God is love...

One of the central tenets of Christianity is the fact that, among other things, God is love. In fact that then translates into the most important of commands that Jesus gives us…to love! Since we are created in God’s image and our ultimate achievement would be to fulfil that image, we then should also be love.

I have often observed that if you have a particular view of God that is often the way you would respond to others…or is it the other way around? Perhaps we might say God is one thing and then act as though God is really something else…particularly the religious types.

Anyway, I’m just waffling now…the inspiration for this post was really the share this video…I thought it to be feel goodish… (thanks John for the heads up of the video on the sacredise website)

Remember God is love!

Again...

So there I was, innocently coming out of the gym in Claremont going to pay for my parking and I felt a presence behind me. As I turned around there he was...again...ready to strike. Now before you all jump up and phone me to check if I'm alright, it was not a mugging.

Let me go back a couple of months to explain the title of this post. There seems to be this thing that some young people do here in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. They approach you at the petrol garage or parking lot or the like and say, "sorry to worry you dude, do you think you can help me...my car has just run out of petrol about 1km from here, please could you spot me a couple of rand to get petrol so that I can get home to ..." This has now happened to me twice before tonight grrrr.... My response, pull the other one, it has bells.

Tonight when I was paying for my parking I had my iPod playing in my ears and I noticed this guy and his girlfriend walked past me. I thought I had seen him before but I couldn't place him. I just thought he was hanging out in a very strange place since the Pick n Pay was already closed along with all the other shops in the centre, and he certainly looked like he was dressed to go to Tiger Tiger and not Virgin Active. When I truned around to go to my car he was in my face...the penny dropped. All I did was to take my earphone out of my ear just enough to say "Sorry dude, I've heard your story before." When I walked away I got angry and wanted to go back and have a "chat". I can't stand freeloading con-artists.

So what do I do, how do I respond. I deal with homeless people pretty much everyday of my life and they have their stories, I can seemingly deal with their crap. These guys, who seem to have what they need by the looks of their wardrobe, well I just don't know. All I can say is beware!

Has it been that long...

Wow, I can't believe that it has been over a year that I have posted on this blog...there's a possibilty that nobody even read this...who knows. Well I guess here goes.

I have been at Church street Methodist Church for just over a year now and I can say that I am happy. Had you asked me a couple of years ago if I'd be happy running a church that averages an attendance of about 100 per sunday and has only 300 members I would have said no. I have come to discover the joys of having this kind of congregation.

I grew up in the one of the so-called Mega Methodist Churches in South Africa, Northfield and did some more stints at some of the other multi-staffed Methodist Churches in South Africa (Alberton,Willows and Benoni Central). I always thought that I would be a part of that in of set up. I guess that this is still a desire for me since I love to be able to exclusively use my top spiritual gifts, but in reality I need to be able to do more as a Methodist Minister. That is partly why I am so happy that I am at Church Street. There is a sense that the laity are quite capable but in the end the buck stops with me and I need to be able to do what I need to do when the takkie hits the road. Although I have completed my formal training as a Minister, this is a place where I can continue to learn so that when I go to other churches that may be multi-staffed and have a bigger congregation, I can cope.

The other thing that makes me happy about being where I am is the following:


I live in Cape Town and I have teh time to enjoy it too...

So maybe one day I will return to Gauteng to the rat race and be part of a church that is growing like crazy...but for now :) I love what I'm doing.

