Sermon 19
Sermon by John Metcalfe at Wonersh on 24th July 2005
Series - Discipleship
Godly
Direction
Let’s pray: “May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts, bring every one of us closer to you, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.”
Good evening. A couple of years ago the Algerian President Muhammed Boudiaf was assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists, and seconds before he was murdered he said, "The life of human beings is very short. We are all going to die. Why should we cling to so much power?" It’s a good question, but what a pity he didn't have time to find the answer. But we have. Our life is a journey, with a beginning and an end…but what happens in-between is the exciting and unpredictable bit. For some of us, the in-between bit is now relatively short… but for others, it may be a lot longer…except that no-one can be sure of that. We’re all travellers somewhere on that journey – forever on the move, learning, growing, and changing.
This talk is in a series on discipleship
– how Jesus expects us to behave on our journey – how He expects us to change
to be more like Him. Our reading from
Proverbs tells about change that’s vital.
Chapter 3, that’s page 637, is full of important advice – especially
verses 5 and 6: “Trust in the Lord with
all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Many people treat life as a mystery tour
– they don't care where they’re going, as long as the journey is long, and
there’s lots of fun along the way. The
Christian journey can be like that too, with an important distinction – if we
put our complete trust in God, then we’ll have His protection on our exciting
journey. One of the most important
commitments that we can make as a Christian is to obey God completely. I made that commitment here at an evening
service when a visiting preacher called us to follow Him in whatever He asks of
us – after all, if we believe that God has our best interest at heart, why
wouldn’t we agree? But he also gave us a
Government Health Warning – we must realise that such a commitment might take
us outside our comfort zone, perhaps going to the ends of the earth, giving up
treasured possessions, going into a nunnery (I’m still waiting for that call!),
or becoming a preacher - whatever! I
prayed that prayer that night and have stayed faithful to it, and my life has
changed as a result.
God has a plan for each us, but we don’t
know what it is. I can look back now and
see how God has steered me through many jobs, situations and challenges to
change me from a shy person, lacking in self-confidence, into someone that He’s
been able to use, however imperfectly.
But that testimony’s for another day.
Our response shouldn’t be “Why Me
Lord?” like Moses, or “NO, I couldn’t
do that”, because we can do anything that He asks of us – He wouldn’t ask
us otherwise, and He’ll equip us for success – that’s where the trust comes
in. I assume that God has more plans for
me, and He certainly has plans for you too, but he can only transform us and
use us if we’re prepared to trust him and let him change us – “Trust in the Lord … lean not on your own
understanding … and he will make all your paths straight.”
That reminds me of a story. It concerns Alfie –
he’d been an altar boy and had a strong Catholic upbringing. Poor Alfie had a
problem – he was in love with 2 girls – they both wanted to marry him, but he
couldn’t choose between them. Should it
be the drop-dead gorgeous, stunning, beautiful, show-stopping … but
scatterbrained Lizzie, or the lovely, sensible, caring, homely Maria? Who should he spend the rest of his life with
– he loved them both? He was thinking
about this dilemma as he walked down the High Street, and as he approached his
old church he decided to go in and think things through in the peace and quiet. He went towards the front of the church and
knelt at the rail … and he prayed: “Loving Lord, who should I marry – Lizzie or
Maria … Maria or Lizzie?” He felt that
God wanted to give him an answer, and sure enough, when he opened his eyes and
looked up, there above the altar was God’s answer: “Ave Maria”
If we do put our trust in God, he will
indeed make our paths straight … we will still face the usual ups and downs of
life, but He’ll change us so we can more readily face them with Him alongside
us, just as Jesus changed the original 12 disciples all those years ago. In our reading from John’s gospel, page 1082,
He told them that He was soon going to leave them. He tells them where heaven is and how to get
there, and good old Thomas, always the one to voice his misunderstandings and
doubts, was honest enough to ask: "Where are you going? Why can't we
follow you now? Jesus replies: "Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Trust
in God; trust also in me. In my Father's
house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I
am." TRUST IN GOD – that is the
truth that we need to make our paths
straight.
Have you ever been
tempted to buy one to those little global positioning receivers – you often see them at airport shops?
It’s about the size of a portable telephone and it displays a map
showing your exact location anywhere in the world – you need never get lost
again. In our reading from John, Jesus
is explaining the way to heaven. He
describes heaven as if it’s a stop-over on a journey, like the
1. I AM THE WAY Life is a journey, and we’re all travellers, and in the course of our long journey we pass through many different places. Sometimes it’s safe; sometimes it’s scary; sometimes it seems we’re in a desert – perhaps you feel that way right now. Sooner or later we all get lost … and then we need someone to show us the way. In verse 2, Jesus tells his disciples that he’s going to prepare a place in heaven for them – he’s going on ahead to show them the way – he’s a trailblazer. One of the recurring thoughts in the New Testament is that Jesus goes on in front for us to follow.
