An older couple were at the stage of their life
where they were getting quite forgetful
so they made arrangements to see their family doctor.
He ran a regimen of tests and assured them it was nothing medically serious.
Nothing like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Just occasional forgetfulness.
And he advised them to simply write things down so they wouldn’t forget.
Later that evening,
accustomed as they were to having a little something to eat before bedtime,
the husband said to the wife,
“Would you mind getting me a dish of ice cream?”
“Gladly,” she said, as she rose from the chair and started for the kitchen.
“Don’t you think you’d better write that down so you won’t forget?”
“I won’t forget,” she said.
When she was almost at the door the husband piped up,
“I think I’d like some chocolate sauce on the ice cream.”
“Done,” came the reply.
“Don’t you think you’d better write that down so you won’t forget?”
“I won’t forget,” she said. “Ice cream with chocolate sauce.”
She had just walked into the kitchen when her husband called to her again.
“I think I’d like a cherry on top as well.”
“Cherry it is,” she said.
“Don’t you think you’d better write that down so you won’t forget?”
“I won’t forget,” she said. “Ice cream with chocolate sauce and a cherry on top.”
She was in the kitchen for about ten minutes
and returned to her husband in the living room.
She handed him a plate with bacon and eggs on it.
He looked at the plate. Looked at his wife. Looked at his plate again and said,
“I told you, you should have written it down. Where’s the toast?”
Well, we are all forgetful at times.
And no matter how old we may be,
we all suffer from those mental lapses.
But the truth is, there are some things worth forgetting.
And there are things worth remembering, too.
In scripture, a lively debate unfolds
between two understandings of the Christian life.
It has to do with faith … and works.
1. And this is the first thing I want to say:
You cannot have one without the other.
There is no doubt, as the apostle Paul writes, that
“by grace you have been saved through faith;
and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God ~
not because of works, lest anyone should boast.”
It is God’s grace that saves us.
All the good works we may do won’t do it.
A good person who may be a godless person
for all his goodness is still godless.
Salvation is not gained by our goodness.
But it is not believable without it.
Andrea Wheaton’s father is named Lewis, and his middle name is Grenfell.
He is named after Sir Wilfred Grenfell,
an English physician, writer and missionary
who ministered to the coastal communities of Newfoundland and Labradour
generations ago.
Wilfred Grenfell wrote:
“No none can write his religious life with pen or pencil.
It is written only in actions, and its seal is our character, not our orthodoxy.
Whether we, our neighbour, or God is the judge,
absolutely the only value of our religious life to ourselves or to anyone
is what it fits us for and enables us to do.”
And it was Albert Schweitzer,
unquestionably the most highly regarded man of his time, who wrote,
“The only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
And so the apostle Paul goes on to say,
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
We are created to live out our faith by doing good works.
It was James in a part of his letter read earlier, who wrote,
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,
so faith apart from works is dead.”
Faith … and works.
They are like peas in a pod …
like a hand in a glove …
like two sides of the same coin.
You cannot have one without the other.
2. And this leads me to a second thought:
If, as Paul write, “we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,”
it is important to understand that good … works.
It was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,
the denomination in which this congregation has its roots, who wrote:
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
Why would a man of such great faith ~
who himself knew that he was saved by grace through faith ~
say such a thing.
Because he knew …
knew from experience …
knew because he had been witness to it …
that good … works.
It works miracles.
It changes things.
It does because it works good in the lives of others.
Here’s a simple illustration of how good … works.
A hopeless old drunk was brought into a New York hospital.
“You know this is your 50th visit,” said the admitting physician.
The old man considered that information for a moment and replied,
“I think that calls for a celebration.”
The doctor just shook his head in wonderment, and said,
“I can’t give you a drink. You know that.”
The old drunk sputtered, “I’m hopeless, right doc?”
The doctor said,
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
We have just brought in a young man.
He’s nineteen or twenty years old.
This is his first time.
I want you to go to him and pay a visit.
I want you to take a good look at him.
Size him up.
And have him take a good look at you.
Maybe he won’t take the road you’ve taken.”
The old alcoholic was shocked at this and said,
“You mean you’ll give me a drink if I do that?”
“Sure,” said the doctor.
“You do that and I’ll get you a drink.”
So the old man went down the hall, found the young man’s room and walked in.
He found a clean cut young man who was at the turning point of his life.
He sized him up.
And in sizing him up he sized himself up.
He saw himself in that young man.
All that he had been.
All that he could have been.
All that he had wasted and thrown away and never become.
All that was beautiful and now not so beautiful.
