It seems perverse to post sermons in advance of preaching them, but here for your feedback is what I plan to say on Sunday. Last time I did this I met a whole family who had been brought along because a church member read the sermon I was going to give and decided that they needed to hear it! Maybe you'll do the same. But please - don't look at it and decide you don't need to come to church!! In any case, it's only Tuesday and I never keep to the script of my sermons, so by the time it's preached it might be different.
Too good to be true? Acts 12.1-17
I want to say three things this morning. First: following Jesus will ruin your life. Second: this story is so good it seems too good to be true. And third: we have a mobile religion.
OK, here goes.
1. Following Jesus will ruin your life.
Peter’s done everything right. As we saw two weeks ago he’s been making himself available as Jesus did. As we saw last week, he was given the keys of who’s in and who’s out of God’s people and he’s used them well to open the door to those of every ethnic group and culture. He’s been preaching bravely about Jesus and encouraging the church. If anyone deserved life to go well, it would be Peter. And yet in this passage he gets thrown into gaol. His mate James has just been killed. The very next morning he’s going to be brought out and given a show trial, and it doesn’t look good for Peter.
I think we all instinctively feel that life shouldn’t work like that. People should get what they deserve. Good guys shouldn’t die young. We accept there’s likely to be suffering for us, but we feel like because we’ve led a good Christian life we’ll get less suffering than we would have got if we hadn’t been leading a good Christian life. But I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. It’s following Jesus that ruined Peter’s life. Ever since he heard Jesus say “come, follow me” his nice respectable life with a fishing business has been torn apart.
Do you know the story of the Princess and the Goblin? It was written in the mid-19th century by Gearge MacDonald. It tells the story of Irene, who’s eight years old. Her fairy grandmother gives her a ring with a thread tied to it, but the thread is so fine that it can only be felt – not seen. “Now listen,” says the grandmother, “if you ever find yourself in any danger, take off the ring and lay your forefinger upon the thread, and follow the thread wherever it leads you.”
“O, how delightful! It will lead me to you, grandmother, I know!”
“Yes, but it may seem to lead you a very roundabout way indeed.”
A few days later goblins get into the house. Well, it’s a fairy tale, isn’t it? Irene hears them snarling on the landing, but she follows the thread and it takes her out of her window towards the goblins’ cave. Inside the cave, the thread leads her up to a great heap of stones – a dead end. The thought struck her – she could follow the thread backwards and out of the cave, but as soon as she tried to feel it backwards, it vanished from her touch. Irene burst into tears, but realised that the only way to follow the thread was to break down the wall of stones. She begins tearing it down, stone by stone, and soon her fingers are bleeding. They made children’s stories tough in the nineteenth century.
Suddenly, she hears a voice. It’s her friend Curdie, who’s been trapped in the goblins’ cave! “What brings you here?” he asks. “My grandmother sent me” says Irene, “and I’m beginning to see why.”
Curdie starts to climb out of the cave, but Irene is still moving away from the cave mouth, into the cave. Curdie objects “that’s not the way out”. “I know,” says Irene, “but this is the way my thread goes, and I must follow it.” And of course the thread does prove trustworthy, because her grandmother is trustworthy.
Jesus says “come, follow me. I’m going to take you on a journey, and some of that journey will be to places you don’t want to go. Just trust me and keep following, not turning back, not giving up, keeping going whatever injustices or disappointments happen to you. I’m going to take you places that will make you say ’Why in the world are you taking me THERE?’ and even there, I want you to trust me.”
I have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back, no turning back.
Jesus wasn’t asking Peter to do anything he hadn’t done himself. When he called Peter to follow, he had already given up his heavenly throne and trusted his Father as he came down to earth. And he followed the thread all the way to the garden where he sweat blood in his anguish and all the way to the cross where it looked like a dead end and all the way to death under the judgement of God for sin. Don’t turn back. Jesus followed his thread all the way to the cross so you can follow your thread all the way to his arms.
2. This story is so good it seems too good to be true.
God sends an angel to set Peter free. There he is in the window behind me. But the angel has a tough job. Opening the doors is easy, getting Peter mobilised is difficult. First of all he has to strike him, verse 7 – the word used implies considerable force, it’s not just a quick touch. And then the angel has to remind him to put his clothes on, verse 8. And then Peter still doesn’t believe it’s real, verse 9! It’s just too good to be true.
And the rest of the church aren’t ready to believe it either. They’re all praying for his release when he knocks on the door. Rhoda comes to the door, sees it’s Peter, but doesn’t let him in! The other disciples think either she’s crazy or it’s Peter’s ghost, which is poor theology but understandable because the truth was too good to be true! They only finally open the door when they get fed up of the knocking!
And we’re pretty suspicious of Happy Endings too. In a book called King’s Cross - to which I'm indebted for an awful lot of the content of this sermon, by the way - Tim Keller points out that Stephen Spielberg was refused an Oscar until he’s make a film that didn’t have a happy ending – and yet it’s the ones with happy endings that are most popular in the box office. “Escapist”, say the critics. But what if we have a longing for a story that’s a real escape?
