Sermons

What unfinished business is God calling you to in the work of ministry? What is holding you back from becoming all that God wants you to be? If you are discouraged, look to the saints, the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before you. Not only have they left an example, but they are beside you, cheering you on.

If we are not willing to love when it is difficult, or inconvenient, or when it requires us to show charity to those we do not particularly like (perhaps even to love our enemies!) then we have not love at all, and our relationships will suffer as a result. The evidence is of course abundant in the breakdown of marriage and the family, but the same is true of our relationship with God - we face similar temptations to reduce it down to a feeling or a transaction.

Beloved, as a bearer of God’s image, you belong to God. You are not a cog in the corporate machine, a slave to your work or to the state. Always remember your unparalleled worth as God’s creation, fully realized in your adoption as sons and daughters through faith in Jesus Christ. For the authorities can take everything else away from you, but they can never take away your faith.

Because Christ’s return is imminent - the Lord is at hand - and he is present with us now, we are not to be anxious about anything. If during our moments of anxiety we could see Jesus sitting next to us, ready to take our hand, would that not be a comfort to us? And yet, he is indeed ready to do that through the gift of prayer.

Though the enemies of the cross shall wish to steal everything from you, they can only steal those earthly things which they hold valuable. But in imitating the saints and martyrs like Saint Paul, we will desire something greater, giving us a Faith in Christ, which can never be taken from us.

Christ’s example of willing obedience, as extolled here in the hymn of Christ - is the ultimate demonstration of God’s divine love. True love cannot be separated from the freedom of our will.

God’s justice is perfect and His generosity inexhaustible. If God’s justice and mercy do not align with our own limited understanding, therefore, then we should challenge ourselves to think differently. In so doing, may God increase our trust in Him, even when we do not understand His ways; increase our love of heavenly things; and increase the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

God’s forgiveness is offered freely to us in His Son - the free gift of Salvation. But you need two hands in order to reach out and grab the gift being given to us - and you won’t be able to open your hands and receive that gift if they’re both clenched, tightly holding on to some offense someone has made against us. “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

We might say our love is genuine. We know what Paul means, and we know it sounds good. But our love is not free of pretense. Our “genuine love” is a lot more like “genuine leather” than the standard to which Paul exhorts us. We want to have the appearance and the benefits of authentic love without any of the responsibilities and discomforts it puts upon us.