IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

by John Mason | Jun 5, 2013 | Thursday Thoughts

HG Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, wrote:

I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.

Why would an unbeliever say that ‘Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history?’ What is it about Jesus of Nazareth that has captured the attention of great and lesser minds, from amongst all peoples? Is it the power of his words, the magnetism of his personality, the integrity of his life even in the face of the gross injustice perpetrated against him? Or is it his extraordinary feats, noted by contemporary historians such as Josephus?

There’s something we often overlook about the records about Jesus: they were not written by just one ‘recorder’ or even by Jesus himself. There are four distinct writers who tell us about him – Matthew and John, who were amongst the twelve, Mark who most likely obtained his information from Peter, another one of the twelve, and Luke, the physician, who assures us of his careful and thorough research. Given Jesus’ extraordinary power and compassion, his unique teaching and claims, this is important to know.

Consider the times when we feel helpless and alone. It may be that our job has gone or that there’s been an accident and a loved one has died. We are reminded of the times when men and women in Jesus’ life were afraid and utterly helpless.

On one occasion Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his close followers (Luke 8:22-25). We are given a glimpse of the ‘private’ Jesus: he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep. He had to be wakened when a massive storm threatened the lives of everyone on board.

Shallow and set between high hills, the Sea of Galilee is notorious for its sudden squalls. As every sailor knows, this can be extremely dangerous, for rapidly moving air streams can quickly cause the waters to rise, making them treacherous. Experienced fishermen though some of Jesus’ followers were, they were terrified of this major storm. They felt helpless. Afraid, they awoke the sleeping Jesus saying, “We are perishing.” Amazingly, at his command, the storm was stilled.

Luke wants us to feel the compelling reality of their cry for help: “We are perishing!” Yes, we too face times of fear and helplessness. But we have this assurance: whatever our situation is, Jesus, like the Good Shepherd he is, will hear us. Our helplessness can be changed into hopefulness. He is committed to using his vast resources to bring good out of the darkest moments of our life (Romans 8:28-30). We can be assured that we are never alone.

Luke would put to us the question that Jesus put to his disciples in the boat: “Where is your faith?”

GOOD NEWS TRAVELS

by John Mason | May 30, 2013 | Thursday Thoughts

By Thursday of each week I endeavor to have my sermon prep well under way. Since many New Yorkers are away over the weekend, especially over the summer, I thought it might be useful if I developed a ‘Thursday Thought’ each week. So here goes…

GOOD NEWS TRAVELS

If we’ve been looking for work, especially for some time, and we get a job, we want to let our friends know. If we’ve graduated from college, become engaged or become a parent, we want to pass on the good news.

So it is with what we believe. If our faith in Jesus Christ is real, we’ll want to let others know. Why is it that when people first come to understand who Jesus really is, they want to spread the news?

In a parable he told, Jesus likened the means of ‘spreading the word’ to ‘seed’. His analogy is helpful because it helps us see that a process is involved. Furthermore, it is instructive, because the emphasis is placed more upon the type of soils rather than the sower. The picture of the sower tells us that sowing needs to be done: God’s news needs to be spread.

However, the variety of ‘soils’ tells us that the results are not uniform. Some of the crop grew well, some poorly, some hardly at all.

Let’s think about this. People often assume that success in outreach is fundamentally a matter of methodology. It is the sower, not the soil who is more important. Package the message the right way and churches will be crawling with converts.

But that is to miss the point. The purpose of the seed, or the Word, is not so much to change one form of soil into another, rather it is to expose the quality of the soil. Spreading God’s good news, Jesus is saying, is not an exercise in human manipulation, it is a demonstration of the ways people receive God’s word.

This doesn’t mean God’s news shouldn’t be well presented. But Jesus is telling us that in the same way that it remains a mystery even to the modern farmer as to why seed changes and grows into a successful crop, so it remains hidden to our eyes as to why the word of God takes root in people’s lives and grows.

The reality is that when we declare the message of Jesus the responses vary enormously. In the end they depend, not so much on how we preach, but upon the attitudes of the people present.

All this raises the question of how we have received God’s news? Has the seed of God’s news about Jesus changed us? Is our relationship with Jesus such that we want to play our part in spreading the news?

Spreading the news can be as simple as inviting friends to church. The evidence shows that most people respond to God’s news because someone invited them to church.