think are the most strategic groups for sharing our faith? I think it's groups 2 and 3, and then 5. By that estimation it's still 70%.

That’s the equivalent of where Paul and Barnabas started out in their world. Eventually, their greatest opportunity arrived when they were invited to Governor’s Palace.

Billy Graham was relatively unknown in Britain when he first came. Then was invited to Windsor Castle to meet the Queen – and his ministry took off. The same happened with Paul and Barnabas only this time it was the Roman Governor.

The Romans were notoriously superstitious. They put a lot of energy into interpreting dreams, astrology, horoscopes and the occult. They hired soothsayers and personal clairvoyants. One of them was a lapsed Jew called Elymas.

The good news of Jesus and the bad news of dark world of occult arts never mix. It’s like a warm front colliding with a cold front – the only possible outcome is a thunderstorm.

Tom Wright says that “there is no advance for the gospel without opposition… It’s only when an apparent disaster threatens or when the church is suddenly up against confrontation and has to pray its way through, that you can be quite sure you’re on the right track.”

When Paul and Barnabas met spiritual resistance there was a threat to the success of their ministry. But they had a praying and fasting church behind them. There was plenty of spiritual capital in their heavenly bank account. I believe it’s because there was a covering of prayer that when difficulty came, instead of stalling, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and equipped to deal with the problem before them.

We know about the miracles of opening the eyes of the blind. But there is also the miracle of closing the eyes of the seeing. It happened to Paul, then called Saul, you’ll remember in chapter 9.

The Venerable Bede, commenting on this incident, said 900 years ago, “Paul, remembering his own case, knew that by the darkening of the eyes the mind’s darkness might be restored to light.”

The result is that the Governor came to Christ. That was a big fish. Pray that men and women of position and influence in our town come to faith in Jesus. Pray for your MP, for the Mayor, for the Town Council, for the Police Commissioner, for captains of industry and business leaders.

Verse 12 says “When the governor saw what had happened he believed.” So seeing is believing. When Long Newton and Teesside can see the results of what we say, faith will come.

Our town will not believe until it sees Jesus in the lives of ordinary Christians, feeding the poor, healing the sick and loving the unlovable.

Then, even if we have bow legs, hooked noses and bald heads, even if we have a CV to be filed in the shredder, the world will look past us and see Jesus.

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 26th October 2014.

Seeds of Faith (Luke 8.4-15)

A Baptism Talk on the Parable of the Soweer

Introduction

Everyone loves a story, especially if it’s told well. Jesus knew that perfectly well. He told lots of stories. In fact, there was a particular time in his life when the Bible says he didn’t say anything to anyone without telling a story.

It must have been a bit weird. “Morning Jesus, how are you today?” “Well, once upon a time there were two pirates in a haunted galleon…”

He was a masterful story teller and some of his stories are among the most popular in the world but they are usually called, not stories, but parables.

The story we just read this morning is one such parable and what it says is simple - a farmer scatters seeds, throwing them all over the place. That’s the way they do it in the Middle East, not planting seeds in neat rows as we do but spreading it all over the soil.

You can go out there today and see that they still do it that way now. And because the farmer has this scattergun approach, the seeds land in different places with different results.

We’ll think about all that in just a moment but first, what actually is a parable? What makes a parable different from any other story? There are in fact three things that make a story a parable.

A Story with a Moral

Firstly, parables usually have a moral to them. The Hare and the Tortoise is not just a story about a race, it’s a lesson about being arrogant. The moral is that pride comes before a fall.

Here’s a story with a moral: A sales rep, a secretary and a manager are walking to lunch when they come across an old lamp. They rub it and a genie appears. The genie says: "I'll give you all one wish." "Me first!” says the secretary. I want to be in the Bahamas, on a luxury yacht, with a spa." Puff! She's gone. "Me next!” says the sales rep. I want to be in Crete, on the beach with my personal masseuse and an endless supply of beer." Puff! He's gone. "OK, your turn now" says the genie to the manager. The manager says: "I want those two back in the office straight after lunch." The moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

A Story with a Meaning

Parables not only have a moral, they also have a meaning. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is bit like this; it’s not really about pigs and sheep and chickens or agriculture. It’s actually about Communism. That’s the hidden meaning. Jesus’ parables are like this; you have to look deeper to see what they’re really saying.

