Works ?
The first line of today’s psalm (125) is one that rather amuses me – ‘they that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as Mount Zion : which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever’. I think I mentioned before that when we were in Jerusalem someone asked our guide which mountain was Mount Zion and our guide pointed to where it was at the time of Jesus, and where that immovable mountain is today !
In fact, of course, the mountain had not moved at all, but the names of the mountains had been changed ! What was Mount Zion is no longer Mount Zion – it has, in name at least, moved !
And this movement reminds us that it is so often not God himself that moves or changes, but our expectations of him, our thoughts about him, and our feelings towards him. But, in the Lord, we can stand fast for ever, secure in his saving power – many people approach God with hope rather than expectation, but we can approach God and his message with absolute confidence.
Today’s readings point us towards a heavenly vision in many ways – in the Book of Isaiah (35:4-7a), we read that the Lord will come and save us, and we also read that at the appointed time, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless shall sing for joy. There will be waters in the wilderness and springs in the desert.
In other words we await with expectation a new kingdom, a perfect kingdom. The kingdom where God sits in authority over his people, but doesn’t sit with the fearsome power of a dictator, but with the concern and love of a doting Father.
C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.’ And I think this is a wonderful lesson for us, as Christians, living in a world where so much seems to be pushed against us. The letter of James, part of which we heard last week, and another part we have heard today (2:1-17), emphasises the need for good works - but he never says those things are what we need for salvation – faith is taken as a pre-requisite and faith becomes the foundation of our good works.
In some ways C S Lewis is paraphrasing part of that letter of James, because he has recognised that what we are attempting to do in our lives and through good works is to make God’s kingdom just a little bit closer to us every day. By looking towards heaven, and the vision of a perfect kingdom, we see a vision of how God wants us to live today.
We may not be able to make the blind see or the deaf hear in every case – but we can point them to a person who can – and who will show them that their ailments in this life are but a small shadow in the glory of the inheritance of faith. But, you know, I really don’t like preachers who say that everything will be ok if we wait long enough – that the problems in this world don’t matter at all, because something better is coming somewhere in the future !
Yes, I accept that these problems are nothing compared to the glory awaiting us in heaven, but whilst we point to heaven, we can never ignore, the here and now – where we are today !
And it is in this that we learn a little from the gospel reading (Mark 7:24-37)- it’s a tough reading in many ways as Jesus initially seems to turn away the appeals of the woman concerned for her daughter, but she persists, and he hears her and answers her – her daughter has been made well.
It is her persistence, and her character, as well as God’s power, that result in the daughter’s healing.
And once again that leads us back to the lessons of the Book of Joshua that we thought about a couple of weeks ago – without God the people couldn’t do it, and without the people God wouldn’t do it.
The reality is that people are hurting in the world today – there are people who suffer as a result of all kinds of things, and our preaching of a wonderful new world by itself, often doesn’t ease that hurting. Jesus made it clear in his life on earth that he was concerned for others – he was concerned for their every need. Something that can ease some of that hurting is for us to become part of a community concerned for others, and concerned not just in words but in actions as well.
A Church that is a real community, concerned for each other and concerned also for the needs of people everywhere, is one that is doing the work of God – it is one where his love is shining out into the world today – it is one that has no time for making judgements about people, or about condemning people… but one that is welcoming to all… And that welcome comes sometimes on a Sunday as people enter our Church buildings, but it comes also throughout the week, as we meet people, as they watch us go about our daily lives – as I said last week, our lives will be seen by many as a reflection of Jesus himself.
The Christian message is about a relationship between God and his people – it is the story of creation, of separation through our wrong doing and rebellion, of a Saviour, Jesus, who came to live amongst us, to personally call us back to God, and to provide a way of doing it. And that relationship is one that is then shared throughout the Christian community – loving God involves loving others – loving God involves praying for others – loving God involves working for others, and trying to ease their needs.
And of course, it is not just the Christian community to whom we have a duty of care – God’s people are everywhere – white, black, tall, short, educated, uneducated, likeable or not ! In Christ, every one of us is equal…
Good works don’t make us a Christian, but as we respond to God’s love, we will respond with love for others as well, and as we consider the heavenly promise we have for ourselves, we can try to reveal some of that promise to them as well. We look to heaven, but we work on earth, pointing to the glory of God, reminding people of the victory of Jesus as he conquered death, and revealing to all, through our words and actions, the love of Jesus.
