Sermon 20th September 2009

Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches - based on the reading from Romans 2 verses 1 to 11.

What words (apart from the obvious – that it's a mountain winter scene!) come to your lips when you see a picture like this? ...

http://fotowettbewerb.hispeed.ch/original/1902/lake_morraine__rocky_mountains_canada_/meer_bergen_rocky_mountains_canada_banff.jpg

For me there's only one word – and it has got to be said with a North American accent: awesome!

Maybe that's because I've been in the Canadian Rockies in winter, at this very lake. I have seen this, with my own eyes, filling the horizon; and it is truly, breath-takingly, awesomely magnificent beyond compare. So when I reflected on how we began this series from Paul's letter to Christians in Rome 2 weeks ago, this is what I pictured. As we heard, for Paul it was all about Jesus, from start to finish: who he is; what he's done; and what it means – not just for us, but for the whole of creation, for all of eternity. Rather like this scene, no description or picture can ever do it justice. But, thank God, we can catch at least a glimpse of it; and even that glimpse can be life-transforming – if we'll allow it to be.

How about this picture, though?

http://911review.org/Wiki/im/WTC_Demolition.jpg

What words (again, apart from the obvious – that it's an exploding building, or 9/11) come to your lips when you see this scene? Maybe 'awesome' is an equally appropriate word for it – but in a very different way. This is awesomely terrible: it's terrifying; ugly in every way imaginable. But, in a strange way, it's a scene like this that allows us to appreciate the magnificence of the mountain scene. If we didn't know what 'ugly' was, then we wouldn't truly be able to appreciate what 'beauty' is. The same is true of most human experience: it's the contrast between opposites that enables us to know what each is – happy / sad, good / bad, creative / destructive, etc.

This is the important principle that underlies Paul's writing at the start of his letter. He opened with the magnificence of God's love and grace that's seen in and through Jesus. Now he wants his readers to grasp just how magnificent it is. And the only real way to do that is to draw the contrast, between Jesus and the state of humanity. So, as John Itumu began to introduce last week, this is the sort of scene that Paul painted a verbal picture of next in this letter. It's ugly and nasty; and, let's be honest, not at all comfortable to have to see or hear. But at least we can reassure ourselves that Paul wasn't writing about or to people like us!

At the end of chapter 1, Paul began his condemnation of humanity with the least controversial group of his time. The pagans were universally accepted to be the unashamed lowest of the low, morally speaking. As Paul put it, they were “filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed and vice”, of the sort that he then listed in some detail. And we can imagine how any decent person, then or now, would rightly be repulsed by their displays of “jealousy, murder, fighting, deceit, and malice”; and more! And, it didn't even stop there either! Paul also wrote that even though the pagans knew that such behaviour was wrong, they didn't just do it themselves: they actively approved of others doing it too!

We can also imagine how upstanding Roman believers would have been shaking their heads as they heard such people described. They knew people who behaved in this way, no doubt; as we may do too, perhaps - even if they're not our closest friends. And in 1 way it's quite right that we should shake our head when we see and hear such things. It's part of how we've been made in God's image, that we respond like that to such acts. But that doesn't let us off the hook ourselves, as Paul was then quick to point out in today's passage! Point 1 finger at someone else, and 3 point back at you!

As I've said Paul's intent in this whole section was to show how nobody – and he really meant nobody at all – deserves, or can ever earn, God's love. So here he switched his attention, from the pagans to the moralists of his day, Jews and Gentiles alike. And it's very easy for those who've been around Christian circles for a while to fall into this group. But we mustn't ever forget that Paul's greatest intent in drawing this contrast was to show just how amazing, how magnificent, God's grace is. It doesn't make it any easier to hear the bad news, mind you – and specially not when it gets quite this close to home. But we need to let it get close to home – because that's the only way that anything is going to change in us.

As you may be aware, the first step in Alcoholics Anonymous, as in many addiction recovery programmes, is to admit that you have a problem. Included in that step is also acknowledging that you're powerless to deal with the problem by yourself. Without taking both of those basic steps, the addict can go on pretending that the issue doesn't exist. And it works in the exact same way with sin. Paul may not have known about AA or the 12 Steps; but he knew human nature! He knew, doubtless from personal experience, how easy it is to put himself first. As he said here, that's at the root of all human sin – putting self above or before God.