Jesus calls this a “secret” in v10. Some people unlock the secret and get the meaning. Others don’t.

Getting the meaning of a parable is like one of those magic eye pictures; when you look at it a certain way, it reveals a hidden 3-D shape. Some people see it quite quickly. Others try for a bit, get annoyed and give up. Some don't even bother.

If you're not interested in spiritual things, you'll only see a nice little story about sowing seeds. If you don’t want to know God, all this will go over your head, you’ll be glad when the service is over so you can leave. That’s precisely what Jesus says will happen.

But if you're in this place because you're looking for God, what you experience here today will make sense. If you are motivated to get to know God, when you hear the words of Jesus you will see truth.

A Story with a Mirror

Parables not only have a moral and a meaning, they are also a mirror. In Jesus’ stories, if you engage with them, you see things about yourself, and what you’re really like.

That’s what happens in the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells it to a religious man who is basically looking for an excuse to avoid the riff raff. But as he listens to Jesus'story, he realises that he is like the pompous priest who walks on by on the other side because he doesn’t want to get involved.

The story is a mirror and he gets a nasty shock when he looks at it – which is something I can relate to every morning.

In today’s story, Jesus said that there are four different ways that people approach God.

1. The Path

In the Middle East, you find many beaten down tracks that lie between fields. They’re like public footpaths; this is where everyone walks and so they become very hard, like concrete.

The farmer says, “Some of my seed fell on this path. Before it had a chance to take root, in fact before lunchtime, the birds ate it up and it was gone.”

These are people, Jesus says, who switch off. As soon as you mention God they glaze over. Some have a hardness of heart – perhaps because they’ve been hurt or upset by someone they associate with the church. With others it’s hardness of mind; a kind of prejudice that says “whatever you tell me, I don’t want to know.”

I once knew a man who plied me with questions about my faith. Some questions were really good. What about suffering? How can you believe in miracles? Does evolution disprove creation? What about other religions? Other questions were a bit silly. What about the Da Vinci Code? We worked through the questions together but each time we did, he’d raise some other objection.

So one day I said to him, “Look, if I answered all your questions to your complete satisfaction, would you believe in Jesus Christ?” He said “No.” He was like the seed on the path – for all his apparent interest he was in fact closed.

2. Rocky Places

So the farmer says “Some of my seed fell on rocky places. The plants grew really quickly here – but they didn't last long. They quickly withered away because they didn't have enough soil to grow good roots.”

You can find this sort of ground all over the place in Israel; hard limestone which is porous so it soaks up rain very quickly. Plants spring up in no time but they soon wither in the hot sunshine. You need a layer of soil for plants to survive, so that the roots can use the moisture before it dries up.

These are people, Jesus says, who are enthusiastic when they hear about God’s power to change lives, but it’s only shallow. They believe for a little while, but life moves on and they forget all about it.

For Gracie and Sienna being baptized this morning, today is only a start. Baptism means very little by itself; it’s like seeds you water only once and then leave to dry.

You see, baptism doesn’t make you a Christian; only ongoing faith in Jesus can make you a Christian. So I want to encourage you to keep watering the seed of faith by reading the Bible and teaching your girls to pray and encouraging them to be part of this Christian community.

3. Thorns

So the farmer says “Some of my seeds fell among thorns. Nothing really grows here – only thistles and weeds which take over.”

Palestinian thorns can grow 5 or 6 feet high. Busy farmers might have time to lop the tops off, the visible part above the soil, but if they leave the roots in they get nowhere. Anyone who has a garden knows that weeds and thorns grow faster than anything else and you’ve got to root them out or they’ll just be worse than before.

Jesus said this is like the worries and distractions we all have that smother our life of faith until it suffocates. All of us are busy. All of us are pressed for time. All of us have interests and cares. And that’s good. The question is “Am I prepared to let the important and the urgent choke to death the essential?”

4. Good Soil

But the farmer says “And some of my seed fell on good soil and it became a harvest.”

