Shaw Edge 26th 10/21

Norman Unsworth

After Pentecost • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

James 5:13–20

Mark 9:38–50

Stumbling Block

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Call to worship

Come, for all are invited. Come, praise and worship the one who accepts us all. Come, for all are welcome, all are valued, all are called.

628 Faithful one, so unchanging.

Brian Doerksen 1965

Children’s Address

Everyone knows what salt is, right? (Hold up the saltshaker.) We use it every day to make our food taste better. Imagine eating a hamburger and Fries without salt. It wouldn’t have much flavour, would it?

But salt has more uses than just making our food taste better. It’s used to make over 14,000 different products, some of which we use every single day.

Salt is used in setting the dye in fabrics. Without salt, the bright colours that we wear today would quickly wash out of our clothes, making them dull and less vibrant. (Pass around the shirt.)

Salt is also used in leather making. Without salt, we would not have many of the leather products that we use every day -- like this belt. (Pass around the belt.)

Salt is used to make plastic. Without salt, we might not have many of the plastic toys that we play with. (Pass around the toy.)

People have known about the usefulness of salt for many years. A grain of salt may be small, but it’s very valuable. At one time, salt was so important that people were paid with salt instead of money.

Jesus knew the power of salt in our lives. He even used it to tell His followers how He wants us to live. Jesus said, "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other."

We are called to be salt in the world. This means to flavour our world with the love of Jesus, and to be led by Him in making the world a better place.

Dear God, help us flavour our world with Your love. Help us make the world a better place. In Jesus' name, amen.

A gathering prayer

Inclusive God, we gather together. Welcoming God, we come to you. Valuing God, we see our worth in you. Challenging God, open our ears to your words, open our minds to explore our ways, open our hearts to receive all that you offer. Loving God, we come to you. Amen.

A prayer of adoration

God of eternity, you are at the very heart of our lives: we adore you. God of miracles, you add flavour to our world. You are the salt that seasons us, you preserve all that is good and make us whole: we worship you. God of humanity, you look on us with love and we cannot help but love you back: we bless you, Lord. Amen.

A prayer of confession and an assurance of forgiveness

For the times I don’t live my best life, or even recognise what that might be: I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me. For the times I have the sulks because I think my nose is out of joint, and I’m too blinkered to see you in others: I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me. Sometimes I just don’t understand your word; when I haven’t the patience to work out what it really means: I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me. For the times when I try and water down your Gospel because I don’t like what it is saying to me: I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me. Sometimes I judge others harshly, and try to stop them because I don’t agree with what they are doing – even though it may be for good: I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me. Amen. Assurance of forgiveness

Loving Lord God, you care so much for each one of us. You are there for us whenever we turn to you. When we are truly sorry, and intend to move forward, to live our best life, you graciously forgive us all our sins. We gratefully and humbly accept your forgiveness and peace. Amen.

416 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy.

John Stainer (1840-1901) (from the Crucifixion)

Readings:

James 5: 13-20

13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the LORD. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the LORD will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Mark 9: 38-50

Another Exorcist

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone[a] casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Temptations to Sin

42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,[b] it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,[c] to the unquenchable fire.[d] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.[e][f] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,[g] 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.[h] 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?[i] Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

372 Come down O love divine

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Sermon

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord.

Who remembers their school nickname? At school I don’t remember one for myself. There was a guy called Fred Vino his nickname was “Rhino” not a very imaginative nickname.

I do however recall he was good at football.

I myself wasn’t that athletic at school and often when playing football, I would trip up and stumble.

Stumbling is the theme of our reading today – stumbling in the walk of faith.

Jesus warns of two different dangers in this passage – causing others to stumble and causing ourselves to stumble.

These are serious issues. As Christians and as a Church the last thing we want to be is a stumbling-block.

What, do we need to watch out for?

1. Causing Others To Stumble

The Twelve disciples think they’ve unearthed a scandal: someone outside their elite circle has been caught in the act. Doing what? Sinning? No. He was acting in Jesus’ name casting out demons in the name of Jesus.

Terrible! We’re the Twelve! That’s our job. That’s our privilege (verse 38).

If we go back a little earlier in chapter nine, none of the Twelve were able exorcise an unclean spirit from a boy.

Now here they are wanting to stop someone who is doing the same thing, but successfully?

So, Jesus says (verses 39-40), cut out all your elitist rubbish.

Stop resting on your supposedly privileged status. He was acting in my name – that is, the man was acting under the authority of Jesus.

How can that be wrong? ‘In the name of Jesus’ isn’t simply a formula to stick on the end of a prayer, it is meant to express the reality of a life lived under the reign of God, and therefore with his authority.

But this man whom the Twelve have encountered in their view was not a disciple. But he has a God-given ministry.

He is doing the work for the kingdom. What on earth are you doing opposing him, Jesus asks his disciples?

And so, Jesus points out the positive and negative. Positively he says that if you act with compassion that will please God.

Negatively, he talks about the danger of causing ‘one of these little ones who believe in [him]’ to stumble.

We need to understand this is not really about children that the ‘little ones’ he is speaking of is anyone who believes in Jesus.

I believe Jesus is saying this: you’re in danger of causing a believer to stumble, by trying to prevent him from exercising his ministry.

Now where does this challenge us? What are the ways in which we might risk causing other disciples to stumble?