God’s Call: May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes

I haven't posted the other sermons from the last two weeks, sorry. Here is this weeks sermon following the Wesleyan Covenant Sermon Series

Readings: Philippians 2:1-11

Introduction

Last imperative sentence as we draw the series to a close
• As we draw the series to a close this week and have our covenant services next week, we deal with the last imperative sentence and that is “May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes.”
Sentence has far reaching consequences
• Now this particular sentence has very far reaching consequences because of what it means to give our whole lives in service to God with all that we have. In fact this sermon might well sound like a recruitment speech for the ordained ministry…or even more challenging recruitment to the nunnery or monastery. The challenge today, however, is not how you do it, but to do it where you are.
Follow e.g. of Christ
• Probably the most accurate way in which we can model our lives as Christians is to merely follow the example of Christ himself, to do what Christ would do in every situation. As Paul suggests in the passage we read today; “your attitude should be the same as Christ” in verse 5.
The sentence is the attitude of Christ
• The very same sentence that we will pray next week, is the same attitude that Christ took on in his life. He became a servant, he served, and he did it with all that he had wherever he was. So today what I want us to do is examine this passage from Philippians very carefully to see exactly what it then means to become that servant that Christ was. What it means to give our lives in service.

1. Carmen Christi

Passage is a hymn
• The passage we read today contains, from verse 6 what is known as the Carmen Christi (Philippians 2:5-11). It is one of many early hymns found in the New Testament. There are in fact many passages in the NT that take the form of Hymns i.e.
o Revelation 4:8: the living creatures surrounding the throne of the universe do not cease day and night to sing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come;
o Ephesians 5:14: Paul quotes a hymn likely sung at baptisms "Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.";
o 1 Timothy 3:16: : "He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.";
o John 1:1-18: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God," and builds up to that climax of "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" and ends "No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who was in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him."
This hymn is the Hymn of hymns – 3 stanzas
• The Carmen Christi is the hymn of all hymns because it highlights a decision, made by Jesus in his pre-earthly state, which is the driving force of salvation history. The hymn can be neatly divided into three stanzas. These three stanzas depict the three major movements in our Lord's career, if career is even the right word to use. The first stanza, 2:6-7a, sings of Jesus' pre-earthly existence. The second stanza, verses 7b-8, sings of Jesus' earthly existence, of Bethlehem to Calvary. And the third stanza, verses 9-11, sings of Jesus' post-earthly existence, of a time after Bethlehem and Calvary up to the present and on into the future.
3 Stanzas are 3 movements
• It was the Swiss theologian Emil Brüner who suggested that we could represent this threefold movement of our Lord's career.
• Movement one: Jesus' career begins in the heights of glory.
• Movement two: Through progressively deeper stages of self-emptying, he descends into the depth of the created becoming a human being and accepting the entirety of the human condition. And then,
• Movement three: Because he accepted and fulfilled this descent, he is exalted to the highest place in the universe.
He did not consider – fundamental decision
• Now, the fundamental affirmation sung by the hymn is this. This whole threefold movement turns on a decision. It all emerges from a decision that Jesus made in his pre-earthly state. The hymn sings, verse 6, "He did not consider." The whole of salvation history flows from that decision. "He did not consider" is the driving force of history.
• In order to appreciate the magnitude of this decision we need to understand the key words and terms of the hymn, perhaps you want to open up your bible to the passage and follow with me.

2. Key Terms

Form
• Verse 6; Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. The sentence is in the past tense, suggesting that this had to do with Christ’s pre-earthly shape. The word translated as nature in the NIV is in fact better translated as form (Greek – morphe) which literally means to have every attribute of something. In his pre-earthly shape, Jesus possessed inwardly and displayed outwardly the nature of God.
Made himself nothing
• Verse 7, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. The phrase that stands out there is made himself nothing…or perhaps another translation that makes better sense is that he emptied himself. Jesus emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, not by releasing his divine nature. Again the Greek word morphe appears here but with reference to a slave; Jesus inwardly and outwardly took on the form of a servant, or slave (this is not the same as someone who is paid to do the job).
Appearance of a man
• Verse 8, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Appearance is the key term here. The writer of this hymn is choosing words very carefully. The Greek word is related to the word for image, but with a slight difference. Image implies an exact representation of the original. Appearance emphasizes a similarity, but it allows for a difference between the original and the copy. The point is "being born in human likeness" expresses the fact that he who was by nature God became a human being, but not merely a human being. Jesus truly became a human being, shared in our human nature, but was not merely a human being.
Obedient
• Verse 8, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! The word Obedient here is in contrast to the first human being, Adam, Jesus lived a life of full obedience to the Father. The first human, Adam, chose to live out human freedom in disobedience, and that disobedience resulted in the ruin of the world. But when the eternal One becomes a human being, when he, the last Adam, comes, he chooses to exercise human freedom in obedience; and his obedience means the redemption of the world.
Name
• Verse 10, name: Because Jesus emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, and was obedient even to a death on the cross; he was given the name above every name…in fact the very name of God.
• Now we are ready to appreciate the magnitude of the decision that Jesus Christ made in his pre-earthly state.

