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Sermon 101

Sermon by Ian Scott-Thompson at Wonersh on 21^st October 2007.

Distinctive Christian Life 7

Enthusiasm

Reading - Hebrews 11:24-40

This sermon is the last in our evening series through September and October, based on the book “Distinctives” by Vaughan Roberts. Vaughan Roberts is the vicar of St Ebbe’s church in Oxford, where I worshipped for three years. The thrust of the book is that as Christians we should be seeking to live in a distinctively different way from the world around us. IN the world, but not OF the world. It targets difficult but crucial areas, such as our attitude to money and possessions, sexuality, contentment, service, etc.

This sermon is about:-

Whole-heartedness in a world that can't be bothered.

Or, in other words:-
Enthusiasm in a world that won’t get out of bed, or even

Commitment in a world that has dropped out.

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A speaker arrived early for a meeting at a university and used his spare time by looking at the societies' notice board. One particular advertisement caught his eye. It had been placed by 'The Apathy Society' and simply said: 'The Apathy Society will not be meeting this week – it can't be bothered.'

Universities around the world used to be full of life and vitality. Campuses were hotbeds of Marxism and revolutionary action. Those were the days when student union meetings were packed. Thousands would take to the streets to march in support of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament or against Vietnam – students were known for their activism. They were either active in the service of some great cause or in the search for one; but those days seem like a distant memory.

Dr Jonathan Steinberg, formerly vice-master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, says this:-

No risk, no cause, no fun – all they want is a good degree. Not long ago, I asked my lecture audience, if anybody in the room thought that anything that he or she would do in life would make any difference to the way the world functioned? They looked at me with pity. Clearly, I had gone mad.

Students are not alone. Our generation has stopped looking for the big idea that explains life and gives meaning to everything: the assumption is that there is no such big idea, no ultimate truth. And so life has been robbed of meaning. Dr Peter Atkins of Oxford University believes there is nothing outside the material world: “The human race must realise how insignificant it is. We are just a bit of slime on a planet belonging to one sun." What is the point of life, if that is all we are? Jean-Paul Sartre asked once, 'Now God has gone, what have I got to live for?’ Good question.

In our world, Activism has been replaced by Apathy, Enthusiasm with Detachment, Values with Tolerance. We have to be 'cool', 'chilled', 'mellow'. In such a world it is not easy to be wholehearted and distinctive disciples of Jesus Christ.

Over a century ago, C.T. Studd, the famous England cricketer, gave away his vast wealth and became a missionary. He wrote:-
“I do not wish to live ‘neath sound
of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue-shop
within a yard of hell.”

So he did: he spent his life, his fortune, his gifts and abilities, on the mission field for his Lord and Master. People used to ask him why he made such an extravagant sacrifice of his wealth and promising career. His reply: "If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him."

Our reading from Hebrews was written to Christians who were losing their enthusiasm for Christ, and some were even tempted to go back to Judaism. In Chapter 11, the Gallery of Faith, he urges them to follow the example of great men and women of faith in the Old Testament. In our morning sermons, we’ve been looking at Moses: here too, in Hebrews 11, he’s an example of wholehearted commitment.

Moses had humble origins, but then was fished out of the Nile and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter, so all the privileges of the Egyptian court were at his disposal – a life of power and luxury lay before him. But he rejected all that. He turned his back on prestige: 'By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter' (v. 24). Great prestige was attached to that position; everyone would have known him. They would have bowed and scraped and done whatever he wanted. Family connections would have guaranteed him a top job for life. But he chose to leave all that behind and identify himself, not with the royal family of perhaps the most powerful nation of the world at that time, but instead with a despised, oppressed tribe of slaves.

He turned his back on the very things that most people spend their lives pursuing: prestige, pleasure, prosperity. Instead he chose to go God's way, leading a nation of slaves who most of the time were profoundly ungrateful for his sacrifice. It meant a life of suffering and hardship – it was quite a choice to make. And we are bound to ask: Why did he make it?

Two key words explain why Moses made his choice: 'By faith Moses...' (v. 24). If we want to understand what faith means in this context we need to look to the beginning of Hebrews 11. The writer says, 'Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see' (v. 1).

Moses had a certain hope for the future and he lived his life in the light of that future, even though he could not see it. That is what faith involves: living now in the light of the future which, by definition, cannot be seen. At first sight it seems that Moses made a very foolish choice. He chose pain instead of pleasure in the present. But he was no masochist, no fool – he did it because he believed what God said about the future. Verse 26 makes that clear. Why did he choose 'disgrace' rather than 'treasures'? Because he was looking into the future – 'he was looking ahead to his reward'. He knew it would be worth it in the long run.

Pause for a moment, and think of three or four things you’ve done today. I don’t know – getting up, checking emails, putting clothes on, eating, deadheading flowers, walking to church, anything. Now I reckon that we do things because we’re motivated; either we enjoy doing them, or we think they’re important. To look at the flipside, if someone doesn’t do something, it’s usually either because they find it unpleasant (and they’re avoiding doing it), or because they think it’s unimportant and comes lower down their priorities.

We look for pleasant activities, or for important activities; some might say short-term gain, or long-term gain. Old-fashioned dutiful religion tended to be classified as long-term gain: “pie in the sky when you die.” Modern-day religion tends to be more about good experiences, and might be classified as short-term gain: “meat on the plate while you wait.” Now God wants to bless us, because that’s His nature, and in fact He blesses us in the past, present, and in the future. Our problem in 2007 is usually with the future bit: because we can’t see it, we’re not interested.

Telescope!

Faith is like a telescope. The Chinese ideogram for “telescope” is “the eye that sees far.” A Telescope makes what is far away seem closer. Things we cannot see with the naked eye can be seen with the eye of faith. And right through his adult life, Moses had that eye, the eye of faith, fixed firmly on the future and the blessings that God had promised. He never got to it in this life. Hebrews 11 concludes (v. 39): 'These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised'. Hebrews says it’s better for us, because Christ has been revealed to us; even so, things were tough for his Christian readers. Becoming a Christian then often meant persecution and hardship, as it still does for many converts today in places like Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Turkey and Iraq (named this week as the five toughest places for Christians).

The same choice that faced those Christians in the first century faces us today. Are we going to be those who live for the present, or for the future? Will we live by faith or by sight? For this world or for the kingdom of God?

In the West, we have become worldly Christians. We still go to church, we still believe the right things in our heads, we still believe in heaven intellectually, but our actions suggest otherwise. We are more concerned with happiness than holiness, with more concerned security than with souls. Ours is a laid-back religion that seeks to be served, rather than to serve. We want a church that makes us feel good, rather than one that challenges us. So often we opt for religion that costs us little. Maybe it’s also why men are leaving the churches, and looking for challenges elsewhere. We stress our rights, not our responsibilities; our freedom in Christ, rather than our debt to Christ; our security, rather than our sacrifice.

Moses gave up on prestige, pleasure and prosperity for the sake of serving God. Is God calling you to serve him at the moment? Is there a challenge facing you? Perhaps it involves a little hardship, a little courage; but you stand in a long line of saints who were also called. They weren’t perfect – far from it – but they were obedient to the call of God. Tell a Christian friend, tell your homegroup, tell your Vicar, let us pray for each other and support each other, but answer the call, rise to the challenge, for God’s sake, and for yours.

Amen

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