Grateful for Salvation

So, we think this morning about gratitude and starting with being grateful for the gift

of salvation. Something that I encourage others to do, and indeed I try to encourage myself

to do, although if I'm honest I don't always remember to do it, is to try and keep a written

note of things to be thankful for. And the reason I think particularly that can be helpful, especially

at the end of the day, is to have a notebook by the bedside and to jot down up to three things.

It can be any number you like. One would be fine, but I like to think of three things to be thankful

for in the course of that day. It can be really ordinary mundane things, but things that can

easily be eclipsed in the course of everyday life and all the other things that take over our

thinking processes. And the reason I think it can be particularly helpful to do it at the end of

the day is it means that no matter what else you might have going on in your head right then,

you hit the pillow thinking about those good things to be thankful for. It's about cultivating

an attitude of gratitude. That's good for mental health. It's good for the spirit. And I urge us

all to do it. Sometimes we have to dig quite deep to do it, but usually if we think hard enough,

there is something in the course of that day to be thankful for, even if it is something as basic

as I've made it through this day. But what then about the gift of salvation, about one of those

things to write down? The reason I ask that question is, is there a sense in which it's such a massive

thing? It's so big, it's so all-encompassing, and it doesn't necessarily in an obvious way connect

to the events of that particular day. Is there a sense in which it can kind of like be bypassed,

and we tend to not think of that?

Is there a sense in which we can think it's too big, it's too abstract,

it's too non-specific to the day, that we might not think that that's something at the end of each

day to give thanks for? Well, what I want to think about over these next few minutes is actually why

it's really important that we do stay close to remembering the gift of salvation and being

thankful for it, and also to unpack some of the thinking as to why we might struggle to do that.

You know, one reason why perhaps it can be a challenge is that that theme of salvation,

we can perhaps tend to think, well, that's about eternal life. That's about what happens when we die.

That's about over there, and it feels so distant

that it can seem removed from the right here and the right now.

A number of thoughts in response to that one.

First is this, I don't know if you're familiar with this phrase,

distant elephants. Have you come across that before? It's in time management thinking.

The idea of distant elephants, if you're trying to sort of plan for stuff that's going on in life,

to be aware of the danger of approaching big things that need to be undertaken

in the same way that you might approach a distant elephant. Let me just explain what I mean.

Or rather, what the theory means. Imagine you're standing on the African plains, and you see

some elephants on the distance. They look absolutely tiny when you're a long way off, or they're a long

way off. But imagine yourself walking towards those distant elephants, and very, very gradually,

not suddenly, but gradually and slowly. They're not quite so distant. And then you get to the point

when that elephant's actually looking fairly quite close up. But it happens gradually. And then,

you think, actually, that thing's pretty big. The theory goes that in time management, as we face our

tasks, there will be things that are actually really big tasks. But as they're distant, we don't deal with

them. So they gradually, gradually get closer. And then we realise it's just days away. And that big

thing that we should have dealt with, perhaps months ago, or started to deal with months ago,

is right there, right before us. And it's huge. Now, it's a time management principle.

But it's something to be aware of when it comes to the reality of our human mortality.

And perhaps we are more prone to this the younger that we are. But the reality of dying and death

can seem such a distant one, that we just put it on hold. Perhaps we are bury our head in the sand.

But actually, all the while, we are getting closer to it. We're closer to dying right now than we were

24 hours ago. In fact, sorry to say this, but you're actually closer by a few minutes than you were before I

started speaking. That can sound bleak, and I've seen it as the very opposite of bleak thinking.

But we have to be real. We have to be real and be conscious of our immortality,

of the limited nature of human life. And to know that every single second of every day,

we are stepping that bit closer to the reality of death.

And even if we are more advanced in years, there's the sense in which that reality can just be pushed

away from, because it doesn't seem to connect, perhaps, perhaps with our everyday lives.

Being conscious of the gift of salvation, perhaps in some way starts with being conscious

of our need for that gift of salvation.

That life won't go on forever in the way that we know it. We are limited mortal beings.

And because of the Christian gospel, that doesn't have to be a bleak message.

In fact, it's a message of good news, because we know that we are saved from that.