JRR Tolkien puts it like this: “The joy of a happy ending... is not essentially “escapist”... It does not deny the existence ... of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat... giving a glimpse of joy, joy beyond the wall of the world.”
It’s not easy to believe all this, is it? It sounds like a free lunch! In the Princess and the Goblin, Curdie thanks Irene for rescuing him but says he doesn’t believe in her invisible thread or her invisible grandmother. This bothers Irene, and she says so to her grandmother when she next appears. “People must believe what they can,” says the grandmother, “and those who can believe more must not be too hard on those that are able to believe less”. Show him enough grace, and maybe he’ll gradually come to believe in it.
Here’s the good news: for those who, like Jesus, follow the thread all the way to the cross, the tomb is empty and there’s the unbelievably happy ending of resurrection. For those who, like Peter, follow the thread all the way to a prison cell, there’s the unbelievably happy ending of release. For those who, like the early church, kept on and on praying for Peter when prayer was hopeless and Herod’s penalty was sure, there’s the unbelievably happy ending of answered prayer. Now, I know that sometimes – as for James in this passage – we have to die before we see the unbelievably happy ending. I realise that. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good news, even for James on the other side of death. This is the pattern of the Christian life: cross then resurrection, obedience then joy. Follow that thread. And for some people here today, it might be that today is the day you choose to put your finger on that thread and start following - through taking up your cross, all the way to resurrection and life with God for ever and ever. There'll be two people up under the Peter window after the sermon, and they'd love to pray with you.
3. We have a mobile religion.
It’s easy to read the end of verse 17 as if it’s an unimportant detail. “Peter went to another place”. But this is massive. It means that Christianity is no longer going to be centred on Jerusalem.
Have you ever thought that all the other great world religions are still headquartered where they began? Islam is centred on Arabia, Hinduism is centred on India, Mormonism is centred on Utah, and so on. But Christianity’s centre is always moving. Jerusalem then Rome- then North Africa when Rome fell – then the barbarians overran the Christian world and the torch passed to the Celts in the north and what we call Turkey in the east – then Rome again, and Wittenberg and Geneva and London, and North America in the twentieth century, and now the centre of the Christian world has moved south to Africa, Latin America and Asia. Why is this? It’s because being on the move is part of Christianity, it never rests on past shrines it always seeks for the next step on the journey. It’s not a safe religion with a safe, static God. It’s always following the thread. No turning back, no turning back.
May God bless your journey this week. Next week, Fiona Selden – our Reader in training – is going to tell us about faith. I’ll see you then.
Too good to be true? Acts 12.1-17
I want to say three things this morning. First: following Jesus will ruin your life. Second: this story is so good it seems too good to be true. And third: we have a mobile religion.
OK, here goes.
1. Following Jesus will ruin your life.
Peter’s done everything right. As we saw two weeks ago he’s been making himself available as Jesus did. As we saw last week, he was given the keys of who’s in and who’s out of God’s people and he’s used them well to open the door to those of every ethnic group and culture. He’s been preaching bravely about Jesus and encouraging the church. If anyone deserved life to go well, it would be Peter. And yet in this passage he gets thrown into gaol. His mate James has just been killed. The very next morning he’s going to be brought out and given a show trial, and it doesn’t look good for Peter.
I think we all instinctively feel that life shouldn’t work like that. People should get what they deserve. Good guys shouldn’t die young. We accept there’s likely to be suffering for us, but we feel like because we’ve led a good Christian life we’ll get less suffering than we would have got if we hadn’t been leading a good Christian life. But I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. It’s following Jesus that ruined Peter’s life. Ever since he heard Jesus say “come, follow me” his nice respectable life with a fishing business has been torn apart.
Do you know the story of the Princess and the Goblin? It was written in the mid-19th century by Gearge MacDonald. It tells the story of Irene, who’s eight years old. Her fairy grandmother gives her a ring with a thread tied to it, but the thread is so fine that it can only be felt – not seen. “Now listen,” says the grandmother, “if you ever find yourself in any danger, take off the ring and lay your forefinger upon the thread, and follow the thread wherever it leads you.”
“O, how delightful! It will lead me to you, grandmother, I know!”
“Yes, but it may seem to lead you a very roundabout way indeed.”
A few days later goblins get into the house. Well, it’s a fairy tale, isn’t it? Irene hears them snarling on the landing, but she follows the thread and it takes her out of her window towards the goblins’ cave. Inside the cave, the thread leads her up to a great heap of stones – a dead end. The thought struck her – she could follow the thread backwards and out of the cave, but as soon as she tried to feel it backwards, it vanished from her touch. Irene burst into tears, but realised that the only way to follow the thread was to break down the wall of stones. She begins tearing it down, stone by stone, and soon her fingers are bleeding. They made children’s stories tough in the nineteenth century.
