Transformation, growth and trust. The way, the truth and the life

Matthew Huffman was the 6 year old son of missionaries in Brazil. One morning he began to develop a fever. As his temperature went up he began to lose his eyesight. His mother and father put him in the car to rush him to hospital. As they were driving and he was lying on his mother’s lap, he put his arm up in the air. His mother pushed it down, but he pulled away and reached up again, and the same thing happened once more and so his mother asked him what he was doing and he replied, ‘I’m reaching for Jesus’ hand’. And with those words he closed his eyes and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. He died 2 days later. 

There isn’t really any good news from this tragic story for a heartbroken family, but the one consolation was that in his all too short life, Matthew had learnt to reach out to Jesus in all kinds of situations and that’s a lesson we need to keep learning. 

Our three readings form the New Testament today all give us something to think about in our relationship with Jesus. In the reading from Acts (7:55-60) we heard about the transformation that a relationship with Jesus can bring. 

From the 1st letter of Peter (2:2-10) one of the things that we can think about is discipleship and growing in our faith. And then in the gospel reading (John 14:1-14) we have this incredible account of how we can trust Jesus always…

And I’d like to think this morning in a bit more detail about those readings and about what they mean for us… 

Going back to the reading from Acts we have the account of the stoning of Stephen, widely known as the first Christian martyr… 

His life had been transformed by Jesus. Earlier in Acts we’re told he was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit and he did work in distributing food to the widows and speaking about Jesus and this annoyed people. 

But in front of those annoyed people he was willing to stand and face many of the same charges that Jesus did and to respond with defiance and with prayer and even, as Jesus did, with a prayer asking for forgiveness for those who were doing this to him…

Caring for those around us that don’t like us isn’t easy, but it’s a real symbol of a life changed by God. I’m sure Stephen would say that such wisdom and bravery comes not through our own strength but through the power of the Holy Spirit… 

And Stephen wasn’t the only person in this short reading to think about when we think about transformation. In the reading we’re introduced to a young man named Saul. We’re told that the witnesses laid their coats at his feet and the verse after the passage we heard says, ‘And Saul approved of their killing him’. 

When we think of incredible transformation Saul has to be one of the top ones – a little after this passage we’re told he led the persecution of Christians.

There was no sign that he would become the best known of all Christian missionaries – but God had other ideas. Saul’s conversion led to him giving up a life of persecution of Christians and probably a life of comfort, maybe even wealth, to travel far afield sharing the good news about Jesus… 

We don’t know what impact perhaps those prayers of Stephen had on Saul – was he impressed by Stephen’s faith even as it led him to death or his concern for those that were killing him… We don’t know but we do know that Paul’s life was completely changed by God… 

And that sort of transformation is what God wants for all his people I think – to know that we live in his care and company, to know that we have the strength and wisdom of his power and to know that we are loved as we are called to love. 

And that leads us on to the reading from the 1st letter of Peter and here amongst lots of other things too Peter urges people to long for pure, spiritual milk in order to grow. He directed people to Jesus as the way of growth and the way of salvation. 

I met with some ministers from other churches recently and one of them said that he’d realized they’d concentrated too much on conversion of people and not enough on discipleship... 

And that lack of attention to growing as disciples is something with which we can all identify at times… 

Conversion, baptism, confirmation, coming to church every week, taking a role in the church, even being ordained does not necessarily mean we are growing in our faith but we are called to get closer to God – not for his benefit, though he loves us and want that relationship I’m sure, but for ours…

When Stephen had that courage to face his accusers and even death he did it with God’s strength and power. He knew God was with him and that means he had spent time building that relationship… 

Bishop John spoke recently at the Governing Body of the Church in Wales about evangelism – about the need to share good news about Jesus, but he also said we need to start with ourselves. We need to equip ourselves with greater knowledge of God’s word in the bible and with much more prayer and fellowship…. 

Peter is pleading with people to drink the spiritual milk in order to grow to maturity and that growth for Christians is ongoing – none of us have made it, but day by day God calls us to live more closely with him… 

And he explains this further by identifying Jesus as the cornerstone – in other words the most important stone, the stone on which everything is based and a stone that forms the connection between two walls…. Jesus is that cornerstone and we are called to trust him and rely on him and depend on him always.

And then we have the gospel reading and some words of incredible comfort which show we can trust God in every situation. Jesus was speaking to his disciples who didn’t understand that he was going to leave them – but he was reminding them that his departure was only physical – their relationship with him remained as strong or even stronger… 

Very few passages in the bible really say much about eternal life other than it can happen and in many ways neither does this one, but we can trust it’s all good because it’s being prepared for us by Jesus himself. 

The disciples naturally worried but Jesus comforted them by promising they would never be alone, and whilst I suspect some of these disciples still wondered what he was talking about they would understand after seeing the risen Jesus. 

Jesus was that stone that connected the walls of God and humanity, he was the way, the truth and the life. 

He is the way to the Father… And he is the truth - once, when a stubborn man seemed unconvinced, Abraham Lincoln said, "Well, let's see how many legs has a cow?"  "Four, of course," came the reply. 

"That's right," agreed Lincoln. "Now suppose you call the cow's tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?" "Why, five, of course," was the confident reply.

"Now, that's where you're wrong," said Lincoln. "Calling a cow's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." 

Truth is often relative in the minds of different people – and many have challenged Jesus as the truth, but the greatest demonstration of this fact comes in the lives of people who have tested that truth – people whose lives have been transformed, who have been filled with a desire to know more about Jesus and with the confidence to know God is with us always… 

And Jesus is the life – he is our life, he is our hope, he is our inspiration and guide. Though time and time again we may get things wrong, he never turns away, he continues to love with an unconditional and powerful love. 

Our readings have thought about transformation and how we and others can continually be transformed in our relationship with God. They’ve thought about discipleship - our need to align ourselves ever more closely with God through the bible, through prayer and through fellowship and engagement with others, and we’ve thought of how we can trust the God who can do anything and who loves us… 

It won’t always be easy. The American evangelist Tony Campolo, tells a story about a man in Kentucky who always turned up at Revival meetings. At the end of each service when an invitation was given to come forward, he would come with arms raised, crying out ‘Fill me Jesus, fill me Jesus!’

Then within a week or two he would go back to his own ways which were not wonderful ways ! But when the next round of Revival meetings he would be back, going out to the front, crying out, ‘Fill me Jesus, fill me Jesus !’ This happened until one day he was there crying out ‘Fill me Jesus, fill me Jesus !’ and a lady at the back shouted, ‘Don’t do it Lord, he leaks !’ 

Of course, the truth is that we all leak at times and we all need refilling with the Holy Spirit, but God recognizes our weaknesses and he calls us back to home with him time and time again. 

May we know and see God’s transformation in our lives and in others around us, may we have the desire to grow closer to him in our lives and may we trust in his power, wisdom and love always… AMEN