But let's be really clear. If we're thinking that actually salvation is something that just seems

abstract and removed, because it seems distant, then frankly, we're fooling ourselves.

But let's just take this a little bit deeper, because life, according to the Old and New Testament,

is not actually presented as just in a linear form.

And at the end of that linear sequence towards our death, then that's it.

And then we have eternal life beyond that.

If we think that in our heads that's what it's like, we're probably missing the point.

Because in Scripture, it's more of a sense of that we are continually in the presence of God,

and in the presence of God's eternity.

Think of it like this.

Go right the way back to the very opening of what we refer to as the Old Testament,

the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Genesis,

as it narrates the story of the creation of the world.

And we're told how, in very rich imagery and poetic form,

how God creates the world and brings life, the universe and everything,

into being, and sustains it in being.

And we're told how God speaks to things and brings forth life.

So he speaks to the water that he has created,

and says, let there be fish, and brings forth fish.

He speaks to the earth and to the soil and says,

let there be trees and plants and flowers,

and things that grow, and brings them forth.

When it comes to the bit of the climax of the creation,

where you and I are created, human beings,

mysteriously, it says that God speaks to himself.

God the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit,

and says, let us create human beings in our own image.

So we are created through God speaking to God's self,

and bringing us forth from God's self in God's image.

Now think of it like this.

God speaks into the environment that life depends.

So when God speaks into the water, let there be fish.

If you take a fish out of water, it dies.

If you extract a tree from the soil,

the very thing from which it was called forth, it dies.

Why? Because those are the environments

in which life flourishes for those things.

In the same way, if a human being is not in God,

if we are disconnected from God,

we are removed from that environment

within which we need to flourish to live and to grow.

And so the human being in the scriptures is described,

sorry, the human condition is described

as a life where we are broken,

where we are fragile,

and where ultimately we will die

because we are not in God as we were created.

Of course, that is not the end of the story.

And the gospel says that in fact we are planted back into God,

we are in Christ, we are saved,

we are set free to live.

But when we understand it in those terms,

we can understand how actually what salvation therefore looks like

is not just the end point,

the end of a trajectory of living and dying,

and as though that's where it really begins.

But rather salvation is something that is right now in our lives.

And when you are in Christ,

when you know that you are saved,

when you know that death is actually nothing to be frightened of

because God is there and he has set you free

because of the cross,

the death and the resurrection of Jesus,

you may know that right now,

every breath that you take

is there in Christ and in God.

So salvation,

far from being the end point of a process,

is actually right here and right now.

Let's be thankful for it.

But you know another reason why perhaps we might struggle

to see the obvious nature of salvation

and the reason why to give thanks in our everyday lives,

and this is perhaps a danger for the longer

you may have been a Christian believer,

but the danger is that we become so familiar with the message.

You know, the more times we've read the Bible,

the more times we've listened to sermons

proclaiming the good news of Jesus,

the more songs that we've sung,

the more times we've heard that message,

the more immersed we become within that theme of good news,

such that we can get used to it.

And this is why I think it's a great idea,

the longer you've been a believer,

to hang out with somebody who's new to faith,

because they are a continual reminder,

lest you forget,

of just how stark the contrast is

between not knowing Jesus and knowing Jesus.

Let's tell you a story.

Two friends.

They meet up and one of them's looking really,

really, really, really fed up.

So the other friend says,

what's wrong?

I says, well, it's a long story.

He said, try me.

Well, he said, two weeks ago,

on a Tuesday morning, I get a letter.

I open it up.

It's a letter from a solicitor I've never heard of,

telling me about a relative,

a very distant one that I've never heard of,

who's just died.

He said, I'm sorry to hear that.

He said, well, that's no big deal,

because I've never heard of them.

He said, well, why are you looking so fed up?

He said, the great news is

that they've left me quite a lot of money.

He said, how much money?

He said, £20,000.

Well, he said, that's good news, isn't it?

He said, yeah,

but I haven't finished telling you this story yet.

He said, okay, a week later,

following Tuesday,

how coincidental is that?

I get another letter from the same solicitor.

He said, yeah.

