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3 converts and a maybe?

28/1/2018

 
​Luke 5 v 12 – 16, 6 v 31 – 38, 7 v 1 – 10, 7 v 36 – 50
 
People who come to church regularly often have a favourite pew.  Perhaps their family has sat there for generations or maybe it’s just where they feel most comfortable.
 
Imagine coming to the service some Sunday and finding in your favourite pew three unexpected visitors, a homeless man, a foreigner and a local woman with a bad reputation.
 
Our initial response might be to think, ‘Well if that’s the kind of people that new preacher is attracting I want no part of it’.  And we have a choice – we can shoo these people out of our pew and our nice church building and get rid of the new preacher while we’re at it – or we can humbly acknowledge that in fundamental ways we’re all much the same and all of us need what the new preacher is talking about.
 
From our Bible readings today let me introduce you to the leper, the centurion  and the woman described as having ‘lived a sinful life’, and a religious man who has a decision to make.  I’ve called this sermon ‘Three converts and one maybe’.
 
Leprosy is a horrible disease and the man described by Luke in ch 5 was an advanced case, disfigured and frightening to look at.  People could sometimes interpret the blessings and curses listed in Deuteronomy 28 in a harsh, black and white way and consider this man cursed by God for some dreadful sin of disobedience.  That, and the obvious risk of infection meant he was classified as ‘unclean’ and barred from the Temple, public places, even his own home.
 
This man may have been a fine husband, father and a good workman at one time but this anti-social disease had rendered him a homeless outcast.
 
Until Jesus Son of God reached out and touched him, cured him, cleansed him!  Now, after being officially declared ‘clean’ by the priest (who in those days acted as a kind of public health inspector) this man can go home, can be reunited to his family, find a job and attend worship.
 
Beside him there’s a foreign man, an officer in the Roman army.  Anywhere centurions are mentioned in the NT they always seem to be men of integrity and good character.  This man was no exception, making every effort to show respect and kindness to the people among whom he was living as one of the ‘occupying forces’.  This man cared when his servant became seriously ill and was not above asking a local Jewish healer for help.  The God of Israel he had come to revere answered his request through Jesus the Christ and the servant was healed.
 
Now this man from a different country and background has come to worship and give thanks.  We’re not told if he converted to Judaism but he appears to be a firm believer in Jesus.
 
Now what about this woman?  She turned up at a dinner party hosted by a religious man, one of the Pharisees.  Somehow she slipped in and at one point got close enough to Jesus to express an extravagant and emotional act of devotion.  The host was embarrassed and upset because everyone in the town knew this woman had a bad reputation.  We’re not told exactly what it was.  Some think she may have been a prostitute.  It’s worth noting that often prostitutes are themselves victims of the men who control or use them.  In many cases theirs is the greater sin!
 
Jesus accepted this woman and her penitent gift. He allowed her to show her gratitude and love and more, He assured her that her sins were forgiven and she was now free to live in peace with His blessing.  Thus comforted, life and hope renewed, this woman has joined the company of those following Jesus.
 
Taking these accounts together, let’s observe three lessons today.  First of all, let’s note the key element of humble faith.
 
All three of these people have recognised they are unable to solve their problems themselves.  Each of them is helpless in some way and they know it.  The leper cannot cleanse himself, the centurion cannot prevent his servant from dying, the woman cannot erase her guilty past.  They can only seek the mercy of the Saviour of the world.
 
‘If you are willing, you can make me clean’, declares the leper.
‘Just say the word and my servant will be well’, professes the centurion.
‘Your faith has saved you’, says Jesus to the sinful woman.
 
For our part, faith in Jesus is the key element.  This is greatly encouraged when we witness secondly the grace of the Saviour.
 
‘I am willing’, declares Jesus as He heals the leper, indignant that anyone might suggest otherwise.  It appears to be His delight to cleanse and restore people who’ve been blighted and alienated.  He commends the gentile army officer for showing greater faith than His fellow Jews.  And He welcomes the woman nobody else wants to know.
 
See how Jesus touches, praises and speaks kind words to these people.  He faithfully preaches to the crowds, challenging us about sin and our need of repentance, but He welcomes individual sinners with wonderful grace and kindness.
 
