I was reading recently some actual excuses which have appeared on insurance claim forms – excuses such as, I collided with a stationary car coming in the other direction or To avoid a collision I ran into the other car or I saw the tree before I hit it, but I didn’t realise it was there.
The Christian life is all about a relationship with Jesus, yet on many occasions we seem to make excuses for not really being an active part within that relationship. But today’s Collect reminds us of where our priorities must lie, ‘God, without you we are not able to please you…’
Many of us will have heard time after time about good people, really good people, but people who are living their lives without God. We assume that God must be pleased with good works and nice people, but that is to assume that God thinks just like we do, when in fact he doesn’t.
In the gospel reading we heard again the account of James and John asking to sit by the side of Jesus in heaven (Mark
It’s very easy to develop a feeling of being important – Muhammad Ali the boxer who described himself as the greatest was getting on an aeroplane one day. As they were about to take off, the steward said, "Sir, would you fasten your seat belt?" Muhammad Ali replied, "Superman doesn’t need a seat belt." The steward looked at him and said, "Superman doesn’t need an aeroplane. Would you please fasten your seat belt?"
Greatness is only achieved for all of us when we realise that without allowing God to play an active part in our lives then we can do nothing to please him – ‘God without you, we are not able to please you…’
I may have told this story before but it’s worth telling again. ‘A father wanted to read the paper, but was being bothered by his little daughter. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine, on
which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to his daughter and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together."
After a few minutes, the girl returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly.
"Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper was a picture of Jesus. When I got Jesus in His place, then the world came out all right."
In Bible study we have been looking at the miracles of Jesus recently, but I think one of the greatest miracles of all wasn’t healing or walking on water or even his resurrection – it is that he was prepared to do those things for us. In spite of all our rejection of him, in spite of the times when we neglect him, he is there waiting for us to call him, waiting for us to allow him to play a bigger part in our lives, and all the time loving us…
James and John looked for the sort of power and influence that would be respected in the world today, but Jesus taught them about being a servant, and that must be the model of the Church, and all of us within it, today.
During the American Revolution War a company of soldiers under the command of a captain was building a fort out of a pile of heavy logs. While wrestling with a log which was to form the topstone and was really too heavy for the men to handle, the captain kept yelling at his men "heave it up", while he himself stood by with his hands on his hips.
Suddenly a stranger in everyday clothing rode up on horseback, and seeing the soldiers sweating and struggling with the log, he stopped and asked the captain why he was not helping his men. "I AM AN OFFICER" was the reply.
With that the stranger leapt off his horse, took off his coat, and helped the men put the heavy log in place. Then, as he was about to ride away, he said to the captain "Next time you need help, just call on me. My name is George Washington and I am Commander In Chief of The United States Army!"
The Church today often offers a picture of a body in need – in need of money, in need of revival, in need of all kinds of things, rather than looking like a body that is ready to serve. But it is a body that is serving that we must be – serving in the way Jesus served, offering help to those in need, offering care and compassion, offering practical support for those worse off than ourselves… offering the sort of unconditional love that Jesus himself offers.
And so we must equip ourselves for that service – and we do that by trusting more in God to support and sustain us – recognising that it is only by enjoying that relationship with him that we will ever please him. And for some that may be an excuse to do very little – as long as I’m enjoying a relationship with God then that’s all that’s important – of course that isn’t the case at all, because a relationship with God will inspire us into service, and inspire us into sharing his love and his good news.
So we must trust - A young preacher was preaching his first sermon and he laid his notes out on the pulpit and about that time in came a blast of wind and blew his notes out of the window. Nervous the young man laughed and said I am sorry I lost my notes I guess I will just have to trust God. Too often we trust God as a last resort, we trust God only when everything else has failed, when all of the time trusting God should be our number one priority.
And getting to know God better must come into this – and we do that by experiencing him for ourselves in prayer and in our every day lives and by studying the Bible – many of us seem reluctant to do that. I’ll finish with one more story, ‘One Sunday after the usual sermon, the pastor asked everyone in the congregation to prepare for next week's sermon. He said the subject would be lying and that everyone needed to read the 17th chapter in the book of Mark. Everyone uttered a sound of approval. Next week when the sermon came the preacher said, "If you read Mark 17 please raise your hand." And everyone in the congregation did. Then the preacher said, "Now I am ready to start my sermon on lying" And he stated "There is no Mark 17!!"’
To truly please God we need to recognise that we can do nothing more than invite him to share in our lives – to get to know him better, involving him in everything that we do, equipped for service and sharing his love and his message with everyone we meet. AMEN
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