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Deuteronomy 8 verses 10-18
Discipleship - Outside Holy Trinity.
At the beginning of last year I had to write a paper on the community outside our door. It meant researching the community of which Holy Trinity is a part. To be honest I thought after living here for 16 years I knew the community pretty well. After all I live in this community and I work in this community. You may feel the same this morning. You may have lived here your whole life but let me share some facts with you this morning. These facts come from research carried out by the borough council. The population of Carrickfergus is almost 40,000. Unemployment is running at around 3% which is slightly lower than the average for Northern Ireland. 18% of the population is over 60 years of age and 22% are under 16 years of age. 12% of the population are elderly people living alone. 36% of all births are to unmarried mothers and this statistic is growing. 19% of the population has a limiting or long-term illness. Over 5000 people in Carrickfergus are experiencing deprivation because of low income. 10% of the population provide unpaid care for a family member, friend or neighbour. I could go on with statistics. Not all the statistics are depressing. On the whole Carrickfergus is one of the least deprived areas of Northern Ireland and fares far better than a lot of areas of the country. Yet those statistics are quite challenging to us as a church and to me as a pastor.
Now it would be very easy for me to berate you this morning and tell you how poorly we do in reaching out into this community but that would be wrong and it would not actually be true. Let me give you some other statistics from within Holy Trinity.
On average 800-900 pre-school to 18 year olds pass through the door of Holy Trinity each week. There are approximately 80 volunteer leaders active in different organisations within Holy Trinity each week. Within our congregation we have people who serve in all areas of community health, social services, health service, fire service, security services, education, economy etc. We have countless numbers of people who volunteer outside Holy Trinity in Source pregnancy crisis centre, PTA's citizen advice, Gateway club, hospice etc. Many of you care for elderly parents or family members, look out for you neighbours and friends. Many of you support charities both financially and practically. Several of you have undertaken unpaid leave to carry out voluntary work both at home and overseas. We support as a church our local social services, board of social responsibility and many charities and mission organisations. So there are many things we should be encouraged by this morning.
I gave you those two sets of facts because this morning we come to the end of our series of sermons on discipleship. We come to looking at how we live as disciples outside of the confines of the fellowship of Holy Trinity. This is where it really counts and I would dare to suggest to you this is where the real you is seen. Real discipleship is lived out, worked out and witnessed to in the world and not just the confines of the church and its family. You see there is something evil about the man or woman who stands as a pillar of righteousness in church but is a tyrant in his home and is far from righteous in his workplace. There is something sinful and hypocritical about the man or women who stands as the pillar of righteousness in church but gossips, backbites and slanders others in the community. This morning come with me to Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verses 10-18.
Deuteronomy is the second book of the Law and is set at the end of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. It consists of two great sermons by Moses to the people of Israel as they are about to enter the Promised Land. Chapters 1-4 recalls the key events of the wilderness years and contains an impassioned plea for the people to remember God's faithfulness in the past.
Chapters 5-26 is the core of the book. Moses repeats the 10 commandments and focuses on the first commandment in calling the people to wholehearted devotion to God. He provides teaching on the practical outworking of the Law of God when they enter the Promised Land. The remaining chapters are a renewal of the Covenant, the appointment of Joshua and the promise of the blessings that will flow to the people of God if they obey the Law of God in the Promised Land. So that is the context of our reading this morning.
Chapter 8 verses 10-18 are part of the second great sermon of Moses spelling out how single-minded devotion to God is lived out each day in the Promised Land.
Verse 10 - here is the immediate context and the controlling principle - they are not to forget God when things are going well for them. When life is good and they are satisfied with all that they have they are to praise God because it was He who brought them out of the land of slavery and bondage into this land flowing with milk and honey, this land of promise.
Verses 11 they are given a warning - do not forget God and do not cease to obey what He has commanded you. In the verses that follow Moses paints a picture of prosperity and the accompanying danger.
