Growing up, I spent many summer weeks in a place called Scoughall, near North Berwick. There was virtually nothing at that place, apart from a giant beach, but there was a camp there run by Scripture Union. In those days it was a camp just for boys, and for the time you were there, there was a frenzy of activities and sports – football, canoeing, archery and mysterious sounding games like puddocks. Then there were trips to places like North Berwick itself, Tantallon Castle, sea fishing from Bellhaven. (I only went once out on the wee boat into the North Sea, as I was violently seasick. I still remember it vividly!!)
Of course the reason the SU ran the different camps for boys (and girls) around the country was to get young people thinking about the Gospel, so every day there was also a meeting with a bit of songs and worship and someone sharing the Christian story.
When I first went there, I was basically sent by my parents. I was in P7 and didn’t know anyone else. I didn’t want to go. But when I got there, eventually, I loved it and continued to go for years afterwards – eventually graduating from being a boy to being a tent leader and staying on for three or more consecutive camps at a time.
The people running the camps told us every evening the story of Jesus, and they impressed on everyone the need to make a decision to accept Jesus – to believe in him.
What can you do – what can you really do that matters - when you are 13 years old?
Well, when I was 13 years old, and at one of these camps, I decided that I would believe in Jesus. And there are many adults who would say – “Ah, just a kid. What chance did you have in that religious environment? You were indoctrinated. You’ll grow out of it.”
What I did then was the most important decision I ever took. That may seem like fine words (and just words) but it is literally true. Despite all the things that have happened to me throughout my life – both good and awful, nothing has had more effect on my life than this.
I began a relationship with Jesus – a relationship with God - if you like. Although that decision to believe in Jesus didn’t make me into a wonderful person and I have made lots of big mistakes since, but it has been part of my life since too. I’ve had times when I have been very close to God. I’ve had times when I have been very far from God. But always I have known (even at the darkest moments) that God is there.
I know that there is a God, because I have experienced this God in my life. You only need to become aware of God once, to know that God is there.
If we are to be Christians it means making a choice. We have to decide for ourselves what we make of Jesus.
Many churches stress the importance of this. We need to confess our sins to God and ask Jesus into our lives. We need to pray what some call the “sinners prayer” and once we do that we are saved. Some churches put so much stress on this they never seem to think about anything else.
If you believe in Jesus than that’s it. You’re in. If you don’t believe in Jesus then you are outside God’s love. Some Christians would say that the job of the church is to get as many people as possible to pray that prayer and to believe in Jesus.
There is a whole TV station called GOD TV. If you ever watched it you will see that there are various people who have a daily show, and every single time their show is on they will have a spot where they ask people to pray a prayer and invite Jesus into their lives.
Believe in Jesus. That’s the thing. That’s all that matters.
Now listen to this… I was 13. And I made a big decision to believe in Jesus.
But there was a whole other part to being a Christian that I didn’t know anything about. You see, being a Christian isn’t just about believing in Jesus. It involves something else as well.
Maybe I’d better repeat that!….
Being a Christian isn’t just about believing in Jesus. It involves something else as well.
One of the interesting things about churches today is that some churches spend a lot of energy on the subject of “believing in Jesus”. But the funny thing is – that Jesus never really asked people to believe in him (or at least he seldom did.) What Jesus did ask people to do, over and over again, was to follow him.
In other words Jesus’ message wasn’t “Believe in me”. It was “Follow me.”
Now or course we are not going to follow Jesus if we don’t believe in him. We need to believe. But believing (on its own) doesn’t make us Christian. A Christian is someone who tries to follow Jesus in the way he or she lives day by day.
Some churches seem to suggest that the whole point of being a Christian is to do with your future. If you believe in Jesus now then you go to heaven when you die. So Christianity is a kind of insurance policy for later on.
I do believe that there is more life to come. I do believe that we are safe in God’s hands. But I don’t think this is really meant to be the focus of the Christian life. I think the Christian life is about now, today - and how we live now today.
It’s like the Christian Aid motto: We believe in life before death.
Today we heard a scary story. A story that Jesus told.
It’s the parable called “The Sheep and the Goats.”
I don’t know how else to describe it – other than scary.
