Sermon 3
Sermon by Jeff Wattley in 2005
At
Series:
Developing the Character of Christ in a Hostile World
The World
Following Christ was never
meant to be easy. Jesus himself said
that his followers would have to deny
themselves, take up their cross and follow him. He said, in
this world you will have trouble. He
said: My kingdom is not of this world. And the apostle John wrote: we know that we are children of God and that the whole
world is under the control of the evil one.
We reflect this challenging
view of being a Christian in a Hostile world in the words we use in the Baptism
service right after the infant or adult has been baptized: fight valiantly against Sin the World and the
Devil and remain faithful to Christ for the rest of your life.
But here is the question: do you find yourself in a serious and
sometimes even a costly struggle growing as a Christian in the secular world
that surrounds you: or have you found ways to get comfortable and settled so
that there is no real tension between your faith and the world.
When Lesslie
Newbigin the former Bishop of South India
returned to
And
each one of us needs to ask the same question in our Christian
discipleship. Does the world around us have
more influence on us than we have on the world?
We need to wake up. It is like the proverbial frog in the
pan. I am told that if a frog jumped
into a pan of hot water it would instantly and instinctively leap straight out. But if a frog is sitting in a pan of cold
water that is slowly brought to the boil, froggy
will not take action until too late and he is boiled alive. And that is pretty serious for froggy. Just as it is pretty serious for you and me
if we fail to notice if we are being shaped and moulded more by the world than
by our calling to grow more like Jesus.
Our calling is to reach the world for Christ. And our God is a Jealous God. He cares deeply when his Children disregard
him.
1
Timothy 6 gives us a prime example of the battle we face: See v 6-10
·
Our society
believes that getting more money and buying more things will bring lasting
happiness. God’s view is quite
different: Godliness, not wealth is what brings contentment and indeed those
who want to get rich fall into a temptation and a trap…and many have wandered
from the faith and given themselves a lot of grief. That is a word for our day if ever there was
one.
How far does your life
reflect the values of 21st century
Let’s dwell on this a little
longer. So many things seem to rest on
money and financial security. It may be
true that money does not always bring happiness but surely it can give me a lot
of the things I really crave can’t it. A
smart car makes me feel important: a large house means comfort and status, plenty of money means smart holidays and clothes.
And money in the bank and in investments means security. Surely God wants his children to enjoy
acceptance, significance, and Security.
Yes he does, but he wants you
to have those needs met by Him rather than by what the world provides. For the things of the world rot and rust and
spoil and flood: in the end they always
sell us short and more seriously they have a unique
capacity to draw us away from God instead of towards him. We could buy a flash car that makes us feel
superior (and which will cost a bomb in maintenance and insurance and
depreciation) or we can trust in the God’s own assessment of our value: He says; You are
adopted as my Child: counted among my friends.
You can strive every hour of your waking life to achieve success in your
career: or you can say: I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do the
good works God has prepared in advance for me to do. You can compete in the
world socially: whether at parties and clubs to be the coolest and most popular
person or at smart social gatherings where you are assessed according to your
level of refinement: or you can put aside the praise of men and women in favour
of hearing God say to you: well done.
God is able to meet all our
needs for love, acceptance, significance and security. But sometimes we are not listening to him and
we do not take him at his word: he
says: you are free from condemnation:
you are complete in Christ, you are the salt of the earth and a light to the
world, you are God’s fellow worker and you have been bought with a price. No material thing: no investment and no human
recognition can compare with that.
The first step we need to
take if we are to be shaped by God instead of being moulded by the world is to
break out of the world’s mould: and to
decide to live our lives in a way that glorifies God rather than
ourselves. Paul says in verse 1 of Romans
12: offer your bodies as living sacrifices.
He did not mean for us to become literal sacrifices, but for us to turn
away from the world with its message of self promotion and instead to live to
promote and serve God. Don’t measure the
value of something in monetary terms but in terms of how it brings honour to
God. Don’t commit your time to something
according to how much it will reward you: but according to how much it will
fulfil God’s good and perfect will.
If you allow the world and
it’s fleeting concerns to shape you: you will not in the end find freedom or
contentment. As soon as you buy the next
smart gadget you stand to be frustrated as it goes wrong and the manufacturers
bring out a better one. You will harvest
frustration and more seriously you may be drawn further away from reliance on
God. You will be chasing after the wind.
But if you step back far enough
you can fight off the snares and hooks of the world and focus instead on Christ
the author and perfector of faith.
How can you do that? Let me suggest 3 steps.
First test God and see if He
is faithful. Identify one area of life
where you know your ideas are being shaped by the world. Maybe its the
overwhelming priority you give to work: maybe some new purchase you are
planning; maybe the opinion of someone that matters more to you than what God
thinks.
Make a deliberate decision to
change: cross it right off your wish list and then commit that decision to God
in prayer and if appropriate repentance.
Then ask God to meet the
deeper need in you that you hoped to fulfil in that activity. Feeling important, loved, accepted,
praised. Test God and see if He is not
better able to meet your innermost needs.
Second, you will need to
listen to God if you are going to allow him to shape you. Some time each day exposed to his Word is a
must: because the Word of God is the change agent that brings about the
transformation of your mind. Listen to
what God thinks about you: about the way of the world: and about his plans to
save the world through Jesus Christ.
Finally, get together with
other Christians who are prepared to step back from the world. You will have to swim against the current,
but you do not have to swim alone. Why
not find a prayer partner or a home group where you can encourage one another
to put Christ first and to find your deepest needs fulfilled by Him.
Why does this matter? In part it matters because it will greatly
enrich your life as a disciple of Christ and your impact as a witness for
Christ in the world. Moreover
where your treasure is: ie the things you really
value, Jesus says there your heart is also. If you are more hungry
for the praise of men for your achievements in life than you are for the praise
of God for the character you are developing: the bible says that is where your
heart is. It is not in a safe place.
But there is a more important
reason why it matters. It matters to
God. It actually offends God and stirs
his righteous anger when his Children turn to the fallen world to meet their
deepest needs instead of accepting his loving grace and mercy which Christ paid
for with his life. We are called to
fight valiantly against the world, the flesh and the devil: not to accommodate them comfortably. Following Christ was never meant to be easy.
But it is worth it!!