St Albans Grand Cayman-Trinity 5 - Sermon delivered by Mr. Samuel Haigh, studying at Ridley Hall, Cambridge .

Scriptures: Amos 7:7-15,             Eph 1:3-14,                         Mark 6:14-29

Theme: Declaring the truth regardless of opposition. Individuals and church to be Holy. Identity.
Aim: To encourage boldness. Encourage holiness as Church & individuals, because our identity is in Christ.

Opening prayer: Ps 19:4-May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

INTRODUCTION

The three scripture readings we have heard this morning draw us to three areas of thinking. In the Ephesians passage we see Paul reminding the church at Ephesus of its Identity. The Gospel reading from Mark six speaks of the death of John the Baptist but in particular the extraordinary respect Herod had for John. And in our Old Testament reading we hear of Amos faithfully speaking the words of God to Israel who would not receive his message. So it’s with all this in mind that I want to offer to you this morning three points that draw out what each of the readings are getting at.

WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST

This point focuses on our identity, we hear a lot these days in the news about identity theft, identity theft occurs when a criminal uses another person’s information to take on that person’s identity. This can leave a trail of devastation leaving the person’s reputation in ruins. Their identity has been twisted and distorted into something that is false. Bad things have been done in this person’s name and brought undeserved shame upon them. A reputation that has been built up for years can suddenly be torn down. So looking at the ease of how an identity can be ruined, it’s helpful for us to ask the question ‘what is our true identity as Christians?’ Well we’ve heard in our New Testament reading Paul list a number of promises for the Christians, showing us our true identity in Christ. Paul says we are blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing, we were chosen before the world began, we are adopted as His children, we are accepted in the beloved, we have redemption through Christ’s blood, we are forgiven. And that’s only one half of the chapter! Chapter one of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is jam packed with a wealth of essential information. You could quite easily do a sermon on each individual verse! However today we’re just briefly skimming over verses 3-14 and not really doing it justice. So you see why these verses are so essentially important for us to know, and take on board, and meditate upon, is because they are what should define our identity. This is what Paul does time and time again. Notice the first verse of nearly all of Paul’s letters begins with ‘Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ’ or ‘Paul a servant of Jesus Christ’. You see Paul knew who he was; his identity was found completely in Jesus Christ. And ours should be too. Unfortunately the reality is somewhat different.

Suppose you and I were asked to say a few words about ourselves we might perhaps say our name, where we come from, our job title, because in reality these are the things we all too often think, define us, likewise when we meet someone for the first time we usually ask where they are from, what they do, all in an attempt to find out who they really are. Very rarely will we, when asked to share something about ourselves, stand up and say ‘I’m a Christian’. That would be strange or peculiar; perhaps we’d sound like a religious maniac. So in some way we avoid saying such things to save embarrassment.
But Paul deals with the identity issue directly in this letter. You see the church in Ephesus would have been full of newly converted Christians. Christians who would have been struggling to know what their identity was in a society that was a whole mix of different religions and world views. We know that some of these new Christians will have come out of some pretty sinful backgrounds, and had a distorted self image so Paul right at the beginning of this letter wants to immediately remind them of their identity in Christ. And this is always applicable to us also, to remind us of our true identity in Christ because the world wants to perform an identity theft of its own and distort our true identity and tell us our identity is not in Christ but in everything but Christ.

BEING HOLY FOR CHRIST

In this morning’s gospel reading, we see Herod’s great respect for John the Baptist. In Mark 6:20 we read ‘for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Of course we know that wasn’t enough to stop Herod killing John after he swore an oath to Herodias’ daughter, however the way John went about living his life certainly impacted Herod and he was reluctant to put John to death but found himself trapped into doing so. Mark tells us Herod KNEW John was a righteous and holy man. Herod had obviously paid close attention to John’s actions to come to such a conclusion. But what was it about how John the Baptist lived his life that made Herod fear John? Made him perceive that he was a righteous and holy man? Well one thing we know for sure about John the Baptist is he knew the scriptures well, a couple of verses before he hasn’t hesitated in telling Herod that he was in violation of the law. The power of knowing the scriptures cannot be underestimated. Knowing them can change our lives and change our communities.

