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Jan 2004 Parish Prayer 3 - Instruments of change
Lord
you are the changeless one
who comes to change us into the likeness
of Jesus Christ your Son:
grant that we,
changed and transformed by your spirit,
may be the instrument of changing lives
in the world you so love.
Amen.
Bishop Peter Price
Let me begin this last sermon on Bishop Peter's prayer by asking you how you think the world views the church today and how do you think the church views the world.
The royal portrait looked like a bad joke. It seemed as if the future King of England had been mocked. William Scrots, the court painter, appeared to have done a great injustice to Edward VI. The skull ballooned in back, the forehead bulged, the nose looked like a beak, and the chin undershot the face. But Edward's attitude must have changed when Scrots told him the secret. By squinting at the picture through a peephole in the side of the frame, a fine representation with no deformities could be seen. One who viewed it described Edward as having a "handsomely proportioned countenance." This unusual painting along with about 100 others like it recently toured the country in an exhibit of what is called "anamorphosis art." It's a specific kind of art that can only be appreciated when viewed from one certain vantage point.
A narrow perspective is also necessary if we are to see the divine design brushed into our lives by God.
If we judge ourselves by the world's standards we may miss the subtle beauty and purpose God has placed within us.
It seems to me that all to often the church today seems totally obsessed to be liked by the world. All to easily we fall into step with the world view, supposedly so that the church is not sidelined and can still influence a world perspective. I am sorry but this is rubbish, yes there needs to be dialogue if the church is to continue to be an influence for good in our world but not at the cost of God’s standards.
The world needs to regain a true vision of God, at the moment it is a clouded out of focus view that the world has of God. It is a view that has been clouded by the truth being made to look like myths and legends which now, in the 21st century, seem outdated. It has been blurred by the churches willingness to bow to a secular societies standards for life. It is not surprising then that the western world view of God would be remarkably like William Scrots painting when looked at head on.
The job of the church is to be the peep hole so that the true vision of God is clearly seen by all who look for Him.
Even in the first century many of God’s chosen people had a clouded view of Him. The Roman occupation and Pharisaical teaching had blurred people’s sight of God. So the Jewish authorities did not recognise Jesus as Messiah because their view of Messiah was distorted. As we know Saul was someone who’s view was impaired and for it to be healed he would lose his sight altogether. Jesus met Saul on the Damascus road in a blaze of heavenly glory, so bright was that encounter that it stooped Saul in his tracks. This was so necessary for it made Saul stop and focus on God in a new and different way. For three days Saul was made to take time to refocus on God, he was forced to ask himself questions, forced to reevaluate the scriptures he knew so well, and all the time the words of Jesus were replayed in his mind.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Although the glory of God stopped Saul, it was Ananias who God would use to bring His healing and truth to Saul.
Ananias a Christian at Damascus who was commissioned by Jesus to minister to Saul. We know nothing about him, he was simply a member of the church at Damascus, but if there ever was an instrument of change it was Ananias.
Do you remember the beginning of the Mission Impossible TV programs. Well there is a sense of that in God commissioning Ananias for this kind of task, as far as Ananias was concerned everything was stacked against a successful out come to the job being asked of him. Yet with God’s reassurance echoing in his ears he sets out for Straight street, I am sure he was greatly relieved to find Saul as God had told him and with new confidence he tells Saul why he has come and then placing his hands on Saul prays. Ananias an instrument of change and what change, sight restored, a new vision of God and a new message to preach. Ananias disappears into the pages of scripture and Paul becomes the greatest missionary and preacher the world has known.
I have sometimes wondered if Ananias told his grandchildren of the day when he became God’s instrument of change in the life of St. Paul. I have also wondered, perhaps unknown to me, how many times God has used me as an instrument of change in some small way.
I read this lovely story a while ago:
A Sunday School teacher, a Mr. Kimball, in 1858, led a Boston shoe clerk to give his life to Christ.
The clerk, Dwight L. Moody, became an evangelist. In England in 1879, he awakened evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer, pastor of a small church.
F. B. Meyer, preaching to an American college campus, brought to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman, engaged in YMCA work, employed a former baseball player, Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work.
Billy Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, N.C. A group of local men were so enthusiastic afterward that they planned another evangelistic campaign, bringing Mordecai Hamm to town to preach.
During Hamm's revival, a young man named Billy Graham heard the gospel and yielded his life to Christ.
Only eternity will reveal the tremendous impact of that one Sunday School teacher, Mr. Kimball, who invested his life in the lives of others.
We are not all called to a mission impossible situation like Ananias, but as this true story clearly shows by using our gifts in the service of Jesus we can be instruments of change far beyond what we would think possible.
But sadly I have another story for you:
When Brainerd, a Christian missionary, was among the American Indians, he stopped at a place where he offered to instruct them in Christianity. He was met by the retort, "Why should you desire the Indians to become Christians, seeing that the Christians are so much worse than the Indians? The Christians lie, steal, and drink worse than the Indians. They first taught the Indians to be drunk. They steal to so great a degree, that their rulers are obliged to hang them for it; and even that is not enough to deter others from the practice. We will not consent, therefore, to become Christians, lest we should be as bad as they. We will live as our fathers lived, and go where our fathers are, when we die." By no influence could he change their decision.
That may have been over 100 years ago but it clearly shows that the Christian Church has to be discernibly different than the world if we are to be instruments for change in our world.
A while ago an industrial concern in a small city in the USA desired certain concessions in order to put into effect a program and expansion. There was the customary element of opposition, which advanced the theory that the company was of no special importance, and the city would fare as well without its presence. Thereupon the company commenced to make payment to its employees in silver dollars instead of the usual paper currency. Silver dollars began to flow over the counters in stores, into filling stations and theaters and refreshment stands. Where silver dollars had been all but forgotten legal tender, they flowed in every kind of transaction. The influence of the company was better understood, and the opposition to the expansion was withdrawn.
In a day in which the church is classified as irrelevant, let us be diligent to use our influence, our "salt" and "light", to make a difference in our world.
I think many people in the community today would think that perhaps the church is of no special importance, and that the community would fare just as well without its presence. Of course we know that with out the church’s contribution, seen and unseen the community would be very much the poorer. So the question we must ask our selves is, how can we let people see our contribution, what are our silver dollars?
I have not got an easy answer to that question so if you have any ideas please let me know.
So often it will not be what we say but the quality of our lives that will make the difference. Good Christ centered marriages, strong families, honesty, respect for others, and a life that lives up to our talk. All these and a smile, a word in season and the gift of time are what will help in enabling us to be instruments of change in our community and our world today.
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Thursday 28th of August 2008
