|
Saying Yes to God Austin and Jenny moved up to Auckland from Hamilton at the beginning of this year with their three children Gareth, Meghann and Jessica. Austin and Jenny have been part of our faith community for most of that time. From the word go I was impressed by Austin’s rock solid faith. It was clear to me that he loved Jesus with a simplicity and passion that was refreshing and inspiring. He was ever so keen to lead a home group and I could see from the start that he was a man who had much to offer us here at Holy Trinity. I’ll never forget the night He and Jenny came to visit the home group of which I am a member. There was some heated discussion about Evolution vs Intelligent Design and I believe the big bang theory was knocking about somewhere in the middle of the discussion also. Suddenly in the midst of it all, Austin cut in with a measured and sure voice: “Well to be honest I don’t care about any of this. All I care about is that Jesus died for my sins.” It was such a profound statement of faith that it arrested the conversation and no one quite knew what to say after that moment of prophetic truth. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Austin’s family and close friends. Let us take a few moments now to pray silently for them and to remember a man whose simple and clear faith enabled him to put into practice Jesus’ commandment to all of us “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and love your neighbour as yourself.” 1 minute silence. Austin’s funeral will be held here at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday afternoon at 1.30pm. In the parable of the two sons which was read this morning, we see that both sons heard the father’s command. One refused to obey but afterwards repented; the other promised obedience but failed to render it. Jesus makes it clear that the second son’s promise of doing his father’s will might well have deceived those who heard it and made them think him a dutiful son, but the father was deeply dissatisfied with his hypocrisy for his conduct and behaviour entirely contradicted his promise. This parable teaches us many things, one of which is the nature of God’s call on our lives. What it teaches us is that God expects us to take the call that he places on our lives seriously and he expects us to respond to that call with integrity . Furthermore when God our Father calls us to work in his vineyard, he is calling us to serve Him by ministering to His people. As Christians we have been blessed with the gift of the good news of God’s salvation and his redemption through Jesus Christ. God chooses to use those who follow Christ to be bearers of that news to a world in need of that salvation, love and grace. It is as though, like Moses in the Exodus story we read today, we have been shown where and how to access living water that will refresh and renew a dehydrated world. God told Moses where he would find life giving water and then he expected Moses to lead the people to that water, to take the leap of faith on their behalf, strike the rock and so allow the water to flow so that the people could drink. Like Moses we have been called to lead God’s people to life giving water. This water is to be found in Christ Jesus who promises us that by drinking the spiritual water he offers us, we will inherit eternal life. In John 4 we hear Jesus say: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. Indeed the water I give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” We are called to share the blessings of this good news with others not only verbally but also in the way we live our lives, reaching out at every opportunity to help others. We are called to bring salvation, healing to a hurting world. We are called to be Christ’s hands and feet in his vineyard. Many of us hear God’s call and our response is polite and respectable. Perhaps we hear God’s call in the midst of a moving worship service, or in a special Bible study session, or perhaps in our prayer time. In the heat of the moment and the glow of our religious fervour we say like the first son, ‘Yes sure Lord Jesus we will go where you call us to go, we will do what is asked of us no matter what’. But then as the reality of our lives set in, the busyness, the demands of everyday living take over, we fail to do what has been asked of us. We talk the right talk, but in our daily walk we do not live up to our talk! Some of us are realistic about the demands of discipleship. We are in touch with our own self-centredness and our own preference not to put ourselves out or sacrifice too much and so at the outset when we hear God’s call we are quick to decline. ‘Oh no I couldn’t possibly do this or that I am too busy, too preoccupied.’ I suppose at least we are honest when we say no at the outset. Moses was like that. Remember? Sometimes, like Moses, we come to see the light and after the initial honest no we come round, and we go and do what has been asked of us. And then there are the shining few, in fact too few, who hear God’s call, respond with alacrity, say ‘Yes’ and do what God asks of them without even hesitating to count the cost. These are the inspiring ones. The ones who say yes to God and who live that yes in their daily lives no matter what the cost. These are the ones whose lives encourage us in our faith walk. When we come across such people we want to metaphorically take off our shoes because we know that we are standing on holy ground and Christ is being revealed to us through them. It was St Paul who in 2 Corinthians 2 : 17 -22 referred to Christ as God’s Yes to humanity. Christ poured out himself to serve. He gave up his life to save humankind. Christ the one whom Christians follow and endeavour to emulate was also the one who against all self interest said a resounding yes when God called him to pay the ultimate price for the sin of the world. When we respond to God with a yes that translates into action, then we are growing into Christ-like-ness. When we pour out ourselves to serve then we are walking in our Master’s footsteps. When we give up our own self interest for the good of another, even one human being, then we are truly taking seriously the call to discipleship not just paying lip service to it. This week we heard about one of our own who did all of those things. Austen Hemmings was an avowed Christ follower. He was a man who said Yes to God. All the comments made by family and close friends printed in the newspapers bear witness to this. And of course his heroic act of bravery on Thursday is a powerful testimony to this yes. I am so sad that Austen died. We are all so sad that he died. I cannot really understand why he needed to die. I wish we could turn back the clock and pray for a different outcome to that tragic series of events, give him back to his beautiful family. However, I do know that what he did was what Jesus would have done and what Jesus in fact did do. I know that in that moment when he went to that frightened woman’s aid he was being Christ’s hands and feet . I know that she lives because he saved her life. When it counted he said yes to a call from a hurting human being, rose to the challenge of extreme discipleship and poured out his life for her. In doing so, Austin bore witness to the transforming power of God’s love which incarnated his life through Jesus Christ. For how else can one explain how an ordinary business man returning home from an ordinary day at the office could set aside in such a selfless way, the strongest of all drives, the drive to survive, in the interests of unconditional love. In John 15: 13 we read: “Greater love has no one than that he lay down his life for his friend.” Today this church is in the privileged position of being able to reflect on the life and sacrifice of a man who obediently said yes to God and though it cost him his earthly life, we firmly believe that he has entered the kingdom of God and secured for himself eternal life with his Saviour. Truly he is an inspiration to all of us who would follow our Lord and Saviour, the one whom Paul referred to as God’s Yes to a fallen and hurting humanity. You see Jesus’ parable teaches us that in the final analysis it is not what we say that counts, rather it is to what extent what we say is translated into action. Next week is St Francis day and we remember that St Francis once said. “Preach the Gospel at all times and only when necessary use words.” Austin’s great act of sacrificial love for God and for his neighbour is living proof of this. And because of his faithful yes to God, thousands of people in New Zealand will be moved to reflect on the Christ who was able to call forth from Austen such an extraordinarily generous act of love Reverend Charmaine Braatvedt. |
