Catcher in the Rye

I can't always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, ....

(Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger p. 130)

Not like the others

"One Of These Things (Is Not Like The Others) One of these things is not like the others, 

One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others 

By the time I finish my song?" 

They used to sing that on the children's programme Sesame Street. There'd be three red balloons and one blue or three tools and a shoe say, three birds and a frog, etc. Now when it comes to being a Christian then we are the thing that is not like the others, the one thing that doesn't belong. This doesn't mean that we should cultivate looking weird - wearing dated clothing or talking in a strange voice - but it does mean that our outlook has to be different.

Messiah the Hope of Israel

If you watch sport then one of the things you look for is an individual or a team that is invincible – that win everything. 

The “old invincibles” were the Preston Northend football team of 1888-89 who won all their games in league and cup that season. It has been also used for teams like Arsene Wenger's Arsenal in 2003-04 and in Scotland Glasgow Celtic in 2016-17. 

Do you know the term the great white hope? The expression was originally used in the early 20th Century when the heavyweight boxing champion was an African American called Jack Johnson. He seemed invincible and people wondered if they would ever see a white man as champion again. 

It doesn't happen so much in politics these says but there was a time when people were looking for someone who could fix everything. 

Now Jesus is our champion. He is our Saviour if we trust in him. He is the hope of Israel. By nature we are without hope and without God in this world but he has come and if we trust in him, there is hope. Trust in him today.

I am the greatest

I knew I had him in the first round. Almighty God was with me. I want everyone to bear witness, I am the greatest! I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned 22 years old. I must be the greatest. I showed the world. I talk to God everyday. I know the real God. I shook up the world, I'm the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest! I can't be beat!

These words were spoken back in 1964 by the man then known as Cassius Clay. He later changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Many years later he modified his statement to say "Allah is the Greatest. I'm just the greatest boxer."

It is an interesting question as to who is the greatest - in boxing, in football, in other sports; or in science or business or whatever. In Matthew 18:1 this sort of question is raised and to it Jesus gives a striking answer and an important conclusion.

Wide door, narrow door

Let's get the picture in Matthew 7:13, 14 clear in our minds first. We are thinking probably of gates into a walled city. Think of a large gate and a small gate. Or think of a narrow gap between two mountains. Perhaps a turnstile or a kissing gate, if you know what that is, is the most helpful to think of. Or do you know what a wicket gate is? A small door within a large door. You used to see people coming out of prison coming through such a door.

The one door is a wide door. It is easily entered. It needs no thought and can easily be found. This gate or door stands for all of life outside Christ. By nature we have all come through the wide gate. You don’t have to find it you just stream in with all the rest.

The point about the other door is that it is a narrow one. The first steps in religion are difficult. To get through a narrow gate you need to leave all your baggage behind and squeeze through.

The gate is not only narrow but it is not obvious - few even find it. That is to say that, in one sense, it is not easy even to understand how to be a Christian. Unless it is revealed to a person, there is no hope. Thought and effort are necessary.

Haven't you spent enough time ... ?

1 Peter 4:3

What do you think of the idea of spending two years making phone calls to people who aren't in? It doesn't sound attractive. According to a management study, however, that's how long the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, in a lifetime we spend six months waiting for the traffic light to turn green and another eight months dealing with junk mail. It's easy to waste time. Don't waste any more on doing what pagans do.

Acrobats, Dads, swimming and new skills

It is important for people to abandon their trust in their riches and come to Christ but it is not impossible for God to save them. He can change a man, he can transform him. Think of Saul of Tarsus. Our hearts are in his hands. The things impossible with men are possible with God! By his grace he can transform even the most hopeless case. All that is required is to despair of self and to look only to him. That is what counts.

Have you ever seen acrobats at the circus? Learning to be an acrobat is partly about the need to learn to rely totally on your partner.

I heard a story of a man and his son who went out into the countryside one day to climb in the cliffs. The man tells how suddenly he heard a voice from above him yelling "Hey Dad! Catch me!" He says

I turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at me. He had jumped and then yelled "Hey Dad!" I became an instant circus act, catching him. We both fell to the ground. For a moment after I caught him I could hardly talk.

When I found my voice again I gasped in exasperation: "Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???"

He responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure ... because you're my Dad." His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. He could live life to the hilt because I could be trusted.

If we only see that God can be trusted then we will trust in him.

Or think of swimming. You know that to swim you have to trust that the water will keep you up. Some find that easy but some find it difficult to believe. My father was a keen swimmer and most of his friends enjoyed swimming as teenagers. He had one friend, however, who never could swim until he made a trip to the Dead Sea and learned there. As you know, the Dead Sea is very salty and so it is easier to swim there because the water really does hold you up as will any body of water to some extent. God will certainly uphold you if you will simply trust him.

To gain any new skill you need to listen to what the instructor says - the piano teacher or the football coach or whatever. If you do what the Lord says you can come to faith.

God alone can change you - you can’t change yourself. So look to him alone. The question is not ‘Am I elect?’ but ‘Am I relying entirely and only on Jesus?’ One reason why poor people and children often seem more ready to come to Christ is that they have so little to lose. Of course, some who are rich are saved. part of the reason is that they learn not to rely on their wealth.