So Much More — Sermon by Rev. Greg Malley

and may the words of my mouth and

meditations of my heart be acceptable in

your sight my Lord my rock and my

redeemer good morning have a seat

please in the winter of 1982

I made the choice to accept Jesus Christ

as my personal Savior and Lord the time

is memorable for me because it had never

occurred to me that this was a decision

I needed to make you see in

1963 I entered the Bishop's Latin School

a school exclusively for young Roman

Catholic boys who wanted to become

Catholic

priests we went to Eucharist daily

confess s weekly we studied classical

greek latin systematic and various

theologies in various forms

rigorously but in my junior year I

decided that I was not given the gift of

Chastity and

celibacy and I did not want them in my

future I wanted to be called daddy

rather be called

father so obviously I couldn't stay in

that school and become a Catholic

priest although I left the school I was

still very dedicated in my prayer life

and solved in my belief in my Triune God

I only tell you this because it helps

set the scene for my

shock some time passed and I was happily

married father of two daughters eagly

involved in the Episcopal church trying

to bring younger people into a

congregation whose average age was about

80

so one winter night when Joan and I were

involved in a home study group our young

priest challenged me by asking if I had

accept Jesus as my personal Savior and

Redeemer I was taken aback I knew that

Jesus was the Incarnate Son of God and

my redeemer whose sacrifice on the cross

had atoned for my sins what was this

personal savior hang up this guy

had we have talked calmly at some length

he finally explained that Jesus wanted a

personal commitment and a relationship

with me and he asked me that if I truly

believe that Jesus was who he said he

was who was holding me

back or would it take from my head

knowledge to transform and become heart

knowledge as

well I went home asking myself that same

question what was my hang up if I I

really knew that Jesus was the son of

God who died so that my sins would be

forgiven why not move to the next step

invite him into my life and enter into a

very real personal relationship with him

so I did just that and I couldn't help

but wonder why none of my Jesuit priests

instructors had ever encouraged me to do

that I had spent years under their

demanding teaching and they had never

appointed me to the path of a deeper

Journey with Jesus and I've come to

believe that it's possibly because they

were as unfamiliar with it as I

was I recently read an email from Dr

Scott Rhoden of the center for stward

leaders it was the answer to my prayers

and a focus and inspiration for this

sermon as Dr Scott Rhoden described his

and my experience this

way through a convergence of pure grace

of God God a new focus on both scripture

and the writings and teachings of the

Saints and the fellowship of a small

band of fellow

Travelers I've discovered a journey I

never knew existed the words that best

describe this journey for me and I hope

for all of us are so much

more so much more there is so much more

to following Jesus than I'd ever

realized or imagined so much more grace

so much more love so much more peace

there is so much more intimacy with the

Triune God so much more joy in

prayer so much more power to love my

enemies and so much more freedom to

become lost in the love of of Christ is

one of the lines that my favorite Kyo

prison ministry song say a little more

of Jesus and so much less of

me this new Focus for my life comes as a

result of realizing that the life of

following Jesus begins with so much less

so much less of me so much less of my

agenda so much less of my

identity so much less of my

pride so much of much less of my need to

perform and produce so much less of my

ownership of the things that only belong

to

God so much less of my superficial

understanding understand in of what it

means to follow Jesus in short so much

less of

Greg as I thought further instruction

following my acceptance of Jesus my

Savior I came across an author Brandon

Manning a former Holy Ghost father who

had left the priesthood and written

several books The Lion The

Lamb the regam muffin gospels and I read

them regularly in this Advent devotional

Brandon Manning recounts a conversation

between St Francis and brother

Leo brother Leo is

struggling with the desire to be holy in

his own eyes and fr St Francis responds

Holiness Holiness is not a Personal

Achievement it's an emptiness you

discover in yourself instead of

resenting it you accept it and it

becomes the free space where the Lord

can create a new hoard nothing for

yourself sweep your house clean sweep

out even the attic even the nagging

painful consciousness of your past

renounce everything that is heavy even

the weight of your sins see only The

Compassion the infinite patience and The

Tender Love Of Christ Jesus is Lord that

suffices now in our Ephesians reading

today we reassured especially in the

last few

verses God's purpose was that we Jews

who were the first to trust in Christ

would bring praise and glory to God and

now you Gentiles have also heard the

truth the good news that God Saves

you and when you believed in Christ he

identified you as his own by giving you

the Holy Spirit whom you promised long

ago the spirit is God's

guarantee that he will give us the

inheritance he promised and that he has

purchased us to be his own people he did

this so that we would praise and glorify

him now as a young Roman Catholic man