3. Jesus' pre-earthly decision highlights what it means to be God.

Equality not to be taken advantage of
• Jesus did not view his equality with God as something to be grasped. In fact the better translation here would be that he did not consider it something to be taken advantage of, or exploited.
Primary motivation not us – why then?
• Jesus' primary motivation for emptying himself was not our need for a saviour. Although Christ came for our need of salvation, because we really need it, the hymn makes no reference to the fact that Christ did this only for us. Why then? Why did he do it?
Equality with God was not one thing but another
• The key term here is; "He did not consider equality with God to be…." He did not consider equality with God to be one thing; he considered equality with God to be another. The language suggests the following picture:
Equality with God = emptying oneself not taking advantage of
• In his pre-earthly state, the Son of God is contemplating what it means to be equal with his Father, and he comes to a conclusion that no one expects. He comes to the conclusion that equality with God is not something to take advantage of, but rather, he concludes that equality with God means emptying one's self and taking the form of a servant. Did you hear that? Equality with God means emptying one's self and taking the form of a servant.
Emptying was the proper expression of divinity – NT Wright
• So then Jesus made the decision to empty himself because self-emptying love is the proper expression of divine status. N.T. Wright, a great NT scholar says this; “"Divine equality does not mean getting but giving, and it is properly expressed in self-giving love."
Jesus did not strip his divinity, he was expressing his divinity
• Did you hear that? In becoming a human being, Jesus Christ, God the Son, did not cease to be what he was. He did not renounce his divinity. He did not strip himself of his divinity. Rather, in becoming human and becoming a servant, he was expressing what all that divinity means. He did not consider equality with God something to take advantage of. He considered equality with God to be self-emptying servanthood.

4. The gospel writers understood the divinity of Jesus' self-emptying love.

• If we read the gospels, we discover that the authors seemed to understand this mystery.
Roman soldier declaring Christ’s divinity in the crucifixion
• Mark 15:39 - A Roman soldier is looking up at the dying Jesus. He's looking up at the dying Jesus, and he says, "Truly this was the Son of God." Now what made this soldier realise that? What did he see that warranted that statement? Nothing we would expect…just this self-emptying, self-giving love. And in that moment he knew that this was the Son of God. For the Gospel writers, the passion of Jesus is not his human misfortune. The passion of Jesus is his decisive manifestation of his divinity.
The ‘Hour’ is his Glorification
• John 12: 23-25 - John identifies the moments before Jesus' death as the hour of his glorification. The hour is suggesting that moment when he still be crucified and killed, as suggested by the illustration of the seed dying…that is his glorification, not the resurrection, the resurrection is the result of the glorification.
Washing feet was a divine status
• Furthermore in John 13:1-5 Jesus knowingly washed his disciples' feet as a manifestation of his divine status.

Conclusion

Being a servant is not glamorous, but we do it because Christ does
• So now we come to the conclusion; next Sunday we will be making a promise to give our lives as servants with all that we have and in everything that we do. That does not seem like a particularly blessed thing to do, not glamorous at all. Why do it then? Do it because we should have the same attitude of Christ.
It is part of what we were created to do
• Now, if being like Christ does not mean something to take advantage of but emptying himself, can being human mean anything less? We were created in the image of God, and as Karl Barth teaches, that means we are created to reflect the nature and character of God. Which means that we are most fully human when we most completely reflect God's nature and character.
We are most of what we were created to be when we are servants
• In Jesus we discover that God understands being God in terms of servanthood. We, therefore, are most what we were created to be when we empty ourselves and take the form of a servant. Deep down in our souls we know this is right. Because who are the most fulfilled persons in our lives? Are they not those who have lost themselves in creative self-giving?

