Inspired thoughts: Doing Good

We all want our children to be good.
We will even boast about how good they have been or the good things they have done.
When they do the right thing it is great to praise them for what they have done.
Our children need to hear praise and thanks from us when they do good, this helps them grow as people.

Yet there are times we may feel they are only doing good things to get something.
Sometimes they may even be blatant about it, they’ll bargain with us for an icy pole, money or something else in order for us to see them do good.
Their motivations for doing good are not because they want to do good, but so they can get something.
Their heart isn’t into doing good.

Our children are not the only ones who act this way, in fact we often fall for the trap that we will only do good, if we can see some benefit or avoid some punishment. And we may even be critical if someone else gets a benefit if they hadn’t worked as hard as us. Some adults have got this down to a fine art. Their only motivation for doing good is to get something.

The bible however reveals that God sees things and operates differently. In fact God loves us and saves us not because we do good things, listen to Titus 3:5 God saves us, not because of the good things we have done, but because of his mercy. (also check out Romans 11:6) No matter how many good things we do they can’t earn the eternal life that God wants to give us, only Jesus can earn this for us. And Jesus willingly gives us this as a gift. How good is that!!!

Yet God still wants us to be and to do good. He encourages us to do good but not so we benefit. Instead our primary reasons for doing good are to thank and praise God for everything He is doing for us and so that others may benefit and be helped. (Read a little bit more about this in Hebrews 13:15-16 and Galatians 6:7-10).

To discover a little more about what Jesus says about doing good, read Matthew 5:16-20.

Something for you to think about or share as a family
What good things have been done for you that you can thank and praise God for?
Is there anything we need to change about ourselves in relation to doing good?
What are some good things you can do so that others may benefit?

Something to remember this week…..And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:16)

Pastor Richard Schwedes

24 March 2009

Sermon: Living as God's disciples

Who here has seen the movie Ice Age 2: The melt down.

In this movie there is a character called Ellie she’s a mammoth.
But she has a huge problem she believes she is a possum.
She has been adopted by some possums, hung out with possums and tries to do many things that possums do.
Like swing from trees…
Imagine for a moment me swinging upside down from a thin branch and you get the picture.

Later on the movie she becomes aware she is a mammoth then life make sense.
Her life is enhanced when she understands who she really is.

Likewise as we live our life in this world,
interacting with all sorts of people
and dealing with all sorts of situations.
Life will only make sense to us when we understand not just that we are Christians and what this really means.

And this is important if we are going to live as God calls us to live.

And our reading from Ephesians chapter 2 is a great help in this area.
It summarises some of the essential and foundational things about being a Christian.

The first thing Ephesians 2 reminds us is that God saves us so we can have a good future with Him in heaven.
From verse 4 we hear the following
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Can you imagine sitting at God’s right hand with Jesus.
With Jesus saying to the Father, I love this person next to me.
This is someone I died for.

And from John 3:16-17 we hear
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Think about what this means for you.

First of all God saving us shows his love for us.
Our relationship with God is one centred around love…
And as 1 John reminds us it is about God loving us first and we responding with love to him, love which he has given us.
It is a relationship where he desires to love you, not condemn you.
Now God doesn’t force us to love Him,
For those of you who have seen the movie Bruce Almighty there is a great scene in that movie that explains this.
Bruce has been given God’s power but not His wisdom.
And at one stage His girlfriend Grace will not love him back.
So He asks God, “How do I force someone to love me?”
And God’s reply, “Now you see my problem”

Scripture is so clear that God’s prime focus is to love and save us A Christian friend of mine says that his work colleagues view of Christianity and God
is far from that.
Usually it is them informing him he has done something wrong.
They believe that God is about only judging people and sending people to hell.
Do you know people like that?
People who only think God is about judging.

He is constantly looking at ways he can introduce them to God’s love.
And he has found the best way to do this is through His actions.

