{"id":54,"date":"2014-09-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/sunday-27th-october-2013-faith-like-a-child\/"},"modified":"2014-09-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-27th-october-2013-faith-like-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/sunday-27th-october-2013-faith-like-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 27th October 2013 &#8211; Faith like a child"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">  The Word this Week: <\/p>\n<ul style=\"\">\n<li style=\"\"><a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#hebrew_reading\">Joel 2:23-32<\/a> and <a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#psalm_reading\">Psalm 65<\/a>\u00a0 <em>OR<\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#hebrew_oth_reading\">Sirach 35:12-17<\/a> <em style=\"\">or <a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#psalm_addl_reading\">Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22<\/a><\/em> and <a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#psalm_oth_reading\">Psalm 84:1-7<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=285#epistle_reading\">2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18<\/a>\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a target=\"_blank\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=249308881\" rel=\"noopener\">Luke 18:15-30 (Australian Anglican Church reading)<br \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  <strong>Luke 18:15-30<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>Jesus Blesses Little Children<\/p>\n<p>People were  bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the  disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, \u2018Let the little children come to me,  and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of  God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.\u2019 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>The Rich Ruler<\/p>\n<p>A certain ruler asked him, \u2018Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u2019 Jesus said to him, \u2018Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: \u201cYou shall not commit adultery; You shall not  murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour  your father and mother.\u201d \u2019 He replied, \u2018I have kept all these since my youth.\u2019 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, \u2018There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\u2019 But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, \u2018How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.\u2019 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>\u00a0Those who heard it said, \u2018Then who can be saved?\u2019 He replied, \u2018What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.\u2019 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>\u00a0Then Peter said, \u2018Look, we have left our homes and followed you.\u2019 And he said to them, \u2018Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left  house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the  kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.\u2019 <span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>    The Gospel this week is one that is often split for the purposes of preaching.\u00a0 Either you preach on having the faith of a child, or you preach on the rich ruler, and being prepared to place the kingdom of God first \u2013 even if it means selling all you have.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Today though I want to do things a little differently \u2013 I want to tell you that these two themes are not different at all, but both find there foundation in faith and trusting God \u2013 And that both carry a message for us to heed with regard to our relationship with God, and with the world.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  In the first part of the Gospel story Jesus tells us that it is having the faith of a child that will get you into the kingdom \u2013 the second part of the story however, where the young man asks what he must do to gain eternal life sees Jesus respond by pointing to the commandments.\u00a0 In the first part Jesus points to faith as our way to heaven, in the second to obeying the commandments \u2013 isn\u2019t there a contradiction there?<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  I mean which is it? Is it faith or following the commandments which gets us to heaven?\u00a0 The answer is that they are both the same thing.\u00a0 You will note that when the man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life that Jesus recites back to him some commandments \u2013 he says\u00a0 <strong style=\"\">You know the commandments: \u2018You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.\u2019<\/strong><strong style=\"\">\u00a0 <\/strong>Did you count them? There were five \u2013 five out of the ten, and the five he names are all those that deal with our relationships with other people, they are all commandments, \u00a0that are visible.\u00a0 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  This young man is clearly very religious \u2013 he keeps the commandments after all! At least the ones that are outwardly visible.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t a murderer, or a liar \u2013 he is respectful to his parents, and faithful to his wife \u2013 by all accounts this ruler is a \u2018good person\u2019.\u00a0 And good people are all going to get eternal life right? NO! <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  <strong style=\"\">\u2018There is still one thing lacking<\/strong>\u2019 Jesus tells him.\u00a0 What is it? What is it that is lacking, which is preventing this man from inheriting eternal life? Let\u2019s examine what Jesus asks him to do &#8211; \u00a0<strong style=\"\">Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\u201d<\/strong> <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Why has Jesus asked this man to sell all that he has? He didn\u2019t ask that of Peter, he didn\u2019t ask that of any of the others \u2013 but for this man, he does.