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Click here to listen to the sermon. 10mins

It was our privilege to have the Bishop of Wellington (Bishop Tom Brown) visiting us today.

You will find a recording of his sermon above, but I am sorry we do not have his notes.

Following sermon by Rob Thomas.

2 Kings 2; 1-2,6-14.  

Galatians 5; 1, 13-25.            

Luke 9; 51-62.

You probably noticed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, that he paraphrases our parish’s Mission Statement, and he points out that the whole Law is summed up in that one commandment;  “Love your neighbour as you love yourself,” and, as the front of our news sheet reminds us every week, our Mission Statement is;  “To love as Christ loves us.”  I know I mention this often and that’s because I believe that that is precisely what we are to do.  I also believe it does sum up the whole of God’s Law because without love how can we possibly keep any of the commandments we have been given.

I also recognise that it’s a huge challenge to “Love as Christ Loves Us”  because I’m sure from past, or current, experience you already know it’s not easy to always love others all the time, but we must make the effort to try to understand each other and accept that we all think, work and act differently.  We all have different perspectives, different opinions, different ideas, and we are entitled to have them.  Other people are entitled to have their ideas and opinions too.  We may not like or agree with those opinions but they are entitled to them anyway.  We may not like some of the actions of others, and some of those actions may certainly not be acceptable in our society but we all have choices and sometimes we make the wrong choice.  That’s when we need to exercise tolerance, understanding and love. If we can separate a person’s actions from the person themselves, loving them is so much easier.  Their actions, or our perception of them, may not be acceptable but the person is.  I’m sure that’s the way Jesus looks at us and accepts us even though many of our actions may be contrary to his wishes,  so if we are to be true followers of Christ, we too must accept, and love, one another.  Just because Christ died for us to forgive all our sins doesn’t give us the right to just go on sinning and not forgiving others, not accepting others or not loving other falls into that category of sin.

Paul goes on to say; (Gal.5v15) “But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.”  Sometime I can’t help thinking that that is the way today’s world is heading.  We seem to be hell-bent on getting as much as possible out of the world with scant concern for the future or the impact on others. Human-kind seems to be on a selfish path of self-destruction, - but that’s not what I was going to talk about.

If we look closely at what Paul is saying in his letter to the Galatians I don’t think I need to come up with a sermon because he seems to say it all.   He writes;(Gal5V16)“What I say is this; let the Spirit direct your lives and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature, for what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants.  These two are enemies and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.  If the Spirit leads you then you are not subject to the Law.  What human nature does is quite plain.  It shows itself in immoral, filthy and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry and ambitious; they separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies and do other things like these. I warn you now, as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.”

Isn’t what he describes here exactly what is still happening today?  Much of today’s population, here in New Zealand and around the world, has gone away from a Christian based life-style;  society has become more and more accepting of what we would consider immoral activities such as explicit violence and sex on television, drunken parties where so-called “party drugs” or “social drugs” are commonplace; tribal or sectarian wars etc.

Paul, obviously, had a fairly low opinion of what he refers to as “human nature.”   He apparently came to the conclusion that all people would “naturally” be dishonest or immoral and therefore tarred everyone with the same brush. Perhaps he was re-calling his own earlier life and there’s no greater advocate for change than one who has already changed;  like the person who has given up smoking and then becomes rather zealous in trying to convert other smokers into the “pure” life-style.  It’s great that people encourage others to make positive changes, just as we need to encourage others to come to Christ if they haven’t already, but to condemn others for what we may not like about their life-style is another matter entirely.

As I said earlier; separate the action from the person;  if you like, condemn the action, do not condemn the person, and even then we need to remember what Jesus told the crowd when pursuing the prostitute; “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”  Besides, who are we to judge?  We don’t have the right to judge.

I believe - some might say naively - that most people have a nature which guides them in an honest and moral way, but we can all be tempted to transgress at some time, which is when we certainly need to call on the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit because, as Paul went on to write; (Gal 5v22) “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.  There is no Law against such things as these and those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.  The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.”

I don’t agree with some of what Paul is saying if I literally interpret the phrase “put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.”  It’s the word “all” that bothers me as I believe it can be healthy to have some passion and desire;  it’s the immoral, unethical desires and passions which I certainly believe we need to exclude from our lives and from our society.

For example; I have a “passion” for working with men and families because I have the “desire” to eliminate all forms of violence.  I also have a profound “desire” to know my Lord better and gain a better understanding of what He wants me to do.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead each and every one of us in the way He wants us to live our lives and I pray most of all that, if we are not already doing so, we will indeed truly and quickly follow the urging of the Holy Spirit to “Love as Christ loves us.”

Amen.