Amen

I know someone who is 100

Tommorow we, as a community in Wynberg, are celebrating the 100th birthday of Mrs Dorrie Bowles...wow. I have never known anybody as old as Dorrie and she's just lovely.

Dorrie Bowles is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. She walks absolutely every where and she has not got one things wrong with her. She comes to worship every sunday and refuses a lift home. She is part of our Wacky Wednesday fellowship group (the old Morning Women's Auxilliary) and she still has all her faculties.

Talking to her is amazing...she has the most amazing stories of years gone by. She speaks lovingly of simpler times and I'm jealous. I hope that her life will never be forgotten and that her witness for Christ will continue to inspire the young.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORRIE (even if you will never read this...)

The next one in the Covenant Series - God’s Sustenance: May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer

God’s Sustenance: May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer

Reading: Isaiah 40:27-40:31

Introduction

As I approach this subject today, I have to admit that, even though the sentence speaks of when we are well and when we suffer, there is no way in which I can deal with each of those circumstances equally. The truth is that it is easy to be happy with God or to acknowledge his sustenance when we are well but when we are struggling, when we suffer, it is not that easy…sometimes it is just plain impossible. So truthfully I am going to err on the side of struggle and suffering…although acknowledging that we need to remember God when we are well, because there are times that we clearly forget about God, because things are well.

All people have hills and valleys that we all go through from time to time. I don’t believe that there is anyone here this morning that can honestly say that his/her life as a Christian has only been “ups.” All of us have walked through the valleys of life. All of us have been hurt. We have all felt the pain of disappointment. And whether or not we have actually vocalised what it is that we really feel inside concerning those experiences, I would imagine that we would all admit that we have been disappointed with God. In one way or another, we have felt as though God has let us down.

For each of us there are many differing circumstances that have helped to foster these feelings of disappointment with God. Whatever it might be…it may be something quite small and seemingly insignificant in other peoples’ lives, or it could be headline stuff, that people would gasp at. The truth is that we have all experienced or are experiencing disappointment with God in our circumstances.

I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not going to give you “Three Easy Steps to Avoid Disappointment with God”—I’ve yet to discover them. But what I give you today I hope will enable you to better understand what you are going through and help you to find the strength to continue to walk when it hurts and it doesn’t make sense to keep on walking, with God’s sustenance.

This morning we will take a look at an OT passage that addresses the subject of disappointment with God. What God is saying to us this morning, through the mouth of this prophet, is that we will find the sustenance to walk when it hurts as we come to a proper understanding of who God is and we willingly exchange our finite strength for His infinite power.

1. An Age-old Problem

Isaiah begins by addressing an age-old problem…why?Why me, God? Why have you turned your back on me? Why don’t you listen to my cries? Don’t you care about what I’m going through? Is it too much to ask that you enter into my problems and solve them? Is this how you repay me for being loyal to you while those you hate you prosper? What’s the deal? Is anybody listening?

Disappointment with God is almost as old as time itself. Throughout the scriptures we find countless examples of believers in God who experienced disappointment with God. Even in the Gospels we discover that Jesus, the Son of God, was not immune to feelings of disappointment with God.

Philip Yancey, in his book, Disappointment with God, suggests that there are three fundamental questions that plague us as Christians, yet we are generally hesitant to ask them aloud. The three questions are: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? The manner in which we choose to answer these questions then directly affects our perception of God and how we will live out our faith. There are three basic conclusions and responses that we can come to. God is and thus we reject him.