In what ways do we prevent our brothers and sisters in Christ from exercising their calling?

For example, it wasn’t so long-ago women were prevented from exercising their calling.

We now understand that certain biblical texts don’t necessarily mean what people wanted them to mean in the past. in a time of male-dominated society.

In the New Testament church, people may be called into service men and women alike.

They may have certain gifts – they may be evangelists, pastors and teachers.

The danger come when people clutch onto certain things to themselves, and it becomes their security, their Job. Rather than finding their security in the knowledge that they are loved by God.

This can occur within any congregation. One person or group says, ‘That’s my task’, It can happen over music, flower arranging, Sunday School, catering, and property – in fact, any part of church life.

I know these days it’s hard to fill some of the jobs that need to be done, and it tends to be the same people, but we do need to be aware of others who may well have gifts in that area.

So, each one of us might ask the question, am I causing others to stumble? Am I preventing other people from acting in the name of Jesus? It’s very serious if we’re doing that.

2. Causing Ourselves To Stumble So, who’s up for a spot of amputation? Jesus’ solution to sin is that you cut off your hand or your foot and tear out your eye. It sounds like the terrifying examples of Sharia Law that we sometimes hear reported from Saudi Arabia, doesn’t it, where thieves have their hands amputated as a criminal sentence?

And some Christians in the past have taken this literally. Some have cut off delicate parts of their anatomy to prevent falling prey to temptation.

Others have refused to become organ donors in case their eyes were donated to people who would use their eyes for lustful purposes.

So, what did Jesus mean when he said these things? The language here is not to be taken literally. I read that ‘It was a Palestinian custom to refer to the specific member of the body which is responsible for falling into sin becoming a stumbling block to ourselves.’

Jesus, as a good Palestinian Jew, he uses, real-life language, he is not to calling us to engage in self-harm, but to make a point about discipleship.

And so, while we can be let off the hook about the literal content of the words.

One thing we can’t avoid is the point he’s making.

Nothing is meant to get in the way of whole life discipleship. Some of us have taken the slogan ‘Everything in moderation’ and seemed to think we can have sin in moderation.

Not in the eyes of Jesus. We can’t cherish our favourite sin. It has to come to the Cross. It has to die.

There are no exceptions. It isn’t OK to say, ‘But I’ve always had a temper,’ or, ‘I’ve always had an eye for the ladies’, or ‘It’s just the way I’m made’. The bottom line is it must go.

Sometimes we take good things and make them into a weight for us to bear. Instead of receiving things with gratitude to God, we just take them. We turn an aspect of God’s good creation into an idol and worship it. It becomes a weight around us.

Perhaps the biggest danger is to those of us who have been Christians for many years and who have become complacent.

Who just tick over at a low level of discipleship and don’t like to confront the demands of Jesus?

It may have been different when we first found faith, but the enthusiasm wanes and our lives become consumed with responsibilities and challenges that we just don’t want more coming our way from Jesus. We would rather our faith became a comfort than a challenge.

But the reality is that in both these areas – causing others to stumble and causing ourselves to stumble – Jesus gives some grave warnings if we ignore his call.

If we cause others to stumble – preventing their opportunities to live out their calling – then, he says, it will be better to have had a millstone hung around our neck before being thrown into the sea.

This was a punishment the Romans inflicted when they crushed a Zealot uprising.

What a shocking way to warn his hearers of the consequences if we stand in the way of another disciple’s ministry.

And then we have the outrageous amputation language we’ve just thought about as a warning not to make ourselves stumble.

One thing is clear to us. He is telling us there is a choice of two destinies in eternity – one full of joy in his Father’s presence, the other empty of it, Those, of us who have known grace should not have a problem. Should we?

James reminds us of the power of the name of Jesus, that we are to care for one another to prayer for one another, and more importantly to expect or prayers to be answered.

Lord, we thank you for you love for us

keep us enthusiastic for you word,

Give us the image of you when you first entered our lives.

Amen

518 Father, hear the prayer we offer

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

A prayer of thanksgiving

Imagine seeing your face in a mirror; then, imagine God smiling at you. Do the same for someone you find it hard to get on with. Thank you, Lord, for all the people that are there for me. All who help me – and others – to live the best life, even in the hardest of times. Thank you for all the good things in the world that spur us on, day by day. Thank you for the ties of your love that bind us to each other, and to you. Amen.

Prayers of intercession

Creator God, your world is full of beauty – but also full of pain. Today we pray for all those suffering – in body, in mind and in spirit. We ask for strength and for healing, relief from pain, and the support of others. We pray for all those who are ill, whether suffering from a nasty short-term bug, or a chronic long-term illness that drains not just energy but hope. May we not forget them but continue to lift them before you, and value them in how we respect and care for them. We pray for those who are facing terminal illness – either in themselves or in those they love. We ask for your tender care to surround them, for a knowledge of your presence with them to sustain and strengthen them. We pray in hope and faith, knowing your compassion is so much greater than our own, and that we cannot even begin to measure the depths of your love for all those who suffer. May your mercy rain down upon them, your love be born afresh in their hearts, and your healing be evident in their lives. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Offertory Prayer

293 All heaven declares.

Noel Richards (1955)

Sending out and blessing

Lord God, bless us and keep us. And may we be a blessing to others in all we think and say and do. Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face towards you. and give you peace;

and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

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