Jesus talks about people in need, people who are in trouble and he says that when we try to help them then God sees it like we are helping Jesus, and if we ignore people in need then God sees it like we are ignoring Jesus himself. And the scary bit comes when Jesus says there are two types of people - whom he calls sheep and goats. And he says that whilst the sheep will go to heaven, the goats will end up in hell.
Now what Jesus is saying he clearly believes to be very serious and important. Does Jesus really mean the bit about heaven and Hell literally? I don’t think so.
Lets think about roof racks.
When parents were on a long car journey with their kids who were creating trouble in the back seats they would say in exasperation…”If you kids don’t behave in the back we will tie you on the roof rack so we can get some peace.” Now if we don’t have roof racks (as they seem to be out of fashion), we might say, “If you don’t behave I’ll just let you out here and you can walk home.”
Now, here is the point. No good and loving parent is going to really do that. But we parents are always trying new ways to get a serious point across. We parents speak in a dramatic way to get attention and make an important point.
When Jesus tells the story he doesn’t mean that God will literally throw people into Hell. What makes me so sure?
Well I could give a few reasons. But we don’t have time. Ask me afterwards if you want to. So let me give one reason. There is not one person in the world who has always behaved like the sheep in the parable. Nobody has comforted everyone in need and visited every prisoner or responded to all cries for help, or fed all the hungry. We are all a mixture of sheep and goat. If only people who behave like sheep all the time can make heaven - then nobody will be going there.
So what’s this story really all about? It’s about Jesus saying these are the things that matter to God. These are the things that concerned Jesus. These are the things that should concern his followers, those that are trying to live his way.
The other week, a very important thing happened. It was the election of a new President for the USA. That’s kind of important news for the whole world (and not just America) because that country is so big and dominant. Barack Obama, the Democrat, won the nomination. And there was a sizeable amount of Christians who voted for him and helped him win. There were also a sizeable amount of Christians who voted against him.
Now there were lots of surveys done afterwards about who voted (and why they voted the way they did) and one of these surveys was done with Christians. And there were some groups of Christians who were asked to put in order of importance 13 different things.
And shockingly, some of them listed looking after the environment, health care for the vulnerable, and tackling poverty, as the bottom things on their list, whilst putting tax breaks for themselves at the top.
The list of what they think matters most and the list of what matters most to Jesus could hardly be more different. You can call yourself Christian, but if you don’t actually follow Jesus you’re fooling yourself.
Being a Christian isn’t just about believing in Jesus.
Being a Christian is about copying Jesus in our concerns and working for Gods kingdom, where all are welcome.
Its about working to build a better, fairer, more just world.
Its about looking out (and having a special concern) for those on the margins, the poor, the weak, the discriminated against, the outcasts.
Christians should be always striving to be more like Jesus. And that goes for churches too.
Jesus once said “Why do you call me Lord, and don’t do what I say?”
Why call yourself a Christian if you are not going to try to copy Christ’s concerns?
We need to think about what Jesus wants us to be doing and we’ve got a great description right here in this story. Our main concern should not just be for ourselves and our own comfort, but for other people - especially those in the margins. When we help other people in need, God sees it like we are helping Jesus himself.
In the 4th Century there was a man called Martin of Tours. He was a Roman soldier who wanted to be a follower of Jesus. One bitterly cold night he was entering a city when he was accosted by a beggar, who was both hungry and freezing. “Please help me!” he cried. Martin had nothing to give, so he took his sword and cut his own cloak in half. He gave one half to the beggar.
That night Martin had a dream. He saw heaven. And in heaven Jesus was walking about with a ragged cloak around his shoulders. People came up to Jesus.
“What’s that you’ve got there?” they asked. Jesus replied: “This was given to me by my friend Martin.” When Martin woke up he gave up being a soldier and began anew life as a follower of Jesus.
As far as God is concerned, every time you help someone in need it’s just like you are helping Jesus himself.
Being a Christian isn’t about believing in Jesus. Sure, that’s a part of it.
But it’s got to be more than that. Being a Christian means following Jesus, trying to live his way, trying to live a life that isn’t selfish and self-centered, but is open to show concern for others in the world around us, especially those in great need, and ready, like Christ, to make a difference.
And if we decide to take up that adventure, God has promised to be with us to guide us, to support us, and direct our paths.
The point of Jesus’ story today is not to scare us – it’s here to challenge us to live the best kind of life – the life that God had in mind for us all along.