THE DIFFERENCE GOD MAKES IN OUR LIVES PART 3

THE DIFFERENCE GOD MAKES IN OUR LIVES: PART 3

 

 

Today is the third installment of the sermon called "A Difference you Faith can make in your Life." Ray was an atheist friend of mine who was also one of the nicest, most generous people I knew. This conversation that I had with Ray brings up some very fundamental questions:

If religious belief and church attendance don't necessarily make you a good person, and nonattendance and rejection of religion don't necessarily make you a bad one, what is the point of being religious? What does the religious person get out of his or her faith that the nonreligious person has to do without? Is there something we would all be better off having, or something that only some people - the weak and the insecure, the spiritually inclined - need, and the rest of us can do without? For the religious mind and soul, there is no question about the existence of God, but the question, really for the atheist, agnostic, and Christian, is what difference does God and religion make in the way that we live our lives?

In weeks past I spoke about the moral laws and guidance that God gives. When we ground our conduct in God we can stand tall and confident, to do the right thing when the right thing may hard, inconvenient, unpopular or expensive.

I also spoke of a sense of community that God gives us. God doesn't lust call people to Him but calls people to reach out to each other - to consider our neighbours feelings and to love our neighbour.

Another thing that God gives us is the knowledge that our lives are important: that the things that we do in this life matter. Many people suffer under the idea that nothing they do in life matters. I have done many funerals. No matter who they were in life they all end ed up in a 6 foot grave. The lover, the hater, the drunkard, the temperate, the wise, the foolish, the religious, and the atheist - we all come to the same end. If we all come to the same end, what difference does it make in this world what we do? Indeed, everywhere we look we get the message that we are small and insignificant. We get it in department stores when we try to return something, airports when flights are delayed or cancelled. We get it in colleges and corporations where we are only known to computers and identified by our Social Insurance numbers. We get it from every government agency we ever try to deal with and every MP or MLA regardless of the party (unless it is close to election time.)

We are constantly told that our presence doesn't matter. If we were not there, somebody else would be there to take our place. But listen to what God says in Isaiah 43 I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth.  ⁴ Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you.  I will carry you and save you.

God is saying He knows who you are and cares for you. He is saying you’re not an accident.  God  has a plan for your life.  God loves you deeply, that He’s seen every moment of your life, even when you’ve blown it, but He still loves you.  He wants to forgive you, that He wants to have a relationship with you and He cares deeply about you. Not because He is trying to sell you a car; not because He wants your vote on September 27. He is here because of His love for you.  

Jesus often told stories to teach truths about God.  One time He did something very unusual.  He told three stories in a row with the exact same point.  In rapid fire He told the same story in three different ways.  It’s in Luke 15.  Some of you are very familiar with these stories.  

The first one is the story of the lost sheep.  He says there was a shepherd who had 100 sheep.  One day, one of them gets lost so the shepherd leaves 99 saved sheep in the fold and he goes out on this search and rescue mission for the one lost sheep.  He leaves the 99 saved to go after just one.  He doesn’t just forget him.  He goes out and searches high and low and up and down and finally he finds the lost sheep and brings him back safely home and throws a party.  

Then Jesus said there was a woman who had a lost coin.  She had ten coins.  It may have been her life savings.  She loses one of the ten coins and so she searches high and low for this coin, turns her house upside down.  She sweeps, she dusts, she looks into every room.  Finally she finds the one lost coin.  She’s so excited about it that she calls her neighbors, brings them all over and throws a party. 

Then there’s a third story called the lost son or the prodigal son.  He said a man had two sons and one of the sons comes to him one day and says “Dad, I want my share of the inheritance.  I’m splitting!  I’m leaving now.”  The father gives him his half of the inheritance.  The kid takes off for a foreign country and blows it.  He squanders all of his inheritance on wine, women and song and not much song.  He’s kind of messed up and he hits the bottom.  And finally, in the low life that he’s living – he’s feeding pigs in a pigsty – he says, “What am I thinking!  Even the servants in my father’s home have it better than this!”  So he comes to his senses, repents of his rebellion and goes back home to his father.  As he’s coming home, his father sees him a far way off and runs out to meet him, hugs him with open arms, kisses him on the cheeks.  He says, “Here.  Take my best robe.”  He puts a ring on his finger and says “We’re going to kill a fatted calf and we’re going to have a party.”