God is
The first is that we can conclude that God is unfair, God is silent, and God is hidden. We can choose to view God as a cruel cosmic being who delights in our suffering. When we choose to believe this way, we usually wind up determining that God is not. Our disappointment with God can lead us to believe that what the Bible has to say about a loving, nurturing, responding God is all false—just wishful, “pie-in-the-sky” ramblings—because we didn’t see the evidence we needed to validate such claims. Unfortunately, this has been the decision of many.

God is not…it is all me
The second resolve that we can come to is that God is not unfair, that He is not silent, and that He is not hidden, so the problem must be with us. There must be some sin or defect in our faith that is the reason behind the suffering we are experiencing. God is chiding us or trying to teach us some wonderful lesson. And generally, the supposed lesson that we are to learn is simply to “have more faith and then the problems will disappear.” The results of such a conclusion are just as devastating since it leads people into a defeatist attitude. So Christianity then just becomes for them a normal miserable life, just with more rules and heaven will then make up for the misery when we eventually go to glory.

God is and beyond my understanding
The third choice we can make is to believe that God is not unfair, that He is not silent, and that He is not hidden, but that we simply do not understand all there is to know about God or how He is working in the world, in general, or in our lives, in particular. Instead of blaming ourselves for the troubles we experience, we leave room for the fact that God operates on another plane. This does not minimize the disappointment we experience; it simply gives us a different vantage point from which to view our circumstances.

I believe that much of our disappointment with God stems from the fact that we have misconceptions about who He is coupled with misinterpretations of many biblical promises. Each of us has an idea of who God is. How we view God has a profound influence on the satisfaction level we experience in our relationship with Him. At this point we could end up feeling that we are owed something because we have given our lives to God.

2. An Ageless God

This is the place to which Isaiah now points the complaining Israelites. He shifts from the fact that we face an age-old problem to the reality of an ageless God. He reminds the people of who God is.

Isaiah begins by reminding the people of whom it is that they believe they have a case against. He is appalled that they would respond this way toward God in light of who He is. It was to the people of Israel that the clearest revelation of God had been given. What Isaiah is saying in essence to them is, “Have you forgotten who God is?

Eternal Creator – will
He starts with the reality of the eternality of God and His relationship to all things as their Creator. God has always been and He will always be. Without God there is nothing. He is the one Reality upon which every other reality is dependent. Remove God from the picture, and the picture ceases to be.

Infinite in power and knowledge
Then Isaiah speaks of the power and knowledge of God. God is an inexhaustible resource. He has never experienced fatigue or weakness in even the most remote sense. Even when His might is displayed in some great act, such as the creation of the universe, it was of no consequence or strain to Him. His power is so great that we are told the He merely spoke the worlds into existence: “Let there be”…and it was so. And His knowledge, we cannot even begin to imagine comprehending.

Provider of all that is needed
Isaiah then moves on to remind the people of Israel of what God does for them. V. 29 states, He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. The very thing that we are in need of most when we experience disappointment with God is what He already offers to us and supplies us with. Since God does not grow tired or weary, He can be depended upon for strength and refreshing at any moment.

We think we can control God
What happens is that we think that we can define God and thus control God…therefore God is answerable to us. If God doesn’t pass our test we whine. But God does not need to pass our test. You would think we would learn a lesson from Job who said, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3b).

3. A Timely Answer

In the final two verses of this passage, Isaiah gives us an ageless God’s timely answer to an age-old problem.

Weakness is a universal experience
In v. 30, we are given a universal truth that we often times forget: Everybody experiences weakness. There is not one person on the face of the planet who has never been tired and who will not be tired again. We can only go without rest for so long, and then we must stop and regain our strength.

I think that I’m pretty fit and strong, but now I know I am not. Tayla is a creature of perpetual motion. I can play with her, I can lift her onto slides…but after the 10th time I falter…I realise how weak I really am. Isaiah reminds us that even the strongest, the least likely to falter, eventually give in to fatigue. It is a part of the natural order that governs the world we live in.

