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| Chris Briggs and a rather feeble attempt at pretending to be a boxer |
Here are the notes from the sermon at the Portland Methodist
Circuit Covenant Service held on 10th January 2016 at Easton
Methodist Church, Portland, Dorset.
The sermon is based on the following readings
1
Corinthians 9:24-27
Jeremiah
31:31-34
John 15:1-10
Each section of the sermon relates to one of these three
readings.
We started though with me making an appearance dressed as a
boxer, entering with my “training” team to the sound of the Rocky Theme Music
and introduced as “Chrissss Briggggggggsssss – Spiritual Lightweight of the World”. You can listen on line at Portland Methodist Circuit Sermon Library under the date 20160110, but here is much
of the text.
Stay Disciplined 1
Corinthians 9:24-27
So Chris Briggs – spiritual lightweight of the World! Portland
does of course have a Boxing Club. Maybe
I’ll nip along next week and ask whether they can fit me up with a match? That’s ludicrous of course. In addition to being a coward, I am also very
averse to physical violence – especially if directed at me. If I wanted to box then I would have to do
more than put on a costume and jump around a bit. The thought of Rocky Briggs probably doesn’t
even begin to ring true. If I want to be
a Boxing Champion I had better learn to box, train on a regular basis, hone my
strengths, find ways to deal with my weaknesses and aim high.
This is true of so many areas of life. You can’t hope to get very far in anything
unless one develops one’s abilities, skills, resilience….. Could it be though that we do not easily
learn this lesson in the Christian life, in our spiritual walk?
Do we pick up our discipleship here and drop it there?
Do we think that we can be close to God and draw on the
resources of God; that we can grow in holiness; that we can be effective in the
world as salt and light just when we feel like it?
If you wanted to grow and become better and have an impact
you wouldn’t do that in other areas of life.
I swim on a regular basis.
If I have a gap though it becomes harder to start again, to go the
distance, to break through the boredom barrier or pain barrier or whatever.
If you are a runner you can’t suddenly pick it up and do it.
I used to run regularly – longer distances. Then I didn’t
- then I did – then I didn’t. A couple
of years ago I went to take part in the Dumble Bimble around Portland. I thought “It’s not far. I’ll run rather than
walk. I ought to train first though.” Well, I had been walking back and forth to
Weymouth so my stamina wasn’t bad, but I realised I needed to train. So I did.
The night before I went for a run.
I ran out of my door, down Wakeham, got to the bottom and then nearly
killed myself trying to get back up. In
the end I walked the Dumble Bimble while my wife Nicola ran some of it!
Discipline is essential to growth and development in
virtually every area of life, whether physical and practical or more
theoretical.
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| Oh dear! It gets worse! |
Paul knows this (1 Corinthians 9:26-27) “I do not fight like a boxer
beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and
make it my slave”. He is not
talking of beating oneself literally as some monks and others of old have done. He is talking about training and discipline. Paul knows that discipline is part of the
Christian life – that discipleship is linked with discipline. Discipline and disciple share the same root
word. The concept is that we surrender ourselves to something or someone,
similar to an athlete surrendering his will to a coach. Our coach is Jesus.
As we renew our covenant with God so we cannot escape
discipline – in the basics – in worship, in Bible, in prayer, in community, in
putting faith into action. Not when we
feel like it, but when we don’t feel like it too.
Stay open Jeremiah
31:31-34
The reading from Jeremiah shows us that God is to do something
new. God has given the Law to help us
know the way to live, but it is difficult for us. We break rules too easily. Our tendency to sin means that rules are not
enough to keep us close to God.
God reveals that he will bring a new Covenant promise for
his people. The promise is that God’s
ways, will, heart, is to be buried in the heart and mind of the believer. In other words he plants himself within.
”I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Romans 12:2 says something similar, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
What is this talking about?
It is talking about relationship rather than rules; relationship rather
than ritual; relationship rather than religion.
Note this is about individuals having their heart touched by
God – remade from the inside you might say, but also a people. I will be their God and they shall be my
people. Which is why doing this together
today is so important.
As we are invited to renew our Covenant with God today – the
important thing is that God says he wants to be in relationship with us – a
relationship of love. He invites us to respond
by saying we want to be in a relationship of love with him. It is out of this that all else flows, our
works, our service. But again the way we
stay close is a way of discipline. That
might sound odd but it’s not. We need to
work at relationships not just rely on how we feel. That is so with marriages. I suggest one reason so many marriages break
up is because once people don’t feel in love they tend to distance themselves,
but love is not dependent on feelings – it is also an act of will. We are not always lovable but that doesn’t
stop God loving us. God is always
lovable but sometimes our feelings are not that loving. So when we don’t feel close to God the answer
is not to drift off and do our own thing but be disciplined in our devotion –
making time for God and making sure we focus on him and seek to stay in his
will.
How can we be open in our own individual lives?
How can we be open as God’s people here on Portland?
Which brings us to the other point.
Stay connected
(to Jesus and each other) John 15:1-10
We will share communion as part of this service. In Methodist parlance we will share the
juice of the grape (non-alcoholic) and remember the blood of Christ. We won’t see the actual grapes that have been
used for the red grape juice. But if we
did have them here then we know that once grapes are off the vine then they
will eventually begin to go off. “Remain in me, as I also remain in
you.” Not only that, but the
grapes won’t happen in the first place if they are not connected to the vine. “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither
can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
This is not rocket science – it is viticulture!! It’s not complicated. Be separate from the source of growth and
nutrition and you shrivel and die.
So are we blossoming, growing, bearing fruit as Christians? Or are we shrivelling? Not a bad question to reflect on as we hear
the Gospel reading from John and think about our relationship with Jesus.
Are we shrivelling? Have we shrivelled?
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain
in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you
are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.”
Stay connected.
That means all those things that are basic again and which I
mentioned a few moments ago when I said “As
we renew our covenant with God so we cannot escape discipline – in the basics –
in worship, in Bible, in prayer, in community, in putting faith into action.”
And so we come full circle.
It is in the discipline of these things that we can
encounter God and grow.
It is openness to these things that enable us to find that
God wants to make his home within us, in a real relationship something so much
deeper than religion or rules.
It is through these things, and in other ways that we stay
connected and bear fruit.
And as we prepare to acknowledge God’s Covenant with us we
are invited to respond to the challenge to
Stay Disciplined.
Stay Open.
Stay Connected.
The Methodist Covenant Prayer
I
am no longer my own but yours.
Put
me to what you will,
rank
me with whom you will;
put
me to doing, put me to suffering;
let
me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted
for you or brought low for you.
Let
me be full, let me be empty,
let
me have all things, let me have nothing.
I
freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to
your pleasure and disposal.
And
now, glorious and blessed God,
Father,
Son and Holy Spirit,
you
are mine and I am yours.
So
be it.
And
the covenant made on earth,
let
it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
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