What was Jesus trying to teach in these three stories? The common denominator is that in each story something valuable was lost.  The sheep really mattered to the shepherd.  And the coin really mattered to that woman.  And obviously, the son really mattered to the father. 

Point:  You matter to God.  You really do.  He cares far more about you than you will ever understand or realize.  And in each of these three stories, in each case, there was no rest until that which was lost was rescued. 

Unlike our society and our government, God and the church tells us that we do matter; that the way we live our lives are important; that the things that effect our lives are worthy of sorrow or celebration.

When you get married, when you have a children you are in an accident or when there is a death of a loved one, all you are to the government is a statistic. The government is a soulless bureaucracy. It does not care what happens to us. If we have a smoking, drinking or gambling problem, as long as we can pay, the government will sell us a cigarette, invite us into the casino, pour us a drink and pocket a profit.

God and the church do care what happens to us. Our lives are important. When a child is born, when a daughter marries, when a husband dies, our joy is increased or our sorrow eased when we share it with others in the church and with God. Marriage ceremonies, baptisms, funerals, and wakes are all ways that God and religion gives us of taking a private event, private pain or joy, and sharing it with others so that we are not left alone on those emotional mountains peaks or valleys. They allow us to receive the congratulations and the condolences. They show us that our lives do matter to people and to God.

This is why God gave us the 10 Commandments. This is why God insists on a certain standard of conduct; because God cares what we do in this life. If God didn't care what we did we could do whatever we wanted. It is precisely because God has set standards for us to live by that we know that He cares about what we do and what decisions we make. Also, the fact that God forgives, that God mends the broken but contrite heart, that we know that our lives and souls are important and precious to Him. The government doesn't care if we mess up our lives. The government doesn't care if we have cheated on our husbands, if we are selfish and think only of ourselves or if we are jealous of our neighbours good fortune and belongings and do whatever we can to make them look bad, but God does.

When we examine our lives and feel guilt for what we have done, it is not the government that you can turn to. It’s not your family or friends. Many will turn their back on you. But we can turn to God. God doesn't wash His hands of us when we mess up and go against the way of life He would have us live. Indeed, Christ came seeking the lost. Why is this? The reason is that your life is important, too important to be wasted or thrown away because of some mistakes.

When we experience grief and despair, when we look at ourselves in the mirror and only see a liar, cheater, of thief, God sees so much more. Yes God sees the person who was weak and selfish, He sees the person who gave into temptation, but He also sees the good and decent person that you are as well. God does not erase what you did, but God allows us to focus on the good people we are and lifts that person up so that you and everyone around you can see it. God doesn't minimize the seriousness of the mistake you made, that would be trivializing your life and the people that you hurt, but what God does say is "You did something very wrong, but that doesn't make you a chronic wrongdoer." You see there is a difference between the person who does wrong and the person for whom it becomes a lifestyle. God asks you whether that slip or weakness should define your life and then helps you to do other things to balance out that past and to keep it from happening again. This is called repentance. God tells you that "You have made mistakes, but your life is too important to be wasted, so come with me and together we can help set things right. You couldn't do it on your own, and I won't do it for you, but together we will get through this. You are not alone in this life. I am with you."

When the entire world is telling you that you are small and insignificant, God is telling you that your life matters, that what you do in this life matters, and that your joys and sorrows are significant to Him. When we take our joys and sorrows to God, when we baptize our child, when we marry our spouse, when we wake and bury our loved one, when we bring these things before God in our church, we find that these events are not lust important to God, but to all our Christian brothers and sisters as well.

This is the sense of purpose, meaning, and comfort that a nonreligious person has to live without. This is the difference that God has made in your life, and in mine.