St Polycarp's Church Malin Bridge

A few months ago, my very close Thai friend, G, decided to follow Jesus.  G was new to my school in year 10.  We became close friends in no time.  We were in the same audition choir class and she would speak to me in Thai all the time and I would teach her British words.  I knew that she was a devoted Buddhist by the charm necklaces she wore and she would sometimes talk about Buddha.

I remember being taken aback one time when we got into a conversation about religion.  She told me outright that she was never going to be a Christian and that Christians are only white people.  But it didn’t really bother me, and I kept praying that if God wanted to give me an opportunity to talk to her, then it would happen.  One day, a couple of months later, I just decided to go for it and invited her to Friday fellowship, which is a Christian youth group that my sister and I are involved in.

Unbelievably G agreed to come.  When it was time for quiet reflection, I felt God say take her outside to talk to her.  I was like, ‘Lord but I’m scared’ and he clearly said ‘Trust me’.  So I took her outside and we sat down.  I asked her what she thought about the whole thing and she said it was good, and then I asked her what she thought of God.  She realised that he is ‘up there’ and that he’s looking after her; this was when I explained that he loves her so much and wants her to be his child.  Only by the Holy Spirit, she agreed to pray a prayer to this new God and to commit her life to him.  She even prayed a prayer out loud, asking God for me and her to be friends forever.  She is so open to learning about God and what he wants for her that it excites me.

That night, when her sister came to collect her, G was so happy about following Jesus that she told her sister that she needed to do so, too.  And so when she said she wanted to, I prayed with her sister too.  I was so delighted for them as I knew that there were enormous parties in heaven for my two Thai sisters.  I wish that all my Thai friends could know the love that Jesus has for them; that’s why I constantly pray for them and ask God to give me wisdom in my conversations with them and to help me show Jesus by how I act at school.

God loves the world

God loves the church so much, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Glad someone stopped me. God loves the world so much. We saw that afresh when we worked through the OT last year. We saw God’s heart for the world

• Since the fall God has been yearning to bring people back to himself
• Since the time of Abraham he has been forming a community that will be a blessing to the world
• Since the time of Jesus we have been called to preach Jesus.

We often treat mission as if it is something for the few. For the clergy. It’s their job to tell others. Well it is, but it’s also for all of us. Or it’s for the mission sub group and those interested in that sort of thing. Well God has equipped some in the church, about 10% with the gift of evangelism. But it is the mission of the church. Something we are all to support… let me tell you a story. Christmas services lots of visitors. Well I heard about someone who came along to a Christmas service. She and a friend went to sit down on an empty chair. She was told it was reserved. She went to another chair. Same story and a third time. Just about to go home with her friend when someone she knew spotted her, found them chairs, introduced them to others around. The church where this happened ….. St Polycarp’s – Christmas celebration. Making disciples is not just for the evangelists. It’s something we are all to be involved in. (Don’t want just to be negative. Mina, an older lady from Loxley Court keeps telling me how very welcoming everybody is))

Invite you to turn to Romans 10v14. Paul asks 4 questions. Very practical questions. But they arise out of the bibles understanding of LIFE.

1. V15 It is Good News we are to proclaim. How much Britain needs this at the moment. Yes it is important that our young people get jobs. Yes it is important that older people are cared for. But it even more important that people have hope. That there is a sense of right and wrong. There is only one place where people can find Hope that will not disappoint us, find a basis for morality. And that is in the salvation and that is in Jesus Christ.
2. How can they hear without someone preaching to them v 14b. Need to be constantly on the outlook for ways in which we can chat to people naturally. May have seen on the news this week a study from Essex University showing our national decline in Integrity. E.g. the proportion of people who say that picking up money found in the street is never justified fell from 40% in 2000 to 20% today. . There appears to be little variation in honesty according to social class, education or income. We could have a conversation with someone bemoaning the decline in moral standards, particularly as the study found that younger people are more likely to tolerate dishonesty. It wasn’t like that when I was young. It’s terrible how young people act today. But we are v 15 called to preach Good news. How can we make this a Good news story? We could say something like “We seem as a nation to be struggling to find a basis for right and wrong” “Where do you think we can find a basis for it” After we’ve listened we can say “We’ll I’ve found that following Jesus has helped me to think more about others.

