Promise and Warning - September 13, 2009

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.


Promise and warning.

Or is it just warning ….

Proverbs: Wisdom says “You haven’t listened to me and now I will laugh at you in your troubles.”

James: “The tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature and is itself set on fire by hell.”

Ouch.

Mark: “Get behind me Satan.” And “Those who want to save their life will lose it.”

These are not very cheery lessons. There is great truth in them but they are not the most upbeat.


Last year I was preaching in my mother’s home church about “Take up your cross and follow me.” Her church is going through great changes. According to the guidelines set up in Vancouver, they are not “sustainable” yet they continue to be an active force in their community and to cover their expenses plus a bit. With every change in their programs and building use, they are threatened with closing. They have been like this for more than ten years and it takes a toll.

What does it mean to “take up your cross and follow me?”

Warning and promise ….

If we focus on the bad, we will reap only evil. Warning. Many bad things happen in our lives. Many bad things happen around the world. Who here has ever watched the news? … Not asleep yet. That’s a good sign. All we have to do is watch the news to be told how bad things are in the world.

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

Change your perspective ….

These readings are full of promise. Mark speaks of the evil of setting our minds on human things. What if we set our minds on divine things? The promise is left hanging there, not explicit but definitely there. “Those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

Promise ….

Wisdom speaks of condemnation for those who don’t listen. Ah, but if you do listen to what she says …. “Those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.” Hallelujah, we’re saved! All we have to do is listen to wisdom!

Promise and warning.

What is wisdom. Who is wisdom. “Who do you say that I am.” This is a question that we all have to answer for ourselves.


How many of you here today have ever had contact with a teacher? … Good, still no sleepers. How many have had a really good teacher … a favourite? … A really bad one? …

How many of you have dealt with a pharmacist? Good? … Bad? … How about a flag person? I know it’s always bad when we see one but are they bad flag people? Or Good ones?

Why is it that we can have a really bad or really good teacher but not pharmacist or flag person? Trust. We trust that the pharmacist will give us the right medication. We trust that the flag person is not going to let us go until it is safe and that they are not going to keep us waiting unless it is unsafe to go. They may be talkative or silent, friendly or very clear that they would rather be fishing. But we trust that they will do their job.

Teachers do something much more personal. True, they provide us with a certain amount of data. Dry facts for our consumption. But a teacher who only does that probably ends up in the “bad” column. A good teacher helps us explore how we think. They guide us as we learn how to interpret that provided data for ourselves. They influence our choices as we are learning to interpret the world. This is incredibly powerful. A teacher can be instrumental in the direction we take in our lives. They can help us to fall in love with a subject or drive us away from it forever.

I don’t know about you, but for each subject I have a teacher who is associated with it. When I first took French I loved it. I had a great teacher who encouraged me and helped me to explore a new language. The next year I had a teacher who led me to hate French for many years. Teachers have power.

“We who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

Warning and promise.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters.” Who here is not a teacher?

- Any of you who raised your hands … I don’t believe you.
--- or ---
- Either you’ve all fallen asleep or your teachers did a good job.

We are all teachers. People pay attention to what we say and do. This means that we have to think about how we act and what we say. Just a couple of days ago I was walking with my children and several youth were out walking as well. One of them dropped his pop can, stepped on it, and kicked it to the side of the road. Where do you think he learned to do this?

“The heavens declare the glory of God.” This promise can be seen all around us. This land screams at us to pay attention.

The warning can be seen every day as we walk down the street. What happens if we don’t respond? Next time you are out for a walk pay attention. Look around you: in the ditch, on the side of the street, down by the water. The world has become our ashtray.

The heavens declare the glory of God. How can we afford to do any less?