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Philippians 4:1 "Is It Alive?" A sermon by the Rev Roland Kubke February 28, 2010
2nd Sunday in Lent: Jeremiah 26:8-15; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
Every year or so, as spring approaches, countless Canadians fumble through their junk drawers looking for vegetable seeds. They look for the seeds that they seem to have forgotten to plant year after year and wonder if they can't somehow use them this year for a change. The problem is that sometimes those seeds are really old. Very old seed may not sprout, and it is a shame to put all the work into planting them and to invest all the time into waiting for them to sprout only to have nothing come up. In our short growing season, you can run out of time if that happens. What is a person to do when confronted with a drawer full of seeds that are ready to receive their pensions? Well, instead of simply throwing those seeds out, or taking a risk in finding out the hard way if they are alive, there is a test you can do on them. You can put a few onto a damp paper towel and put that towel into a plastic bag. After a few days, if most of them have sprouted, then you know the packet of seeds is still good. That test is called a viability test and it's a handy test to assure you that you are not wasting your time sowing suspect seeds. Sometimes people wish that they had a similarly easy test when it comes to checking out what is happening in pulpits nowadays. In one church, a pastor will firmly and convincingly preach about the grave sinfulness of homosexual activity or of abortions, or casual sexual relationships, or gambling. In the church next door, another pastor will proclaim that these are not sins at all and are only choices. On it goes with one teaching after another, not just on social issues but also on some of the most basic doctrines of faith. In the end, honest, sincere Christians are often left totally confused. They wonder how they can know which teachings are right. They wonder, "How in the world can I stand firm in the Lord when Christian pulpits are pulling me in two directions at once?" Well, there is a viability test that Christians can use. There is a test that Christians can use that can give them a good idea about which teachings will lead to life. Paul gives us a clue about that test in our epistle lesson this morning. You see, Paul points us not to this life, but to the next. He reminds us, "Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord, Jesus Christ." Paul reminds us that if our teachings show us Jesus as Saviour, then we will be able to stand firm in the face of those people who are the enemies of the cross of Christ. That is our viability test. Do the teachings we hear point us to Jesus and to what only He has done so that you might have eternal life? If they do, we can be sure those teachings are worth hearing them! |
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