Weakness is a perfect euphemism for describing the source of disappointments we face, including our disappointment with God. We experience disappointment because there are inherent weaknesses in the world in which we live. There are also weaknesses in our understanding of the world in which we live. When things don’t turn out the way we perceived that they should, we become disappointed, and more often than not our real disappointment is aimed at God.

It is important that we clearly recognise the difference between God and life—by life I mean the sum of our experiences of living. God is not life. Life is not God. Don’t confuse God with life. Bad things happen in an imperfect world—that’s part of life. We blame God for the circumstances we experience.

But strength comes to those who hope in God
In v. 31 we are given a word of hope to help us to make it through life’s disappointments: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. We will become weary. We will meet with life’s disappointments. But that is not the final word. There is strength offered to those who will reach out and receive it.

It is important that we don’t jump to the mistaken conclusion that if we hope in the Lord, then he will “zap” us with his supernatural strength and our disappointments will vanish in an instant. I don’t want to mislead you because it doesn’t often happen that way. In the last half of this verse, Isaiah describes the three ways in which God renews our strength.

Please note that although God’s strength comes to us in three forms according to the passage and the first two are spectacular i.e. rising about disappointment (rising on wings of eagles) and being able to outrun our problems (Run and not grow weary). God’s strength comes to us also in the most ordinary way (walking and not being faint). In the sentence, the climax is most ordinary and not spectacular.

On the surface it doesn’t sound all that impressive. Think about it for a moment. Where is it most difficult to live? In the place where you soar in the clouds? In the place where you can run on endlessly? Or in the place where you simply walk and have to keep on walking? God’s strength usually comes to us in the ordinary ways. We don’t live life soaring in the clouds or running in the fast lane—life is a matter of persistent walking.

It is in the dark stretches of life that the most difficult thing to do is to continue to walk and not quit. It is when we are faced with disappointing circumstances that we need the strength to just “keep on keepin’ on” and not give up. God meets us where we live and renews our strength so that we can continue to walk when we feel like we just can’t go on anymore. There won’t be any great heights achieved or spectacular strength displayed, just the strength that we need to make it through—the assurance of His presence with us and in us.

Conclusion
I haven’t made any lofty promises of a “pie-in-the-sky” solution to the problem of disappointment with God—there is no easy answer. The problem is real. It is intense at times. And it will be with us throughout our lives. It is part of life. We can’t escape it, so the real issue before us is, how are we to respond?

There is but one appropriate response to disappointment with God and that is faith. Faith that will continue to hope against all hope that God can be trusted even if there is no visible evidence to support such a position. Philip Yancey writes, “If we insist on visible proofs from God, we may well prepare the way for a permanent state of disappointment. True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will”

When you face disappointment with God remember that it is an age-old problem—just part of life. But also remember that we have an ageless God who is able to give us strength to overcome our weaknesses. The answer that He gives us is to demonstrate unwavering faith in the face of our disappointments and keep on believing that He will come and renew our strength so that we can walk and not become weary. Disappointments will come, but God gives us the strength to keep on walking even when it hurts.

God’s guidance: May you decide when I should be active and when I should rest

I know what it's like...you are browsing through blogosphere and you come across a blog entry like the one you are reading now...then you scroll down and see how long it is...yawn...next entry...next blog...I want pictures...how about the YouTube video? Well I said that I would be posting my sermons on this blog since they are part of my thoughts. The truth is that once I post the sermon here there is a possibility that someone might use it and not prepare their own (sad for them, they would probably preach a much better sermon if they did do their own). The other thing is that it seems pretentious...well i'm sorry if it does but that's the was the cookie crumbles. Be that as it may, below is my sermon for Sunday...if you're a member of my congregation, this doesn't excuse you from worship tomorrow...remember it is not only about the "word", we come to worship God as community first.


God’s guidance: May you decide when I should be active and when I should rest

Readings: Leviticus 23:3, Mark 6:30-31

Introduction

I want us all to do something together, I want us to look at our bodies, look at your hands and feet. Look at each others eyes; the way our bodies are designed…they are designed to do something. Our hands are so very well designed we can do the most incredible things with them. Our legs, when they work at their optimum, are able to take us a long way so that we can do things in other places. We were not designed to do nothing…even if that is all we sometimes want to do.