The Good News is for everyone

Please turn to John 14: 6 “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” This claim that Jesus made is more and more controversial in today’s society. And we may easily loose our confidence in all that Jesus did for the world.

1. First a bit of background. On the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee was a region known as the Decapolis. It’s a region that Jesus visited (Mark 5) and one that would have been familiar to all Jews. The main towns and cities were all founded by first Greek and then Roman leaders. They all had temples to Greek and Roman gods. By the time of Jesus they had temples to the Roman Emperor. So that region was more multicultural than we are in Britain today. And yet. And yet Jesus said ‘I am the way’. Not these Greek and Roman gods, not the Roman Emperor. No wonder confessing that Jesus is Lord was important for Christians in Rome.
2. Last 25 years we have taught our children all about world religions. I think that’s very important. It helps us to understand people who are different from us. But we have not equipped our young people to think about the truth of the claims of different religions. E.g. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God. Christians believe he is the Son of God. Can’t both be true. And so people adopt a pick and mix approach to religion
3. As a result of this verse danger of thinking that Christians are better than people from other religions. That our culture is better than other cultures. Jesus didn’t say that. He just told it how it is. If anybody, from any part of the world really wants to know God then he is the way. Our pride mustn’t get mixed up with the claims of Jesus

The message of Jesus

We looked at God’s heart for the world. His arms of love stretched out to any who will come to him. We’ve seen that Jesus is the way. So what’s the message we are to tell?

First it’s important that we can tell our story. Paul’s story is told 3 times in the book of Acts. Please look at your sheet under To read during the week. Acts 22. That’s some work for you to do. In your small groups this week you’ll be asked to tell your story. For those of you not in groups I’ll be ringing up some people to ask them to ask you to tell your story. There are so many Good News stories that are so often locked away in people’s hearts.

Second, our message centres on the cross. John Stott put it like this:

So what is our message for the world? It centres on the cross, on the fantastic truth of a God who loves us, and who gave himself for us in Christ on the cross. 

Consider what Paul wrote. He has described his earlier ministry in Galatia in these terms: ‘Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified’ (Gal 3:1).  That is, the cross had been the focus of his message.  He had placarded Christ crucified before their eyes as if on a public billboard.  The Galatians had not of course seen Christ die.  They lived about a thousand miles by land from Jerusalem.  So far as we know, Paul had not seen him die either.  But through the preaching of the cross the apostle had brought the past into the present and made the historical event of the cross a contemporary reality to them.  This is also what the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist does.  It dramatizes verbally and visually the unique, epoch-making event of the cross.

In consequence of his striking presentation, Paul had enabled the Galatians to see the cross in their imagination, to understand that he had died for their sins, to kneel before the cross in great humility, and to receive from the hands of the c crucified Saviour the gift of eternal life, which was absolutely free and utterly undeserved.

Conclusion

Our new Archdeacon of Doncaster said this on Wednesday evening in the Cathedral

Before we moved from Cheshire, I went and cancelled our newspapers. Our lapsed Roman Catholic newsagent knew I was a “kind of Vicar”, and we’d had lots of conversations about it. When I told him I was to become an Archdeacon, he was very interested and told me, “I’ve been watching ‘Rev’ on TV, and it’s made me think that perhaps after all I could belong in an imperfect church like the C of E. My life doesn’t match up to strict religious standards, but maybe the C of E. could offer me a way back in…” I just think that there are lots of people out there. Do we offer unconditional welcome so that people can work out their faith from within, rather than feel they have to “qualify” first? We need to be people with a vision for those who don’t feel they belong, for those who stand apart, for those who perhaps feel “judged.” Many of them are closer to the Kingdom than we may think. Don’t say other people’s “No” for them – at a deep level, they may be saying a kind of “Yes” to Jesus.

Rev Patrick Coghlan

A Christian Approach to Time Notes