The Most Important Things

Sermon by the Right Rev’d John R. Stephens 

September 15, 2024 

Proverbs 1: 20-33; Psalm 19; James 3: 1-12; Matthew 8: 27-38 

What if the most important things in life are not seen as the most important things in life?  What if we all pretended that the keys to life are those things found linked to our credit card, our sarcasm and our self-centredness?  What if we all got caught up in chasing after things that are not really all that significant but somehow we are told that they are and we just go along with it?  What if?  Well it doesn’t take much of an imagination to know that this is where we are in many parts of this world and we just sort of go along with it so that we don’t make waves or don’t make too much of a fuss.  But it is a little strange I have to say, especially as I get caught up in it as much as any of you.   

We are currently in the Season of Creation in the Anglican Church and many other churches as well.  A time set aside in our Church’s year to stop and say, “Hey, why are we doing all this?” And the most uncomfortable thing is that there is really no great answer that brings a lot of satisfaction and sense of warmth and compassion.  The truth is a little more ugly than that.  And we all know it but somehow we just sort of act like it is something else.  I know all about it too, we all do. 

The planet is warming at an alarming rate.  Forests fires have caused evacuations all around us and even with the destruction of much of the town of Jasper, we still sort of act like there is nothing that we can do.  In places like Iceland they have seen a huge increase in tourists because many want to visit sites that are now labelled as last chance tourism1 because they are quickly disappearing as the glaciers melt and what once was will soon no longer be.  The pope recently visited Papua New Guinea which has been exploited for its natural resources and is also confronting rising sea levels.  Pope Francis said, while he was there, “the climate crisis has become an obstacle to the growth and cohabitation of people.”   

We know all this.  We have heard it for a while.  But still we carry on with polluting and destroying and causing extinction and the warming of the oceans.  It is killing species all around us, including us human beings.  There is a strange brokenness to all of this where we know what needs to happen but the world community is simply not willing or able to move in that direction with any urgency.  Other factors ae given much more priority: profits, maintaining a certain lifestyle in certain parts of the planet, a desire to hold onto power and probably a few other things.  We all know this, we have seen it for many years now.  And yet we gather here in this beautiful church and we pause to listen for God’s word to us and continue to seek God’s voice… and yet it is not all that hard to hear it. 

From the book of Proverbs this morning we heard these words.  They seem rather striking to us in 2024.  See if you think so as well.  “Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.  At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?  How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?’”  They can be rather hard-hitting words but we also know that God is calling us to more, calling us to a different perspective, calling us to live into what we believe about God and live into loving our neighbours as ourselves.  But really doing it.   

Another opportunity to consider God’s word, God’s voice was found in the gospel reading and once again I warn you that they are not easy words to hear if we want take them seriously.   

Jesus is on the road when we catch up with him. And as often happens when people are comfortably making pilgrimage together a conversation picks up with no particular beginning, but it can suddenly start to move quite quickly to more significant subject matter.  And so, as they walk, they talk about the weather, the harvest season, the people they had just met, the people they will encounter in Caesarea Philippi.  All of that and probably more.  And then Jesus slips into the conversation, “Who do people say that I am?”  You know kind of like a conversation with a young child in your life, one minute you are discussing the flowers in the garden and then suddenly you are asked about the depth of your faith.  About what is most important.  About how God comes to us.  About the deeper purposes of life instead of just the idle chatter that can take place on the road… which often feels safer to us but misses the key relationships of our lives.  “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked.   

And the disciples probably all looked at each other and kind of mouthed to each other, “Don’t answer that question, it will just cause trouble.”  So they perhaps were quiet for a bit and then threw a few answers back at Jesus.  But they didn’t satisfy.  Jesus was not going to let them off the hook because he wanted them to shift from just thinking about God now and then, to seeking to recognize God in their midst.  God amongst them.  “But who do you say that I am?”  Now they couldn’t dance around it. 

The thing is with Jesus is that he doesn’t just let us sit on the sidelines and admire his words on the pages of our Bible, he wanted it to go much deeper.  So let me throw that question at you.  Who do you say that Jesus is?  And I warn you that you need to be very careful in how you answer that question.  It is a loaded question and intentionally so.  Who do you say that Jesus is?  And like Jesus, I am not looking for some philosophical or long essay kind of answer.  Who do you say Jesus is?  Your answer to that question will impact your life.  Guaranteed. 

Because Jesus went on to say what was going to happen to those who answered the question with any purpose and determination.  And it was not pretty.  It was not for the squeamish.  It was not for the half-hearted follower.  It was not just a casual encounter.  It was about what is at the very core and centre of life.  The things we often ignore or dance around or pretend are not all that important when we know they are the heart and soul of life.  

He said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”   What will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Those are tough words to hear.  We, well most of us, spend a lot time trying to gain the whole world, even if we forfeit our lives.  We get drawn into that a lot.  We lose sight of what is most important, we lose sight of what God is calling of us, we lose sight of loving our neighbour as ourselves.  As we look around this world in a climate emergency this seems pretty clear. 

Jesus was reminding us to stay focused on the true purposes of life.  They are much more centred on love and not economic prosperity or exploiting other people.  But listening for the word of God amongst us.  Psalm 19 phrased it this way:  The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.” 

We have heard that voice beckoning us to come closer.  We have heard that voice in the beauty of this world.  We have heard that voice asking us to not seek to gain the whole world but rather see the wisdom of God around us, amongst us, within us.   

May that light guide us and form us as we seek to live out God’s word in this time of climate emergency.