Cnr High Street & President Boshoff Street, Bethlehem, Free State, South Africa
Sunday Service and Sunday School at 9:00am
Rev Cecil Rhodes 062 1230 640

Monday, October 24, 2016

I’m following the lectionary reading this week. They say every preacher should preach from this three-year cycle. I have done it twice in my life, and since I am now falling into the trap of preaching my favourite hobbyhorses, I think it is time I go back to the lectionary! The Old Testament reading is the first four verses of Habakkuk, chapters one and two, whilst the gospel reading is the story of Zacchaeus, a story of Jesus ‘seeking and saving’ the lost. At first the two readings seem quite unrelated, but upon reflection they are really not. In chapter one Habakkuk is bemoaning the destruction and violence all around him, which in his context of the 722 BC Syrian exile, was extreme. The present day atrocities in Syria and of ISIS somewhat equate to what Israel were experiencing back then. They were indeed dire days. Jesus, familiar with suffering and pain himself, tackles the problem of ‘violence and destruction‘ by including the ‘outsider’, who is a representative of all that is wrong! Befriending Zacchaeus, the loathed tax collector, who is a symbol of Israel’s enemies, is how Jesus preached the gospel. It seems lost on us today that Jesus’ solution to the problems we face (at least in part) is to preach the gospel to those we disregard. We are more comfortable to isolate, make fun of, and scapegoat the problem-makers, rather than befriend them with the gospel. The Lord’s answer to Habakkuk, the first four verses of chapter two, is, “But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. And this is the message: "Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.'” Note, how in the midst of Habakkuk’s ‘crying out’, he goes into the watchtower to wait for God to answer him and to act. The more dire it gets, and the more we long for God to say something or do something, the more we need to be still, pray, and wait. God’s answer, whilst we befriend and preach, is that good will overcome evil, but we will have to wait, and remain faithful.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” These words of Jesus describe the essence of Christian faith. It is the following of Jesus that distinguishes the Christian from any other. It is following that defines who we are and how we live. Anyone can believe (take a look at James 2:19), but not everyone follows, and it is the follower, the imitator of Jesus, who is the essence of faith. The power of following is two fold: 1. Following is based on thinking that leads to action. Romans 12 says we should be ‘transformed by a complete change of mind’. Following ‘transforms us by a complete change of mind’, because to follow engages the mind. To follow means I am reading, and thinking, and reflecting on who I am and how I act. There is no other way to know how to follow than to read up on the one you are following. Follow him carefully and he WILL transform you inside out. It is as simple as that. 2. Following is also an act of the heart. A transformed mind is not enough on its own, transformation coming from following Jesus goes much deeper than that. Following is also a matter of the heart. Jesus was totally comfortable with tears, pain, suffering and sorrow. In other words he was human, in touch with his emotions and the emotions of others. So we easily and readily talk about the passion of Jesus. Ours is just not an intellectual faith, but also a passionate faith. If we are not in touch with ourselves and with others, we may not be in touch with God? Is this not why Jesus hung out with folks from the other side of town, because he was in touch with humanity? Following Jesus changes both our minds and our hearts. Following Jesus is both and; not either or. I invite you when you read this to take a moment, pause a while, take a seat, make a cup of tea, and ask yourself: “Am I following Jesus?” “Am I reading up on Jesus, and knowing Jesus as best as I can, so I can follow Jesus as best as I can?” “Is my heart in my faith?”