Have you ever been lost in a strange town – I’m always getting lost all over the place – usually in a hire-car, looking for a hotel, and it’s always dark. You find someone and ask for directions, and he might say something like: “take the first right, cross the square and go down beside the pub, then take the second left, third right, go through 4 sets of traffic lights, turn left by the supermarket and it’s 100 yards down on the right.” “You can’t miss it!” And it’s worse when it’s in a language that you barely understand… Wouldn’t it be so much easier if he said: “I’m in no hurry, let me get in beside you and I’ll show you the way.” That’s what Jesus does for us – he doesn’t just give advice and directions, but he takes us and guides us. Jesus doesn’t tell us about the way; he is the way.
2. I AM THE TRUTH Then Jesus said “I am the truth”. Have you ever had someone stop to ask you for directions – sometimes you know where they want to get to, but can’t think of an easy route to get them there. You want to say: “If I was going there, I wouldn’t start from here!” If the way is like the road, then the truth is like the route map. You might be on the right road, but going in the wrong direction – you can believe in Jesus, give to charity, go to church, try to live a good life, even be a vicar, but that’s not the same as following Jesus. So where do we find the route map to heaven?
The road to heaven starts at the foot of
the cross. Jesus is the way, and His
teaching in the Bible is the truth – it’s our map, and the cross is like our
compass – it makes sense of everything else.
Did you know that the average shelf life of books these days is 6 weeks
– best sellers stay for longer, but the rest have their chance … and then get
pulped … and forgotten. But this book is still a best seller and has
been going strong for many hundreds of years in one form or another … because
eternal truth doesn’t have a sell-by date – it’s always relevant. Not only because Jesus is the Way to Heaven,
but also because He’s the Truth – the right route to Heaven. And Jesus promised us more than that. He didn’t say "Follow my example,
read my book, follow the rules, bye for now, see you there, hope you make it"
– as Mohammed and Buddha did… Jesus said "I am the Way, and the
Truth and the Life."
3. I AM THE LIFE So what does Jesus mean when
he says: "I am the Life"?
Jesus was unique and distinctive, and was able to do what no one else
could. All of the major world religions
agree that the world’s in a mess, and most say similar
things about how we should live our lives… but each has its own way of trying
to deal with our desperate situation.
Mohammed tells us to: "Keep the five rules of Islam and then
you’ll be OK – pray five times a day, eat no pork, drink no alcohol, keep the
feast of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to
Christianity is unique, because when God comes to us, he says, "I can see you’re in a mess; and you’ll never get out in your own strength. I’ll let come down there with you and come and rescue you myself. And I’ll hold you firmly because you don’t even have the strength to hold on to me yourself." Do you ever see that Coastguard Rescue program on BBC TV – the lifeguard goes into the water to make the rescue, and the helicopter winch man goes down on his rope to pluck people from the waves or the cliff. Only Christianity speaks of a God becoming one of us to rescue us, because he recognises our weakness. Other religions say we must work hard to deliver ourselves. They are all effort … Christianity is all grace. Jesus promised his disciples: "I will come back and take you to be with me." And He did, and He continues to do that. Jesus has shown us by His death and resurrection that death is not the end of the journey - we were created for eternal life, a living relationship with God as our Father. “No-one comes to the Father except through me.”
There was a quiz
program that had a “Make Your Mind Up”
time? Well? Is it Foolish to believe?… or Foolish to ignore? The answer is yours – each of us has to make
our own decision. Muhammed
Boudiaf said: "The life of human beings is
very short. We’re all going to die. Why should we cling so much to power?" Perhaps it’s because we’re insecure – there’s
no absolute proof that Jesus will save us – we have to believe it – we have to
trust God. Are you ready for that? Do you remember the missionary, Jim Elliott,
who was murdered along with five other young men trying to help the Acuwa Indians in
Following Jesus involves entrusting our life to Jesus, with all its warts and wrinkles, a life which we can’t keep anyway. In return we receive Jesus’ life, his wisdom, his values, in ours, and that’s a life we can never, ever lose. Jesus is the one through whom we can experience the life we were created for, destined for, now and for eternity. In the midst of life's uncertainties, joys and tragedies, Jesus comes alongside us with His arms open wide with this promise: "Come unto me all who are weary from life's journey, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." May you place your trust in Him today and find that rest.
Let’s pray: “Loving Lord Jesus, we can only lead the lives that you want us to lead if we place our trust in you completely. Please help us to do that today… enable each of us to follow the plan that you have for each of us, and give us the trust to say “Yes” to all of the things that you want us to do with our lives, while we have time. We thank you that you’re there for us, for the promises that you’ve made to us, … and we ask you for the faith and devotion that we need to follow your way, and your truth, that we may have your life, both temporal and eternal. We are weary from life’s journey, so grant us your rest. Amen”