I said earlier about Mount Zion and it’s name being moved from one mountain to another, - we can change lots of things in our lives – we can change them for good or we can change them for bad – but God remains the same – he remains faithful and loving and ready to call us back into his arms – he remains ready to shower us with the gifts of a loving Father – and all he asks us to do is to come to him and ask him for those gifts, which we will then share with others. AMEN
In fact, of course, the mountain had not moved at all, but the names of the mountains had been changed ! What was Mount Zion is no longer Mount Zion – it has, in name at least, moved !
And this movement reminds us that it is so often not God himself that moves or changes, but our expectations of him, our thoughts about him, and our feelings towards him. But, in the Lord, we can stand fast for ever, secure in his saving power – many people approach God with hope rather than expectation, but we can approach God and his message with absolute confidence.
Today’s readings point us towards a heavenly vision in many ways – in the Book of Isaiah (35:4-7a), we read that the Lord will come and save us, and we also read that at the appointed time, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless shall sing for joy. There will be waters in the wilderness and springs in the desert.
In other words we await with expectation a new kingdom, a perfect kingdom. The kingdom where God sits in authority over his people, but doesn’t sit with the fearsome power of a dictator, but with the concern and love of a doting Father.
C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.’ And I think this is a wonderful lesson for us, as Christians, living in a world where so much seems to be pushed against us. The letter of James, part of which we heard last week, and another part we have heard today (2:1-17), emphasises the need for good works - but he never says those things are what we need for salvation – faith is taken as a pre-requisite and faith becomes the foundation of our good works.
In some ways C S Lewis is paraphrasing part of that letter of James, because he has recognised that what we are attempting to do in our lives and through good works is to make God’s kingdom just a little bit closer to us every day. By looking towards heaven, and the vision of a perfect kingdom, we see a vision of how God wants us to live today.
We may not be able to make the blind see or the deaf hear in every case – but we can point them to a person who can – and who will show them that their ailments in this life are but a small shadow in the glory of the inheritance of faith. But, you know, I really don’t like preachers who say that everything will be ok if we wait long enough – that the problems in this world don’t matter at all, because something better is coming somewhere in the future !
Yes, I accept that these problems are nothing compared to the glory awaiting us in heaven, but whilst we point to heaven, we can never ignore, the here and now – where we are today !
And it is in this that we learn a little from the gospel reading (Mark 7:24-37)- it’s a tough reading in many ways as Jesus initially seems to turn away the appeals of the woman concerned for her daughter, but she persists, and he hears her and answers her – her daughter has been made well.
It is her persistence, and her character, as well as God’s power, that result in the daughter’s healing.
And once again that leads us back to the lessons of the Book of Joshua that we thought about a couple of weeks ago – without God the people couldn’t do it, and without the people God wouldn’t do it.
The reality is that people are hurting in the world today – there are people who suffer as a result of all kinds of things, and our preaching of a wonderful new world by itself, often doesn’t ease that hurting. Jesus made it clear in his life on earth that he was concerned for others – he was concerned for their every need. Something that can ease some of that hurting is for us to become part of a community concerned for others, and concerned not just in words but in actions as well.
A Church that is a real community, concerned for each other and concerned also for the needs of people everywhere, is one that is doing the work of God – it is one where his love is shining out into the world today – it is one that has no time for making judgements about people, or about condemning people… but one that is welcoming to all… And that welcome comes sometimes on a Sunday as people enter our Church buildings, but it comes also throughout the week, as we meet people, as they watch us go about our daily lives – as I said last week, our lives will be seen by many as a reflection of Jesus himself.
The Christian message is about a relationship between God and his people – it is the story of creation, of separation through our wrong doing and rebellion, of a Saviour, Jesus, who came to live amongst us, to personally call us back to God, and to provide a way of doing it. And that relationship is one that is then shared throughout the Christian community – loving God involves loving others – loving God involves praying for others – loving God involves working for others, and trying to ease their needs.
And of course, it is not just the Christian community to whom we have a duty of care – God’s people are everywhere – white, black, tall, short, educated, uneducated, likeable or not ! In Christ, every one of us is equal…
Good works don’t make us a Christian, but as we respond to God’s love, we will respond with love for others as well, and as we consider the heavenly promise we have for ourselves, we can try to reveal some of that promise to them as well. We look to heaven, but we work on earth, pointing to the glory of God, reminding people of the victory of Jesus as he conquered death, and revealing to all, through our words and actions, the love of Jesus.
I said earlier about Mount Zion and it’s name being moved from one mountain to another, - we can change lots of things in our lives – we can change them for good or we can change them for bad – but God remains the same – he remains faithful and loving and ready to call us back into his arms – he remains ready to shower us with the gifts of a loving Father – and all he asks us to do is to come to him and ask him for those gifts, which we will then share with others. AMEN
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