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SHARING IS THE BEST PARTThere is a wonderful sermon written By Dr. Peter Marshall about a very rich man who opened his home one night to a group of down-and-outs. He called the message "By Invitation of Jesus." If you ever get the chance to read it please do so.I want to talk about the moral of the story, not the story itself. Dr. Marshall put the question: 'What would happen if we agreed to read one of the Gospel passages - say Matthew 25:31 to 46 - a passage where we are told to do something, then went out to do it and only after we had done it, begin reading again? Many would then counter argue that there are aspects of the Word that are difficult to understand. Dr. Marshall suggests that our difficulties are not centred around things we don't understand but rather in the things we understand only too well. His sermon was an illustration of the fact that we know what we should do, but don't want to do it. And that's the bottom line. We tend to read the scriptures for comfort and encouragement. The Bible tells us how to live life and about our relationship with others. It tells us, no instructs us, about moral issues that society has chosen to ignore; about the power of the Holy Spirit that we fail to claim; and how to share to the full those fruits of the Spirit that we are reluctant to discuss with others. The Bible isn't a book we can pick up and put down at will like a popular novel or a saga of adventure and of the doings of great men and martyrs. It's a manual of instruction. The host in Dr. Marshall's story had just about everything, but he chose to share those material things with those who had nothing. But above all else, he shared the compassion of Jesus. The challenge for every Christian in these troubled times is to really live our faith. And how do we do that? By sharing Jesus. If our Christianity is to count for something, then we must share Jesus. It isn't enough to share our money - we must come out of the closet and go past the offering bag. Our Christianity must shine out through love, compassion and kindness to those who doubt and those who don't know. In us and through us, they must see Jesus, and as we share Jesus with them we are giving the greatest gift of all - just as our heavenly Father did 2,000 years ago when He shared Jesus with us. Have a good week. Pastor Ron. A companion Bible study is available as page 2 of the weekly message. Click here for that study.
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