Sermon

The man in our reading from Mark's gospel said to Jesus "I believe help thou my unbelief" and the Apostles Creed begins, "I believe in God the father almighty creator of heaven and earth" and this morning I am making a faith statement of my own.

I believe that nothing is impossible to God. My confidence for making such a bold statement comes from what I see around me, what I have read in my bible and personal experiences whilst seeking to live a life of faith. I totally believe that creation in all its splendour, majesty and wonder emanates from God. Now I do not pretend to have the scientific knowledge or astronomical experience to explain the amazing universe of which we are a part, a solar system which is only a tiny part of our galaxy which in itself is only a tiny fraction of our own universe and the mind boggles.

"How did God do it?" is a fair question to ask. I don't have a clue how to fully answer that and another perfectly valid question of who made God in the first place does not prompt a ready response except, perhaps to venture into the words of Julie Andrews: "Let's start at the very beginning it's a very good place to start when we read we begin with A,B,C and when we sing we begin with Do Re Me" which takes us to Genesis chapter1 verse 1 "In the beginning God".

You have to start somewhere and what better place than with God. If the story of creation was all we had to go on it would be understandable that there could be a measure of scepticism. However, in John chapter 1 we are told that "in the beginning was the word (that is Jesus), that this word was with God, indeed was God and with God in the beginning, through Him all things were made and without Him nothing was made". John goes on to say that this word, so involved in creation, then became flesh and dwelt among us. Charles Wesley went on to describe it as, our God contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man.

If we cannot accept such amazing claims it begs the question of who and what is the capability of the God whom we are here to worship. If we are to limit God to human understanding when we are unable to grasp the enormity of the universe we are left with a God of limited value.

J.B. Philips wrote a book under the title 'Your God is too Small' and I rather think that he is not far wrong in his perception of where many, if not most Christians stand in relation to their understanding of the God of the Bible. He is the God who inspired remarkable people of character and courage such as Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Noah and many more to fulfil his purposes. He sent plagues at will, parted the Red Sea at the appropriate time in order to assist the escape of his chosen people from the burdens of their service in Egypt. He gave wealth and wisdom to Solomon, strength to Samson and Psalms of hope to David even though he was a man of human weakness and frailty. This same God appointed prophets who were able to foretell the future with tremendous accuracy all of which can be verified from our bibles and historical records. Venture into the New Testament and we have water changed into wine, blind people made to see, lame people made to walk and even before Jesus himself experienced resurrection, Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus were raised from the dead. Is ours a God who is in any way limited by what he can do? I don't think so.

We all have a story to tell about God's involvement in the events of our lives influenced by Him. If not, Christians should have. The transformation that becoming a Christian made, the decisions that would have been to the detriment of ourselves that He has led us to change, answers to prayers that sometimes we have forgotten that we have prayed and the lives that have been touched and blessings we have given and received because God is able to do far more abundantly than we dare to ask or think.

Some may think that it is naive of me to believe that nothing is impossible to God but you can only speak as you find and my awareness of this most remarkable and beautiful world, confidence in the integrity of the scriptures and personal experiences of God in my own life lead me to conclude that it is absolutely true. However, in the light of this affirmation people are entitled to ask the question, if that is the case why does God not stop bad things happening, which is a perfectly legitimate challenge to make and one that I cannot fully explain or answer.

What I would say is that although there are things which He could do there are some things which He will not do. In order to appreciate this we need to recognise that from the beginning of time and creation of human life God gave a special gift to every person he ever created. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were forbidden to do only one thing which they could not resist doing and without any regard to the consequences of their disobedience and future events that would eventually demonstrate the cost of their actions.

When you, I and all people throughout the ages were created the precious gift entrusted to each and every one of us is the gift of freedom of will. We are free to make our own choices and it is my belief that under no circumstances will God interfere with this. If He, as He is able, was to make us do what he wants us to do we become robots to His will and we are longer free. What kind of love is a love that comes from compulsion rather than that which is freely given? Even in human terms when we are compelled to do something the value is diminished. Christianity is about liberty and you become a Christian by choice and not compulsion. Jesus Himself said that through Him we would know the truth and the truth would make us free. (John 8 vs.34).

With freedom comes responsibility and accountability which many seem to ignore but God doesn't. What is expected of us has been made clear and when we were created in His image it was for a purpose. He wants us to worship Him, to live in fellowship with Him and to serve Him by serving others. God could compel us to do all of these things but He doesn't. We are free to choose whether or not we believe in Him, surrender our lives to Him or to fulfil His calling to serve. What is quite remarkable is that no matter which choice we make, His love for us is no more or less than it has always been. His love does not differentiate between those who choose to follow Him and those who don't. God is not given to favouritism and no matter how hard we work for His Kingdom we will not benefit more from His favour than we do now. He could treat us all differently but the fact is that He doesn't and treats believer and non-believer just the same.

One other thing that God will not do is to automatically forgive sin, because to do so would be to negate the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross of Calvary. It is the cross which is central to all He stands for. Love which is sacrificial and boundless revealed in a way which is beyond our human understanding and He did it for me as He did it for you but what it also highlights is forgiveness. Jesus on His death did not just die for our sins but He took upon Himself our sins. It was a costly price to pay and as I say He did it for you as He did it for me. Forgiveness is not an automatic entitlement because we also have a price to pay in a different sense. Forgiveness comes through repentance and confession.

There has to be recognition and acknowledgement of our imperfections as it tells us in 1 John 1vs8, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The only thing that can separate anyone from God is sin. He Himself has provided the way of access into His presence and He could, but will not, allow deviation from the requirement to repent and confess our sins if we are to enjoy the relationship with Him that He wants us to have. If we are unsure of what sins we have committed we need to seek God's guidance for clarification in order to get them dealt with and forgotten. It may even involve action to right wrongs that we may have committed against God and others but whatever it takes it will be worth it. The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples necessitated a forgiving spirit if we are to receive forgiveness, and forgiving others is certainly not always easy to do.

God will not compromise on the standards He has set. He could but He won't and we are left with a situation that puts the onus of responsibility on humankind to fulfil His requirements or to suffer the consequences. There are those who would encourage us to believe that His standards are too high and that it is acceptable to establish our own but that is not how God works. If we want to profess a Christian faith of integrity it will have to be on God's terms and not our own, which leads me to what I said at the beginning and that it is my belief that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that God cannot do but there are some things that He will not do. Any compromise will have to come from us and we each have to come to a personal decision of whether or not we are prepared to make it.

Joshua asked the question "Choose you this day whom you will serve" which is a very good question deserving of an honest answer. Being a follower of Christ is demanding, challenging, and takes a great deal of faith. There is nothing wrong with saying to The Lord, I believe help thou my unbelief, as we seek to walk with Him and may we have the grace to do so as His Spirit moves in our hearts.

Amen