Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Ephesians 5.15-20; John 6.51-58

I'm not usually given to making judgements in public about the state of society at large as I've got to the age now where I might just fall into the category of 'grumpy old man'. But the reading from Ephesians this morning reminded me of a news item I saw this week about Leeds City Council's measures to try and stem the culture of binge drinking in the town. If you saw it you'll remember that in clubs and pubs that want to sell cheap alcohol there has to be a queueing system just like at the post office or bank where only one at a time can step up to the bar. They can order just two drinks at one time and they are watched by six burly door keepers and two police officers, paid for by the club proprietor. It really made me rather 'grumpy' to say the least because I personally believe that it's not the responsibility of club and pub owners, nor the responsibility of the local council to take any measures to stop people drinking themselves into an early grave. It is solely the responsibility of the individuals themselves. We live in a society these days that's made it acceptable for individuals not to bear any responsibility towards themselves or their neighbours. 'You just live as you like and the council or the government or somebody else will pick up the tab' is the watchword. And if there's one thing that's wrong with our culture these days it's that.

Now that's as far as I'm going with my commentary on today's society. But it also drew me back to how our society at large has perceived Christianity, or anything to do with God, for a long time, as being simply a set of do's and don'ts and mainly - recalling the 10 Commandments - don'ts. But you see, it's not about do's and don'ts, Chrisitanity and God are about life and death - literally. Let me show it to you this way; and it bears very much upon what I've been saying over the last few weeks, for those of you who have been here, about these parts of St. John's gospel that we are reading.

Here we see the Jews getting things completely confused, and it was from that confusion that they drew their conclusion that Jesus was a heretic. In just the same way, people outside the Church draw conclusions about the Christian faith - because they are confused about it, and especially about the very basics of it. The readings this morning aren't about what we eat or drink, they are about our life, and on what basis we live it.

If I asked everybody in Church today what you want most out of life you'll all probably say happiness or peace, above even lots of money because even though we know that money can make life a lot easier and more desirable and a lot happier in lots of ways, it's not in the end the key to what's good about life. No, happiness, peace, health, those are the things that you WILL choose. And those are what God and Christianity are about. And this is how I know.

When Moses was leading the people through the wilderness, after he'd received the commandments from God, there came a time, after many trials when God said to them 'look, if you do what I've laid down, a good, happy, prosperous and blessed life is guaranteed. If you don't do what I've laid down, the opposite will happen; you'll be in all sorts of misery all your life. So you can say that on the one hand there's life and on the other there's death. But it's up to you to choose.' That's how God laid it out before the people. And then he said something that was the key to the whole thing. He said 'you choose'. But actually, he was so for his people that he tried to persuade them in one particular direction and he said - Deuteronomy 30.19 'I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your desendants may live.' So you see, God put the responsibility on the shoulders of each and every one of the people. 'You choose'. One way life, the other way death. And that was it.

Each Sunday there's an appointed Old Testament reading and this week's tells of the time when God asks Solomon what he desires. God says, he can have anything he wants. And Solomon chooses to have wisdom, understanding between good and evil so that he could govern the people wisely. Again, God put the responsibility firmly on Solomon's shoulders. 'You choose' he said. And we read that the result of his choice wasn't only the gift of wisdom but he became the wealthiest man alive in very many respects.

St. Paul in our New Testament reading this morning isn't just having a go at binge drinking. He's pointing out that behaviour like that, is unwise and in reality it's death dealing, one way or another. It's a bad choice. And if you want a life that gives you good things then you need to make different choices. You need to take the responsibility of making better choices.

God, and Jesus show us and model for us a way of life that leads to health, wealth and prosperity of so may different kinds, a way of life that is joyful and peaceful in ways beyond our wildest imagining. But one that is available if we simply make the right choice. And then having made it, sticking to it, in faith and in trust that it is the right way, because by the mere fact of having to have faith means that these things don't come all that easily, but they do come, because God himself says, 'Ask and you WILL receive, seek and you WILL find, knock and the door WILL be opened.' And having made the choice we need to believe it through thick and thin and that's where most fall down, through lack of trust.

So you see it's not Christianity that brings war and mayhem and death and disruption as has been lied about down the centuries, it's simply peoples' bad choices and lack of faith. And the choice is yours, God hands that choice to you in every minute of every single day of your life. 'You choose!'