Sermon 11th November 2007

Today, our Associate Vicar, John Itumu, preaches, based on the reading from Matthew 28:16-20

Telling others

Go and make disciples of all nations…

This important and famous statement made by Jesus is problematic, not least because it makes some uncomfortable demands of our Christian identity and belief. The Great Commission clearly demands a belief that Christianity is a revealed faith that took place in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth – and more particularly in the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the word of God. And that the Bible is not just authoritative, but also clear in its message and purpose.

Jesus himself declares in v 18
..All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…
Here Jesus is using the words of prophet Daniel 7:13-14 on himself. The prophet had said that the son of man would be enthroned as a ruler of the world. This, Jesus has just fulfilled at the resurrection. And it is on this authority that Jesus can say GO!
It can’t have been easy for his disciples to make sense of all this. Verse 17 tells us that some people doubted. These are some like Thomas (John 20:24ffd) who were hesitant and uncertain and who took longer than others to believe the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. No one before had said they would die and then resurrect!

For the words go and make disciples to make sense, the followers of Jesus need to understand the cross as not only central to their belief but that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is transformational. In other words, to make a claim to be a follower of Jesus demands a change. In Jesus’ own words to the learned Pharisee Nicodemus to be born again (John 3ffd). It is a comprehensive change of direction in our lives; a conscious determination to live like Jesus as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

A conversion therefore needs to have occurred. It is the one great reason that would propel one to go out of their way and tell others. These words assume that something very significant has happened inside us that we would like to share with others. If nothing has happened, there is nothing to share.

I am aware of debates and controversies centering on the question of ‘to what should a person be converted’. My response is – to make a genuine change of direction in our lives by following the teaching of Jesus Christ. Why, because Jesus himself said that ‘… I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.’(John 14:6) Jesus embodies the supreme revelation of God (John 1:18) and he is properly called God. An encounter with Jesus does not leave us unchanged. It is transformational.

We need to note that Jesus does not consider himself a way, a truth, or a life. He is very clear. This unequivocal and exclusive language sounds arrogant and narrow minded especially in a 21st century multi faith/belief Britain. Other major world religions have prophets, great teachers, philosophers, etc. not a saviour. For Christians however, the resurrection of Jesus lies at the heart of being his follower. He is the only one who was uniquely raised from the dead. Jesus Christ is alive today and we can know him. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him Matthew (28:18) If he is the only way then other religions are therefore ineffective in bringing people to the true God. We must make a choice.

C S Lewis put it succinctly:
‘A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher, he’d either be a lunatic – on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg – or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse… But don’t let us come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.’

These are areas worth exploring and thinking through. Not least because if we trash the claims of Jesus that He is the only way to God, then we not only empty the cross of its power but that any religion and idea goes.

That God has spoken in his word is entirely trustworthy. To go and make disciples of Jesus means to introduce people to a man who changed the world through his selfless love, lived out and finally demonstrated on the cross. Being a follower of Jesus is plain radical.

So go and make disciples – followers. Followers of who? Of course followers of Jesus. The back side of that must mean that not everyone is a follower of Jesus. Never mind the notion that the default position of anyone filling a form – when asked about religion – writes Church of England; it is a church by law established. Let us always thank God for this freedom of worship, especially today as we remember those who laid down their lives for our freedom.

The followers of Jesus have already received new birth into a new and personal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is to this new relationship that these followers are to introduce other people to. It is a relationship of obedience and intimacy and love. It is a relationship marked by a commitment to devotion in prayer. They are a people converted to a belief, a new way of living.

Go and make disciples is a Christian imperative also marked by a great sense of urgency in the priority of the gospel. Why urgent? Because if the transformation of the individual is a delightful thing, then this ought to be shared with other people willingly and gladly. It is good news!

Someone likened this to a thirsty person in a desert finding an oasis. It would be plain selfish not to tell friends where to find water. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon likened this to one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Jesus is the only one who can satisfy the thirst and hunger in the hearts of men and women. Many people increasingly recognize that more money, more alcohol and sex etc don’t actually fix the emptiness inside. Those who know Jesus have the remedy, so why withhold it from others?

And many have become Christians because someone was bold enough to tell them the good news. The early church described in the book of Acts ensured that the teachings of Jesus were spread and through that heritage we are here today proclaiming the same. And so it will be for generations to come until the very end of the age.

Unfortunately, telling the god news does not always elicit interest and instant response. There is therefore a value in living out our faith and belief even as we talk about it. Jesus called it being light and salt of the earth. Both light and salt silently effect their environments. This really calls us to carry Jesus at work, at home, on the road, as we deal with rubbish, when we talk to other people etc. Something of Jesus begins to shine through and may lead into all sorts of conversations.

Jesus had style in persuasion. In John 4 he spends time with the Samaritan woman explaining his offer of eternal life to replace the mess in her life. She then abruptly raises a crucial theological matter about worship. It could potentially have diverted the conversation but Jesus ensures this does not by answering her and bringing her back to the all crucial issue of her repentance. There will always be questions:

Why does God allow suffering?
Why do evil people seem to proper?
What about other religions?