Secondly in God saving us for a future in heaven He gives us the opportunity to have a very long term view.
A long term view of life that goes beyond this life.
Ever experienced situations in dealing with others where you seem to be on a completely different path.
Often that is because you and the other person have a different view of life.
If you have a view of God saving you for a future with Him in heaven, this life is not the end but preparation for the future with Him in heaven.
Whilst
Situations in dealing with others whose view is limited to what they can get out of this life.
And when you are dealing with people who see this life as all that there is, then they are likely to be trying to get the most of life for themselves as possible.
Often they see themselves as the most important thing in this world.
And so we will experience conflict….
Galatians 5:17 says
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

The second major thing that Ephesians reminds us about is that God didn’t have to save us…
It is also important to remember that we don’t deserve to be saved and we have no hope of saving ourselves.
Listen again to Ephesians 1
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Yes God sees us as valuable…so valuable that he died for us
But remember it is not because we deserve it.
We don’t deserve it.
God doesn’t save you because you have worked hard,
He doesn’t save you because you have been on this committee or that committee,
He doesn’t save you because you know the right things or know the right people.
And He doesn’t save you because your parents are Christian.
There is nothing about you that forces Him to save you except one thing He loves you.
It is important to remember this.
Our human nature doesn’t like this….it likes to be independent and say things like I can do anything I put my mind to.
It likes to say I am good, I deserve this or that.
The truth is we rely on God for salvation.
Without God we are lost.
Now imagine being tossed overboard on a boat, and the boat disappearing.
And you are lost at sea.
You have no hope of saving yourself.
Your require help from someone else.
That is what our life is like with God.
We have no hope of saving ourself and we need God to save us.

Now think about how this affects how you relate to God and others.
For me it reminds me to be humble, to give thanks and credit to God for everything.
And when dealing with others.
It reminds me not to be prideful.
When I see someone else sin, especially those sins I detest it reminds me to take a step back and deal with them in the same way God has dealt with me.
With love.
With forgiveness as prime goal.
It doesn’t mean we ignore the sin, but we look at dealing with it in a way that encourages people into a good relationship with God.

There is also a 3rd major thing that Ephesians 2 teaches us.
Some people have fallen for the trap that because God has saved us and there is nothing we can do to earn salvation then they can put their feet up, do nothing else and drink beers or cups of tea.

Listen to what Ephesians 2 verse 10 says
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Occasionally I come across some Christians who are scared about doing good and scared about encouraging others to do good….
They worry that they might create a culture of good works…
They seem to think that all good works are bad for the Christian faith.
There is no problem with good works…
God’s instructions to a young pastor through St Paul in 1 Timothy 6:18 was
“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deed, and to be generous and willing to share.”
And from Hebrews 10:24 we hear,
“Let us consider how we can spur each other on toward love and good deeds.”
Doing good is not a problem provided we don’t see it as currency to gain salvation.
Amongst my stuff somewhere is a small coin and note collection.
In that collection are some Indian rupee’s.
Now tomorrow morning if I was to take them down to the local milk bar to buy the paper it is highly unlikely they would accept them.
They would be useless.
Likewise if I was take all my good works to God and say I have now enough credit to salvation they would be useless.
Our good works are useless for salvation.
However doing good is what God wants us to do.
Not for the purpose of saving ourselves or to earn some credit with him.
But for the purpose of sharing his love and helping others to see his love.
We should aim to do as much good as we can.
And good not according to our standards, but God’s standards.

Doing good is a way of us reflecting God’s goodness in the world.
And that is very important.
Many of the people we are mixing with have little contact with the church and God.
In some cases there only chance to know the loving God that we know is through you.

And something that has been part of the Christian tradition ever since Jesus walked with the first disciples is that doing good by God’s standards is not just about not doing things but it is also about being active in doing things.

Martin Luther’s approach to explaining the Ten Commandment highlights this…
For instance the eight commandment says
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour…
And Luther goes onto say the bible says….
We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbour, betray them, slander them, or hurt their reputation, but defend them, speak well of them, and explain everything about them in the kindest possible way.

Now for me at times this is probably the hardest commandment for me to keep.
At times people get under my skin.
They gripe me.
But hearing and remembering it reminds me to step back and think before I open my big mouth.

