WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.620 Hi, I don't know whether you've experienced this, but maybe it's one of my Room 101 moments, 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:11.660 but the phone rings, you pick it up, and you are greeted by this really, really chirpy, 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.160 buoyant person who introduces themselves as though they've known you all your life. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:23.580 And immediately on my own races, you think, who could this be? Could this be this long-lost 00:00:23.580 --> 00:00:29.740 relative that I don't know about who is just phoning me up to say, I've just heard you're 00:00:29.739 --> 00:00:35.060 sermon, and I think what you do at Christchurch is amazing as a church, and I'm just going to give 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:41.679 half of everything I own to the life and ministry of Christchurch. Wouldn't that be great? But no, 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:52.820 they say those words, are you the homeowner? It's then that you realise that they aren't that rich, 00:00:52.820 --> 00:01:01.359 affluent person, but they are about to sell you something. And if like me, you are that great 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:10.480 pinnacle of virtue at moments like this, you are very polite, and you say thank you so much, 00:01:10.539 --> 00:01:17.879 while they're still reading off their script, but not at the moment, and you leave the call, 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:24.060 and you return to the dinner that they've just interrupted. What's this got to do with the art 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:31.619 of neighbouring? Well, this week's theme is about posture. Posture is everything. This week's theme 00:01:31.619 --> 00:01:37.679 about is motive and transparency in our discipleship, or our Christian apprenticeship. Let's be honest, 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:45.579 we've all experienced some pretty cringy moments, where Christians who have slipped maybe a Bible tract 00:01:45.579 --> 00:01:54.819 into our hand, and then with the breath that could floor an elephant said something that may have 00:01:54.819 --> 00:02:01.340 been laid on their hearts, but the way in which it was given and executed made us want to run a mile. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:07.379 As the writers of our series say, when it comes to the art of neighbouring, 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:17.759 if evangelism is your sole and only motive in befriending your neighbour, then it probably, 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:25.039 you probably won't make a very good neighbour. However, if your neighbouring is done with the 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:30.039 right posture, the right intention, the right attitude or view, then you stand a pretty good 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:35.620 chance of your neighbour seeing and experiencing the God-given life that you're living out in the 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:42.120 every day that has prompted and hastened you to do life with your neighbour, and encouraged you to do 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:48.340 that. You know, I've sat through many sermons on today's scripture, and coming as it does in the 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:54.960 midst of the Sermon on the Mount, this significant teaching that Jesus is giving and sharing, many of 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:01.620 people are hearing this for the first time, and it's radical stuff. We realise that when we get this 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:10.340 message in this passage that Jesus is giving us, that motive matters. And I can talk about salt 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:16.439 preserves, and people knew that when they heard that in the culture in which Jesus was talking, 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:22.340 especially if the saltiness was lost, they couldn't regain it. In fact, Jesus was using the analogy that 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:27.580 they understood in a culture where it was so hot that salt was used to preserve things. 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:35.460 But what does this scripture mean for you and me today? Maybe in the season, we have done amazing 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:42.700 things for others, our neighbours. We've queued in the cold to get prescriptions, we've cooked meals, 00:03:42.820 --> 00:03:47.980 we've done shopping, we've spent hours on the phone to those who are alone and needed that call. 00:03:48.220 --> 00:03:56.180 And that will be their enduring memory of you in the months and hopefully years to come of being a nice 00:03:56.180 --> 00:04:04.819 person. But Jesus, as we know, was more than a nice person. People didn't flock to that hillside to hear 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:13.620 this message to see a celebrity rabbi or just a nice person. Jesus had far more to share and they knew 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:19.939 that. That's why disciples dropped everything and followed Jesus. Jesus had something to offer that 00:04:19.939 --> 00:04:29.620 nobody else could. And that is life in all its fullness. I really hope you get on well with people. 00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:38.180 And because of your discipleship, they see the good and the Jesus in you. But do they know that your 00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:44.019 drive and reason isn't to hit them over the head with a Bible or to convert them into a tradition? 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:51.859 No, it's because we are Christian, we are a disciple, we are a follower of Jesus, that we aren't ever in the 00:04:51.859 --> 00:05:00.740 hit and run business. We are here for the long haul. And with some people, that's a very long haul indeed, 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:07.939 as you may know. And unlike some agencies who are really, really well-meaning and do some great stuff 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:18.019 and have responded to the pandemic, we will be here. We as a church will be here in three, 00:05:19.219 --> 00:05:30.899 10, 20 and 50 years, well into the future when other short-term relief setups have moved on and in history. 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:39.139 You see, that's the beauty of us, the church, the beauty of you and I, God's people, that we are here to stay. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:47.859 We are the presence of saltiness and light, flavouring and lighting the community. We are called to serve 00:05:47.859 --> 00:05:57.060 with God's presence, grace and love in every season. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, literally on a hill. 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:07.699 You know, Christ's church is on a hill. Christ's church, God's people, set high, a light set to illuminate 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:13.060 across the town, bringing reassurance and fresh hope in the darkness. 