Only some who hear the good news about Jesus become believers. And Jesus says that they produce a harvest of love and joy and faith.

A few years ago, (this is a true story), the Christian author Tony Campolo flew to Hawaii for a conference. He checked into a hotel and went to bed.

Unfortunately, his internal clock woke him at 3:00am. He got up and looked for somewhere to get an early breakfast. Everything was closed except for a grungy café down a small alley.

So he goes in and a guy with greasy hair and dandruff comes over. “What d’ya want?” Well, Tony isn’t so hungry anymore so he says, “I’ll have a black coffee please.”

As he sits there sipping his coffee, in walk eight or nine prostitutes just finished with their night’s work. Tony finds himself surrounded by this group of chain smoking, hard swearing and underdressed women. He decides to gulp his coffee down and make a quick getaway.

But the woman next to him says to her friend, “You know what? Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be 39.” To which her friend replies, “So what d’ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday?”

The first woman says, “Ah, come on, why do you have to be so mean? I’m just sayin’ it’s my birthday. I don’t want anything from you. I’ve never had a birthday party in my life. Why should I have one now?”

Tony sits and waits until they leave, and then he asks the guy with the greasy hair and dandruff, “Do they come in here every night?” And it turns out that they do.

He says “I heard that the one next to me has her birthday tomorrow. Do you think we could maybe throw a little birthday party for her in the café?”

“That’s great,” he says, “I like it.” He turns to the kitchen and shouts to his wife, “This guy’s got a great idea. Tomorrow is Agnes’ birthday and he wants to throw a party for her.”

His wife appears. “That’s terrific,” she says. “You know, Agnes is so nice. She’s always trying to help other people and nobody does anything for her.” So they make their plans.

At 2:30am the next day, Tony is back. He has crepe paper and other decorations and a sign made of big pieces of cardboard that says, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” They decorate the place from one end to the other and get it looking great.

The man with the dandruff and greasy hair (whose name is Harry) got the word out about the party and by 3:15am practically every call girl in Honolulu is there.

At 3:30am, in she walks. They all shout “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” She is absolutely stunned, her mouth falls open, her knees start to buckle, and she almost falls over.

And when the birthday cake with all the candles is carried out, she starts to sob. She pulls herself together and blows the candles out. Everyone cheers, “Cut the cake, Agnes!”

But she looks down at the cake and, without taking her eyes off it, says, “Look, is it all right with you if we don’t eat it right away?”

Harry shrugs and says, “Sure, if that’s what you want to do. Keep it. Take it home if you want.”

She says, “I live just down the street; I want to take the cake home, is that okay? I’ll be right back.” She picks up the cake, and carries it high in front of her like it was the Holy Grail. Everybody watches in stunned silence and when the door closes behind her, nobody seems to know what to do.

So Tony stands on a chair and says, “What do you say that we pray together?”

And there they are in a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon diner, half the sex workers in Honolulu, at 3:30am, hanging on a preacher’s every word as he prays for Agnes, for her heart, her health, and her salvation; that her life would be changed, and that God will be good to her.

When he’s finished, Harry leans over, and says, “Hey, you never told me you was a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to anyway?”

Tony says, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for hookers at 3:30 in the morning."

Ending

That’s when the seed falls on good soil. Jesus said that the seed is the word of God. The power is all there in the seed. You take a small, wrinkled, dry seed – any seed. There is enough life in that tiny pip to crack concrete. There is enough power in God’s word to change broken people into mended people, and cranky people into sorted people and lost people into found people.

I want to finish with one last story from World War II. A church in London was preparing for its harvest service. People had been in decorating the building and filling it with the fruits of the earth. But the Saturday night before the harvest festival a bomb fell on the church and completely destroyed it. Not a brick was left on another, not a pew, hymn book or Bible survived; everything was totally ruined.

But the following spring, amidst the rubble on that site, a new shoot appeared. It was from the seed of some of that harvest produce on display. You can raze a brick building to the ground in an instant, but all the dynamite in the Third Reich cannot kill the life stored up in one seed.

The words of Jesus, like a seed, have the power to produce life in people, whenever a heart is open to God. 

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 19th October 2014