But let me ask you this, apart from some remarkably crazy people (like my friend Dion), how many people do you know who are able to go on doing things without needing rest? As much as our bodies are designed do things, our bodies are equally designed to rest. It is during sleep that our bodies grow (if we’re a little younger), how they release stress and to balance the chemistry of our bodies. In fact if we refuse to sleep, our bodies will take the sleep it needs. That is often why people develop disorders like Narcolepsy and so on. It is the built in defence mechanism of the body saying, “you can’t just keep on doing things, you need to rest me”.

Now if I were a medical professor or the like this is where I would probably leave it and most people would be happy. I’m happy to leave it at that, but somehow I’m not as well. I’m happy to leave it at that since it is true, scientifically. There are some exceptions as I have mentioned before, but in general the statements above are true. But I also want to take it to another level of truth that I guess all of us agree upon…that is that God designed us to work ad to rest.

So today, we look at the theme of God guiding us to the point of listening to him about when we should be active and when we should rest. Remember we are following the series about the Covenant prayer which will culminate on the 24 February with a covenant service where we will renew our covenant with God as Christ-followers.


1. When I should be active

I have already mentioned that we were designed to do things. Our bodies are so designed (and I include our minds in this) that it would be an absolute waste of time for the creator to make fingers, eyes and so on. If God did not want us to work he would never have created us the way we are…perhaps all we would be are one celled amoeba. Seemingly all they so is exist. Some would argue that we should be called human doings instead of human beings, since that suggests that we merely exist and have no purpose.

No let me just say this, I have no idea why God does what he does…the point is he does and he created us for his purpose. And in each of each he has given us a purpose; both a general purpose as well as a specific one for the individual. However, this sermon is not about exactly what the purpose is for each of our live except just to say that God created us to do, to work.

When we look at our gospel reading, we are told that the Apostles surround Jesus to tell him of all the things that they had done. Now this could very well be a brag session for these men but of we look a little closer at the passage we really see this as a report back for each of these men. Mark is very specific about using the word Apostle here and it is the only time he uses it. The word recalls the verb apostello which means to send. This of course implies that Jesus had sent these men off to do some sort of work and so the action of the disciples coming to Jesus to tell him was indeed a report back. As you can see from the Gospel lesson, Jesus did not come to let us sit back and do nothing…he came that we might be sent (where ever that may be.

Now just a couple of things about work that I have found in Scripture:

i. Work should be about serving God

Whatever work we do, whatever we are called to do, in every arena, we are urged, by Paul, do in service to God. In Ephesians 6, regarding slaves, Paul says that one should serve wholeheartedly, as if one were serving the law. Not to say that when someone if being treated unjustly that they should be told to put up with it. But even were our work is for other people or it is our career, it should be done as for the Lord. Imagine getting up in the morning and saying, “Lord this work I’m about to do today is for you”. What a marvellous attitude to have, it would make the world of difference in our work ethic.
ii. Work should be about servanthood

One thing I am sure that we all know as Christians is that we should become Christ-like. The New Testament is filled with such admonitions. One of the most striking examples of Christ calling us to be like him is in John 13:14 where he washes the disciples’ feet and calls them to do likewise. To develop an attitude of servanthood is something that Christ calls us to do. It goes against the grain of what we are told and taught by society. It is all about the self and the elevation of the self. When it comes to be being Christ-like, we need to set those things aside.

iii. Work should be completed

In Acts 20:24 and 2 Timothy Paul speaks of completing work. He uses the illustration of a race, where he longs to complete the race in Acts and speaks of having completed the race in 2 Timothy. It is clear to me from these passages that there is virtue in completing that which we set out to do. Sometimes this may not be possible due to circumstances but I urge us to seek every way to complete what God has set before us to do.

