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The Faith That Makes The Difference Last Sunday we celebrated Easter Day, and for the past 2000 years, every Sunday has been a reminder that on that first Easter Sunday, something incredibly different happened, and changed the world. Within fifty days of that first East Day, the small band of disciples were totally transformed and their influence, which came from the power of Jesus Christ within them, began to change the world. Though they were initially slow to believe, because it seemed just too good to be true, yet they came to accept that Jesus was alive, though they took some convincing! He was with them, and they were transformed into new people. What had previously been some private expression of devotion to Jesus, now became more courageous and contagious. They shared their new found faith and truth with others, and their lives were changed also. What was different about their faith now, was that their faith was beginning to make a difference in how they lived, what they said, where they went, their view of life and the world around them. In Jesus, they discovered a Faith that makes a difference, and as that new Faith spread infectiously across the Roman world, it changed the whole human landscape. This new faith was not without its cost. All of the first disciples, with the exception of the apostle St. John, paid the ultimate price for their devotion to following Jesus Christ. Thousands of others who followed after them, also gave their lives, - and the reading this morning from the Letter to the Hebrews is a testimony to those who died standing firm in the faith of Jesus Christ. These men (the apostles) did not die for stories they contrived or invented, but for the truth they saw and believed. So for the past 2000 years, the faith of those first apostles, and the life and faith of those who followed them, has been making a difference in the world. Secular society has tried to downplay the difference that the Christian faith has made, and the result is that we as Christians have become weakly apologetic for our faith, or even worse, we have lost confidence in the phenomenal difference that the Christian faith has made to the world. So let me, this morning, for a few minutes, remind you briefly of just some of the differences which the Christian faith has made to society at large and how it has changed the world. And all this from ordinary men and women who chose a Faith that makes a difference – a faith in the Risen Jesus Christ. 1/ The Christian belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, God actually present in the flesh among us, transformed the understanding of what it is to be human. Because God had stepped into this world in a human life, there is now an inherent priceless value on human life. The early Christians therefore raised the value and sanctity of human life by opposing such common and widespread practices as infanticide, child abandonment, abortion, Human sacrifices and suicide; they opposed the gladiatorial and “snuff” shows of the day where slaves were slaughtered, in some cases in their thousands, simply for the amusement of the emperor and populace. 2/ Few, if any, would dispute the fact that Jesus was the greatest teacher the world has ever known.. He taught that those who followed him must teach others also. And so throughout Christian history, monasteries, schools and later universities were at the forefront of education. Education was a right to be enjoyed by all. It is a right which we take for granted today, but it was from the Christian faith that this understanding came. It was devout Christians like Charles l’Epee, an ordained priest who developed a sign language for the deaf, and Louis Braille, who developed the system for teaching the blind. The first missionaries in this country were educators and schoolteachers. Ordinary people who lived a faith that made a difference – a faith in the risen Christ. . 3/ The area of scientific investigation and progress owes a huge debt to Christian belief. If God is a rational and intelligent being, then may not human beings, who are made in his image, also employ rational processes to study and investigate the world in which they live? So .. most modern day scientific principles and discoveries have come from this fundamental understanding about the nature of God. Such committed Christians as Leonardo da Vinci, George Mendel, Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Alessandro Volta, George Ohm, Andre’ Ampere, Robert Boyle, Louis Pasteur, Michael Faraday, Joseph Lister and William Kelvin – to name just a few of the famous names of science, from their Christian beliefs, developed a world view which gave them the necessary motivation to study the world of nature. These were all people who were devoted to a Faith that made a difference- a faith in Jesus Christ. 4/ The provision of Liberty and justice for all are rights that came out of Christianity’s influence. The Magna Carta signed in 1215, which underlies British freedoms, did not come about without Christian influence and involvement. The preamble to the Magna Carta states that the charter was formulated out of “reverence for God and for the salvation of our souls and those of all our ancestors and heirs, for the honour of God ...” Humans rights movements have mostly been led by people with a Faith in Jesus Christ- a Faith that makes a difference – a faith in Jesus Christ. 5/ We can trace the considerable influence of the Christian faith into the whole area of music and the arts. Great names in music stand out like Martin Luther, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms and Vaughan Williams - all were inspired by Christ’s life, death and resurrection. These were ordinary people with a faith in the Risen Christ – people who were transformed by a living Faith that makes a difference, and their contribution lives on today. And there are yet many other areas where we can say that the Christian Faith has made an incredible contribution to the uplifting of society. The elevation of the status and value of women in society, the showing of Christian charity and compassion, the recognition of manual labour and work as God-honouring, the abolition of slavery, the care for the sick, the provision of hospitals and hospices, the advance and discoveries of medicine, the giving of charity and compassion, disaster and relief work, conservation – these are just some of the many areas in life where ordinary people had a faith which makes a difference – a faith in the risen Christ. But what of us today? Do WE have a faith that makes a difference in our society? Many of those values which Christians lived and died for are being seriously eroded- perhaps the most important of which is the valuing and sanctity of human life itself. But for most of us, tomorrow is another day, and we will return to work, (or maybe on Wednesday if we are having an ANZAC holiday – ) and it will be there where either our Faith will make a difference, or it wont – not in some ivory tower, not in some private prayer closet, nor even in a church – but out and among the ordinary things of life where we rub shoulders with those of different faith or no faith, and we seek to be an authentic Christ follower, living the new life which Jesus has worked in us. So what are the basic principles you hold to, and by which you will order your life, tomorrow, in the market place. Do they come from following the crowd, the accepted minimal standards in society, or do they come from a Faith that makes a difference? - a faith in the Risen Christ. |
