Fir Lane

CALL TO WORSHIP

We gather in the light and love of God who calls us his children. We gather in the glow of our Christian family here in this place. May God’s love burn within us. May hard hearts melt like wax, and God’s love shine in our faces, as we worship the God who is love.

StF 132 O God our help in ages past

A GATHERING PRAYER

We come to worship the God of love. We come to worship Jesus, who shows us how to love. We come to worship the Holy Spirit, who inspires and awakens love in our hearts. Be with us now, O God, as we come to worship! Amen.

A PRAYER OF ADORATION

Creator God, may we love, cherish and care for creation as you do. Jesus, servant, king, may we love and seek out those in need, those in danger – as you do. Holy Spirit, spirit of freedom, may we love and free people from all that robs them of purpose and confidence – just as you do. To your glory. Amen.

A PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Forgive us, eternal God, when we choose not to love and serve: those who are different from us, those who have come from different places, those who believe in different things, those who mix in different circles. May your love compel us to change.

Forgive us when we choose not to reach out to: those we don’t understand, those we don’t like, those we don’t think deserve our help, those we are estranged from. May your love compel us to change.

Forgive us when we justify our negativity towards: those who have disappointed us, those who have challenged us, those who have done better than us, those who have moved on from us. May your love compel us to change. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Gracious God, as you call us to forgive others, so you forgive us – time after time. As you compel us to love others, so you love us – day after day. As you invite us to reach out to our neighbours, so you reach out to us – again and again. In Jesus name – thank you. Amen.

StF 46 Everlasting God

READING

Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.

Matthew 22: 34-46

The Greatest Commandment

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducee's, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

The Question about David’s Son

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

StF 256 When I needed a neighbour.

SERMON

Does anyone know the difference between the Sadducee's and the Pharisees?

The main difference is that the Sadducee's don’t believe in the resurrection.

Where the Pharisees do.

An easy way to remember this is to say the Sadducee's are sad because there is no resurrection.

And the Pharisees see far ahead to the resurrection.

Now you will never forget it.

Prior to the New Testament reading we had this morning, the Sadducee's and the Pharisees have been trying to trap Jesus, by asking him controversial questions because a lot his teachings seemed to be against the established order.

After a while the Sadducee's asked something about a part of Jewish tradition. In Matthew 22: starting at verse 23.

23 That same day the Sadducee's, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[b]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Sadducee's were shut down their arguments had failed.

So, the Pharisees have a go.

Jesus sums up all the commandments in two answers.

Love God.

Love your neighbour.

In the last paragraph of the reading Jesus points out to the Pharisees that they too are wrong in the understanding, as they looked to a descendant of David who would raise up an army and make a mighty nation.

But this was never God’s plan.

So, what does this look like?

“Granny, how much do you love me?’ asked Olivia. ‘This much,’ answered Granny, throwing her arms as wide as could be. ‘But why?’ asked Olivia. Granny thought for a moment. Then she began to pour her cup of tea. Olivia watched, waiting. She poured… and poured. The tea slowly filled the cup. It reached the brim. ‘Granny!’ exclaimed Olivia, as the tea began to flow over the edge. ‘It’s spilling!’ But Granny continued to pour. Despite Olivia’s protestations, they both watched as the tea filled the saucer, then spilled onto the worktop beneath. Olivia quietened; she watched as the tea puddled and began to drip off the edge onto the floor. Eventually Granny stopped pouring. ‘I love God, and God loves me,’ she explained. ‘I have so much love in me, it just keeps overflowing to you!’

Today we are asked where are our boundaries? ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ has a pretty clear in-built boundary:

loving others the same as we love ourselves. Sometimes, though, it’s the self-love that needs work.

As we love our neighbours, how do we ensure that we are also loving ourselves?

Jesus showed us how. He regularly took himself away from the crowds, and his followers, to spend time with God.

When we spend time with God, we come to realise that the creator of everything cares for us as individuals, and we are loved in a way that is beyond our understanding.

What we are asked to do is simple enough: it is to love! We are not asked to try to understand or solve every situation but simply to take the loving option – that is a lifelong solution, and certainly not a quick fix.

True love is costly and demanding. It involves the whole of our being. To love God involves more than devotional times, more than giving to charities, more than keeping commandments. To love God truly requires complete commitment of heart, soul, and mind. The proof of such commitment is not being baptised or service, not vivid testimony shared in public (as important as these may be as expressions of commitment). The proof is a life of love.

I read recently and it’s become a bit of a mantra for me.

God is to Judge, the Holy Spirit is to accuser, and we are to love.

Simple, isn’t it?

Well in life I guess it isn’t so easy, is it?

Our lives are full of he said she said.

We are bombarded with the idea that by having this or that life would be wonderful, but would it, so, many people who seem to have it all end up in self-destruction.

But if we can for just a moment think of how the world would be if we all wanted the very best for our neighbour?

It seems like human nature makes us suspicious, and unstrusting.

The world doesn’t seem right war, murder, racial hatred.

So, we act as judges, and prosecutors to those we feel are beyond help. And we ask why doesn’t God do something?

Recently the film “THE SHACK” was shown at Shore Edge, It is the story of a man whose child is taken and killed, due to this he loses faith in God. But God arranges a meeting with him.

One part I will now play, as he is asked to make a judgement.

VIDEO

It may be just a film, but I think the idea is right. We are not in the position and never will be to judge another.

In Jewish traditions the Shema was a way of carrying God’s Law into daily life. We can do the same – i.e. read a Scripture passages each morning to recall God’s presence in the joys and trials of daily life. Not just a reassurance in hard times, but also to bring a change into a situation we might otherwise prefer to ignore or walk away from or hide in the voice of the majority. Perhaps we can take inspiration from, and pray for ourselves, the message of which someone summed up as: Be the change.

Mother Theresa’s prayer

I used to pray that God would feed the hungry,

Or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.

OFFERING DURING HYMN

StF 439 Abba Father, let me be.

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,

For ever and ever Amen.

StF 113 O worship the King

BLESSING

Go and be empowered by the commandment to love, encouraged in your ability to love, and blessed in your receiving and sharing of love, day by day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.