I'd never heard of the Westminster

catechism it was way too Presbyterian

way too

prestant so my wonderful wife shared the

first question and answerers to why we

were what is the chief end of man man's

Chief end is to glorify God and enjoy

him

forever that sounded

perfect John Marc Conor in a book called

practicing the way typically says it

this way contrary to what many assume

Jesus did not invite people to convert

to Christianity he didn't even call them

to become Christians he invited people

to follow him and to Apprentice under

him into a whole new way of living to be

transformed Karma continues there was a

way of life modeled personally by Jesus

himself that is far beyond anything else

on offer in this world it can open you

up to God's presence and Power in the

ways most people only dream of then he

offers this invitation we talk a lot

about the call to follow and believe in

Jesus to put your trust TR and

confidence in him to lead you to life

this is good and fitting but it must

also be said that Jesus believes in

you don't forget Jesus believes in you

he believes that you and I can become

his apprentices starting right where you

are you can follow him into a life in

the Kingdom that fulfills your deepest

desires regardless of where you are on

your journey with Jesus there is so much

more I'm slowly coming to learn that the

journey to follow Jesus is a process of

be turned inside out upside down

unfolded and undone it leaves no place

in my life that is untouched or hidden

it doesn't ask for equal space in my

life with everything else it demands to

become my life com's description of

being an apprentice unto Jesus means

watching what he does practic it under

his guiding hand and then let him live

in and through

us I used to think that following Jesus

required reordering our priorities from

self career marriage family God two God

marriage family career

itself I'm coming to see that

apprenticing unto Jesus means the life

has but one essential priority intimacy

with the Triune God when that

relationship has preeminence over our

entire life everything else is filled

with richness and

purpose it is the fruit promised by

Jesus to those who would seek ye first

the kingdom of

God apprenticing unto Jesus transform us

transforms us into our deepest truest

self the person God created us to be the

M moment of our

Inception the person created us to be

from the creation of the world it is a

process of being formed into the people

in love in

Christ Rob Robert molland in his book

invitation to a journey describes what

it means to be transformed into the

image of Christ often people have the

idea that the image of Christ is

something alien to human

beings something strange that God wants

to add to our life something imposed

from outside that really doesn't fit Us

in reality however the image of Christ

is the Fulfillment of the deepest

hungers of the human heart for

wholeness he goes on to describe

spiritual formation as the great

reversal from being the subject who

controls all other things to being a

person who is shaped by the presence

purpose and power of God in all

things this transformation is not a

withdrawn private cocooning process it

is transformation to a life lived for

others the self-empty that leads to

Christ in filling also leads to selfless

service and unconditional

love for me the so much more aspect of

this journey has been experienced most

profoundly in the idea of finding Union

not only with Christ but within the

presence of the Trinity itself is taking

seriously Paul's admonition in Ephesians

we've been raised with Christ and seated

with him in the Heavenly places in

Christ Jesus Ephesians 2:6 seated with

Ephesians 2:6

Christ in the intimate Fellowship of the

triun god is an overwhelming

idea but it's one that the great Saints

of the church all understood and

experienced it is our loving God's

invitation to be with him in a far more

profound way than I have ever known or

experienced previously

yet is what my soul has thirsted for

ever since I accepted Jesus as my

personal Savior and Lord in our Bible

study group we've been reading and

discussing ji Packer's work knowing

god and I've come to realize that God in

all three persons has been waiting for

me to draw closer in real intimate

contact with him ever since I accepted

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior

patiently waiting all the these years

for me to approach communicate connect

and to know my gracious father and God

far more deeply and richly as he had

always

intended this opportunity is

intoxicating and wonderful and I eagerly

want to draw nearer and know my father

more

intimately now we just celebrated

Christmas when God gave us the Ultimate

Gift the Incarnation God With Us how

does that audacious truth become our

lived reality in

2025 here is a New Year's resolution

worth

considering I believe it starts when we

lose ourselves more deeply sweep out our

atcts surrender our lives down to the

every second Penny thought attitude pain

and hope so let us set aside everything

else that we plan for 2025 and make this

journey our soul and our Soul's

aspiration Jesus is waiting for each of

us as in Revelation we're told behold I

stand at the door and knock the holy

spirit in the power of transformation

calls to us the Deeper Life in un Union

with God and the astonishing

transformation of our heart mind soul

and strength beckons us let this be the

year when we accept jesus' invitation to

this journey the journey is so much more

more in jesus' name we pray amen