\u00a0 He does so because the response of the man betrays where his heart is.\u00a0 Instead of rejoicing that the Messiah, the promised saving King, has told him how he might enter into eternal bliss in the Kingdom of God \u2013 he is sad.\u00a0\u00a0 He is sad because he is very wealthy and in order to inherit the promised eternal life he is being asked to give it up\u2026 he is sad because his heart, his hope is in the material wealth that he has accumulated.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  When Jesus says this man is lacking one thing \u2013 he is talking about faith!\u00a0 If this man, this rich ruler had faith, if he had the faith of a child \u2013 he would have rejoiced! He had the answer, eternal life awaited him!\u00a0 Jesus exposed him for what he was \u2013 a very pious, religious man, who lacked faith.\u00a0 He was outwardly doing all the right things, he was a \u2018good man\u2019\u2026 he no doubt attended the synagogue regularly.\u00a0 But he lacked that most fundamental of things \u2013 he hadn\u2019t put his trust \u2013 his hope, his faith in God.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Brothers and sisters, we must not allow ourselves to become like the rich ruler, we must not focus on just being a good person, but lack the fundamental of faith.\u00a0 Who here hasn\u2019t thought \u00a0&#8211; or heard others say \u2013 oh they\u2019re a good person, they\u2019ll be ok, I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll go to heaven\u2026\u00a0 What our Gospel reinforces for us today is that it is not about being a \u2018good\u2019 person.\u00a0 It is not about keeping up appearances \u2013 coming to church, ticking the boxes , and ensuring you do all the \u2018right things\u2019.\u00a0 No matter what we do outwardly, what matters more than anything is where we have placed our faith \u2013 is it placed in God? Or in our own abilities? In God, or in material possessions?\u00a0\u00a0 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  You will remember that Jesus pointed to the Commandments in his interactions with the ruler.\u00a0 He listed those five that are about interacting with people \u2013 the ones that could be summed up as love thy neighbour.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t mention the commandments about our relationship with God, but he exposed that the man did not keep them\u2026<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Thou shalt not make for yourself any idol\u2026<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  The rich ruler had set up for himself a false idol, in material possessions, he had placed his hope in his own abilities and talents instead of in God \u2013 he had made himself a god.\u00a0\u00a0 The rich ruler had half the picture \u2013 he was loving his neighbour, but without faith he wasn\u2019t loving God.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Faith is what counts.\u00a0 And What kind of faith is it that Jesus calls us to have? <strong style=\"\" normal>17\u00a0<\/strong><strong style=\"\" normal>Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.\u201d<\/strong> <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  What kind of faith does a little child have? <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Think of a small child laughing hysterically while they are thrown into the air by their father\u2026 even as a small child, they know that if they fall from up there its going to hurt\u2026 yet they aren\u2019t fretting, they aren\u2019t concerned about what could happen if they fall \u2013 instead they trust \u2013 unconditionally \u2013 that their dad will catch them.\u00a0 They have so much trust, so much faith in their father that instead of focussing on what could go wrong, they are able to relax and enjoy flying through the air \u2013 they experience a great joy.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  That joy, that sense of freedom, is available to all of us.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean being na\u00efve or blindly following, it means instead making a choice to trust, to place your hope and faith in God. To give ourselves over completely to our heavenly father, and relax in the knowledge that even when it seems like we are tumbling towards a devastating crash, that He will catch us \u2013 that His hands are safe and sure.\u00a0 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  Brothers and sisters, faith is not an intellectual exercise, of just saying I believe, it is not an exercise of ticking the right boxes and being a \u2018good person\u2019.\u00a0 Faith is about handing over your very being to the creator and sustainer of the universe.\u00a0 It is about placing all of your hope and all of your trust, and all of your love in God.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>  When we hand ourselves over in complete faith as a child would, then we will meet the commandments, we will Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and with all of our mind and with all of our soul \u2013 and in experiencing his love we will also love our neighbour as ourselves\u2026 we will fulfil the commandments, but it is not their fulfilment that makes us an inheritor of eternal life \u2013 it is the faith in God that sets us free.<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span>        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Word this Week: Joel 2:23-32 and Psalm 65\u00a0 OR Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 and Psalm 84:1-7\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18\u00a0 Luke 18:15-30 (Australian Anglican Church reading) Luke 18:15-30Jesus Blesses Little Children People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/10\/sunday-27th-october-2013-faith-like-a-child\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Sunday 27th October 2013 &#8211; Faith like a child&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}