Sermons

Sun, Feb 26, 2023

Life choices

Series:Sermons
Duration:11 mins 56 secs

Regular mince, heart-smart, or premium—

Hmm—

which one has the lowest fat content?

Now, should I make rissoles, chilli con carne, or perhaps a spaghetti Bolognese?

And, if I go with spag bog, what tinned tomatoes should I use—

diced or crushed?

And should I use one that’s “made in Australia” from Australian ingredients?

But what about the company, is that Australian owned?

And which one’s the cheapest?

On the other hand, perhaps I should have fish tonight.

The Nile Perch is on special this week.

Of course, it has been frozen…

because it comes from Asia or Africa…

and I have heard reports that it’s grown in heavily-polluted water.

But I’m not that keen on Atlantic salmon…

and it’s not too good environmentally either.

Hmm…

perhaps I should have a look at the butcher’s shop instead.

Or, maybe, it will just be easier to go out for dinner.

Maybe somewhere close by and not too expensive…

maybe Indian… 

or Thai…

or perhaps just the local pub?

 

Life is a series of choices.

Some aren’t terribly significant and some aren’t that hard to make.

Although, something as simple as grocery shopping is becoming increasingly difficult…

as we try to balance all sorts of complicating information—

including health-related issues…

the impact on the environment…

the effect on local jobs and the national economy…

and issues of affordability.

Whether we’re conscious of it or not…

the choices that we make—

and how we make them—

usually reflect much deeper issues.

The choices that I make reflect my values and beliefs;

but they also reflect my sense of identity and self-image—

the sort of person that I would like to be… 

and the sort of life that I would like to live.

In a very real sense, our choices shape us and define us.

Indeed, in so many respects, our lives are the sum of all of our choices.

Go back and change any one of them and…

theoretically at least…

everything else—

and even who we are as individuals—

would also change.

Our lives are a series of choices, and our choices shape and define us.

Some choices are easy.

Most are not.

 

Our reading this morning from Matthew’s Gospel is a story that’s very familiar to many of us—

the Temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.

And we can see, here, Jesus faced with a series of choices as he contemplates his future ministry.

And it’s quite common for us to take this story and try to personalise and individualise it.

That is, we can see, here, Jesus confronting the sorts of choices…

and the moral ambiguities…

that are common to the human condition—

the sorts of choices and moral ambiguities that all of us face.

The temptation to turn stones into bread—

in other words, will we use our abilities to get what we want or need;

will we fall into the trap of ‘could’ equals ‘should’?

The temptation to throw himself off the Temple…

and to trust in God’s power to protect him—

in other words, will we take responsibility for our actions… 

or will we try to shift that responsibility onto others?

The temptation to sell your soul to get what you want—

in other words, is it okay to compromise our beliefs, our values, and our integrity…

for the sake of expediency?

Does the end ever justify the means?

These are, indeed, choices that each one of us continually faces…

and moral ambiguities with which each one of us must wrestle.

 

And yet… 

there’s more going on in this story than Jesus as a simple human exemplar.

After all, it’s a story that originated in the life of the early church…

as the church reflected back upon Jesus—

on whom they believed him to be…

and what they understood his significance to be.

It’s a highly symbolic story:

here we have Jesus… 

symbolically fulfilling the place of Israel…

wandering in the wilderness for forty days—

rather than forty years—

being confronted with the sorts of choices and moral ambiguities…

with which the wandering people of Israel were faced.

But, the early church suggested, he didn’t make the mistakes that Israel did.

So here, in this story, Jesus represents Israel as it was meant to be.

In other words, Jesus doesn’t just represent each one of us—

he represents all of us…

collectively…

facing the sorts of choices and moral ambiguities that we face as a community of faith… 

as a church. 

 

So, for us, what’s the temptation to turn stones into bread?

As a small, ageing congregation…

is it the temptation to pursue our survival at any cost?

Do we yearn for people who will come and join us because of what they can contribute to our life—

and our survival—

rather than looking, always, at what we can give to them

and how we might help them to grow?

Will we use the resources that we have to sustain our existence…

or will we use them to give life to others?

 

For us, what’s the temptation to throw ourselves into danger… 

trusting that God will save us?

In one sense, as a church, that’s exactly what we haven’t done.

When we became aware of the full extent of the structural problems of this building…

we didn’t just press on regardless…

trying, somehow, to muddle through on our own…

with our own limited resources…

and blindly hoping for the best.

Instead, we made a somewhat courageous decision… 

and put our trust in the National Trust to save us.

And while that was a calculated risk—

rather than simply an act of blind faith—

it was still a risk.

And, perhaps, that sense of risk still looms very large for some of us.

 

Maybe, then, the temptation to look for God to save us isn’t a temptation…

because, in a sense, we’ve already given up.

We’re simply running down the finances…

hoping that it will keep the doors open long enough until we’ve all shuffled off this mortal coil.

Perhaps the temptation for us is not recklessness but complacency.

 

Which brings us to the temptation to sell our souls…

and to worship another ‘god’…

in order to get what we want.

In real terms…

often…

that can be the old end-justifying-the-means moral dilemma.

And we still face some of those sorts of decisions as we contemplate our future.

Or, that can be the temptation to compromise our integrity or our identity…

for the sake of comfort or expediency—

the temptation not to live out, in real terms, what we profess to be true;

the temptation to ‘talk the talk’ but not ‘walk the walk’.

For example…

how, as a community called to love, do we manage the issue of rough sleepers?

 

Our life, as a community, is also a series of choices.

And the author of Matthew’s Gospel—

at the end of his story of the Temptations—

reminds us that, in facing those choices with honesty…

wrestling with them…

and seeking to live with integrity…

that it’s then that we discover the sustaining power of God…

and that God can actually minister to our real needs.

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