These are very tough questions again worth thinking through. All Christians struggle with these. There are no straight answers and we will never know the mind of God. Nevertheless, the fear of having to change our lifestyle is the greatest stumbling block to coming into a relationship with Jesus.

1 Peter 3:14-16 reminds us:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that your have. But do this with gentleness and respect…

Let us also continue to pray with perseverance for those we would like to come into a living relationship with Christ. I leave you with this incident.

During the war, there was a man who was shot and was lying in the trenches. And as he was lying there, his friend lent over and said, 'What can I do for you?' And the man said, there's nothing you can do for me, I'm dying. So he said, 'Well is there any message I can take?' And the man said, 'Yes take this message to this man at this address and tell him that what he taught me as a child is helping me to die.
The man was his old Sunday school teacher.When the message got to him he said 'God forgive me - I gave up teaching Sunday school years ago because I thought I was going nowhere.

It is not in vain friends that we spread the good news. Let us remember the promise of Jesus, and surely I am with you, always, to the very end of the age.
Amen

Sermon 4th November 2007

Today, Gill Tayleur, one of our OLM Trainee Ministers, preaches based on the reading from Ephesians 3:14-21

WHY AND HOW DO I PRAY?

I read in the paper this week that Selfridges has opened a Psychic School for Halloween.
Yes the luxury Oxford St department store is offering customers a psychic school, teaching them to tap into their spiritual powers. Selfridges already offers tarot-card readings, clairvoyance and palm reading by The Psychic Sisters. One of them says, “We believe that we were all born with psychic abilities waiting to be explored and nurtured.”

But getting in touch with powers “out there” doesn’t need a psychic! The God of the universe is ready & waiting for us to communicate with him by praying! And that’s this morning’s subject, in our series on the fundamentals of Christian faith. Our question today is “Why and how do I pray?”

I want to start by acknowledging 2 things:
1 is that I don’t speak to you as an expert in prayer! I have the same questions that occur to almost everyone at some point.

Does prayer ‘work’? How does prayer ‘work’? Is God really listening or am I talking to empty space? If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? Why do answers to prayer seem inconsistent? Why is it that sometimes when I pray, God seems wonderfully near but at other times far away? Does prayer change God or change me? And so on.

Of course, no-one has the answers to all those questions, which is the 2nd thing I must acknowledge: that ultimately, there are aspects of prayer that are a mystery, like God himself. There’s a lot that we can understand about prayer, but at times prayer is a leap of faith & trust. At times it’s easy & joyful, but at others it’s hard going.

But what are we talking about, WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is a conversation with God. It’s a relationship, not a ritual. We pray to God our Father. In the passage Joe read from Ephesians, Paul says he kneels before the Father and prays. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “Our Father in heaven”. He uses an intimate word for Father, like we might use Daddy or Papa. Even though God is the infinite creator of everything that exists, he wants to relate to us like a Daddy. Whatever the failings of our human fathers, God is our perfect father, who loves us beyond our wildest dreams! Like any other relationship, in order for it to work well, we need to communicate with one another. And prayer is that communication. We talk to God, he talks to us. We spend time together.

So WHY DO WE PRAY?

God already knows what we think and feel about things, already knows what we need. So why do we have to tell him?
Sometimes a parent may know what their child is upset about, or happy about, because it’s obvious to them. But it’s still a pleasure when the child gets on the parent’s lap and pours it all out. It deepens the relationship between them, and it’s the same with us & God.

Also, we pray because Jesus did. He frequently found a quiet place to pray. Surely if Jesus needed particular times of prayer for his relationship with his Father, we need them too!
And Jesus assumed his disciples would pray as well, as he taught them things about “when” they pray, not “if” they pray.

And of course we pray because prayer changes us and changes situations.
It changes me, because my attitudes change when I pray about a particular situation. Sometimes my behaviour changes too! Cameron has asked on several occasions from this lectern, “Are you willing to be the answer to your own prayers?” Yes sometimes prayer changes us.

And it changes situations.
Talking about prayer, Jesus said “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Prayer makes things happen. We don’t fully understand how, but prayer is powerful.
We’ve read in Ephesians that “he is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. Christians know through experience that God answers prayer, sometimes wonderfully. Of course such answers cannot be proven beyond all doubt. Some people may cynically say that things I see as answers to my prayers are coincidences. Well, maybe, but as someone once said, “it’s extraordinary how the more I pray, the more coincidences happen!”

BUT DOES GOD ALWAYS ANSWER PRAYER?

Jesus words ‘ask, seek, find’ seem to imply that God will always answer whatever we pray. But if we look at the whole of what the Bible teaches, there are reasons why we don’t always get what we ask for.
Sometimes it’s because of sin, the wrong and self centred ways we live, that create a barrier between us and God. We need to admit this and turn from it, confess our sin, for our relationship with God to be restored.
Sometimes our motivation may be wrong.
Not every prayer for a Porche is answered!
Sometimes what we are asking for isn’t good for us, either not good in itself, or not good for us or others.

