From time to time I put sermons I give up here. Not because I think they are particularly good, even less that they are model sermons. I can't even guarantee that I agree with everything I said then - I am (of course) learning all the time. But someone may be interested.
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Have you ever felt that God might have some great plans for your life? Ways he could use you to bring blessing to others. If it wasn’t for the fact it’s you we’re talking about.
I know I’ve felt that way at times. Mistakes made. Character flaws. Bad habits I can’t kick. I’m sure God could have used me. But somehow I disqualify myself.
With more than a year to go until the next general election, the politicians are lining themselves up. Grand promises. If we put them in power, here’s what they will do. But will they?
We’re right to be sceptical. They may be in government, but they’re not in power. So much is outside of their control. It’s hard to guarantee anything. A coup in a foreign land 4000 miles away could impact a key export market and send the pound into a dive. They can promise. But can they deliver?
What will happen at the end of time?
It’s a big question. The short answer is that there will be no end of time. But the Bible does tell us that the far future for Christians is very, very good.
The past two Sundays, we’ve said that Jesus is in heaven; when Christians die they go to join him; one day, Jesus will come back. But what happens to us when he does so? Do we come back too? If so, how? And what future will we have?
Death is one of the subjects we don’t speak about today. I suspect this is because many of us have a deep fear of death.
And so we joke about it. Woody Allen famously said: I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens. And Mark Twain said: I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
But the fact is that we joke to dodge it. The jokes are an anaesthetic for our fears.
Many people today are not confident as to what they believe about the return of Jesus.
We can’t know everything about the future.
But if God tells us certain things about the future, then those are areas where we can be sure.
And Jesus was not silent about his own return.
This morning, we start a short series of 3 sermons looking at the future. Today, we think about the return of Jesus.
One of the most foolish things people say about Jesus is this: He was just a great moral teacher.
So many people would say that. They love his teaching. They think his ethics should be taught to everyone. His ideals of love and integrity should be a feature of public life. There’s nothing here for other religions or philosophies to disagree with. If only Jesus’ moral teaching was more widely heard, we’d be a happier society.
Everyone wants to know that their life is going in the right direction. Heading to the right destination.
I’m sure you’ve had the experience of sitting on a train at the platform in Victoria. First stop is Ashford International. And just as the doors close, someone comes up and asks you if this train stops at Brixton. Sheer horror. They’re on the wrong train. They’re going to the wrong place. And it’s too late to change.
I wonder if you remember the old children’s cartoons. Characters chasing each other, round and round a lamppost, knocking down the china, wacky races in their cars, Tom and Jerry. Ingenious and slapstick ways to trick or trip one of the other characters so that you get ahead, catch them in the neck of a bottle, or whatever it is.
Do you think Jesus is worth following?
If Jesus were to try and persuade you to follow him, how would he go about it? How would he say that it’s worth your while?
If you’re someone who’s still looking into Jesus’ claims, what would convince you to sign up? And if you’re already a Christian, we all go through phases when we wonder why we’re doing it. How do you counsel yourself to keep going?
So: How do you find praying?
Not a question many of us like to be asked. Prayer is a subject that makes us feel guilty. We don’t pray as much as we know we ought to. Or helpless. We don’t know where to start. Or both.
Jesus talks about prayer in the passage we’re looking at this morning.
But he doesn’t do it to make us feel guilty. He wants us to enjoy praying. He wants prayer to be something we all do. And to make that happen, Jesus focuses our attention on God. If we can start to grasp what God is like, that will transform the way we talk to him.