This leaves us thirdly with several happy endings and a question mark, at least one!
 
The ex-leper has returned home and is spreading the news about Jesus.  The centurion’s household has been visited by God’s grace with a fresh measure of health and strength.  The woman is showing love in a new honourable way in gratitude for the liberating assurance of forgiveness.
 
Three converts and one ‘maybe’.  Here’s the question mark.  What about Simon the Pharisee who had included Jesus among his dinner guests?  Jesus accepted hospitality from both tax-collectors and Pharisees, those deemed to have sinned seriously and frequently and those who at least outwardly lived respectable, religious lives.
 
This man attended worship, prayed, paid his tithes and offerings, tried to live by the rules.  He probably even had a favourite pew in the synagogue!  But would he be able to see that spiritually before a holy God all human beings are unclean with sin, dying guilty and without hope?  Would he accept his need for cleansing, new life and forgiveness and humbly put his faith in Jesus?  Would he subsequently demonstrate his faith by accepting people like these three as brothers and sisters sharing in the compassion of Christ?
 
We don’t know.  We’re not told. 
 
We only know our own hearts.  Are we converts or maybes?  Convinced committed believers and followers of Jesus or something else? 
 
What does the Lord see when He looks in your pew today?
 
 
 

Resolution

13/1/2018

 
No one ever makes a bad New Year’s resolution.

I mean in the sense that no one ever deliberately says, ‘I’m going to eat more chocolate this year’ or, ‘I’m going to make it my life’s goal to exercise much less than last year!’

It just kind of happens.  We don’t have to try.  Just don’t make any particular effort at anything and we let life slide into mediocrity or worse.

A resolution is usually to at least try and do things better, and if we’re honest we all have areas in our lives where there’s room for improvement.  And it doesn’t just happen.  It takes a firm decision, an ongoing determination.
‘Resolve’ means to decide firmly and ‘settle on a plan of action’.  Something we settle on becomes a part and way of life for us.

Last January I suggested that before our feet touch the floor each day we should name our loved ones before God’s throne in prayer.  Even a sentence or two.  God alone knows the protection and grace that were given in 2017 in answer to those prayers!

This year I’m suggesting an addition to that morning routine.  Here’s a resolution worth making if you’re up for it.
Whatever time we get up, make it five minutes earlier, have our bible handy, and read one Psalm and one chapter of a Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

We may read or pray more later in the day that’s fine but let’s resolve to do that much every morning.  Many resolutions fail by the second week of January because they were too ambitious.  Many an expensive exercise machine is gathering dust come February!  Better to begin something modest and keep at it.

Consider the hours of whelming information, much of it these days founded on secular atheism, with which our minds will be flooded today and every day.  Think how that TV, music, popular movies and magazines affect our values and behaviour.  Might it be an idea to filter all that with a little light from God’s inspired truth?
The Psalmist writes, ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.’ (Psalm 119 v 105)
But a torch is of use only if we keep it to hand and switch it on in the dark!

Our example in resolve as in all things is our Master Jesus.
Luke’s Gospel lays particular emphasis on Christ not just as divine but as a real human being, vulnerable like us but finding strength in the help of the Holy Spirit.  Hence the long birth narrative and earthly detail.  In ch 9 v 51, having revealed Himself as the promised Saviour to His disciples, He sets out on the final journey to Jerusalem knowing that what awaits Him there is the cross followed by resurrection.

‘As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’
It would be a road filled with challenge and not without sorrow, but He was resolved to fulfil His calling and finish the work He had come to do.
​
Let’s begin 2018 with some godly determination then, to live well, better than before with God’s help, for His glory.
In following this humble path of obedient service our Lord found joy and blessed many.  With resolve, we His followers can and shall do likewise!

    Author

    Rev Andrew Watson, Minister of Dunfanaghy and Carrigart Presbyterian Churches, Co Donegal.

    Further material by Rev Watson can be found at www.wordsurfers.com

    Rev Watson has also published a book of reflections and prayers, "Finding Our Way Home", with all royalties going to charity.

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