Imitated....

John Wooden, the former coach of the UCLA basketball team said, “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation… Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.“ And he’s quite right isn’t he ? 

How many people with good reputations have been somehow brought down by some flaw in their character which has suddenly been revealed. And it can work the other way too – I don’t know if you’re like me but sometimes, and I try not to, I make judgements of what a person might be like – we judge on all kinds of things, but we shouldn’t, and I’m really happy to say that I have been proved wrong on so many occasions when I have doubted someone’s character…. 

What we often see on the outside isn’t necessarily what that person is like in reality. D L Moody, the American Preacher said that ‘Character is what you are in the dark,’ reminding us that character isn’t what we do when we’re in front of others, but what we do when we haven’t got others around, or when we don’t feel we need to impress the person before us… 

During Lent, one of the things that I think we’re called to look at is our own character… It’s a time to ask ourselves the sometimes painful and probing questions about our relationship with God, and our relationship with other people… And I think our readings this morning really help with that.

First of all in the reading from Genesis (15:1-12,17,18) we’re reminded of the account of Abram. He was struggling a little bit but he was promised that God would be his shield, God would protect him. And more than that Abram worried that he didn’t have an heir and according to custom if he died without a son, his eldest servant would become his heir. Much as Abram loved Eliezer, he wanted a son of his own to carry on the family line, and so God instructed him to look up to the skies and count the stars, and God promised that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars… And Abram believed him… 

And that is really crucial – as we sit in church on a Sunday morning when we could be doing something different, it seems silly to suggest something about what we believe, but here we are told to believe what seems impossible, to have a vision of what God can really do for us… Abram believed that his life would be completely transformed, how confident are we of that ? And how willing are we to let God transform us ?

And that leads on to Paul’s letter to the Philippians (3:17-4:1). The letter to the Philippians is wonderful – in spite of it being written from prison, it is Paul’s letter of joy, and joy isn’t just happiness, it is somethingthat goes way beyond happiness – it is something that is in him, something that is really lasting…. But this letter wasn’t just about joy because it also contained some warnings, or perhaps some advice would be a kinder way of putting it.

Firstly, Paul suggested that people should imitate him in an effort to be more Christlike. Now this could have been the height of arrogance but actually back just a few verses before the section we’ve heard (v.12) Paul has said that he is far from perfect, but he is trying. He is striving towards this complete transformation in his life – a transformation that will lead him to live more closely with God and with those around him, even those he struggles to like… 

Paul urged people to try and be more Christlike in their character by imitating him and we’re left with a question of what would it look like if someone imitated us ?

And next, Paul warns of people whose minds are set on earthly things, reminding them that their citizenship is in heaven. These people understood citizenship well – this was no BREXIT style discussion of who can be a citizen where. They understood that Roman citizens very clearly had a duty to promote the interest of Rome wherever they were. And Paul suggested that as citizens of heaven we have a role to promote the interests of the kingdom of God and one of the ways we do that is by being more like Jesus…. 

But this is something that we so often struggle to do – it’s easy to see the faults in others, they’ve always got loads, but what about us ?What are our faults, what are the parts of us that wouldn’t look much like Jesus if people imitated them ?

And then finally from this section from Philippians Paul writes to ‘stand firm in the Lord’… He knew that there would be many challenges, many temptations, many negative influences that people could give in to, but he asked them to stand firm and be confident that God is the one who can give us that strength of character to be more like the people he wants us to be… But for that to happen we must allow him to work in us, expecting transformation… 

So we’re left with some questions – firstly, how much do we expect God to fulfil his promises, living confidently with that faith that God can do all things ? Secondly, What would it look like if someone imitated us ?And thirdly, are we willing to allow God to transform us more and more into the person that he wants us to be or are we comfortable picking and choosing the parts of our lives where we include him ?

And that leads us to our gospel reading (Luke 13:31-35). In the reading Jesus laments over Jerusalem and its problems… and he uses Jerusalem specifically here, but it is a symbol of the world. Jerusalem stood for so much of what the world at the time was about – there were the Roman authorities, the religious leaders, a good measure of wealth and poverty, all kinds of disputes and rivalries, some faithful people trying to live good lives no doubt and others who were ready to take advantage of those who were weak in some way… 

The world today has all kinds of issues going on as well. This week there has been ongoing conflict in parts of the Middle East, there has been the dreadful attack in New Zealand, the rather shambolic discussions about Brexit and these are only a few of the things going on… And I wonder when Jesus looks at the world how he laments today, how he grieves for those that are broken or hurting, how he sees through reputations to look at a person’s real character…. 

During the early days of the Salvation Army, William Booth and his associates were bitterly attacked in the press by religious leaders and government leaders alike. People didn’t like that they were dealing with all kinds of difficult people, in difficult places - in spite of what the gospel says about how we absolutely must be doing those things!  

Whenever William Booth’s son, Bramwell, showed him a negative newspaper piece, hewould reply, "Bramwell, fifty years hence it will matter very little indeed how these people treated us; it will matter a great deal how we dealt with the work of God." 

Good works are vitally important and today the church and individuals within it contribute enormous amounts of time and energy and money to helping others which is brilliant and essential and good news that we must share,but today and during this Lent season we’realso just asked to look a little bit more closely at ourselves, not what we do, but who we are in the eyes of God, and what God really means to us ? Is he someone through whom we seek ongoing transformation or is he a comfortable Sunday friend ? AMEN