2011-01-09-am Sermon Acts 10 Matt 3

110109am Acts 10:34-43 Matt 3:13-17

We started the New Year last week with a call to renewed commitment – are you committed to Jesus as Lord and Saviour? This week we continue in the same vein and take it further. We often talk (or we used to) about 'making a commitment to Christ'. If you want to know whether someone has really seen who Christ is and is really a full-on follower, you ask, Have they made a commitment? That commitment is making in reality what was promised in our baptism.

Jesus' baptism shows that he first made a commitment for us, the total, unswerving dedication of his life to the Father's will so that we could be saved. He had already made the journey from heaven to earth, he had grown up as one of us, but now he had to see if he would follow it through, to begin preaching the message and taking the consequences, the death and resurrection that lay ahead. In his baptism he was called – I need to be baptised – he was named – this is my Son – and he was filled – the Spirit of God descending like a dove. And when we commit ourselves to our baptism, we are called, named and filled.

Peter summarised all this preaching to Cornelius and his household. He reminded them of what they had already heard: good news of peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. He summarised Jesus' ministry after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him... they killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. Then he announced the command to evangelise. He was not seen by all the people but by witnesses whom God had already chosen, by us who ate and drank with him after he was raised from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead... everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

That same command applies to us. We are not the apostles, but we have receive their message and we are commanded to pass it on. If you are committed to Christ, you are committed to being a witness for Christ. The people need to hear that Jesus Christ is going to judge them and that by believing in his name they can receive forgiveness and eternal life.

I want to ask, is 2011 going to be a year of growth for Pudsey Parish Church? We are not so arrogant as to think that we are the only way that the people of Pudsey can hear the good news – but we are a pretty vital instrument. If they don't hear it from us, exactly where will they hear it from? Well, you say, if it's so vital, shouldn't we have a strategy? Yes, and we do. Let's remind ourselves of it.

Remember the three Ps? Our strategy is like a fisherman with a big drag net, a large mouth at this end and a small end here to catch the fish. The large end of our net is Presence, all the ways that we are publicly present in our community, having a big building, a vicar, baptisms, weddings, funerals, under fives work, MU etc. We are in contact with hundreds of people this way. Some of them will show an interest in the gospel, and they might come to Proclamation events, where the message is put over, a baptism service, a Back to Church Sunday etc. Some of them will be interested enough to take it further and come to a Persuasion type activity, where we can work in much more depth and really talk it over, like Alpha or Start.

You could say it has four strands: Church, cell, course, and children. (There are other things too but this is enough to be going on with.)

First, Church – by which I mean public worship, mainly on Sundays every week, and especially at major festivals like Christmas and Easter. One of the main ways people hear about Jesus, one of the main ways that we grow, is by people just turning up at church. Second, Cell – every cell should be looking to grow by inviting new people. That can happen at any normal weekly meeting, but Cells should also be laying on regular invitation events, socials, parties etc. Third, Courses – I've mentioned two. Start is a short, 6 week course, ideal for a small group of 6 people. Alpha is a longer 11 week course which works well with a good crowd and goes into more depth. All the time we should be guiding people who come to Church or Cell towards a course. And very important, fourth, is Children – our regularly weekly groups on Sundays, Bounce, Friday @ 6, new youth cell, and around the major festivals and school holidays the Holiday Clubs, and all the varied work with schools.

So we have a strategy. Is it enough? Well, it's never enough, but it is there and we need to use it. And that requires the most important aspect, developing a culture of invitation. Every so often people will just turn up, but mostly they won't unless they are invited. It has to be done sensitively: that's an important word. It doesn't necessarily mean softly or cautiously! It means being sensitive to what that person needs. If someone needs a gentle encouragement, that's sensitive. If someone needs a kick in the pants or a hard word, that is sensitive to what they need. Either way what it requires is an open mouth. For centuries the Church of England has prayed 'O Lord open thou our lips' – and then gone out and clamped its lips firmly shut! That won't do. Most churches don't need to vastly change what they lay on, they just need to tell people about it and invite them to it in a way that doesn't make it sound as much fun as going to the dentist.

So are you committed to Jesus? And are you committed for Jesus, to be a witness for him. He commanded us to preach to the people.

The Church of England has a particular responsibility. There were some sensational stories in the papers last week about the numbers of British people converting to Islam. A 'think tank' suggests there may be 100,000, maybe 5,000 a year. Now why they have put this out, why the journalists have written it up, whether to say Look, Islam is nice, or to stir up fear that Islam is nasty, we need to ask. [At 5,000 a year that will be nearly all of us in, say, 12,000 years!] The idea that Britain or Europe are being 'islamified' is highly questionable, though it's my perception that in public life and the media people are very quick to defend or even promote Islam. Far more prevalent is the number of people who are merely nominal Christians, or who profess no faith.

Be that as it may, the Church of England is the main representative of Christianity, and Christianity is the main religious tradition of these islands for nearly 2000 years, and it's our privilege and responsibility to preach the message. We can't leave it just to the clergy and few extra-keen lay people, it's for all of us.

But really, if we are committed to Christ, if we have really experienced his commitment to us (expressed in his baptism), we can't help but be witnesses. In Alpha, Nicky Gumbel tells the story of when their first baby was born, and Philippa his wife gave him a bag of coins and a list of everyone he had to ring. He started with her mother, good news, we have a baby, he weighs 20lb, he's well, Pippa's well etc. Then he rang his mother, she was engaged, so he rang the next on the list, his sister, who answered and said, I hear you have a boy, he's well, Pippa's well. So he rang the next person, who said, Oh I hear there's good news! There was no one he could tell, everyone had told someone else. Good news travels fast. No one had to say, You have a solemn duty to pass on this message!

Hazel and I were evangelised the other day with memory foam. Someone told Hazel, we got a memory foam mattress/topper and it's wonderful, best night's sleep ever. Next minute she came back with one half price from the sales. No one had told John Slack to pass it on, it was just good news he wanted to share.

Will 2011 be a year of growth for PPC? He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that Jesus is the one God appointed as judge of the living and the dead... everyone who believe in him received forgiveness of sins through his name. Jesus committed himself for us in his baptism, and everyone who commits themselves to him is saved for all eternity. I think that's good news I want to share. We have a strategy. It's up to us all to use it.