The sermon began with the following visual
“I have asked Andy Broom to help me with today’s sermon.”
Like every other journey we go on throughout our journey in life we pick up many packages and things.
We pick up:
The package of WHAT PEOPLE THINK & SAY ABOUT ME!!!
The package of WHAT I WANT!!!
The package of HOW I THINK THINGS SHOULD BE!!!!
A bucket load of HURTS!!!
The baggage of PRIDE!!!
A sack of WHAT makes me comfortable!!!
We pick up WHAT I BELIEVE I DESERVE!!!
A box of WHAT I HAVE DONE!!!
A bag of WHAT I OWN!!!
A box of WHAT I LIKE!!
And a basket of MY IMAGE
(for each of these was a package, box or bag that we loaded Andy up with, )
Not only do we pick these and other packages up we also hold tightly onto them.
Now in themselves most of the things we pick up are neither good nor bad,
Neither right or wrong until they get in the road of us having the life that God wants us to have.
Including getting into the road of us being fed.
At times they can make life uncomfortable and even prevent us from enjoying the life God wants us to have now and in the future.
Now Andy I would love to give you a beautiful brewed coffee.
And this is top coffee.
Maybe I could find a straw and see if we can get it through a hole in these packages, but it wouldn’t be that good
At times we often live life like that holding tightly onto everything and trying to also live the life God wants us to live.
Sometimes we will try to have both what God wants us to have and hold tightly onto the things we have picked up throughout life.
But I have an idea Andy.
How about I take some of these packages from you?
How about you drop the rest.
Really what is better is if we let go of things.
This includes handing things over to Jesus for him to deal with
And it includes dropping those things that hinder the life God so that we can be fed and take part of the life God would dearly love us to have.
Now Andy you can start enjoying your coffee
Now in today’s Gospel reading from John chapter 12 this is what Jesus was on about.
In John 12 verse 25 and 26 and Jesus says
25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
One of the biggest challenges in our lives is letting go of the things that hinder us in our relationship with God and each other.
Sometimes we may feel we have a right to hold onto some of the packages in life,
But in fact what is best is that we let go of them.
For around 10 years I had a deep heart for a couple of people.
I wouldn’t forgive them.
I wanted to sit on them big time.
Regularly I would think of ways of how to get revenge for the hurts they had inflicted on my family.
They had made us suffer.
I felt I deserved to feel this way and seek revenge.
Fortunately someone said to me Richard do you realize that they you holding you holding on to this is hurting you far more than it is hurting them.
They have probably even forgotten about the instance.
But you are holding onto it and it is affecting how you see them and the group of people they are part of
And you are not getting fully on with life.
Each of us have packages we need to drop or let go of so we can take advantage of the life God is giving us.
Now to understand this text a bit better we need to understand the situation Jesus was talking to…
At the start of our reading we hear
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
When Jesus says the man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life he is making this statement in reference to two groups of people.
Two groups of people who needed to let go of
how they believed God should act and be
and allow God to reveal to them how he acts.
One is the Pharisees.
These were people who had respect in the Jewish religious community.
They knew the Jewish Bible well, or at least they thought they did.
They thought they knew what God wants.
And they strongly encouraged people to have a good relationship with God.
However there was a problem.
They believed for anyone to have relationship with God they needed to be doing good things.
To them they were most concerned about keeping God’s laws above everything else.
It was important that they and others looked good.
And they enjoyed receiving praise for how good they were.
They believed they secured their future with God by doing the right things.
And so they were most concerned about telling other people what to do and most concerned that they at least looked like they were doing the right thing, by obeying the Mosiac Law and some other rituals.
They had no time for sinners, people who didn’t do the right thing.
However Jesus was highly critical of them.
Not because they did good, but they did it for the wrong reasons
and didn’t understand that you needed more than just doing good to obtain a place in heaven.
The arrival of Jesus had threatened their power.
Put it this way in a few weeks time we are about to commence confirmation.
If I was to tell the students that doing good is pointless for securing life with God.
I would not be surprised if at least one parent gets a little upset with me.
Why?
Because as parents we work so hard at getting our kids to do the right things
that we think they might believe they don’t have to do good at all.
For some reason some of them will hear they don’t have to do good, but seem to miss the last part for salvation.