The best description of sin that I've ever heard still is that it's got 'i' in the middle. In other words, it's about choosing self over God. And, just to be completely clear, this is a problem that I have. There is absolutely no sense in which I'm standing here saying any of this from the high moral ground of perfection. I have got a problem with sin; and the harsh reality is that I can't do anything about it by myself. But I believe that the same is true of every person here today too! Much as I like, admire and value the many of you who I know personally, I know that you have got a problem with sin too. You can't do anything about it by yourself, any more than I can; and I'm inviting you to admit the truth today.

Now I can easily imagine that this invitation is going down as well as - a pint of arsenic! I don't doubt for a minute that you – like me – could think of all the things that you haven't done from Paul's list. I'm sure that you – again, like me – can also doubtless think of dozens of worse sinners than you. But that precisely the point that Paul is making here! So, my next invitation, to each of us, is to consider what's going on. Isn't it true that we often most dislike in others what we most dislike in ourselves? How quick are we to spot, and condemn, that fault in others? And how quick are we then to excuse it in ourselves? 'It's not my fault, is it? If he hadn't done, or said, that, there wouldn't have been a problem. I was tired / stressed / ill. It's a victimless crime. Everyone does it. She deserved it'. I could go on, but ...

If we want to know what the Bible calls such behaviour we need look no further than right here. Paul describes it as having a hard, stubborn, or unrepentant heart – and he says it's a real problem. I've been hearing some teaching lately that says this is a root problem, for many of us; and I know this includes me. The point is that as long as we go on making excuses for ourselves, we're not going to repent. We're not going to acknowledge that there is a problem. So we're not going to say sorry, let alone stop doing whatever it is. And Paul describes what we're doing as in effect despising God's “great kindness, tolerance and patience”.

Yes, thankfully God is patient - but with a very specific aim in mind. What God wants is for us to repent - while we still can. As Paul reminds us here God's patience isn't eternal. Right from the beginning, He has promised that there will be a day of judgement. We don't know when it will be, just that we must be ready for it at any time. And the only way to get ready for that day is by repentance. In other words, we each have to recognise the problem that we have, and put it right. And it's crucial that we do so because there are eternal stakes. Paul says on that day God will judge, and reward, each one of us – on the basis of what we have done.

That may sound like we can in fact earn our way around God's judgement; but of course we can't! Paul had already said in his letter that salvation is by faith in Jesus alone. He'll repeat it often later. No, he hadn't changed his mind on this – and nor was he being inconsistent. As I've often said here before, for Paul, as for Jesus, believing the right things inevitably led to behaving the right way. Simply put, we can't be put right with God by accepting Jesus as Lord, and then carry on living with 'self' at the centre of our life. Yes, it's a process, 1 that takes time – not to mention hard work, from us as well as God's Spirit. But the end result – the 1 that will be seen clearly on that day of judgement – must be a life that has been lived for God, not for self.

As a church we have tried to sum that up in our aim statement. But it's up to each of us to live it out in our own life. On the day of judgement there won't be anybody else standing next to us – either to make us look 'better', or to answer for us. We are each responsible before God for what we have done, how we've lived: for Him or for self. And part of what He expects from those who live for Him is that we do take a regular long, hard look in the mirror.

We've had the chance to do that, a little, together today. Now it's up to each of us. Will we deny that we have a problem with sin; or admit it, and ask for God's help to sort it out, while we still can? As ever, it's up to each of us to decide. Of course I'd encourage you - strongly! - to do so. Yes, that's partly because of what's at stake. But it's more because the magnificent generosity and beauty of God's grace through Jesus makes it possible. So let's pray ...

