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Covenant with Righteousness
by Reverend Murray Spackman, Vicar.
Sunday 28 August, 2003
1.Kings 8:22 – 30, John 6:56-69, Ephesians. 6;10-20
If
you have given any thought at all as to what the Christian life and
journey is all about, I
would guess that you will have come to the conclusion that the Christian
Life is a whole lot more than just something to fill in time on a wet
Sunday morning.
How many of you wake up on Sunday morning and think
- “Oh yes! Today is Sunday! Well I’ve got nothing on – what
can I do with my times, -- Oh – I know – I think I will go to Church
and maybe think about the Christian life.”
Did any of you think that this morning?
I would be extremely surprised if even ONE person thought that!
For
most, if not all, of
us here today – our lives are full and busy – probably too busy –
and we are here because we know that a full and complete life must
include God in the equation. So
we got out of a warm bed, ( got the children organised, fed and
dressed,) came out into the cold and made our way here!
We know that we need to connect again with God and get our lives
back on the rails, - and be re-charged for a new week. That’s
our intention. That’s my intention! And I hope that that’s yours too
– and our worship helps us to do that!
So what can we find, therefore, in this mornings readings from
scripture that will help us
to move in that direction?
Well, in my search, I found evidence of a Covenant, a Commitment
and a Challenge. Can
you remember those three “C”’s ?
1.
A Covenant: A
covenant is simply an agreement. And if we are going to get our lives
back on track, and we mean business with God this week , then first up,
we need to get intentional. We need
to make an agreement with God.
This is what I will call a Covenant with righteousness.
What I mean here is that we make a Covenant, or agreement, with
God that we will try to live, as far as we possibly can – a life of righteousness.
Another
way of putting this is to use the words which King Solomon prayed when
the Temple was being dedicated. (1Kings 8: 22-23.)
“Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in
front of the altar, where he raised his hands and prayed, “Lord God of
Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You
keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when
they live in wholehearted obedience to you.”
(8:22-23) That’s
what a covenant with righteousness is about. Its about deciding to live
in wholehearted obedience to God. During
this week, as was the case last week, we would all have been tempted and
tested and tried in various ways to move away from that wholehearted
obedience to God. That’s
what happens out there, isn’t it?
There would have been temptations that came our way to think
about things, or to do things which we knew and know are contrary to
God’s perfect will for our lives. So how did we cope with those
temptations? Did we hold
firm, say no – and choose the better way of righteousness – or did
we fall short, give in, and now we regret what we did, the reaction we
made, the attitude we demonstrated?
To get back on track with God -
to make this week a better expression of our
Christian life than the last week -
we need to be serious about
this Covenant with righteousness. If we aren’t serious and intentional
about it – then one week is just going to roll over the next and we
wont have made any progress in our faith journey, and our lives will be
no different from what they were - and we will just slip further
backwards.
2. The second point
which I find in the readings this morning that will help keep us on
track is about a Commitment to equipment.
Firstly we need to make a Covenant with Righteousness, and
secondly we need a Commitment to Equipment.
The concluding verses of St.Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians is about Equipping.
Having dealt with a number of issues, Paul concludes his letter
with the words – “Finally, build up your strength in union
with the Lord, and by means of His mighty power.
Put on all the armour that God gives you so that you will be able
to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks.”
Eph 6:10-11)
To live an intentional Christian life – to make progress in the
faith journey – to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ –
requires us to do something. Our growth
and maturity and development doesn’t just happen automatically.
The operative words here are “build up your strength”!
It involves our action and effort and cooperation.
Whether
you watch a rugby game or a ballet performance, whether you listen to an
orchestra or a choir or a solo performer – you will know that before
that performance ever took place, there was a lifetime or practice, of
hard work, of equipping. We would all like to think – or some of us would – that
we could go out on to a rugby field and kick a goal as good as Carlos
– (or even better sometimes –)
because they make it look so easy, but when we come back to
reality we know that unless we have done the hard and long practices
- that would be impossible!
The same is true of the Christian life and journey.
We don’t get better at living the Christian life – we don’t
develop a more godly nature – we don’t change our attitudes - we
wont win the game- if we
don’t turn up for practices, if we don’t do our training, , - and in
the Christian life if, we don’t do our study -give time to prayer, and
reading our Bibles- practice telling the truth, living in righteousness,
learning how to share our faith, and growing in understanding and love
for one another. (
We’ve been watching Jamie’s kitchen . Struck me most is the slack
attitude of some of those apprentices. Just don’t turn up! How can
they learn if they don’t show up?
They
aren’t being equipped because they don’t care! ) So to help us live our Christian life better this week –
lets make a Commitment to Equipment. What is it that you need, and I
need, in order to grow in
our spiritual life this week? Think
about that this morning, - and as St.Paul says – “Build up your
strength in union with the Lord.”
You have made a good start by being here in worship with others
this morning – continue that – and look for other ways in which you
can be better equipped.
3. So, A Covenant with righteousness, a Commitment to
Equipment, and thirdly, the scriptures point us to a Challenge
to Perseverance.
If Carlos had given up practising goal kicking when he missed 4
out of 5 attempts, he would not have progressed or improved to the point
where he is in the All Blacks today.
If a musician gives up because he or she hits a few wrong notes
– then they will never improve their ability.
And if we give up in our faith because we make mistakes, we sin,
we make wrong choices, and life becomes sometimes hard and difficult for
us – then we will never grow in our faith journey – or
in our relationship with God.
I’m
sure that some of you have had a hard week this week. You may have felt
that life has been too hard for you, - that its not worth
plodding on in the Christian life, and that you’ve let yourself down
and you’ve let God down. So you’re going to give it up!
You’re going to do just what you want to do, forget about God
and others, and please only yourself.
Well I would like to say that probably everyone of us here today
has felt that at sometime or other.
I know I have. And then someone has said an encouraging word,
given a pat on the back, told you they are praying for you – and you
begin to realise that it IS still worth going on.
We aren’t the first ones to find it difficult in living the
Christian life – and we wont be the last ones either!
2000 years ago Jesus said some fairly difficult things to his
disciples – so difficult and unpalatable in fact that some of them
turned away and gave up following Jesus. And when Jesus asked the twelve
whether they were going to leave too, Peter was the one who said
“Lord, to whom should we go?
You have the words that give eternal life.” (Jn.6: 68)
They were prepared to hang in with Jesus – despite the hardness
and the difficulty. We
will all face that same challenge. There are people who come to mind who
used to worship here Sunday by Sunday, but then life became hard for
them, or too busy for them, or they took on some new sport or hobby and that took over their
life – and they drifted away. And we will all face the same
temptations. There
will be times when we will find the going hard, or lonely, - or
surrounded by darkness, and want to give up.
But I remember the saying of one Christian writer who said
“Don’t forget “in the darkness” what you have learned in
the Light.”
When you life has been going along well, and you have enjoyed the
fellowship of others, and the presence of God, and the scriptures come
alive to you, and everything is sweet – don’t forget all of
that when the hard times come. When the sky is covered with dark
threatening clouds – don’t forget that the the sun is still shining.
Make a Covenant with righteousness, make a Commitment
to Equipment and face the Challenge of Perseverance. God is with us now in our worship
– God will be with you in your work, this week.
M.L.Spackman
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