Living life full of faith and grace - Sermon 27th October 2013

2 Timothy 4: 6-8, Luke 18; 9-14

I think a lot about what I would like said at my funeral.

I think it is an occupational hazard as I end up talking regularly with families about eulogies and people’s lives.

I often think I will write my own eulogy to let people know what I think I want them to know about me – but I guess that is just pandering to my control freak nature!
It is always interesting to hear what people do say about people at their funerals – what is remembered are often little things – memories of fun and love and then they might talk about the big thing that they achieved in their career, but the sense of relationship is more important than anything else.

Today in our two readings we see both Jesus and Paul talking about how we live in relationship with God and Paul particularly is thinking in the sense of what he wants to be remembered for when he came to the end of his life.

We see Paul here in prison in Rome and knowing that his life was ending – he talks about being poured out like a drink offering- these were very much done at a transition point of ending and beginning so Paul is telling us that he is at that transition from this life to the next.

And in that position Paul is really telling us what he feels he has achieved in his life – what he wants to be remembered for.

Paul says  - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, and now is reserved for me the crown of righteousness.

Paul is confident of his place in eternity but more than that he is confident that his life on earth had had meaning and purpose.

We spoke a few weeks ago now about running the race and I talked about running a marathon not a sprint.

And in this passage again we see this clearly as Paul is confident that he had finished the race- he had kept going to the end.

To be a successful runner you need not only to focus on the beginning of the race and the middle of the race but also the end.

If you don’t you wear yourself out and don’t leave yourselves enough resources to complete the race.

Paul knew that he had come to the end of his life and that he had managed to come to the end of the race too.

So how did he do this?

Well we can get a good idea from elsewhere in his writings how he had kept going – he had kept going despite all the things he had been put through for his faith and like most of us I am sure he had doubts siting on his shoulder telling him it would be much more easy to give up than keep going.

And I am sure one key to him keeping going was his determination to do things not in his own strength but in God’s.

Time and time again we get this message throughout Paul’s writings- whether he be talking about being rooted in Christ, or seeing yourself as part of Christ’s body or in deed talking specifically words such as: for his strength is made perfect in my weakness

Paul has a clear sense of keeping going not because of what he does as an individual but doing it all in God’s strength.  So Paul was faithful to this and he kept going.

So Paul had come to the end of the race – trusting in God’s strength.

But how would Paul be remembered – and in turn how will we be remembered – what would be a fitting epitaph for both Paul and us as Christians.

And I think in looking at this passage from Timothy and also at Jesus’ parable from Luke 18 we could suggest two words which I think would be a very fitting epitaph – he or she was full of faith and full of grace  -  faithful and graceful

Let’s look at being faithful first:

Paul was faithful because he had given his life in the discipleship of Jesus Christ. His faith had governed everything he had done and he had followed Jesus and been faithful in that.

But he was also faithful in the sense that he had never compromised on God’s word.

Earlier in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy we get these words: verse 3-4 for the  time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from the truth and wander away to myths.

I think these couple of verses are interesting because in many ways they speak very clearly to our own culture - people wanting to have teaching that justified their own actions, because the teaching of God and God’s ways were too demanding for them.

And Paul is urging Timothy in this passage to stay focused on God’s word and to teach and preach God’s word.  Paul was uncompromising in his faith despite living in a pluralistic culture.

When Paul in Acts 17  is seen at the place of the Aeropagus he speaks to the men – I see that you have an altar to an Unknown God – well let me tell you about the God who has made himself known in the person of Jesus.

He uses all opportunities to point uncompromising to the one true God.

So Paul kept the faith – he was faithful.

But he was also graceful – in a sense of he was dependent upon God’s grace to him.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Paul was humble in accepting that it was only through God’s grace working through his life that he was able to stay faithful and to finish the race.

In our reading from luke and the parable we see clearly another man who humbled himself to God’s grace too.  He knew his place before God he was aware of the grace that had been poured out to him. He knew that God’s grace was bigger than him.

But the man in the parable is in contrast to another man who got things so wrong and who wasn’t at all graceful so let’s look at him first.

Firstly – he stood in the middle of everyone.  The reason he stood there was because it was where he could be heard the clearest and seen the best. He let everybody know just how wonderful he was.  We read that he fasted twice a week. Now the Old Testament only required a Jew to fast once a year on the Day of Atonement. But this man fasted a 103 times a year more than he was required.

Then we read that he tithed everything that he possessed. Now the Old Testament only required that you tithe your income. But this man tithed everything that he earned and everything that he bought. In other words, he was a double thither. Now there is nothing wrong with fasting more than once a week, and there certainly is nothing wrong with giving more than a tithe.

But the problem was, this man thought back then what a lot of people keep thinking today--he thought his goodness gained him brownie points with God. He thought God accepts a person based on what they do for Him, or in other words, he thought he could get to heaven by his good works. He was religious and proud of it.

If you put your trust in anything--church membership, church attendance, baptism, religion, good works—anything at all other than Jesus Christ, to make God accept you, you are fooling yourself. The Pharisee thought that God would be impressed with all that he was doing. So now we learn the first clue on what impresses God.

What impresses God is when you don’t try to impress God.

There is a story about a little girl  that came home very excited from school one day. She had been voted "prettiest girl in the class." The next day she was even more excited when she came home, for the class had voted her "the most likely to succeed." The next day she came home and told her mother she had won a third contest, being voted "the most popular."

But the next day she came home extremely upset. The mother said, "What happened, did you lose this time?" She said, "Oh no, I won the vote again." The mother said, "What were you voted this time?" She said, "most stuck up."

Well this Pharisee would have won that contest hands down. He had an "I" problem. Five times you will read the little pronoun "I" in these two verses. He was completely selfish and self centred and thought he could impress God with his action.
C. S. Lewis once said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you."

This Pharisee had fooled himself about himself. He says, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men."  But he was like other men, because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." 

VERSE 13 tells us, 
"And the tax collector, standing afar off,"

The Pharisee went to the center of the court and stood in the sunshine where he would be noticed by the most people; the tax collector stood on the outer edges of the court of the Gentiles in the shadows, not carrying to let people see him pray. He just wanted to have a dialogue with the Lord God.

You could see his humility in his eyes. The passage goes on to say that he "would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven."

The Pharisee was too proud to look up; the tax collector was too ashamed to look up.

You could hear the sincerity in his voice. For he says, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"

Well, God heard his prayer, for in VERSE 14, Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other."
The tax collector recognised his place before God – humble himself and recognised that it was all about God’s grace and not about himself.

He was full of grace and as such was close to God.
PSALM 34:18 says,
"The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit."

So the question to us then is are we full of God’s grace too – do we puff ourselves up before God or are we dependent upon him.- is his grace sufficient for us. And in turn then are we living by God’s grace.

And if we live by God’s grace how does that impact on our lives in sense of our own priorities – our time spent in a relationship with God, our use of our time, our money our possessions.
So what do you want your epitaph to be?  I would like mine to be similar to Paul because I would love to get to the end of my life knowing like Paul that I have kept the faith and lived by God’s grace.

And my prayer for us all is that we can do the same. Amen