Tag Archives: respect

Challenges.

One of the dangers of my Church is that it has such nice people in it! So easily it can become a club of well-meaning and like minded people. If we were all long sentence prisoners, slaves, or addicts our need would be clearer and less escapable. Paul would understand the danger. He has quite a record of achievement, – lays it out in Philippians 3:5,6. (Today we are reading Philippians 3:4-14). Yet he chooses to rely instead on Christ. There are several challenges here, but also much comfort.

First, a challenge to think about Christian achievement ( and to think about it more than secular achievement). We note people of significance – those with academic distinction, high office, or public achievement. We are not so good at celebrating those who persist faithfully in unpopular, underfunded or badly managed enterprise. The care worker who makes extra effort, and so on . . . Alas, we are less good at honouring those whose faith and Christian service are of lasting significance. I don’t mean we should resurrect the forgotten saints of past times, but that we need to think about our priorities – the more when Paul’s ambitions seem odd. The comfort here is for those who will never wear a medal on earth, but whose reliance on Christ earns them a heavenly record.

Secondly, a challenge about where our confidence should rest. Could we say with Paul we don’t care about our social status?

 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

Philippians 3:7

The comfort? It’s never too late to start. Disciples change! Part of this (or is it another point?) is the righteousness which comes from faith, rather than law (verse 9). The challenge is to rely on grace, forgiveness, Jesus, not on being “good” or respected. It is a good deal harder than you might think. The comfort? For those who find it hard, they can look to Jesus.

Is it time to stop yet? Perhaps, but a final challenge is keeping going to reach the goal verses 12-14. We haven’t arrived yet; we can’t give up and rely on our past. The comfort – yes, once again, it is never too late.

Paul was a great challenge, even insult, to his contemporaries. His transfer from Pharisee to Christian won him many enemies, much misunderstanding. We need to face up to his challenge – perhaps it is not his but Christ’s – to “conventional” religion. There is comfort, too, but only when we take seriously the call to “regard whatever gains we had as loss because of Christ”

Meta What?

What do you know about Post-Modernism? If your answer is nothing, or even not much, you are wrong. You may not know the name, but you know the attitudes, and their effects. Post-Modernism is the view that says everyone can have their own life, even their own truth. It is the force behind the demand for choice, and the philosophy behind the assertion that everything is relative. It claims that – in the jargon – there is no Meta-narrative. That is, there is no overall meaning; it is no use asking why things are as they are or why the happen as they do – they just are, and you make your own meaning.

This is presented as something new, but many parts of it have been around many times before. Remember Paul, visiting Athens in the first century, and finding all sorts of temples and altars (“take your pick”); or remember Jonah, when on the ship in the storm, and the captain wakes him up (Jonah 1:6) to pray to his god, in case that works better than any of the other “gods” the crew and other passengers pray to for relief from the dangerous storm.

You may realise that I am talking about 1Timothy 2. (1 Timothy 2:1-7 is the reading for Proper 20c, or this year the 14th Sunday after Trinity) Christians have a distinctive attitude. We respect other people and beliefs – not because all beliefs are equal, nor out of fear or inability to do anything about it. We respect all people because God made them, loves them, and wants them to be saved. We respect their beliefs, because God does not force anyone in this life, so we also must allow them freedom within the limits of harm to others.

Now look at 1 Timothy 2. Prayer is to be offered for everyone! Can’t we just be concerned with ourselves, or those like us? No. We serve a God who cares for all, and our care must reflect his. We pray for those in authority, depending on them, but more. Verse 5:

“there is one God;
    there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
    who gave himself a ransom for all”

What this is saying, as a summary of the Christian gospel, is that there is a Meta-narrative – one overall purpose. God, by definition, is one. He is the supreme being. Yes, our world has lost sight of him, and given up trying to make sense of everything. In some ways Christians haven’t helped – they have sometimes contributed to oppression, sometimes just let it happen. Some of their explanations have not honoured God, but made him anything but loving and just. We live with the results, in a curious mixture.

Our faith says, v5: “there is one God;
    there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
    who gave himself a ransom for all”

Our world says there is no right way, do your own thing. I suggest we do as we are told (but as we are told by a God who is just, and loving, and understands what we never will on earth). What are we to do? Live as God asks, praying for all around us, making clear that our choice is for Jesus, and there is both the possibility and welcome for others to do so too.

Aslan

When CS Lewis wrote “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” the lion was a key figure. Friendly, so that the children trusted him, he was never tame, still less a stuffed toy or little brother. The Lion was powerful, different, and while not frightening, at least awesome.

As we read Hebrews 12:18-29, we find first an account of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. It was a fearful experience, even for Moses, and more so for the people. Not only were they barred from the quaking, smoking mountain, they even had to keep livestock away. The God who was giving the commandments was not one to be treated lightly.

And we know better? I think not. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that the Christian experience is different. Jesus brings us a new Covenant, and teaches us more fully about God. But there is no suggestion that God may be treated lightly. Quite the opposite. As verse 25 points out, it is even more necessary to take to heart what is given us from heaven. We can rightly be thankful that the kingdom given to us is secure, but careful that the God we deal with is “a consuming fire” – never to be played with, always respected.

CS Lewis was surely right in the characterisation of Aslan. A lion, a wonderful companion and good friend, but a terror to the enemies of love and justice.