All that was promising and now unfulfilled.
All that was sparkling and now tarnished.
He looked at that young man and said,
“You know, boy, you don’t want to turn out the way I have.
I was once young like you.
I had people who loved me and who had dreams for me.
And I had dreams, too.
Now look at me.”
And it was in those moments and in that place
that something happened inside the old man.
The more he talked to the young man
the more realized he had a mission in life.
He had to save that boy.
He had something to live for … hope for … dream about … work for.
He began to discover God’s plan and purpose for his life.
They talked all morning, and before they parted, they made a promise.
The old man said:
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
If ever you feel that you need a drink to get you through, call me. Okay?
And the young man said, “And I’ll do the same for you.”
And that was the turning point for the old man.
He found sobriety.
So did the young man.
And he went on to become the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous …
all because he shared his life for the sake of another.
He had found an inner power
that you and I know to be God’s power in Jesus Christ.
He faced his problem,
and by God’s grace and in God’s strength
he went on to develop the 12 Step Program
that has introduced millions to the Higher Power
that has brought them to contented sobriety.
It is as the Apostle Paul wrote:
“God at work in you will give you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.”
Good … works.
It works its miracles.
It changes things.
It can change lives.
It can bring hope … where there is no hope.
It can bring light … where there is only darkness.
It can bring new life … when people are dying on the inside.
Good … works … because it works good in the lives of others.
3. And here’s a final thing.
People are won to the faith
not so much by an argument
as they are won by an example.
People are won to the faith
not so much by the correctness of our theology
or the preciseness of our orthodoxy
as they are won by the goodness of our living.
It’s one of my favourite stories,
this story of a minister who one Sunday morning went to the pulpit
and as he looked out over his congregation
he was surprised to see a particular man sitting there ~
the kind of man he never expected to see in church
He was one of the biggest industrialists in the city.
A man of influence and power.
An avowed atheist who never hesitated saying so.
And here he was that Sunday morning,
and the next … and the next.
And the minister sat in his study each week
preparing his Sunday message
with this particular man in mind
because he felt that if somehow he could persuade him
the man could be a great power for Christ in the community.
And sure enough, one Sunday morning,
after his message was finished and an altar call had been given,
the man lifted himself from his pew
and walked down the center aisle
and committed his life to Jesus Christ.
A few days later, the minister visited the man
and their conversation became friendly and relaxed.
And the minister got up the courage to ask the question:
“Which one of my messages was it?” he asked.
“What idea was the turning point for you
that started you in the other direction?
If you can answer that
it might help me to help a lot of others.”
The man said to the minister,
“Sir, I have appreciated your messages
and I wouldn’t hurt your feelings for anything,
but it was none of your sermons,
it was nothing you said.
“It is that fact that for over forty years
I have lived with one of the kindest,
most loving individuals God ever made,
and for nearly as that long a woman just like her.
I want to be able to love like my wife and my daughter love.
I want a God in my life like the one my wife and daughter worship.”
What had he seen?
What had he witnessed?
What was it that moved him
to take the step in the direction of faith.
A person wrote that “A saint is a person who lets the light shine through.”
What had he witnessed?
Forty years of living with someone who let the light shine through.
Forty years of living with someone whose faith ~
lived out in kindness and love and expressions of goodness ~
had one him over.
It wasn’t an argument.
It was a beautiful example.
Faith is a glorious light.
Glorious because it proclaims the saving love of God for us in Jesus Christ
and because it can empower us to walk in that same good light.
We proclaimed in today’s Affirmation of Faith:
Because God loves us we believe we are called to love one another:
to be the window through which God’s light shines;
to be the voice through which God’s message is heard;
to be the hand through which God’s help is given;
to be the heart through which God’s grace is shared;
to be for others all that Jesus has been for us.
The power of faith in the day to day
is what it fits us for and enables us to do.
People are won to the faith not so much by an argument
as they are won by an example …
as they are won by the goodness of our living.
Good works … because it works its goodness in the lives of others.
As a believing people
I invite you
challenge you
encourage you
not only to believe,
but to believe in such a way
that your believing makes you a better person …
to believe in such a way
that you become a window
a voice
a hand
a heart
that shares the great love that has saved you
in ways that bring tangible blessings to others.
May God grant all of you the grace to make it so,
so that someone might say of you,
because of your good works that have worked good:
“I want a God in my life like the one you worship” …
that in embracing the faith, they, too, might know Christ’s saving love.”
And in knowing Him, love Him … and in loving Him, serve Him …
so that they will become good ~ for something wonderful.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
