Sermon 10th December 2017
Advent 2
Text: Mark 1:1-8 – Winners and Losers
We live in a society that seems to be
more and more categorised into winners and losers.
The recent postal survey on Same Sex
Marriage is a classic example.
It didn’t solve the issue or bring
about a consensus on the matter – it simply created winners and losers.
And so we keep hearing the reaction –
you lost, we won.
That doesn’t bring about harmony but
further division.
In the church we sometimes forget
what our purpose in the world is and we tend to come off feeling that we are
losers because the world seems to be changing around us and we seem to be
losing more and more of our authority and presence in the world.
And that’s how the world treats us
and speaks about us at times.
It calls us irrelevant – it calls us
dinosaurs.
We need to change the way we look at
things and realise that it’s not about being a winner but about bringing
comfort to a world that is hurting.
In Jesus’ time the world looked at
Jesus as a loser.
He was brought before Pilate, judged,
humiliated and executed.
The people looked at him even - his
own people - and didn’t understand what he came to do.
They looked at him on the cross –
shook their heads in derision and said – he saved others, he couldn’t even save
himself (Matthew 27:42).
To them, Jesus was a loser.
They were actually correct in their
criticism – he did save others by not saving himself from the cruel death he
underwent.
But that is what he came to do – he
died to save us from our sins and eternal punishment.
And so we need to understand that our
purpose is not to be winners in this world but to continue Jesus’ work of
bringing comfort to a lost and hurting world.
We hear those words in our Old
Testament readings where God is speaking to his people Israel:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says
your God.
But it is so easy to feel that our
purpose is to bring the world back to the perfect world God created.
If that were our purpose then Jesus
would have lived a very different life.
Instead, God is bringing this world
to an end, as Peter points out in our 2nd reading: But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and
the elements will be dissolved with fire.
God calls us to look at our own lives
to ensure that WE are living in a way that pleases God:
“leading lives of holiness and
godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God”
As we read Peter further we see that
God’s purpose is not about changing the world but about changing people’s
hearts:
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are
like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of
slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come
to repentance.
It can be difficult at times as we
watch things in the world go in a different direction to how we would want it
to go.
And sometimes we respond by ways that
cause more hurt and more antagonism.
Peter calls us to first look at our
own lives to ensure that WE are living lives of holiness and godliness, waiting
for the day of the Lord to come.
We need to remember that it is God’s
day coming and not ours.
God is the one who will bring about
the end and when he does, Peter says, everything that is done on it will be
disclosed.
Our call is to point people to Jesus
Christ, which was John the Baptist’s role too.
Imagine how difficult it must have
been for him to have all the power and authority given to him by God but
realising it wasn’t about him – it was about Jesus:
He says: one who is more powerful
than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of
his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit.”
And later on John will further
declare - He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30).
We would all like to see this world a
better place but we mustn’t lose sight that we are waiting for the new heavens
and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
As Christians, as the Church, we are
not about winning but, like Jesus, about saving.
And sometimes, like John the Baptist,
we must decrease so Christ can increase.
Like John the Baptist we have been
called to prepare the way for the Lord.
But sometimes, by our need to be
right, we can in fact create a roadblock for the way of the Lord.
Like God, our desire is not to make
THIS world a better place but to bring all to salvation and sometimes we can
forget that.
God knows everything that is
happening and nothing happens without God allowing it.
Jesus reminded Pilate of that when
Pilate said:
“Don’t you realize I have power
either to free you or to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power
over me if it were not given to you from above.
The power belongs with God – we are
sent to prepare the way.
It may look as if nothing is
happening but remember that with God a day is like a thousand years and a
thousand years is like a day.
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