Looking forward 2 15th September Sermon

The mission imperative            Romans 10: 8-15 Luke 15: 1-10

How do you react when you have had some good news?

A few weeks ago I heard some good news, our daughter Megan got the grades she needed to get into the University she wanted to go too. I was standing behind her at the desk when she logged onto the university entrance website and I nearly deafened her with my screech. Then straight away what did we do as a family – we got on the phone to speak too or text other members of the family with the good news.
Then we started to tell other people who would be interested, we shared the good news far and wide until those we knew well knew the good news that she had had.

And then we went and celebrated together as a family.

I am sure we are not unusual as a family in celebrating good news. Each week we share our good news with other people. It’s part of our make up that we want to share our good news and actually most of us want to hear good news too.

Our reading from Romans today quotes words from the prophet Isaiah – how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news- so my challenge and question to us all this morning is – are we people with beautiful feet.

Do we as a church as individuals bring good news.

This week we are in the second of our series of looking forward and following on from last week when we spoke about vision I want us to focus this morning on mission.

I don’t know about you but I used to get a bit confused about mission – thinking that mission only referred to those who were sent away from the church often to another country to do missionary work of either evangelising or of practical things like nursing, teaching in areas of deprivation.

But today and in one way this is mission – but I want us to think this morning of mission as being more local – and not applying to a few people who are chosen especially for this but applying to us all as followers of Jesus Christ.

As Christians we are all called to take part in the mission of the church – the mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

What is Jesus’ final words to his disciples? – Matthew 28 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This commission of Jesus is still just as vital today as it was in the days when he said it.

Where are we as a nation? – although many would call themselves Christians we know that we are far, far away from being a Christian nation.

Do people know who Jesus is? – they may make scant reference to him at Christmas, but apart from using his name as a swearword the general society makes little reference at all to him and has no idea of the good news of his saving power.

We can all sit back in our pews and say how dreadful this is - which it is – or we can be people with beautiful feet – bringing good news.

So what is the good news we bring to start with.

Well the story that Jesus told is a wonderful illustration of this – the sheep who wanders of and the shepherd who searches high and low to find him.

No one is too far away from God for him not to be part of the Kingdom – and what do we learn about the shepherd well he rejoices when he finds the sheep – his sheep is so special to him that he rejoices. He’s not just a dumb animal, an insignificant he is special and he rejoices – like the father rejoices over one sinner who repents we are told.

The good news is of our saviour.

Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 10 – 12 For there is no difference between jew and Gentile, = the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Alleleuia- everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

The Good news is that all no matter who they are, no matter what they have done, no matter what people think of them in human terms, no matter what there nationality, what their social status or lack of status, no matter….. everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

This is good news – this is the heart of the good news of Jesus Christ – the gospel.

When we grasp that for ourselves as individuals it’s immensely powerful isn’t it – that Jesus because of his death on the cross, dying to take away all our sin, and then overcoming death itself at the resurrection , rose to give us life – because of this – when we call upon his name we know that we can be saved.

And the parable of the lost sheep shows us that our heavenly Father himself rejoices when we realise this good news and when we turn to him once more. Even more incredible that God cares about each and everyone of us that he cares whether or not we turn to him.

That’s good news-

BUT – the big BUT is coming up here.

It’s good news but we as a church aren’t very good at sharing it.

We don’t get on our phones, or text others or even put it on facebook!  It’s good news but somehow or other we have lost that urgency of sharing the good news.

And Paul writes too – how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?

Perhaps that’s where the problem is – we are waiting to be sent – or we think it’s only those that are sent who need to say anything.

But my challenge to you this morning is that we all need to be people with beautiful feet- Jesus has sent us already!

It’s not just the calling of special Christians to be bringers of good news – but it’s the calling of us all.

How tragic for us as a church in this country – what a damming indicement of the role of the church is that the good news is not being heard by so many – that so many children are growing up without any knowledge of who Jesus is.

We have lost the urgency to share the good news, we are perhaps embarrassed to say anything less we are perceived as somewhat strange- and so many people because of this never have the opportunity to hear of the life changing power of Jesus Christ of the wonderful good news that everyone who calls on his name will be saved.

So what can we do then to be people with beautiful feet and I want us to think in two ways briefly this morning – how we can be individuals with beautiful feet and how we can be a church with beautiful feet.

Firstly as individuals. We need to be people who walk the talk.

It saddens me greatly when I hear comments made by other people concerning why they don’t come to church and it is often something like this.

Well I don’t go to Church because I see those who do go to Church and I think they think because they go on a Sunday they can behave how they want to for the rest of the week – and I don’t like how they behave.

I am sure I am not the only one who has heard comments like this.

We need as Christians in our witness to walk the talk.

If we profess with our lips that Jesus is lord we also need to proclaim him as Lord of our lives.

That means our lives must reflect what we are saying. We must live lives which show forgiveness to others- just as we have been forgiven. We need to live lives that show love to others – just as we have ourselves received love.

As we grow in our discipleship then our lives should more and more display the fruit of the spirit and we need to take that seriously if we are to take Jesus commission to us to share in his mission with the world seriously.

St Augustine said these words hundreds of years ago – Preach the word at all times and if necessary use words.

We can live the good news in our lives so that we can then be prepared to answer questions when necessary.

Paul wrote elsewhere – always be prepared to give an account of the hope that is within you.

If we live the good news then we will get people asking us questions about why we react to situations in certain ways – and it is then that we can give an account of the good news.

So we live the good news and we are prepared to share the good news. The problem is that we can use the first as an excuse to ignore the second – but the two must go hand in hand – when someone needs to hear the good news then we must be prepared to tell them, and it’s your story that counts. Your story of faith – how God has touched your life personally, the peace you have found in your lives, the healing you have received, the joy you have been given. Whatever it is for you – that is your story- the way the good news of Jesus Christ has touched your life and that is what you must share to have beautiful feet.

So we walk the talk, and we are prepared to talk the talk as well.

And then as a Church how can we be a church with beautiful feet.

Well I think we need to think about how we perceive the role of the church generally and this goes back to our vision.

We need to be a church with low walls and which exists not for our own benefit but for the benefit of others.

When we have high walls around us we are telling people that you can only come in if you are like us and we don’t look out of our high walls very much.

But if we have low walls then others can look in and see what we are doing and see the good news that we preach not only with our lips but in our lives. We can’t literally change the height of our walls but we can make a difference if our perception of what we are here for changes.

Archbishop William Temple said the church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of those who are not members.

This is so true, we need to remember this constantly as we plan our activities, as we plan our worship, as we think about the use of our buildings.  Our lives together as a church must reflect the mission calling we have been given by Jesus himself.  Can this church continue to be beacon of Christ’s light in this community for generations to come –to do this we need to be a church with beautiful feet as we serve others and tell in our actions and our life the good news of Jesus Christ.

So we started with talking about how we might share good news together. Well can we be challenged by this as we have heard again today the good news of our salvation to share this good news in our lives and in our words and be people with beautiful feet.

Amen