Suddenly, she hears a voice. It’s her friend Curdie, who’s been trapped in the goblins’ cave! “What brings you here?” he asks. “My grandmother sent me” says Irene, “and I’m beginning to see why.”
Curdie starts to climb out of the cave, but Irene is still moving away from the cave mouth, into the cave. Curdie objects “that’s not the way out”. “I know,” says Irene, “but this is the way my thread goes, and I must follow it.” And of course the thread does prove trustworthy, because her grandmother is trustworthy.
Jesus says “come, follow me. I’m going to take you on a journey, and some of that journey will be to places you don’t want to go. Just trust me and keep following, not turning back, not giving up, keeping going whatever injustices or disappointments happen to you. I’m going to take you places that will make you say ’Why in the world are you taking me THERE?’ and even there, I want you to trust me.”
I have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back, no turning back.
Jesus wasn’t asking Peter to do anything he hadn’t done himself. When he called Peter to follow, he had already given up his heavenly throne and trusted his Father as he came down to earth. And he followed the thread all the way to the garden where he sweat blood in his anguish and all the way to the cross where it looked like a dead end and all the way to death under the judgement of God for sin. Don’t turn back. Jesus followed his thread all the way to the cross so you can follow your thread all the way to his arms.
2. This story is so good it seems too good to be true.
God sends an angel to set Peter free. There he is in the window behind me. But the angel has a tough job. Opening the doors is easy, getting Peter mobilised is difficult. First of all he has to strike him, verse 7 – the word used implies considerable force, it’s not just a quick touch. And then the angel has to remind him to put his clothes on, verse 8. And then Peter still doesn’t believe it’s real, verse 9! It’s just too good to be true.
And the rest of the church aren’t ready to believe it either. They’re all praying for his release when he knocks on the door. Rhoda comes to the door, sees it’s Peter, but doesn’t let him in! The other disciples think either she’s crazy or it’s Peter’s ghost, which is poor theology but understandable because the truth was too good to be true! They only finally open the door when they get fed up of the knocking!
And we’re pretty suspicious of Happy Endings too. In a book called King’s Cross - to which I'm indebted for an awful lot of the content of this sermon, by the way - Tim Keller points out that Stephen Spielberg was refused an Oscar until he’s make a film that didn’t have a happy ending – and yet it’s the ones with happy endings that are most popular in the box office. “Escapist”, say the critics. But what if we have a longing for a story that’s a real escape?
JRR Tolkien puts it like this: “The joy of a happy ending... is not essentially “escapist”... It does not deny the existence ... of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat... giving a glimpse of joy, joy beyond the wall of the world.”
It’s not easy to believe all this, is it? It sounds like a free lunch! In the Princess and the Goblin, Curdie thanks Irene for rescuing him but says he doesn’t believe in her invisible thread or her invisible grandmother. This bothers Irene, and she says so to her grandmother when she next appears. “People must believe what they can,” says the grandmother, “and those who can believe more must not be too hard on those that are able to believe less”. Show him enough grace, and maybe he’ll gradually come to believe in it.
Here’s the good news: for those who, like Jesus, follow the thread all the way to the cross, the tomb is empty and there’s the unbelievably happy ending of resurrection. For those who, like Peter, follow the thread all the way to a prison cell, there’s the unbelievably happy ending of release. For those who, like the early church, kept on and on praying for Peter when prayer was hopeless and Herod’s penalty was sure, there’s the unbelievably happy ending of answered prayer. Now, I know that sometimes – as for James in this passage – we have to die before we see the unbelievably happy ending. I realise that. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good news, even for James on the other side of death. This is the pattern of the Christian life: cross then resurrection, obedience then joy. Follow that thread. And for some people here today, it might be that today is the day you choose to put your finger on that thread and start following - through taking up your cross, all the way to resurrection and life with God for ever and ever. There'll be two people up under the Peter window after the sermon, and they'd love to pray with you.
3. We have a mobile religion.
It’s easy to read the end of verse 17 as if it’s an unimportant detail. “Peter went to another place”. But this is massive. It means that Christianity is no longer going to be centred on Jerusalem.
Have you ever thought that all the other great world religions are still headquartered where they began? Islam is centred on Arabia, Hinduism is centred on India, Mormonism is centred on Utah, and so on. But Christianity’s centre is always moving. Jerusalem then Rome- then North Africa when Rome fell – then the barbarians overran the Christian world and the torch passed to the Celts in the north and what we call Turkey in the east – then Rome again, and Wittenberg and Geneva and London, and North America in the twentieth century, and now the centre of the Christian world has moved south to Africa, Latin America and Asia. Why is this? It’s because being on the move is part of Christianity, it never rests on past shrines it always seeks for the next step on the journey. It’s not a safe religion with a safe, static God. It’s always following the thread. No turning back, no turning back.
May God bless your journey this week. Next week, Fiona Selden – our Reader in training – is going to tell us about faith. I’ll see you then.
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