Sermon 13th Sept 2009 RACIAL SUNDAY

Today our Associate Vicar, John Itumu, preaches based on the reading from Romans Romans 1:16-23

I am not ashamed of the gospel (the good news of Christ), because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

On this Racial Justice Sunday Paul reminds us that the gospel is the good news to all - The Jew, the Gentile – and that covers all human beings, you and I.
‘I am not ashamed of the gospel…’ Why does Paul sound defensive? It seems that Paul well understood the temptation of being ashamed of the gospel.
Writing to the church in Corinth (1 Cor 1:23) on the same subject this is what he says:
…we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles but God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

And that is true because who wants to be associated with anything that potentially looks foolish, that make us feel ashamed? The stuff about Christ crucified fits that category well. There are and will always be plenty of tough questions: How can the death and resurrection of a man who died more than 2000 years ago affect me today and now? What about all the suffering in the world, and other religions? Tough as these are, I however think the gospel of Jesus Christ is still a stumbling block and foolishness to many because of what it does to us:

It confronts our worldly values of materialism & greed, non-commitment, obsession with the self – me, me
It even undermines the good feeling we get after having ‘done church’, or getting our child Christened, or even confirmed, after slaving away for a good cause. These are all noble acts but which are emptied of their meaning and power if a commitment to the gospel of Jesus is not at their centre

The gospel challenges self-indulgence. It confronts our excuses and well constructed counter arguments about the existence of God. It is very uncomfortable. Who wants wake up on a Sunday morning to come to come to church and be reminded that they have fallen short of the standards of God? Who wants to be asked to say sorry for things – that ‘had to be done’?

Paul says:
V16 &17
I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jews, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is being revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: the righteous will live by faith.

These two verses are often perceived as the heart of this letter. Paul is convinced that anyone who responds to this God given message by faith will have their lives transformed. The gospel is powerful because it had transformed Paul. He spoke out of personal experience. He was a man of high religious credentials who had, in his own words, put confidence in the flesh. Religiously speaking, Paul was 100% complete. I can relate with that when I think of the days before I made a commitment to Christ! This ‘being complete’ however didn’t stop him from actively seeking believers and having them put to death. For instance Stephen in Acts 7.

But the gospel of Christ turned him from a dangerous pursuer of believers into dangerous defender/preacher of the gospel. He knew it! There is power in the gospel of Christ!
But why is this gospel so powerful?

The reason why the gospel of Christ is powerful and transformational is because in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. First the righteousness of God is a divine quality. Righteousness describes God’s character ie. the actions of God are righteous – virtuous, moral, good, just, honourable.

How do we know this? We know this by God’s plan for our salvation:
Rom 3:25
God in Christ presented himself to us as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.
This righteousness (the divine quality of God) is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. If you aim and practice to be Christ-like, (which is what we are all invited, Jews and Gentiles, to do) the righteousness of God starts to rub into you. Your personality, your attitudes, your dreams get affected. We learn new methods of coping and even confronting those nagging issues in life. We learn new methods of being. As the old layers of mistrust, anger, fear, laziness, pride…gradually come off, a new you is revealed. We become good news to other people. I can relate with that too. Our eyes are opened to realise that there is more to life than being born, receiving an education, starting and stopping a career, and then being a pensioner. Most importantly we become free. Freedom is what Jesus promises. Freedom to be who you were meant to be…

Gal 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free … do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery!

That is the deal!

We also know about God’s righteousness from his judgement – a very unpopular topic to dwell on. Paul reminds the Romans that one day, God’s righteous judgement will be revealed.
Rom 2:5
On this day (day of judgement) ‘God will repay everyone according to what they have done.’ And this not just Paul’s idea. The notion of God’s judgement resonates through the bible. I will quote just two from the Psalm

Psalm 62:12
God is the judge of all the earth and only He will always do what is right
Psalm 11:7
For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face

And that is keeping with his character. Anyone who receives the gospel, by faith becomes enjoined to this God in a special bond. This relationship is called salvation. The gospel is therefore the power of God for salvation. The reason why the gospel of Christ is transformational and powerful is because in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. It is the means by which God puts people right with himself!

Secondly the righteousness of God is not just a divine attribute but also a divine activity
V20
For since creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen. It is plain for all to see. Years before God had promised Abraham that through him a world wide family characterized by faith would come into being.