In all of this, when we are active, let us be reminded that when we renew our covenant with God, of which a part of that covenant is saying God you say when I should be active and what I should be active in.

2. When I should rest

We all know how important it is for us to rest…don’t we? In my studies at university I studied human development, and generally speaking I came to these conclusions regarding various stages of life with regard to rest and sleep.

i. Babies and Toddlers
It is reckoned that babies need about 3 hours of sleep during the day and about 11 at night. This of course differs from opinion to opinion. Whatever the right amount is, we know they need it and they don’t just take it for themselves. Hence the fact that by the first couple of months of a babies life, at some point, the parents vow “never again.” It is a challenge and there are many occasions that the baby ends up being over tired and then can’t sleep at all…unless you drug it (joking). Sleep is a challenge for babies.



ii. Children
Now things seem to get easier here and I am not the expert apart from my own memory of what I was like. I can remember that I was impossible at times. When bedtime comes there is every excuse under the sun why you don’t want to sleep. I have been told the remedy is a good smack on the bum. That seemed to be quite effective with me.

iii. Teens
Now this seems to be the age that has no issue with sleeping. They have the ability to fall asleep in the most obscure places and times i.e. Class in the afternoon (around homework time) etc… The challenge here is that, biologically the Teenager is in desperate need of rest for their development and always seem to be fast asleep and this is why people think they are lazy (although this is debatable). Even when a teen is sleeping, they always seem tired.

iv. Young Adult (Early and middle Adulthood)
This is where I fall in. I am a case in point, I am always tired. I don’t think there are too many people my age that would pass up a chance for an afternoon nap, or an anytime nap for that matter. Unfortunately, however, because to the expectations placed on young adults such as work, children, family, socially, they never get enough rest.

v. Adulthood (Early and middle Adulthood)
Now we get to the point at which my parents are at. I can remember a time that my father could watch TV until all hours of the night. Now he gets into bed almost immediately after supper and crashes. Now the dynamics are similar to Young adults in the sense that there are still work stressors (albeit often more stressful and tiring). There is the challenge there.

vi. Late Adulthood
This is what my book on Human Development calls this stage of life (not Old age). At this point you often have the case that says, I wish I could sleep, but I just lie there. I have even heard of people that go to bed and just lie awake all night. The challenge here is that they have been working all their lives and deserve this time of rest in their lives. The trouble is that now with all the time in the world to rest, there is no ability to rest.

In the Gospel lesson today we are taught that Jesus was into sending people to do things but notice that in the very next verse he says to them “come with me to a quiet place and get some rest”. Furthermore, when we read in Leviticus about the law of the Sabbath, we are instructed to work but also to take time out.

In both cases, God has no intention of binding us to the point at which we find resting or taking time out a chore. I know that for many people rest is a chore. They are so driven by ambition that work is all that they think about…even if it is “as for the Lord”. If we look at another instance of this requirement in Exodus 23:12, the law is set so that we might be “refreshed”, in fact a more accurate translation of that Hebrew word wayyinnapas is in fact “to catch one’s breath”. Let us never fall in to the trap of following the letter of the law without looking at the spirit of that law. I mean, do you really think God would want us to be put to death if we don’t observe Sabbath (as is required by Exodus 31:14). The truth is that we will put ourselves to death if we do not head the warning…Hypertension and stress can kill.

Conclusion

We all know now that God has every intention for us to work and to rest. God s a God of balance and has set for us very clear instructions as to what we should do. His guidance on these matters is there in scripture. Not that we should be concerned about whether or not we are fulfilling the requirements of the law but that we are doing exactly what we were designed to do.

On the 24th February when we say this prayer, please understand that God will not only guide us clearly through Scripture but will use other means to guide us to the point of work or rest. The way we know how is merely to stick to the covenant imperative and be open to God’s guidance on the matter.

Let this sentence be your guide this week as you go from here. Be sure to do the work that is set before you but do not forget to catch your breath.

Amen