[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] 7 of Easter 1 Pet 5

[Joe Parrish]

 Forwarded:

 


 Thanks for your notes, Howard!
Peace and Easter blessings,
Joe

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Fr HC Smith <howard.smith at anglican.org.au>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Fri, Jun 3, 2011 6:43 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] 7 of Easter 1 Pet 5


Friends,
I was waiting to get Charles' posting of the Readings.  I note that the 
Australian Anglican lectionary for the epistle overlaps the RCL this week - 
we have 1 Peter 5.  So here are a few thoughts on which to build a sermon.
Howard
____________________________________________________________________________________

*    Over the 6 weeks of the Easter period we have been letting Peter tell 
us how we can make good use of the Resurrection of Jesus today.
+    Well, this is the last Sun we will be reading from Peter's letter,
    and the last piece of advice he gives us is "be humble".
+    Did you realise that humility opens up a whole new powerful way of 
life?
+    Sadly there are not too many people who appreciate this kind of advice; 
Peter says:
    -    "everyone should be humble towards everyone else".
+    Too many people are fond of saying to other people something like: "do 
what I say, because I know best."
+    Now of course it's true that some people do know more about
    some things than other people do; that's not the problem;
    -    e.g. there are lots of people who know more about history, or
        about medicine, or about motor mechanics, than I do.
+    But the Bible teaches us today that the important thing is
    not what we know, but what we do about what we know: "be humble about 
it".
+    When we do that we are able to be of great help to other people,
    -    in fact we are able to help people to tap into God's mighty
        power, the power which raised Jesus from the dead.
+    By being humble we can help people deal with the most awful
    problems in their life.
+    Peter explains it by saying that when we’re humble, - when we
    don't try to push other people around, - we will in fact realise
    that all our knowledge comes not from us, but from God.
+    And then being free from pride we can help people realise that
    God really does care about us, that God really does help us live
    life, in all its ups and downs;
    -    and if God really cares about us then we can safely handle all our 
worries,
         not expecting that they will be removed.
+    You see, when we stop being proud, and instead be humble,
    we have no need to try to push people around and make them
    do things, because we realise we don’t know all the facts.
+    And if we are like that, it's not nearly so hard for others to
    believe that God doesn't make people do things, either.

*    I guess most of us have probably had the experience of being pushed 
around, and told what to do.
+    Some of us may have been very deeply hurt by those experiences;
    -    and because of that it can be hard to reckon that God cares about 
us.
+    But when we meet someone who's humble towards us,
    someone who, even though they may know a lot of stuff about
    life and about us, yet treats us with respect, then it's easier to
    hand our worries over to the caring God.
+    So out of all this there are at least two lessons for us:
    -    (1) If you are weighed down by some problem or other, let
        God care for you and lead you through it: follow God’s leading.
    -    (2) If you are humble towards other people you will be doing
        an awful lot to help them realise what God is really like;
    -    it’s a very healing experience to be treated with respect and
        understanding, when you are feeling raw and tender.
+    God does care about people; God wants to help people to
    be "complete, steady, strong and firm", as Peter says;
    -    in other words God doesn’t keep beating us over the head
        and tell us what awful sinners we are, but God loves us into 
wholesomeness.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith
Retired Anglican Priest
Orange NSW
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 



 
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