It is amazing the birds that were about - more pelicans than I have seen together for a while (at one point we counted twenty-two!), seagulls, of course, egrets, ibises, kookaburras, crows, galahs and many others. Some, no doubt have been driven east by the continuing drought.
I expect that all camping families have their own camping stories to tell - like the time we drove all the way from Brisbane to Girraween (three hours) to discover that the poles for the tent had been left behind! I wonder if you have ever had the problem of the tide of water rising in your ice box and getting into the bread. You look sadly at the sogginess and wonder if your creative cook can turn it into something palatable and nutritious - or perhaps it will have to be thrown out!
Then consider the theme for today's service - from Ecclesiastes 11.1-2,
The campers among us think back to our own disasters and wonder what sort of advice that may be!
We turn to the Good News Bible and wonder if it is the same verse. Listen to this - "Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit. Put your investments in several places - many places, in fact - because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world." This reflects the view of many scholars over the past hundred years that the primary reference of the words is to the sea-borne corn trade. That takes the mystery away from it, but is it what it means? It takes away the sense of reckless commitment and replaces it with a calculated business judgement.
Again and again we hear Jesus stating a spiritual principle so totally at odds with the reasoned calculations of his (and our) age. For example, he says, "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:38, RSV).
A striking story comes to us from the Moslem world. Mohammed, son of Hassan, had been in the habit of throwing loaves of bread into a river. An adopted son of Caliph Mutewekkel, who had escaped drowning by climbing on a rock, found the bread floating by and was able to preserve his life. Mohammed tells this story as proof of a proverb that he had learned as a boy: "Do good, cast thy bread upon the waters, and one day thou shalt be rewarded."
Even with Middle Eastern flatbread, it is hard to imagine it surviving for very long in water! My own conviction is that "Cast your bread upon the waters…" is like our expression, "Burn your boats (or your bridges) behind you…" Make a commitment in which you cannot and will not go back. No longer will you depend on your old securities. No longer will you say, "What's in it for me? What can I get out of this?"
Jesus is calling us to a wholehearted commitment.
"But seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness," he says, "and all these things (the physical needs that fill so much of our lives and thinking) shall be yours as well" (Matthew 6:33 RSV). As the Good News Bible puts it, "Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom…"
We hear Jesus saying to a would-be follower, "Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62, GNB).
There was a song we used to sing -
Though none may join me, I still will follow…
No turning back…
The cross before me, the world behind me…
No turning back…"
Jesus Christ came and lived within our human history so that we might know life in all its fullness. He lived and died and rose again to overcome the barrier of sin which has blocked our relation with God.
For the past thirty years this All Age Church School has existed for the purpose of enabling people to see their need to repent of sin and to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
Have you heard the call of Jesus, "Follow me!"? Have you responded with your own "Yes, Lord!"? And then?
If you once decided to follow Jesus but have turned back, then know that he is still calling you! Even if, like the prodigal son, you have gotten yourself into a far country and wasted your life on prostitutes and wild parties, he is still waiting to receive you back home! Or if you have lived a clean respectable life but have felt fulfilled and self-sufficient with no need for God, then please hear his call - come home!
That response to his call is a beginning point. But we cast our bread upon the waters - we burn our boats behind us - in a commitment to learn and to grow and to keep on growing spiritually throughout our lives.
Remember the story Jesus told about the sower (Matthew 13.1-9)? Someone has said it should be called the parable of the soils. In every case it is the same sower and the same seed. The difference is in the soil. What is the purpose of the sower? Does he mean to feed the birds? Would a real-life sower intentionally drop seed on the rocky ground or toss some seed among the thorns? Each grain has the potential for a good crop! The purpose of the sower is a good crop from each grain - at least thirty times as much, possibly sixty, preferably a hundred! Jesus is not talking about farming practice. He is saying that each person - however unlikely! - is being given a chance to respond to the Word of God. The Word of God has the same potential within each of us to enable us to grow and mature and to be vital Christians in this world. It is only in our response to the Word that we come to be compared with the pathway, the rocky ground, the thorny patch, the good soil…
There was another song we used to sing to express this awareness of our need for the Word and Spirit of God in our lives. Its reference-point is another of the stories Jesus told -
Will you commit yourself to learn and grow? Take up the regular practice of prayer and reading the Word. Follow the Scripture Union (or other) notes. Join a home group. Become part of the Adult Department of the All Age Church School. Be a regular part of the worship life of the church.