Just like on the tiny Island of Pitcairn. Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers illegally seized HMS Bounty and landed on Pitcairn Island along with their Tahitian women and a few Tahitian men in 1790 to establish a community in one of the most remote islands on the face of the earth. After a period of four years, the community fell into turmoil. One man learned how to distil liquor from the roots of the ti plant, and eventually the men were drunk almost all the time. The women and children feared for their lives and fled to another part of the island and built a fort for protection.
Another man, while drunk, tied himself to a rock and threw himself over the cliff and into the sea. Even more trouble came about from another man who became drunk and insane, threatening the lives of everyone else. He was axed to death for the safety of the others on the island. There was one man who survived the violence, Alexander Smith. Smith withdrew and lived alone for sometime. While he was living alone, Smith discovered the Bible from HMS Bounty and a Book of Common Prayer. Eventually the women returned to the settlement where Smith was living, by now he had read the Bible in its entirety and grew in knowledge over several years. He saw the importance of teaching it to others and so he began teaching the children how to read, and eventually some of the mothers learned as well. Using the Bible, he taught everyone about the Christian faith and instituted a daily prayer time, grace before meals, and Sunday worship. In 1808, 18 years after they had landed on Pitcairn, an American ship found the island. The members of the crew were shocked to find that the island was inhabited by thirty-five English- speaking people of Polynesian blood who were practising the Christian faith.

So we see both from the story of the transforming power of scripture in Pitcairn and the witness of John the Baptist that knowledge of the Bible put into practice not only transforms individuals but also transforms communities. Herod knew there was something different, righteous and holy about John the Baptist, and the Americans who discovered the Pitcairn islanders living in peace and harmony knew it was down to their Christian faith. So let us be encouraged to not only have knowledge of what the scriptures say, but let’s let them transform us so we can begin to transform the communities we live in also.

BEING FAITHFUL TO CHRIST

Looking at our OT reading this morning from Amos. We see Amos being verbally attacked by Amaziah ‘Go you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread and there prophesy.’ You see Amos had been sent by the Lord to prophecy to the house of Israel but Israel didn’t want to hear what the Lord had to say. Israel had employed there own special royal prophets who told them everything they wanted to hear. Of course they were lying to the King and the people of Israel with their man made words of wisdom, so the Lord had sent to them the prophet Amos to prophecy the truth. However they refused to hear Amos and it’s here in this chapter Amos is told to go back to where he came from. Amos isn’t detoured by there harsh words though, and it’s helpful for us to learn from his example. His reply is simple ‘I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel. It’s a simple way of explaining things; he’s saying God said it so I’m going to do it. And I’m encouraged by that simplicity. I think all too often we make things complicated especially with our Christian faith. However what the Bible says is often very clear and needs only simple obedience.
And back in this morning’s gospel reading we find John the Baptist pointing out to Herod that it was unlawful for him to marry his brother’s wife. I found this very interesting because even though Herod was not a Jew and subject to the Jewish law, John did not hesitate to tell him that he had violated the moral law of God. So it is the same with the gospel message of repentance, which would eventually go to gentiles as well as Jews, and it assumes that God holds all people in the world accountable to His moral laws as revealed in scripture. From this we learn that faithfulness to Christ involves an obligation to be an active voice of truth in society when society loses its way and goes against the laws of God. Just like Amos being sent to Israel to warn the Israelites to turn back to God, we also may be sent to be a voice to warn society to turn back to God.
Like Amos suffered rejection form the people of Israel we may also experience the same kind of rejection but we are called to be faithful. Being faithful involves doing the right thing in the face of persecution or rejection. The whole church has been built and continues to be built on Christians who choose to be faithful to Christ and the teachings of scripture. There will always be, within the church as well as outside of the church, those who wish to distort Jesus’ message for the furtherance of their own agenda, but we can hold on to the knowledge that we are doing the right and honourable thing. 

CONCLUSION
So in closing what I hope we can take from looking at today’s scripture readings is that our identity as Christian’s is firmly rooted in Christ and what he has done for us, and not in anything the world offers us. And second I hope we can take a leaf out of John the Baptist’s book and live a holy life rooted in the truth of scripture, which leads on to our being faithful like Amos was faithful, even in the face of persecution and rejection. And in living this radical life we can impact the communities around us for the better just like the tiny Island if Pitcairn which sank to the depths of almost self-destruction but discovered the book with the words of life in it, and lived out it transformed that community, we too not only by our knowledge of God and His scriptures but by the living of their commands can transform our lives and communities. And to close with I want to say a prayer of Alexander Smith who wrote this on Pitcairn after he had experienced the transforming power of Christ, so let’s bow our heads: Suffer me not O Lord to waste this day in Sin or folly. But Let me Worship thee with much Delight. Teach me to know more of thee and to serve thee better than ever I have done before, that I may be fitter to dwell in heaven, where thy worship and service are everlasting. Amen