Back to School…

1 Corinthians 9

¹⁹ For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. ²⁵ Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

John 15

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Sermon

In the 1640s, in the midst of the English Civil War, at the instruction of the English Parliament which was rebelling against its King, a group of Puritans met repeatedly in Westminster to create a new set of standards for the life of the Church of England. The documents they produced in 1646 were never properly adopted by the Church of England, but for centuries were second only to the Bible in importance to the Church of Scotland in which I grew up. They were adopted by many other Presbyterian and Baptist churches too. The Westminster Confession, as it is known, and its associated catechisms were very Calvinist documents, and much of it I would probably struggle with today. For example, I think the Pope is a rather decent bloke and certainly not the antichrist! However, the opening line of the shorter Westminster Catechism is one of those bits of theology that anchors my soul.

It simply says: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever!”

Now, forgive the non-inclusive language – it was 1646. But I love its meaning. Our chief end, our purpose, the reason we exist is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. Our purpose is not to make our millions, or have the perfect house, or achieve worldwide fame or even leave a legacy of some sort. Our purpose in our own way and in our own place is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. We were made to know the God who made us and loves us. We were made to live lives that show God’s love in the world. This purpose is accessible to everyone and anyone and yet demanding enough that we can spend eternity pursuing it. It is an adventure, a challenge and a precious, precious gift. So what are we going to do about it?

My poor husband has been listening to my sermons for about 18 years, and has been my greatest encourager as well as my most honest critic. One of the things he really doesn’t like is when I forget to include a “so what” in what I say. Basically, you know those sermons where I share a nice thought about God, but don’t give any ideas of what it might mean for our everyday lives. I really hope he is going to enjoy the next few weeks as I plan for them ALL to be sermons with a strong “so what” element!

If our chief end, our main purpose in existing, is to glorify God and enjoy God forever, we need to take this seriously and think about how we go about ensuring that we fulfil our lives’ purpose and don’t miss the mark. What should we do?

In our first reading today, we have an apostle who is very determined to fulfil his purpose. Paul’s way of glorifying God is to help as many people as possible know Jesus, and he is giving it everything he’s got. He compares his efforts to an elite athlete preparing for the race of their life. He is training, he is preparing, he is staying focused. In short, Paul is demonstrating discipline.

Discipline is a word with the same root as another word we often use – disciple. It is wat Jesus calls us to be at the end of our Gospel reading. Discipline and disciple come from a root meaning to learn. How do we learn? Well recently, I have been trying to revive my high school German. It is not easy to learn another language. It is not a simple task you can do once and tick off your list. If I genuinely want to learn another language well enough that I can use it to talk to others, I need to give it time, make it a priority in my day, develop regular habits of learning, find ways of learning that fit in with my life and – ideally – make it fun! And so, with millions of people around the world, I have signed up to Duolingo and am currently 110 days into my learning journey. If you need someone to tell you how to say “the owl doesn’t like your carpet” or “my Uncle never surfs in Winter”, then I am your girl. But I am making progress because of a little discipline.

Learning how to glorify God and enjoy God forever isn’t something we can learn to do over night either. It is a lifelong process of learning, a lifelong process of discipline. And it is a million times more exciting and rewarding and important than learning a new language, teaching yourself to play a musical instrument or training to run a marathon. But HOW do we learn to glorify God and enjoy God forever? Well, we do what hundreds of children will be doing in our community over the coming week – we go to school!

Don’t fret. You won’t need a uniform, a bookbag or a new pencil case. This is your school! One of the many reasons we meet together as a church is to learn – from God and from one another. But just as a child who learns maths in school will learn better if they do a little maths at home and will enjoy their maths better if they try it out in the real world and see how useful it is – well, church is just part of our learning journey. As Rob Harrison said in one of the services he took for us, church is where we learn and try out things that we take out into our everyday lives, to practice and to use for God’s glory!

If we want to fulfil our lives’ purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God forever, we need to make our learning – our discipleship as the church calls it – seriously, and one of the ways we can do this is by creating a Rule of Life.

A Rule of Life sounds fancy, but it is very simple. It is way of talking about a collection of habits and rhythms – or disciplines – that we create to support us in our growing and learning in God. In our second reading, we hear how as disciples of Jesus, those who are learning God’s ways, we are like branches growing on a vine. We are to stay connected to the vine that is Jesus and we are to bear fruit. To me these too tasks reflect that purpose in the Westminster Catechism – we enjoy God, by remaining connected to Jesus and we bear fruit in living loving lives which bring God glory. In many ways, our discipleship is less something that we do and more what God does in us. But a rule of life, the habits and rhythms we develop are like the trellis that support the vine, helping it as it grows to stay healthy and bear fruit.

So, over the next few weeks, we are going to explore some different habits and rhythms: those disciplines that might support us as we grow in Jesus and seek to live out that purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God for ever. We will think about worship, learning together, prayer, sharing, generosity and finally sabbath. For each one, we will think about what they teach us about God, how we practice them as a church together, how we might practice them outside of church services and how they might help us love and serve God’s world. Perhaps, by the end of these few weeks, you will have some new ideas about how you might keep learning and live out your purpose as the person God made you to be.

So, what am I suggesting you do differently this week? Well, this week I invite you to spend a little time thinking about your current habits of faith. What helps you connect with God? What helps you live a loving life each day? What gets in the way? Where would you like to do better?

But, one of my own rules of life – and rules of preaching – is never to forget grace. We are exploring these questions not because we are afraid of getting things wrong, but because we believe in a God who loves us, who delights in us, who chooses to work with us in blessing our world and who invites us always to grow in love and faith and peace. Let’s accept that invitation in joyful trust over the coming weeks – let’s glorify God and enjoy God forever!