This threatens us because most of our lives are centred around doing the right thing to obtain something.
And that is what Jesus was doing to the Pharisees.
To begin, have and secure a long term relationship with God Jesus did not demand that people be perfect and have it all together.
Rather that they trust Him to secure that relationship.
From John 14:6 we hear
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now it is also important to remember when it came to doing good,
Jesus didn’t discard the idea of doing good
But encouraged people to see doing good wasn’t about earning a relationship with God
but we do good because we have a relationship with God and to share that with others.
And so he threatened the Pharisees understanding of God, their understanding of doing good and their power in the community.
For the Pharisees to grasp who God was they needed to let go of their understanding of God and where doing good fits into the picture and how we obtain a relationship with God
and replace it with who God says he is
that we can only obtain a relationship with God by relying on Jesus
and that doing good is about reflecting God’s love in the world not obtaining God’s love.
Already I have seen numerous examples of people in our congregation of doing good to shine God’s love
Yesterday after men’s breakfast one of today’s sausage cookers said instead of the children having to come outside for sausages, how about I cook some sausages and take them to the children in the hall. That way they are safe and can enjoy things more.
The second group Jesus is addressing is the Greeks.
Now most scholars agree that this is not just a reference to those people from Greece.
But a reference to all non Jews.
They are attracted to Jesus because of the spectacular things he has been doing.
Jesus is the flavour of the month.
By this stage in his ministry already He has done many spectacular things
He has risen Lazarus from the dead.
He has healed people
He brings sight to the blind.
Likewise many people are attracted to Jesus because of what he can give them today, how he makes them feel today.
They were acknowledging Jesus as someone special, the Messiah because he was doing something spectacular, that looked.
What are some of the things that attract you to Jesus?
Is it just limited to what you can receive now, and what makes you feel good?
Maybe its peace, maybe it’s a feeling, perhaps it is a special gift, maybe its healing.
Now these things are good and they can come from God.
They are helpful but remember they are not essential.
Nor will they always occur in the way we expect.
But they are not a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is the Messiah,
the one who will give us eternal life.
From Mark 13:22 we hear
22 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
In today’s reading Jesus highlights that there is something that is a guaranteed authentic identifying mark that Jesus is truly God and the Messiah
Listen again to verses 31 to 33
31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
For Jesus glory is not about being acknowledged for healing people, for raising people from the dead or doing anything else that appears spectacular.
It is about listening to His Father, and dieing.
Because it is through His death and His resurrection that me and you receive life.
From 1 Peter 3:18 we hear,
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
This is the most important thing that Jesus did for you…
He died for you so that you may have life.
Instead of doing what He wanted, He did what was needed for me and you to have life.
Occasionally you may hear from time to time the term theology of the cross.
This is what is being referred to.
That through the cross we truly see who God is.
God who is prepared to suffer for you.
A father who was willing to give up his son.
A Son who was willing to give up his life.
Not for His benefit but for your benefit.
So that you can have life with Him.
Maybe that is the package at times me and you need to put down.
That we let go of demanding God doing the stuff we want
that addresses our immediate desires.
Instead we pick up God’s package that He has a long term future planned for us secured by His suffering on the cross.
For centuries this has influenced people.
Resulting in Christians letting go of their own motives
and instead serving God even though it resulted in suffering.
Some of you may have heard of a character called Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
There are many stories about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He was a pastor in the church in Germany during World War 2, when Hitler was in power.
He opposed Hitler.
He had escaped to the USA just after the war started.
However God spoke to him and encouraged him to return to Germany.
God used him to continue encouraging people in the true faith of God and opposing Adolf Hitler’s armies attacks on any one who opposed him.
This cost him his life.
Now he could have stayed in USA where he would have been safe.
However he listened to God so others could benefit.
This week I week I encourage you to reflect on:
What packages are you carrying around that you need to drop or hand over to God?
Ask also are you telling God how and what he should be doing or are you listening to God through His bible to discover who He is and how He acts? (If you are not already reading the bible daily you will find a daily reading plan on page 2 of our bulletin.)
Also thing about How does God dieing on the cross for you affect your life now and in the future?
Remember God promises you life…are you going to grab hold of it.
Let us pray.
AMEN