Peter wrote, "Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18, GNB). Grace and knowledge - experiencing change in our personal lives because of all the Lord has done for us and knowing and applying his principles to our lifestyle.
Cast your bread upon the waters … Whatever you have done in the past, this time make a commitment to grow that you won't go back on!
Jesus wants to forgive you and make you new. Jesus wants to enable you to grow as a person - it's why he gives his Holy Spirit to those who believe. But he also wants your life to be available for his will in this world.
We recall what Jesus said to Peter and Andrew - "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mark 1.17, RSV). Have you ever stopped to think why Jesus wanted to make them "fishers of men"? Was it just so that they would have something to do, something to make them feel comfortable? No! It wasn't "busy work"! He wanted them to be fishers of men because he wasn't going to be about to do it himself! Why is the church the Body of Christ? Because you can't do much in this world without a body!
Remember believing Thomas? He wasn't going to believe that Jesus was alive just on the say-so of the other ten disciples. Why? Because he was a doubter? Not at all! Do you know what Thomas said when Jesus announced they were returning to Bethany where Lazarus had died? "Let us all go with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!" (John 11.16) - no concept of the great miracle that was about to happen, but a total commitment to follow Jesus, no matter what!
And now the others are saying that Jesus is alive! I was prepared to die with Jesus, but in the event I ran away in fright like all the others. No! I've got to be sure, because, if it is true, it is going to take all of my life! And… it is true - "My Lord and my God!" (John 20.28).
Another fancy title for Jesus? No! A commitment to serve him! A life bowed down to his will!
As Charles Wesley put it (AHB 487) -
to serve the present age,
my calling to fulfil:
O may it all my powers engage
to do my Master's will!
That's it! My calling - your calling, our calling - is to do our Master's will! O may it all our powers engage!
The words of Jesus are very strong here - "Not everyone who calls me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do" (Matthew 7:21, GNB).
Cast your bread upon the waters… Burn your boats behind you! Call Jesus your Lord - meaning that from henceforth it is his will that is your prime consideration, the goal of your life. Seek to know his will - in general and in particular. He has something for you to do within the life of his body. Be willing to hear his call and to do his work. He calls us all to live for him, to be his people, to be his witnesses out in the life of the world. Don't put your light under a bowl, but let it shine out for him (Matthew 5.14-16)!
We can't do it alone! We can only do it because of what he has done for us! We can only do it because he is with us always! We can only do it because of the enabling power of his Spirit within us!
In December 1983 we spent a few days of some Long Service Leave in the Mount Buffalo area in Victoria. Unknown to us, it happened to be the time of the national hang-gliding championships. We saw the hang-gliders being assembled. Then a young fellow walked towards the edge of the cliff. A man there checked that he had his altimeter, his two-way radio, his map, his parachute… Then he lay down so that his harness could be checked. At last the man in front of him said, "Clear!" and moved aside. The young man took a few quick steps forward and was lifted into the air before he even reached the cliff's edge. There was a thousand-foot sheer drop and another two thousand feet to the closest safe landing. He had a mission for the day - to navigate to a particular road junction, photograph it and then keep gliding to the furthest distance possible, tracked by his ground crew.
I decided there and then that hang-gliding wasn't for me! And yet… that total commitment, that faith - and the warning to be sure of what you are trusting!
If you have heard the call of Jesus Christ this morning - whether for the first time in your life or once again - then respond to him today, cast your bread upon the waters, make a no-turning-back commitment of your life to him. No! It's not irrational to do that! You will receive back far more than you could ever give!
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