Reach out
In this age of political correctness I think it’s important to put a few things straight, so I’m going to start with one this morning. It’s a little bit controversial in this age of women’s ministry and equality, but with Helen safely away in Penarth I feel confident in addressing it !
I want to say that Churches should be built firmly on the leadership of one man – one man who will guide decisions, one man who will inspire a following, one man who will lead meetings and play the major part in worship, one man who will oversee the administration of the Church, one man who quite frankly controls everything.
Many different Church models have been tried over centuries, but this is the only one that has ever brought lasting success.
Before I get into any further trouble I should say, as some of you will have worked out, that the one man I am talking about is Jesus, who must be the focus of our prayers, our worship, in fact our whole lives.
I’ve probably mentioned before over the past few weeks as we’ve gone through the Letter of James in our readings that this is one of my favourite books in the Bible – it’s a book of action, a book that reminds us that worship and praise and Church attendance and even a deep faith is not enough for us as we seek to live out the vision of God in the world today.
The letter offers us some very simple, but very blunt characteristics for living a Christian life. In today’s short section (James 3:13-4:3,7,8) he writes about wisdom, and the wisdom of living a gentle, peaceful life – he writes about conflict, about greed and selfish ambition, he writes about us asking for things but not getting them because we have asked wrongly – to satisfy our own desires and needs.
And he finishes this section with some powerful words, ‘Submit yourselves… to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.’
At first reading this could suggest that God is somehow bargaining with us – if we come a bit closer to him, he will come closer to us ! But that’s not how it is – God has already drawn near to us, and all he asks is that we just reach out to him.
God could of course impose himself on us – he could come all the way to us and just grab our hands and guide us exactly as he wants, but that isn’t God’s way… There are many forms of leaders – at one extreme there would be the leader who rules people with terror, who frightens them into doing his will, who controls them, and at the other end of the spectrum completely, there is the leader who leads with fairness, with justice, with kindness, even love, and who, instead of forcing people to follow him, asks people to follow him.
That kind of leader is Jesus – he didn’t use force, he didn’t use any of his miracles, he didn’t make a huge scene, he came quietly, but radically, to overthrow the powers of evil in the world, and to begin to build his kingdom on earth.
Draw near to him, and he will draw near to you – in other words he is like the parent with his arms open at the front door as the child enters the gate – he is inviting us in – in to his care, into his love…
And so we are called to reach out to him – and that reaching out can happen in so many different ways. There is certainly a reaching out in worship and in prayer, as we focus our minds on offering praise and thanksgiving to him, and as we seek his forgiveness, and taste some of his mercy. There is reaching out in love as we dedicate our lives to serving him, caring for the needs of others and offering them a message of peace, of joy and of love.
There is reaching out as we pray privately, not necessarily elaborate prayers with long words, but real prayers with real thoughts – seeking God’s help, wisdom and guidance, and trying to find what he wants us to do. One of the wonderful things about God is that he knows us so well, and is so sure of each one of us, that he has a purpose for each one of us – it may be small, it may be big, but whatever it is, if God is calling us to do it, then it is important.
There is reaching out as well as we read God’s word in the Bible – it’s incredible really how little attention we pay to the book that provides most information about God – we might come to Church, and listen to the readings there, we may know some readings such as Psalm 23 very well, but we don’t make it a priority to read and study the Bible on a regular basis.
There can be reaching out to God in so many different ways, but the most important is the one that takes in all of them – simply dedicating our lives to his service and his care, knowing that in all things he will guide us, strengthen us, support us, sustain us, and most importantly, love us !
One of the most moving true stories I have heard concerns a young boy called Matthew Huffman. He was the 6 year old son of missionaries working in Salvador in Brazil. One morning he began to complain of a fever. As his temperature went up, he began to lose his eyesight. His mother and father put him in the car and rushed him to the hospital.
As they were driving and he was lying on his mother’s lap, he extended his hand in the air. His mother held the hand, but Matthew pulled it away – he extended it again and again she tried to hold it, but he pulled away and reached up into the air. Confused, his mother asked him what he was doing, and he replied, ‘I’m reaching for Jesus’ hand’… and with those words he slid into a coma before dying 2 days later of bacterial meningitis.
Matthew may not have learnt much in his short life, but he had learnt to reach out for Jesus, knowing that he would care for him.