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:23.699 We are a people that don't want to be just seen maybe on the one show, getting an award for our good 00:06:23.699 --> 00:06:31.300 deeds, have pictures in the paper, handing over checks. No, the things that we do are seen in the 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:39.539 greater kingdom of God. We are here because our motive is to be that enduring essence of his light 00:06:39.539 --> 00:06:45.539 and presence to our neighbours, our community, in our relationships, to do what makes us distinctive 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:55.220 and different from the good things that others do, which is to share the gospel. 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:03.460 To share the gospel in our posture, in our character, our love for our neighbour that is the same enduring 00:07:03.460 --> 00:07:09.700 love that Jesus has for us. It's so easy to lose your saltiness, isn't it, as a Christian? 00:07:09.699 --> 00:07:17.699 Maybe especially in these last 12 months, maybe our past commitment was, ah, I'm both feet in. 00:07:18.979 --> 00:07:31.139 Which, as the year has gone on, has maybe become one foot out. And before you know it, maybe I'm just 00:07:31.139 --> 00:07:34.740 barely dipping my toe in to the commitment I made a few years back. 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:42.980 We can get wrapped up in doing neighbourly things, being kind, fulfilling an earthly agenda, 00:07:42.980 --> 00:07:49.220 and suddenly realise that with the best of intentions, it's been without God at the centre of our lives, 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:55.699 of our posture. You know, we have made the great commission, God's given us that, the great commission, 00:07:55.699 --> 00:08:03.139 to make disciples. And yet, as Dallas Willard says in his book, 00:08:04.099 --> 00:08:11.379 sometimes we made that the great omission. Great book recommendation, Mike. I'm really into it. It's fantastic. 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:18.899 Jesus said, you are the lights of the world. You are the light of the world. 00:08:18.899 --> 00:08:24.659 Perhaps that's why I love the church, the church, God's people. 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:32.019 We love the church so much with all our gifting, our diversity of skills, our fallen ways. 00:08:32.579 --> 00:08:38.740 But we, as we regather, as we regather again over the coming months, there will be many, many people 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:44.100 coming through the doors of our church again. And they will come for various reasons. And many will be 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:50.340 there to remember and mark the memorial of a loved one and light candles. From September, we will be 00:08:50.340 --> 00:08:56.980 setting times aside in the week for those services. And as that light, as people come one by one, 00:08:56.980 --> 00:09:04.899 the light grows brighter. Our neighbours, the ones who we have made relationships with, who have said to us, 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:12.179 oh, when the church reopens, I'd love to come along. Or could I go? Can I come and light a candle for my 00:09:12.179 --> 00:09:24.100 husband, my wife, my colleague, whoever? And they will see the power and light of Christ shining in the 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:30.819 darkness that is shown through you and in you and shining in their darkness and bringing hope 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:35.140 and life to their lives in the power of God and the power of his Holy Spirit. 00:09:38.020 --> 00:09:43.460 Let's ensure that as we return as a gathered church and bring people with us, that they have seen the 00:09:43.460 --> 00:09:51.140 light of Christ in us, that they have heard about Jesus, not about tradition, about Jesus. And through 00:09:51.140 --> 00:09:57.140 his love in us and the fruit of that love in our lives, they will have life in all its fullness. 00:09:57.139 --> 00:10:03.299 Let's ensure that we are in our lives. If you need today to lift your light that has been hidden away, 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:10.259 then ask God to put it back where it belongs, at the forefront of everything that we do in our 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:16.019 character, in our encouragement, in our kindness, in our love and in our neighbouring. I encourage you to 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:23.539 do that today. You see, we never have to sell Jesus because he's already paid the price. 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:31.379 And that's why our saltiness remains salty. And his light shines so brightly in us and through us. 00:10:35.219 --> 00:10:40.179 Let's just pause and pray as we reflect on today's theme and today's scripture. 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:46.659 I just sensed when I was preparing this that there are those who had said maybe, 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:55.299 I'm both feet in, and yet realised that they are one foot out. 00:10:57.939 --> 00:11:03.699 And yet who long to live that both feet life in again, just ask him to show you where that is. 00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:09.779 And to restore that, that zeal and that light and that saltiness into your life. 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:16.579 And there was a words of a worship song that came that said, lead me to the cross where we first met. 00:11:16.579 --> 00:11:24.819 And maybe that those words from Delirious from that song resonate with you today. 00:11:27.779 --> 00:11:33.459 Lead me to the cross where we first met. Take me back to that place where I really fell in love with you, 00:11:33.460 --> 00:11:40.900 Jesus, where I really, really made that commitment to apprenticeship with you for life. 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:51.460 I pray that the Holy Spirit would come now and fill you afresh and that you would know that both feet in 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:57.379 moment again. Let's pray together. Jesus, you are the light of the world. 00:11:57.379 --> 00:12:06.179 God, shine brightly as I pray daily in my discipleship. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:12.659 Help me in my lifelong apprenticeship to you and to my neighbours. 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:17.220 Help me to hold that light high. And if I've hidden away, if I've neglected it, 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:20.259 gone from both feet into one foot out or worse, 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:31.620 I pray that I've hidden away from my neighbour. And may our heart and life posture be that of grace and love. 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:39.059 And show me who my neighbour is, just in case, just in case I've missed something in your calling. 00:12:39.059 --> 00:12:48.899 And the blessing of God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit be with you and all those who we love and are called to love, 00:12:50.179 --> 00:12:53.059 this day and evermore. Amen.