Strangely enough when I came to write todays Message, my last full sermon here at St Peter’s, I had cause to think about peoples famous last words…
Beatle George Harrison’s were” Love one another”… and I
could Just finish there…they are not original… they echoes Christ’s command to
us… but some of the others ones seemed to be rather relevant…
Elvis Presley’s last recorded words in public were at the
end of a press conference. He had turned away from the microphone to leave then
stopped and turned back to the gathered press and said “ I hope I didn’t bore
you folks”.
Andrew Bradford, was an early American book publisher, his American magazine was the first ever
such publication in America, coming just three weeks before BenjamÃn Franklin
published the General Magazine… and his last words were…“ O Lord, forgive the
misprints”…
On a more serious note… Sir Arthur Colin Doyle, the creator
of Sherlock Homes, passed away after he had just tuned to his wife and said “
You are wonderful”.
French operatic Composer
Jean-Philippe Rameau objected to a song sung at his bedside. He said, “What the
devil do you mean to sing to me, priest? You are out of tune.”….
Last week we finished our trip through the Easter story with
Matthew’s record of Jesus last words to his followers….”All authority is given
to me in heaven and on earth, therefore Go and make disciples of every nation,
baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to obey all I have commanded you… and lo I am with you to the end
of the age.” Which we saw is at the heart of who we are as a church…at the
heart of our mission statement.. and it was great to connect with that passage
and that mission by having some adult baptisms here last week...and that would
have been a fitting place, and a fitting
challenge to finish things off with…
But this is not an end point, it is a fork in the road, so I
want to look at Paul’s words, Pauls prayer for the Church of Philippi, a Church
involved in that same on going journey of being disciples and making disciples
that we are on. A group of believers
that Paul had ministered to and with, taught, encouraged, worked alongside, enjoyed
good times with and faced hard times with and who had become very dear to him….
Now Paul writes a prayer at the beginning of all the letters
he writes to churches and individuals. It’s part of the formal structure of
letters in Paul’s day. We have the address, a greeting and a prayer. While it
is a formal part of a letter it isn’t anything like a form letter, he does not
simply cut and paste something he has used somewhere else it is a prayer that
comes from his deep knowledge and deep love for the people he is addressing….
It’s a prayer that starts with thanksgiving. In the case of
the book of Philippians, Paul gives thanks for the way that the church in Philippi
has responded to his ministry, how they partner with him in the gospel; later
we find out they have sent him a gift when he is in prison, but mainly they
have also stood up for the gospel. They have kept on in the face of trouble and
strife to proclaim Jesus, crucified and resurrected, is Lord.
It is a prayer that centres round Paul’s confidence that
despite facing difficult times, that he who has started a good work in them
would bring it to completion at the day of the Christ Jesus. Paul could have
this confidence because he knew the very character and heart of God shown in
Jesus Christ. He knew they had
experienced the same grace in Jesus Christ that he had. He could see the
evidence of that in their on going commitment to the gospel together. He
experienced that in their on going love and commitment to him. Our Old
Testament reading of Psalm 121 is an affirmation of God’s ability to lead and
to guide, provide for and protect us all along the pilgrims journey.
It finishes in Prayer. Now Paul knows the difficulties that
the Church is facing, he himself suffered a beating, imprisonment and injustice
in Philippi, you can read about that in Acts chapter 17, so he knows it’s hard
for the believers. One of the reasons he is writing to the church is that there
is some strife between some of the leaders. But his prayer goes beyond those
issues to what is of paramount importance, and ultimately the solution in those
issues. That they would grow in their knowing of God’s love and gospel grace.
That their love may grow out of that, and manifest itself in their decision
making, that they would act in a just and righteous way that reflected Christ
himself. That they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes
through Jesus Christ, that godly character, and in all they are and do they may
bring glory and praise to God.
And I want to leave here with those three things as well…
with thanksgiving… confidence… and prayer.
Thanksgiving, because I can look back at seven years of
partnering together in the Gospel. When we first came here, I had been in the
difficult situation of the church plant I had been working on for three years
at Auckland University having lost its funding, but you welcomed us in and
allowed us to work alongside you. We’ve had some good time together, and we
have faced some tough times together. We have said farewell to many of the
stalwarts of this Church, men and women who have meant so much to so many, and
we have welcomed in new people that have bought freshness and vitality. We have changed some of the things we’ve done
and we’ve been willing to look at new and different ways of connecting with our
community.