Verses 12-16. When they have prospered with increased flocks which have resulted in increased wealth that has enabled them to build grand houses they are to be wary of their hearts becoming proud. Here were people who had lived in tents and wandered from place to place for a generation. Now having settled down they enter a period of prosperity and with it they enjoy the trappings of that wealth. Please not God was the one who brought them to the Land of Promise, to a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses does not condemn them doing well and prospering but he does warn them about the attitude of their heart when they move up in the world, so to speak. The danger is stated clearly in verse 14 - their hearts will become proud and they will forget that it was God who brought them out of slavery and provide the means to enter the Promised Land. Moses warns them that the danger will reside in their hearts - not in their possessions. It is in their own hearts that they will become proud. In verses 15 and 16 Moses is very explicit as to whom it was that provided for them when they had nothing - it was God who provided the food, the water, the protection and the guidance for these people. They were not to forget the past now that the present was so good.
Verse 17 here is the danger. Is this not the danger which lurks in all our hearts? When things are going bad or times are hard we blame God but when life is good and prosperous we claim the glory. The people of Israel are warned of such danger lurking in their hearts. Are we aware of such a danger in our hearts? We sometimes tell people 'to be forewarned is to be forearmed' but do we heed that advice here. For the people of Israel the danger is that in their prosperity and pride they might claim that the power and strength of their own hands produced their wealth, not remembering the Lord God gave them the ability to produce wealth in confirmation of His covenant with them - verses 17-18.
Verses 19-20 - I know we didn't read these two verses this morning but look at them for a moment. There is a dire warning here. If the people of God forget God and disobey the Lord, if they turn and follow other gods it will mean the destruction of Israel as a nation. Repeatedly in this passage the people of God are warned not to forget God when things go well with them and to obey the Law of God, especially in times of prosperity so that blessings may continue to fall on them.
At this point you may be thinking what on earth has this passage got to do with all those facts at the beginning of this sermon? What has this passage got to say to me about living as a Christian in Carrickfergus in 2009? Allow me to explain as I close.
Holy Trinity has been blessed by God over the past 17 years. Look around you this morning. We have a wonderful building. We have a healthy congregation numerically. Our organisations are thriving. We are blessed financially in that we meet our building debt each month and pay the other expenses of this building are able to give a tenth of our income to other charities and mission organisations each year. We are a people who have been blessed by God. I don't think it is going too far to say we are a people who have enjoyed the Promised Land of God's blessing in these past 17 years. BUT... and here is the sting in the tail for us all. This morning I believe we are in danger of becoming proud in our hearts and of not obeying God's Word. I know at the start I outlined all the ways in which we serve this community but we have become complacent in our numerical strength.
At this point I am going to speak to you from my own heart and experience and what God said to me from this passage.
I have become complacent and proud in my heart at the numerical strength of Holy Trinity. I am in danger of thinking that all our programmes and organisational growth is a result of good leadership and vision! Holy Trinity is a busy place but is it actually reaching sinners with the gospel of Christ. God really challenged me about how I have got caught up in the 'church treadmill' and how I need to refocus on evangelism and being salt and light in my own street. Let me tell I have lived there for 13 years and there are some of my neighbours I don't even know their names and have never once invited to church. You may be in the same boat. My whole life revolves around this church, in some ways that is to be expected, but part of my calling, and institution service promise, was to reach out to the lost in this parish - how do I do that if I am involved here every night? Many of you are in the same situation. I don't have any easy answers but God calls me to be obedient to His Word and His Word commands me to go -not to sit back and expect people to come, but to go and make disciples of all nations. I want to say to you all this morning - we need to be aware of the danger of pride in our hearts at the prosperity of Holy Trinity and we need to once again obey the Word of God to go out into this community and make disciples of Christ.
Let me finish by encouraging you all. You do make a difference for Christ in this community. You are salt and light in this community. As I said last week 10p at a time makes an awful difference in this community. If you are involved in outside organisations - keep involved and be salt and light there. Put a request in the prayer box and ask for prayer for that organisation and for your role within it. If you are being a good neighbour - keep being a good neighbour - ask for prayer that you would continue to be salt and light there. As a church we need to start afresh to look outside this building and outside our organisations at new an innovative ways to reach this community with the gospel. I believe we live in a moment of great opportunity to win people for Christ - question is are we willing to step outside the comfort of Holy Trinity to lead others to the Promised Land?
Amen.
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