And doing good creates opportunities to share more about God and His love
Often that is sometime in the future…maybe many years in the future.
In my previous job I loved my work, but it was in a difficult situation.
There were clashes of philosophies and cultures.
Our area was a fairly entrepreneurial area, needing to operate flexibly in many aspects of its business.
However we were part of a larger organisation that wasn’t so flexible.
And in fact many of the other parts of the organisation we dealt with had a very rigid approach to life and work.
Now this created some fireworks at times, there was conflict and pressures.
One of our junior staff at one stage had some major personal problems and compounding with our environment needed to have some time off.
At one stage she asked our boss to see myself and someone else who worked in our office.
This other person also happened to be a regularly church going Christian.
Our initial response was, ‘What have we done?’
And when we saw her she asked, “I can’t understand how you can be constantly happy and positive, and why are you always looking at ways to help, even though you seem like you are always under stress.”
Now for a start we had to remind her we are not always like that,
but it is interesting that is what she saw some of the good we were trying to do.
And this opened up an opportunity to talk further about who we really are, and talk a little about God.
Now this didn’t happen overnight.
We didn’t do good one day then she asked about it the next.
She had worked for us for about two years before this event occurred.

My encouragement for you this week is to reflect on Ephesians 2:1-10 read it each day…and begin to allow it affect your life, in how you see yourself and other.
It is one of those passages of scripture worth photocopying and keeping handy….
When someone asks you what does it mean to be a Christian?
Ephesians 2:1-10 is a great starting point.
It summarise three important elements about you and me…
1/ Without God we have had it…we have no hope of a new life
2/ God loves us and has made it possible for us to have this new life
3/ We are called to do good for others so that others can experience God’s love.
What a great summary of the foundational elements of the faith.
Let us pray
Amen

Lent Service 3 sermon Matthew 26:69-75

In the novel The plague by Albert Camus
a North African coastal city has been hit with the bubonic plague.
They are cut off from the rest of the world.
Imagine that, living in a place where no one could get in or out.
By law no one was allowed in to the city and no one was allowed to leave.
You could almost here the worry...
Where would our food come from?
Where would our fuel come from?

As a result of this isolation small businesses popped up everywhere
to fulfil the demands and desires of this coastal town.
And not all of them legal businesses.

One enterprising family who owned some boats offered anyone who was healthy the opportunity to leave the city for a mammoth price.
And heaps of people were willing to illegally buy a ticket out of the place to avoid the plague.
When someone brought a ticket they were instructed to wait in a warehouse so they wouldn’t be infected by the disease and wait for their boat to arrive.
But you guessed it, the boats never came.
And once the plague was over they left the warehouse.
But they were too afraid to tell the authorities that they had been ripped off because not only were the boat owners acting illegally, they too were also acting illegally.

Now fortunately this is only a story,
however it highlights a problem that each of us face.
The temptation that we look after ourself at any expense.

For Peter in this evenings gospel reading it meant him denying being one of Jesus’ disciples.
Listen again to what happened reading from Matthew 26:69-75
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Now in just a few verses prior to our reading we hear how Jesus was being treated and Peter most likely was aware of this.
Reading from Matthew 26:65
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?”
“He is worthy of death,” they answered.
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?”

Now imagine if you were Peter.
What would you have done, if someone asked you are you with him?
The character who was being beaten up.
Would you have been tempted like Peter to deny Jesus,
to save yourself?
It is real temptation isn’t it?

In some places, throughout the world,
being a Christian means risking your life.

One of the refugees from Liberia in Launceston shared with me one day that she had just got news that the head usher of a church where she worked had been killed on his way home from church.
Apparently his attackers waited until the last person left the church and followed him home.
They ambushed him, sliced him up and spread his body parts around the streets of the church as a warning to others.
Would you be willing to be the last person to leave church?
Could you imagine living in that sort of situation?

In Australia we are fairly fortunate that not too many people get killed or beaten for being a Christian.
Yet we often fall for the temptation of not revealing we are one Jesus’ disciples so as to protect ourselves.
Now you might be saying hold on a moment.
I am here, I have made the extra effort to attend a Lenten service.
I have never denied Jesus or knowing him.

But think about when you are interacting with other people.
Do we always follow the commands of Jesus.
The commands to make disciples of everyone.
The command to love God and to love others.

