Stir-up Sunday

(Is. 10.20-23)

Today is 'Stir-up' Sunday. Have you bought the ingredients for your Christmas pudding yet?

It's a day when many of us get a sinking feeling, as we realize that there are only 20-odd shopping days to Christmas, and the list of things that need to be done seems endless.

Jan tells me that at school, things are hotting up with the extra work for their Christmas preparations. There's new displays to make, nativity plays to rehearse, and Christmas fairs to organise.

In town the shops are getting busier...

People are indeed getting stirred up, ...but are we getting stirred up for the right reasons?

Although the name 'Stir up' Sunday has come to be associated with stirring the ingredients for Christmas puddings, ...as you know, that's not where it originally comes from.

Instead it comes from the first few words of the collect which we prayed earlier:

Stir up, O Lord,

the wills of your faithful people;

Today, we are thinking about asking God to stir us spiritually.

When preparing sermons and services during the Christmas season, David and I often are often mindful of the many people on the fringes of our church, ...those who come only once or twice a year, ...and those who will be coming for the first time.

We often encourage people like that just to stop for a moment, and to think about the real meaning of Christmas, ...encouraging them to take a first step of faith.

But the sermon this morning is not directed at new-comers, ...but to you who come week by week. God's faithful people, as the collect puts it, ...for at times we too need to take stock. To stop, ...to listen, ...to reflect on our lives. ...and if necessary, to ask God to stir us up.

At this time of year I always take my car in for it's MOT. It's not something that I enjoy doing, ...I'm always worried that they're going to discover something serious which'll cost an arm and a leg.

But, deep down I know that it's a good thing that cars have a safety check every year.

When our children were younger we took them for their health checks at 8 months and 18 months. Once again, it was something that we recognised the importance of doing.

Well, perhaps every now and again we need with a spiritual check-up. ...A spiritual MOT.

But before thinking about how we might do this, let's first consider the importance of doing so.

Our theme this week is the Remnant of Israel, ...and it's a theme which reminds us how easy it is for God's people to go off the rails.

According to my dictionary, the word remnant means:

"That which is left after the removal of the larger part."

As a child I remember my parents talking about a remnant sale, which was held on the last day of every month in a large department store.

And there they sold the last pieces of fabric which were left at the end of a roll.

It's a tragic fact that there have been times in the history of Israel, and of the church, ...that God's people have gone so far from what he wanted them to be, that he has had to remove most of them, and only a small remnant has remained.

The idea of a remnant began way back in the days of Moses. The people of Israel had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, but God was about to lead them into the promised land.

They had been given the Ten Commandments, and the other laws, ...and Moses warns the people not to become corrupt, or to worship anything other that God. If you do, he said,

"The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will service among the nations to which the LORD will drive you." (Dt. 4.27)

A few hundred years passed by, and then Isaiah gives God's people a similar warning. Because of their great wickedness, foreign armies would come and destroy them. Unless they repented, God's own people would be destroyed.

...but they wouldn't be totally destroyed, ...a remnant would survive. As we heard in our Old Testament reading:

"Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return".

(Is. 10.22)

And as we know, that's exactly what happened.

The people of Israel suffered greatly, first at the hands of the Assyrian Empire, and then the Babylonian Empire.

Around 600 BC, the king surrendered Jerusalem to Nebuchadrezzar, (the king of Babylonian Empire), and the cream of the population were deported to Babylon.

Nebuchadrezzar appointed a puppet king in Jerusalem, but when he revolted some 8 years later, the Babylonian armies came back. There was a siege for about 2 years, but then the walls of Jerusalem were breached, ...and the city, including the Temple, was completely destroyed. Even more people were taken into exile.

But that wasn't the end of the story.

God's people stuck together, (and incidentally, it was while they were in exile that they first called 'Jews').

Some 60 years later, the Babylonian Empire was itself defeated by the growing Persian Empire. The Persians were more tolerant than the Babylonians, and allowed the Jews to return back to Jerusalem.

But by then many of them had settled in Babylon, ...and only some of them, ...a remnant, ever returned.

That's where the phrase, "The Remnant of Israel" first comes from. But it's a theme that has recurred time and time again since then, ...and that's why it's so important for us to think about today.

Most of us don't learn the lessons of the past.

The pattern goes something like this...

- It begins with complacency. I'm not talking about those on the fringes, but those who consider themselves to be God's faithful people.

- It's a wonderful thing to know that we belong to God, ...but if were not careful, that very fact can make us complacent.

- And when we're complacent, we can slowly drift off track. Our relationship with God can grow cold, ...our attitudes towards others can become less loving, ...our behaviour can slowly change.

- Of course God sends us warnings, ...but we either don't hear them, ...or assume that they don't apply to us.

- Finally God has to act, ...sometimes with devastating results.

See how this pattern repeated itself during the time of Jesus.

The Jews had again become complacent. That's why God sent John the Baptist to call the people to repent.

In particular, the most religious people of all, (the Pharisees), felt sure that they were doing what God wanted. They thought that as long as they carried out their worship in the Temple, God would be happy ...but Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy in the rest of their lives.

Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for, ...but they just couldn't see it.

The vast majority of the Jews ended up rejecting Jesus, ...only a tiny remnant believed in him.

40 years later Jerusalem was again destroyed, this time by the Roman Army. And the Temple has never been rebuilt to this day.

(Pause)

St. Paul warns, that what happened to the Jews can happen to Christians too.

It can happen to us, ...those of us in Binley who consider ourselves to be God's faithful people.

That's why, from time to time, it's useful to have a spiritual check-up, to see if we are still alive!

A hospital administrator was startled to see a patient fleeing down the hall out of the operating room, his loose operating gown was flapping in the breeze behind him.

He stopped the patient, and politely asked him why he was running away.

With startled eyes, the patient replied, "The nurse has just said, 'Be brave! An appendectomy is quite simple'."

The administrator said, "Well, so what? ...It is quite simple. She was simply trying to comfort you."

The patient replied, "She wasn't talking to me, she was talking to the doctor!".

Well I can assure you that this spiritual check-up is very simple. I've got three questions to ask us, (and I'm asking them of myself too).

There'll be short pause between each one, ...but can I suggest that you also use the time you are waiting to receive communion, to also listen to God.

Perhaps you might like to close your eyes.

When a child has a health check, they check to see that he is growing.

We are the children of God. No matter how long we've been a Christian, we still need to keep growing.

Have you grown in your faith during the past two years?

(Pause)

When a child has a health check, they check his hearing and speech.

We are the children of God. No matter how long we've been a Christian, we need to regularly talk and listen to our heavenly Father.

Do you have a healthy prayer life?

(Pause)

When a child has a health check, they check his mobility.

We are the children of God. Together we are the Body of Christ, we each have a part to play.

Are you playing your part in the Body of Christ?

(Pause)

Now, having completed your health check, you feel in need of a tonic, I have a very simple remedy.

I'm not going to ask you to try harder, ...because in the long term that won't do any good. We don't gain spiritual life by doubling our efforts, but by allowing the Holy Spirit to change us from within.

It's as He works in our hearts, so we find the will to do the things he wants.

So all I ask is that we take seriously todays collect, asking God to stir us up, and to renew our spiritual life.

After a moments quiet, perhaps you would like to join me as we pray again the collect for today.

(pause)

Stir up, O Lord,

the wills of your faithful people;

that richly bearing the fruit of good works,

they may by you be richly rewarded;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.