So God’s answer to our prayers may be YES, NO or WAIT. Phew! Imagine if we got everything we asked for no matter what!
I’m not wise enough to know what’s best!
No, prayer isn’t a set of magic words; as I keep saying it’s a relationship. A relationship that requires FAITH and TRUST in our Father’s love and his power. It’s not a magic formula for us to play with.

I have seen some exciting answers to my prayers. But if I’m honest, there are things I’ve prayed about for years, and not had the answer I’ve wanted. Such as prayers for healing of someone I love. Why not?
Sometimes we can’t understand why.
But perhaps that’s why the promises in the Bible about prayer are sometimes qualified.
1 John 5 says “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” His will. We don’t always know God’s will. But the more we get to know him, the more we get to know his will, and the more we trust him & his love.

So, HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

There’s no set way to pray, remember it’s a relationship! Our loving Father wants to hear what’s on our hearts, wants to hear about our triumphs, joys, failures, pains and worries.
He wants to hear what’s on the surface, and what’s deep down inside.

Some people do find it helpful to have a pattern though. One famous pattern is using the letters A-C-T-S, ACTS.
A stands for Adoration - worshipping God for who he is and what he has done.
C stands for Confession - admitting our self centred attitudes and behaviours, and asking for forgiveness as we promise to live differently in future.
T stands for Thanks - for the good things that we enjoy.
And S stands for Supplication - an old fashioned word for requests, for ourselves & others.
A.C.T.S. Adoration. Confession. Thanks. Supplication. ACTS.

Whether or not we use a particular pattern, Jesus said we are to pray with faith and to not give up. When I feel like giving up, I try to persist because Jesus said to. And because I believe that what I am doing is best for me whether or not it feels like it. So I try to keep on praying.

Another aspect of prayer, our conversation with God, is that sometimes He speaks too! When I slow down enough to just sit still and quiet with God for a while, we can be in a kind of companiable silence as I might be with a close friend.
Then I sometimes have what I call a lightbulb moment, when I see or understand something in a new way. It is like a light has been switched on – ah ha! Most often it’s when I’m praying about a situation and I suddenly realise what’s really going on - often what’s going on in my own motivation or thinking.
Or sometimes people have a word or picture idea that pops into their head that they sense is from God.
So prayer really is a two way conversation, even though we’re very unequal partners in our communication with the God of the universe.

Remembering that inequality, and coming to talk with God humbly, is essential.
But we can only come just as we are, which may be at times, guilty, helpless, doubting – but above all, let’s be honest. That means telling God when we’re upset, sad, angry even! Look at the Psalms, they’re full of anger, frustration and pain, as well as, on different occasions, joy & relief & excitement. We can bring all that lot to God too. As our loving Father, he wants us to be honest with him.

So, WHEN SHOULD WE PRAY?

The Bible says to pray always!
Sometimes prayer can be a kind of ongoing conversation between us and God through the day. Certainly we can pray walking down the street, on the bus, in bed, anywhere, any time. But as well as the running conversation, which may be very intermittent, it is a help to have special times for prayer when we give God our full attention.
I find it helpful to have a little while at the beginning of the day for prayer and reading the Bible together, as I’m a morning person.

As well as individual prayer, praying with others can be very powerful and encouraging. Jesus said “Whenever 2 of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”
There’s an opportunity to pray together coming up this week on Wednesday evening, at St Saviour’s from 8 to 9.30. There’ll be a mix of formal and informal prayer, a little singing, and opportunity to pray aloud and silently.
There’s no pressure for anyone to pray out loud, so don’t let that put you off. Please, come along! And there’s good coffee & cake!

There’s so much more that could be said about prayer, and I want to recommend this book to you. By Philip Yancey, it’s called
“Prayer: does it make any difference?”
On the front is blue skies and sunshine, on the back brown, dry, barren earth. Those pictures show that Philip Yancey knows that communication with God can involve both experiences. This book doesn’t avoid the difficult questions about prayer and doesn’t pretend it’s all easy & simple. It’s about prayer as it really is, the highs and the lows, and I highly recommend it.

In it, in answer to the question why do we pray? Philip Yancey says, “I pray as I breathe – because I can’t help it.” It’s a natural part of our relationship with our loving Father God.

So. To sum up, why and how do I pray?
Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Prayer is simply talking to God. He speaks to us: we listen. We speak to him: he listens. A two-way process: speaking and listening.”

We have a Father in heaven who loves us so much that he wants us to come and talk with him. That love is what Paul prays about in the prayer from Ephesians we started with.
He wrote to the church in Ephesus:
“I pray that you may have power to grasp how wide & long & how high & deep is the love of Chris, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

And in case we think that’s too much to pray for, he goes on, “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

What a God! Let’s pray!