I know of a lady who said it is hard being a Christian
because not everyone respects us.
She had some children who had drifted away from the church and thought that going to church was not that important.
Whenever they came to visit she said she it was always tempting to keep the peace,
by not going to church or praying grace at meals but doing what they wanted to do.
She said I realised some years ago whilst it might be comfortable for me now
that if I did this I was missing the opportunity to share Jesus love
and possibly missing out on spending eternity with them.
Ever since then she has gently invited anyone visiting her to church and to pray grace at meals.
And to her surprise more often than not they accept her invitation than they reject it.
Often she simply says on Sunday I am going to church, you are invited to come but if you won't here are the keys and i will see you after church and coudl you please do the dishes.

What about you, can you think of other ways you are tempted to deny Jesus so that you feel comfortable or at ease?
Maybe it is by not being graceful.
Perhaps it is by being more concerned about money than Jesus’ mission for you and us.
Maybe you worry about how you look or that you might miss out on something or what people say about you
Or that something may not work.
Or how people may react?

Dealing with this temptation is not easy.
Our natural thing response is to look after ourself first, without considering God and others.
That is what will always happen when we rely on ourselves to deal with any temptation.
We will think of ourselves.
And that is why when we are confronted with temptations we need to rely on God.
We need to turn to God for help.

From Galatians 5:17 we hear
17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature

And so our first reaction in dealing with temptation is to rely on God.
As Romans 13:14 says
Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature

In other words surround yourself with God.

Now what does this practically mean.
It means having hope that what God says is true.
That God’s promise of eternal life means that He is stronger than any other power.
In other words that even if things look tough and difficult we make decisions and live lives that reflect his grace, his compassion, his love.

I love the story of a beggar in India who automatically shares everything she gets with someone else.
When she gets a bowl of rice, which maybe her only food for the day she divides it in two and gives half of it away.
And why?

So others can experience and be encouraged God’s generosity
that she received.
And relying on God means for each one of us
Praying regularly to God
not just seeking his protection,
but also his will in every situation.

It means frequently opening up our bibles and being familiar with God,
his perspective on life now
his way of life that is summarised in the Greatest Commandments of loving God and loving others.
and the future he promises.

It means having forgiveness as a major theme in our lives.

It means worshipping God with others
And it means being involved with each other, not just for a good time, but to encourage each other, be accountable to each other and to help each others.

Because ultimately your future is not limited to this place and it doesn’t only involve yourself.
But it is a future created and secured by God and involves many other people.

It is a future that Jesus wants you and others to have so much that he said, “not my will but my Father’s will.”
And in doing so he made that future possible for you everyone else.
Now isn’t that someone worth relying on for every situation you face.
Someone who is prepared to say not my will but my Father's will even though it cost Him his life so that you and everyone else can have the opportunity of new life.
Amen

Inspired thoughts week beginning 16th March

Inspired thoughts appears in the St Johns Portland Lutheran School's newsletter....

Good day
It’s great to be officially part of this community in knowing, growing in and sharing Jesus’ love. On Sunday, it was fantastic to have the school involved in the installation service. All the children involved in the Auslan choir and our school captains were truly a blessing for the day. Veronica, Mercedes, Zackary, Brooke and I have already had the privilege to meet and we look forward to be part of this great community. Already we sense God has blessed you with many great welcoming and caring people.

That is something I would encourage you to think about this week.
How has God blessed you through the people in your life?
Consider the people in your lives; your broader family, your children, your parents, the staff at the school, those you work with, those who serve on committees and councils, your clients and in fact anyone you bump into throughout the week.
Look at them not just as another person but as a gift from God.
What good has and is God giving you through them.
Thank God for them.

The bible is saturated with stories and accounts of God guiding and using people to deliver good things to others.
I invite you to read about someone who God clearly blessed so others could be blessed in Genesis 12:1-9.

And you know what? The best blessing we can ever obtain comes through someone else, Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8 NLT).

Throughout the week, I pray that you continue receive and recognise the many blessings from God in your life.

Pastor Richard Schwedes

PS. You are always welcome to contact me for whatever reason on 03 5523 1467 or 03 55237043 or via the email on office@phlc.org.au