Genesis 17:7
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

And true to his word he has done an amazing divine activity. He has intervened on behalf of his people and brought salvation through the death and resurrection Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ to dwell among us on earth was the fulfilment of this divine activity by which God comes to our rescue. Those who respond to God’s rescue plan – those who accept this act of redemption by faith – those who accept their lives to be informed by the teachings of Jesus Christ – those, become transformed. The righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel.

God requires from us a righteous status but we cannot do this on our own. If however we accept by faith that Jesus Christ lived and died so that this righteous status that brings freedom may be achieved, we then receive this gift of righteousness; a righteousness by faith from beginning to end.

The righteousness of God is a gift – and God holds it out to us all. Are you willing to receive it today?

Sermon 6th September 2009

Welcome back! We hope that you had a good summer break. Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Romans 1:1-7

It has often been said that this church has more people in it in the legal profession than in any other. But, is it true?! Time, then, for one of my straw-polls. So, hands up if you are in the legal profession, please ... What about medics: hands up again ... And education? ... The civil service? ... The world of finance? ... IT? ... Caring of any kind? ... The arts? ... How about trades? ... Service, manual or domestic industries? ... And, finally: how many rocket scientists?! ...

Well, as ever, that was interesting – and revealing, if not too surprising; except in one significant way! Clearly not many of you have read Tom Wright's excellent, and very accessible, commentary on Romans yet. If you had, you may have claimed to be a rocket scientist! From today, hopefully you will claim that – though you may also need to explain why you do, before you apply for a job at Cape Canaveral!

So, let me explain: in his book Wright gives 2 reasons for studying this letter being rather like rocket science. The 1st is a little negative – though it is honest. He argues that for many of us Paul's writings seem to come from another planet. It's not 'just' because of the cultural differences between the 1st and 21st Centuries – though admittedly those are vast. It's more that most of us are very aware that Paul was a hugely influential figure in the formation of the Christian faith. He was a man of vast intellect, as well as of great courage. He had masses of energy and commitment to the cause. He literally gave his life to and for it, in every way imaginable, and that's all daunting enough in itself.

But there's more! Most of us will know that this letter, to Christians in ancient Rome, was Paul's masterpiece. He wrote it after more than 20 years in ministry; and in it he set out exactly what he believed and why he believed it. And let me clear up any potential doubts now: there's not a hint of scholarly debate around whether Paul wrote this, from start to finish. Everyone emphatically agrees that he did, while he was in Corinth, in 55 or 56AD. Paul sent it to Christians in Rome, for precisely the reasons that he put in the letter. His plan was to go and preach in Spain next. To do that he'd need practical help and support from the nearest church – which was in Rome. Paul hadn't set up the church there; he'd never even been there before – though he clearly knew a number of people in this church. So Paul wrote what we call Romans to introduce himself to the church, and to prove that he was theologically sound. He told them that he hoped to visit soon, en route to Spain – and then leave with what he needed for his next mission.

As I say, everyone accepts all this as fact. But the nett result is that what we have is a letter packed full of very dense theology. Paul may have intended it for everyone's use; but the reality is that we could spend literally years going through it. It is rich and rewarding – but it's often hard and demanding work to 'get' what it means for us today. But it really is worth it! The study of this letter has been credited with starting some of the great movements and revivals of Christian history. It has hugely influenced people like St Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Karl Barth. Each of them, in their own way, was moved to life-changing action by grasping the truth of what Paul wrote about here, and what it means for all people.

So, for us to understand this letter isn't actually as hard as exploring Mars would be, really! But Tom Wright gives a second reason to stick with the rocket science picture, for Paul's opening anyway. He describes these first 7 verses as being like the launch-pad for a letter that will take us on a very long journey into space! If we can stay with it, we'll get to see and understand God's purposes from before the start of the world until after its ending! Life, the universe, and everything - including our place in it all - will make ultimate sense; and that was Paul's plan for his letter all along! Even more amazingly, this short introduction lays out the whole journey plan! It literally throbs with the kind of energy and excitement of a rocket that's ready to launch!

