More than a Christian Heritage
Scripture Reading: Romans 9: 1 - 5 (MSG)
At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites . . . If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!
Message: “More than a Christian Heritage”
Christian Heritage all around us
We live in a Western society with a Christian heritage
It is who we are and where we come from
We come from Europe and in the time the first of our ancestors landed in the different areas they explored, Europe was a tower of Christianity
On the ships of the explorers were preachers and missionaries
Many of the first time settlements were around churches - our town Durham being a good example - Archibald Hunter in 1842
Our Christian heritage is visible all around us today
We sing O Canada - there’s an element of prayer in the anthem: “God keep our land glorious and free”
Today is Sunday - most of businesses are closed on this day and we have a weekend around Sunday - many years ago the Sabbath was changed from a Saturday to a Sunday to celebrate the risen Christ… we still celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on a Sunday every week, without even realizing it!
Just think for a moment how many Christian names have in our midst - John, Mary, Peter, James, Luke, Elizabeth, Hannah, Anna, Grace, Abigail, Matthew… perhaps we could take the time to appreciate our heritage when we appreciate the origin of these names
Just consider for a moment the influence Christian values has had on our judicial system - the inherent principle of love and respect that is the foundation of law (Consider how different the law is in authoritarian countries where there is not a foundation of love and respect for human rights - Korea, Iran, China…)
We have so much of a Christian heritage all around us, but still the church is experiencing at time of decline, something we see much of in our own town…
Paul’s sadness - seeing heritage taken for granted
This brings me to Paul in Romans 9…
He is expressing the emotion of sadness when he considers his fellow Jews
He refers to them as his people, his family…
They had everything going for them and yet they missed Jesus
They were known as God’s people - people of the covenant that God had with their ancestor Abraham
They lived with an anticipation of a Messiah that was coming… and yet, when He came they did not recognize Him
Jesus lived among them, He preached, He performed wonders, He healed many, but they refused to accept Him
Paul is deeply sad, because of his passion for Jesus - he doesn’t want his people to miss out
It is burning sadness, because Paul is a Jew himself - but he knew Jesus - he knew the meaning of salvation in Christ
And yet, for their lack of faith, Paul’s people is missing out on salvation
I can identify with that - I see so many people around us living in the comfort of a society with a Christian heritage, but they don’t know the Christ of our heritage
It makes me sad!
It makes me sad to see so many children in our town lining up the streets for a parade, but they don’t know a thing about Jesus
I see us lining up at the Cenotaph, to remember our fallen heroes and people commenting on the name of Jesus being used too much in a short message that was allowed in the ceremony
I hear a school principal giving a brilliant graduation speech, on biblical principles, but being too scared to say that it comes from the Bible - in stead quoting indigenous teachings…
Heritage will not cut it
As passionate followers of Jesus, we know that there needs to be more that just a heritage
Jesus said in Mattew 7: 21 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
A heritage alone will not cut it - there needs to be more
God wants more
He wants us to see what He has done for us
He wants us to recognize Him in creation
He wants us to realize that we cannot live without Him
He wants us to live in a relationship with Him
Relationship and Deep Connection with God
Our Christian heritage is meaningful when we live in a relationship with the living God - the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Our Christian heritage is meaningful when we discover how our connection with Jesus in faith makes our lives better
Our Christian heritage points to an alternative lifestyle - a lifestyle that is dependant on God
Living in a relationship with God is about a life lived in accordance with the Word of God
And I am not just meaning the Bible, I am referring to Jesus - the Word that became flesh and dwelled among us
We are people of the Word - our lives are better because we take the Word of God seriously
More than… We can do so much more
The thing is, we cannot keep our faith to ourselves
We need to do more to help a society of a Christian heritage find the Christ of their heritage
We can’t just shake our heads or point the finger and tell everyone how wrong they are
Paul was deeply sad to see his people miss Jesus - but that motivated him even more to bring the good news of the gospel
Our faith is more that a Christian heritage!
May we be moved to do more to bring the good news to a society that is missing the Christ of their Christian heritage!
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