Sermon Sunday
11th. September, 2005
if anyone wants to come with me he must forget
self…
whoever wants to save his own life will lose it….
but whoever loses his life for me…will save
it………
Perhaps you’ve heard of the town of Kendal, population 28,000, in the Lake District – it’s the home of mint cake, the lakeland pencil factory is there, and it’s a holiday centre for the Lake District. But recently it has become famous for an entirely different reason. For the past fifteen years or so, a team of researchers have been studying church congregations, and the growth of new holistic groups, like yoga groups, aromatherapy and so on. They’ve discovered that on an average Sunday like today, 2,200 people attend worship in any one of a number of congregations. But 600 people during the week take part in one or other of the holistic groups that meet. Astrology groups, psychic consultancy groups, meditation groups, pagan groups and so on. And the holistic groups are slowly gaining in numbers. In the book he has recently written, Professor Heelas tells us that if this trend continues, within the next 20 to 30 years, holistic groups will outnumber congregations.
Why is this survey of a small
town in the
it illustrates so well, it seems such a clear example of a movement, a shift that is happening for many people………
a movement away from living for others,
towards living for self
shift from life centred outside yourself
to life centred in yourself
a slow shift away from the churches in Kendal, to groups focussing on self
some, perhaps many rejecting the church, and turning elsewhere
Now, of course, people are free to turn away from Jesus himself, from Christian faith. It sounds a shocking thing to say, but actually, many times in the gospels we read of men and women rejecting even Jesus himself, turning away from Him. Remember the rich young man, for instance, who wanted to follow Jesus, and when Jesus told him of the cost, he turned and went away. And in the passage we read this morning, when Jesus speaks of the cost of following Him, and all that is involved, even Peter won’t have it.
People are free to weigh things up for themselves…… as Jesus said we should………
In a sense how right the researchers are about Christian faith,
the New Testament speak of life centred outside ourselves.
We read this morning
That Jesus called the crowd and his disciples
to him:
if anyone wants to come with me he must forget
self…
come, follow me,
but, now, what does that mean ?
I once knew a minister who, when he was a young man, took this literally, to forget himself, deny himself. So he lived in an almost empty house –
A table in the kitchen with one chair in front of it,
and at night he slept on a mattress on the bare floor. That was it.
Is this what Jesus is asking of us ? when he calls us to forget self ?
That we should be one of these exceptional and rare people, who choose to live on a bare literally in absolute poverty ?
Well, if you read through the whole gospel,
when Jesus says
if anyone wants to come with me he must forget
self…
He is offering an invitation……to ordinary people
to forget self,
and live life centred in Him, from Him, through Him,….. to know Him,
to draw on His life, and love,
He invites us to give our own life to Him,
and to discover that this is not to lose life, but to find it !
Just one last word……….
it was a
Surprise, no surprise
to find that the researchers interviewing people in Kendal,
in those astrology groups, spiritual healing groups found that many
had been church members…
so what was it they were hearing in church ?
Well, from memory,
one woman said: each week for years
I sat through service and came out feeling guilty
another said: in church I was always being asked to do something… to be better
than I am…
I don’t know what church they attended………..
each week for years I sat through
service and came out feeling guilty
in church
I was always being asked to do something… to be better than I am…
doesn’t sound like the wonderful, healing life-giving Good News about Jesus, in Jesus
does it ?
all the weight being put upon you – to be better, to do better,
no wonder they felt guilty, I would too……….
always being asked to do something… to be better than I am…
How good it is then, to turn to the New Testament
and read there Paul’s words, which say the exact opposite
It is by God’s grace you have been saved
through faith, It is not the result of your own efforts,
but God’s gift………..
don’t you see the marvel, the wonder of this –
it is not being better than we are,
but living life centred in Jesus, from Jesus,
through Him,…..
depending not on our faltering, frail selves,
but relying for everything on Him,
depending not on our faltering, frail faith,
but relying for everything on Jesus,
who shapes and upholds, creates ever deepening faith
in us……
It is by God’s grace you have been saved
through faith, It is not the result of your own efforts,
but God’s gift………..
to know Him,
to draw on His life, and love,
is not to lose life but to find it……….
AMEN