Those are quite some claims; but I have been discovering that they are all valid. The main reason for his excitement is that Paul was writing about what God has done through Jesus. It's easy for 21st Century Westerners like us – even well-taught Christians – to forget that we aren't the centre of the universe. This is the age of self-obsession in many ways – in great contrast to the 1st Century. Paul can't help himself. Yes, this is where he's introducing himself to his readers – but look at how he does it. If he'd followed the traditional letter-writing form of the time, he'd just have begun with, 'From Paul; to you all in Rome: grace to you and peace'. But see what he added to that standard formula!

To make it easier to grasp, this is how it reads in the more modern Message version: “I Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ, on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God's words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God's friends. The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God's Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others, who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.”

We clearly aren't going to have time to unpack all of that now. But that doesn't matter, because we've got weeks of Romans stretching ahead of us yet! These are the themes that underpin the whole of this letter. Paul will come back to them time and again, because this is what makes the world and history make sense. You see, he can't talk about himself – or his readers – without talking about Jesus! That was who made sense of his life – and theirs. It was then – as it is now – all about Jesus! So he wasn't 'just' Paul; he was 'a devoted slave of Jesus Christ'. And that's far more radical a deal than we may realise. In the Roman world the best thing was to be born free; if you weren't, then you worked as hard as you could to buy your freedom. Paul was born free: but he chose slavery to Jesus!

There's a direct link to Jesus being Lord, or Master. That's why he's called that in New Testament, as God was in Old Testament. Paul chose to enter this kind of relationship of total, instant obedience to Jesus as Lord. And he wasn't at all unique in doing so. His purpose, as he said here, was to call others into the same relationship to Jesus – because that's what it means to be a Christian! Yes, it also means to be God's friends, as Paul described the Romans. Yes, it means to receive the generous gift of his life, and to be set free by it. Paul will have much to say about that later. Yes, 'we are who we are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ'. But, above all, it means to choose obedient slavery to Jesus as Lord. His gift of life comes with an equally great responsibility. So, as Paul put it here, we have been given 'the urgent task of passing on God's words and acts to others'. They then receive these benefits by entering into obedient trust in Jesus' – just as all Christians always have.

That's why Paul described himself as 'on assignment'. As Jesus' slave he'd been “authorized as an apostle – which literally means 'sent one' – to proclaim God's words and acts' through Jesus to everyone who would listen. And so who's the rest of this introduction about then? It's all about Jesus of course! Paul had already defined himself, and all his readers – so including us, of course – in terms of our relationship to Jesus. As part of that he also expanded here on what the good news of Jesus is, what he's done.

To summarise it: he, Jesus, is the substance, the topic of the good news. It's God who has done all this through Jesus. God proved who Jesus is – His Son – by raising him from death. God promised this ahead of time through the Old Testament prophets. The intended scope of the good news is to reach the whole world through Jesus. The purpose of the good news is to draw all people into this kind of obedient relationship with Jesus as Master. And the goal of the good news is to honour Jesus! Yes, we receive life and freedom through him – but it's all about him, not us!

This is heady, powerful stuff! Right from the start of his letter Paul invites us to confront our basic perspective on life and faith. Honestly, do we think more about what Jesus can do for us; or of what he wants from us? How do we respond to this challenge – to choose total, instant, slave-like obedience to Jesus in response to God's free gift of life to us? In the light of that can we still think of faith as an optional extra that we can pick up or put down as suits? There is no doubt in my mind about what Paul would say to that: of course we can't! Just think about what God has done through Jesus: he has given us his all, his Son; how can we do any less? The freedom we now have is to choose slavery!

Here then is the launch-pad for the rest of this great letter. At the very start Paul in effect says: 'this is what God has done through His Son Jesus; this is what it means, for all people – yes, including you and me; this is the response that he is then looking for, from all people – yes, including you and me. Now, let me explain in much more detail what it all means, one step at a time'. All I can say today is that it's time to fasten our seatbelts! Houston, we have lift-off – and life will never be the same again. Who knows where this journey will take us, as a church or as individuals. My prayer is that it will be ever deeper into choosing slavery because of the freedom and the life that God has given us through Jesus' death and resurrection. So let's pray ...