I could list many highlights from that time… Glow in the park, and
watching over a five year period going from, it being something I went to and did
something at, to being a community outreach that so many of you are involved in,
a couple of small churches getting together and having a huge impact.. the
alpha marriage course… the prayer course… praying with many of you and
experiencing the presence and the power of he Holy Spirit… the great honour of
taking Ralph and Dulcie Blair’s funeral, Ralph and Dulcie, a couple from this
church who had had such a massive influence on thousands of young people
through the camping movement… I’m sure as I have more time to look back I’ll
treasure and give thanks for so many other things as well… But also thanksgiving
for the way in which God has used you and this place to help me grow in my
faith and my ministry, thank God and thank you.
With Confidence, for the same reason as Paul had confidence.
Because the one who has started a good work in you will bring it to completion
in the day of Christ Jesus. God is at work, Christ can be trusted to lead you
and guide you, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, to enable and empower, to
lead and to guide… It was strange when we came here, it was with the
understanding that there was just enough funding for four or five years if
nothing changed, then we were facing the real threat of closure. But people
were making a step of faith. Well its not as if the future is so bright that
you’ve just got to wear shades… But there is a sense that its no longer just
about survival, that it is about where do we go from here? It’s no longer
simply wanting to keep this place going, but where are we going to, and what is
God’s continued call on us.
. I have confidence in Christ’s love and call for this
Church. God is calling you to face the
challenge of ministering to an area of the city that over the next twenty to
thirty years is going to have another quarter of a million people. The
challenge of an emerging metropolitan centre at Sylvia park… How will you go
from a small community church up a side street to being able to at the centre
of that? I have confidence that God will bring people to walk with you and lead
with you in that challenge.
That segues quite nicely into prayer. With prayer…
My prayer for you is the same as the prayer that Paul has
for the church at Philippi… That your love may grow and abound more and amore
in knowledge and insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and
may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.
That you may grow in your knowledge and your knowing of God,
of Christ’s great love for you. I like the New Zealand band Supergroove, and in their funk, reggae
urban hip hop type fusion number 'can't get enough' they sing the words of that old spiritual
that we’ve somehow made a children’s song… so high I can’t get over it, so low can't under it, wide
can get round it, O rock my soul”… which is about God’s
love for us… as Paul says in Ephesians 3:18 “that you may have power, together
with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
is the love of Christ.” You are God’s beloved, Christ came and lived died and
rose again for you, he has poured out his Holy Spirit upon you, to dwell in
you. May you know that love in all its dimensions more and more.
And may that love overflow in the decisions you make how you
act and react, the love you have for one another, and the compassion and love
you have for the people and community round you. That you may grow numerically
as people hear of and experience the love of Christ in and through you.
When I looked for an image for todays service, I took my
camera out and about, I was going to take a photo of the cross on top of the
steeple or some such thing, but as I went round the side of the church I saw
the citrus trees in our garden…planted since I’d come here… they are laden with
fruit… it is green at the moment so it fits in with leaves around them… unless
you go looking for it you won’t find it...but what caught my eye was just the
beginning of the glimpse of that wonderful lemony yellow colour or grapefruit-y
colour. AS I took the photo the sun coming through the leaves streaked across
the lens. I thought what a great image
to go with Paul’s prayer that God would develop fruit of righteousness ,
ripening, so it can feed other people and duplicate the tree its on as the
seeds are spread… The same prayer I have for you… In Ezekiel 37 there is the picture of the
river flowing out from the temple and bringing life to the whole land. The
river is the presence of God, in Christ and by the Holy Spirit, and along the
bank grow trees which bear fruit all year round and have healing in their
leaves. My prayer is that you may be those trees producing that fruit… the fruit of the holy spirit Paul talks of in
Galatians might grow and ripen within you individually and as a church… Love,
Joy, Peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self
control…that you might become more and more Christ like and that would feed and
heal those around you… To the glory and praise of God.
Well...
“hope I didn’t bore you folk”
“O Lord, forgive the misprints”
“you are wonderful”
“Sorry that I am oft out of tune”
“love one another”
And… Well… maybe It’s best to stop there and to heed the
famous last words of Karl Marx… “Last words last words are for fools who
haven’t said enough already.” Enough said
really.
