The Bible teaches and it is one of the basic tenets of Christianity that humankind was created to glorify God. We were never only about ourselves, nor were we meant to serve ourselves.
The fall of man whilst characterised by the snake and apple was actually when we took God off the throne of our hearts and put ourselves there instead. Rather than have a natural inclination of serving and worshipping God our natural inclination became to serve and worship ourselves. It became all about us and the question became what’s in it for me.
Now we are not like the bronze-age people living all these centuries ago. We are sophisticated, we are civilised, we are cultured and we are not barbaric. Yet we are still the same flawed personalities as people who lived thousands of years ago. Our technology and way of life will be different but we will still be the same.
Answer this: What do Geoff Hoon, Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt all have in common? They have been caught trying to sell favours to other people. They have been caught looking out for themselves by a reporter who was posing as a lobbyist, i.e. someone else looking out for themselves.
Even in the passage read for us today there are lots of people looking out for themselves.
You have the Pharisees. For the past 3 years they have watched Jesus powerbase grow and grow. Every test thrown down he has passed; every situation manufactured to trap him he has evaded. Now with possibly thousands of people all shouting and praising him they are terrified because their power base is on the verge of disappearing.
They are looking at a new world order and they do not like it. They especially do not like the implications for them because all their prestige would be done away with. He is a threat and he has to be eliminated.
But on the other hand you have this crowd of people. For the past 3 years they have watched Jesus perform more and more miracles. From merely turning water into wine he had progressed to raising people from the dead. Even his own disciples have been given the power to affect miracles.
Their numbers are growing so fast they no longer care if the Pharisees see them throw their cloaks down. There’s a new world order coming and they are going to be right at the centre of it. See how the Pharisees like it once Jesus is in charge.
Both of those groups had an agenda which meant they were putting their own wants, their own desires first. Although different they were actually the same. No wonder that Jesus went up a hill and wept.
He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! (Luke 19:41-42)
Right from the beginning Jesus taught the people that it has to start with God.
How should we pray? Not my will but thine be done, in earth as it is in heaven.
Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. (John 6:37-39)
Not my will but the one who sent me. It all starts from God and our worship, our lives are a response to God.
This is hugely important and whatever else happens we cannot lose sight of the fact we have to put God first and everything else is a response to him.
Whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever circumstances, the question is how do I respond to God? For us as a church the question is, how do I respond to God?
Many, many, years ago a bunch of very bright, very spiritual people sat down to distil Christian thought into a small set of questions that each person could memorise. Most people could not read so it was a great way of helping people learn the faith.
Of all the choices of all the topics of all the scriptures they chose this as the first question:
What is the chief end (purpose) of man?
To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
These really smart people understood everything comes down to our response to God.
So what is your response to God? Go home today, sit down, open your Bible and read the easter story, then make your response. If you don’t have a Bible at home, take one from the church but please bring it back!
It is time for all of us to make our response.
Amen.
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