And that is the plea from the letter of James today – dedicate your life to him, open up your life to him, follow him, trust him, and you will never be alone. AMEN
I want to say that Churches should be built firmly on the leadership of one man – one man who will guide decisions, one man who will inspire a following, one man who will lead meetings and play the major part in worship, one man who will oversee the administration of the Church, one man who quite frankly controls everything.
Many different Church models have been tried over centuries, but this is the only one that has ever brought lasting success.
Before I get into any further trouble I should say, as some of you will have worked out, that the one man I am talking about is Jesus, who must be the focus of our prayers, our worship, in fact our whole lives.
I’ve probably mentioned before over the past few weeks as we’ve gone through the Letter of James in our readings that this is one of my favourite books in the Bible – it’s a book of action, a book that reminds us that worship and praise and Church attendance and even a deep faith is not enough for us as we seek to live out the vision of God in the world today.
The letter offers us some very simple, but very blunt characteristics for living a Christian life. In today’s short section (James 3:13-4:3,7,8) he writes about wisdom, and the wisdom of living a gentle, peaceful life – he writes about conflict, about greed and selfish ambition, he writes about us asking for things but not getting them because we have asked wrongly – to satisfy our own desires and needs.
And he finishes this section with some powerful words, ‘Submit yourselves… to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.’
At first reading this could suggest that God is somehow bargaining with us – if we come a bit closer to him, he will come closer to us ! But that’s not how it is – God has already drawn near to us, and all he asks is that we just reach out to him.
God could of course impose himself on us – he could come all the way to us and just grab our hands and guide us exactly as he wants, but that isn’t God’s way… There are many forms of leaders – at one extreme there would be the leader who rules people with terror, who frightens them into doing his will, who controls them, and at the other end of the spectrum completely, there is the leader who leads with fairness, with justice, with kindness, even love, and who, instead of forcing people to follow him, asks people to follow him.
That kind of leader is Jesus – he didn’t use force, he didn’t use any of his miracles, he didn’t make a huge scene, he came quietly, but radically, to overthrow the powers of evil in the world, and to begin to build his kingdom on earth.
Draw near to him, and he will draw near to you – in other words he is like the parent with his arms open at the front door as the child enters the gate – he is inviting us in – in to his care, into his love…
And so we are called to reach out to him – and that reaching out can happen in so many different ways. There is certainly a reaching out in worship and in prayer, as we focus our minds on offering praise and thanksgiving to him, and as we seek his forgiveness, and taste some of his mercy. There is reaching out in love as we dedicate our lives to serving him, caring for the needs of others and offering them a message of peace, of joy and of love.
There is reaching out as we pray privately, not necessarily elaborate prayers with long words, but real prayers with real thoughts – seeking God’s help, wisdom and guidance, and trying to find what he wants us to do. One of the wonderful things about God is that he knows us so well, and is so sure of each one of us, that he has a purpose for each one of us – it may be small, it may be big, but whatever it is, if God is calling us to do it, then it is important.
There is reaching out as well as we read God’s word in the Bible – it’s incredible really how little attention we pay to the book that provides most information about God – we might come to Church, and listen to the readings there, we may know some readings such as Psalm 23 very well, but we don’t make it a priority to read and study the Bible on a regular basis.
There can be reaching out to God in so many different ways, but the most important is the one that takes in all of them – simply dedicating our lives to his service and his care, knowing that in all things he will guide us, strengthen us, support us, sustain us, and most importantly, love us !
One of the most moving true stories I have heard concerns a young boy called Matthew Huffman. He was the 6 year old son of missionaries working in Salvador in Brazil. One morning he began to complain of a fever. As his temperature went up, he began to lose his eyesight. His mother and father put him in the car and rushed him to the hospital.
As they were driving and he was lying on his mother’s lap, he extended his hand in the air. His mother held the hand, but Matthew pulled it away – he extended it again and again she tried to hold it, but he pulled away and reached up into the air. Confused, his mother asked him what he was doing, and he replied, ‘I’m reaching for Jesus’ hand’… and with those words he slid into a coma before dying 2 days later of bacterial meningitis.
Matthew may not have learnt much in his short life, but he had learnt to reach out for Jesus, knowing that he would care for him.
And that is the plea from the letter of James today – dedicate your life to him, open up your life to him, follow him, trust him, and you will never be alone. AMEN
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