He said, well,

telling me that another,

believe it or not,

another relative

that I've never heard of

has died.

He said, well,

I suppose I'm not really meant to say sorry about that,

because he said, exactly,

I never knew them,

so it doesn't really mean anything to me.

He said, so why is the solicitor

writing to you?

He said, believe it or not,

this solicitor's writing to me

because this other relative

that I've never met

has died,

and they've left me

an even bigger sum of money.

He said, what?

He said, £100,000.

He said, so you tell me

two consecutive Tuesday mornings,

you've received a letter

from a solicitor

telling you,

first of all,

you've been left £10,000,

then you've been left £100,000.

Why are you looking so miserable?

He said, well,

the week has passed, yeah,

Tuesday morning, yeah,

postman came this morning,

no letter from the solicitor.

The danger is,

we get so immersed

in that message of good news.

Jesus is alive,

he's died for you,

death has been broken,

the cross has set you free,

you have nothing to fear.

We hear it over and over

and over again,

as we should,

and we should tell,

and we should rejoice in,

but we hear it so much,

we get used to it.

The author Garrison Kyler

tells a story about his childhood,

Thanksgiving dinners

that he grew up with in America,

and he describes a relative of his,

an Uncle John,

who used to pray the prayers

at the Thanksgiving dinner

at the start.

But he didn't just say,

Lord, thank you for this food,

amen,

and so everyone could get on and eat.

He used to pray about the whole

of the Christian gospel message,

and at length,

he would pray for minutes,

and minutes,

and minutes,

and minutes,

and minutes,

and minutes,

and stomachs were rumbling,

and food was going cold.

He would pray about the good news

of Jesus.

Garrison Kyler describes it like this,

everybody in the family knew

that Uncle John could not pray

without talking about the cross

and crying.

Sure enough,

Uncle John prayed,

talked about the cross,

and cried.

Meanwhile,

the rest of us shifted nervously

from one foot to the other

and longed for the prayer to end.

Now get this,

all of us knew

that Jesus died on the cross for us,

but Uncle John had never gotten over it.

Thanksgiving for salvation

is never getting over the cross.

Thanksgiving for salvation

is knowing that this has happened.

It was a long time ago

in a place far,

far away from here,

but it happened.

And it happened for you

as much as it happened

for anybody else.

And being mindful of that

and being thankful of that

makes all the difference

in the way that we face

our daily challenges.

When we remember

that this is not some abstract,

remote,

distant theme.

This is something

that we need to be remembering

and being thankful for

every single day of our lives.

So let me share with you

one more image

before we come to pray.

And it's an image

that I picked up.

You may have heard me share before.

You may have come across it before.

Shared by

a speaker called Francis Chan.

And I wanted to imagine

it this way.

I've got here,

I'll tell you there's a piece of rope.

There's a piece of rope here

on the floor.

And, oh, it's got a knot in it there.

That wasn't made up.

It's not a magic trick, by the way,

so don't get excited.

I'm just going to see

if I can just disentangle

this bit here.

But, basically,

it's just an illustration to,

I want you to imagine

that this piece of rope,

this piece of rope

goes on

forever and ever and ever.

There's no end to this.

It just is a beginning here,

but it doesn't end.

It just goes on and on

and out through that door,

round the building,

down the street,

right the way down to the coast,

across the channel,

right around the world.

There's no end to it, okay?

Just imagine that that piece of rope

goes on forever.

And what that rope represents

is eternity.

Now, we find this so hard

to get our heads around

because we only know realities

that have a beginning and an end.

So the thought of something

that doesn't run out

is so hard for us to imagine.

But try.

I want you to imagine

that that is eternity.

And this little red bit,

if you really observe it,

on the end of the piece of rope

is your life,

which did have a beginning.

And when I say your life,

what I mean by that

is your life here on earth,

in this mortal physical body.

That's when you were born.

And that bit where the white begins,

where the red finishes,

is the day that you die.

Now, I know I said earlier

on all this stuff

about how actually salvation

is not just to be understood

as a linear progression

to the end.

But the reality is

our lives,

the history of our lives

in this world

is a linear one

in that we have

a sequence of days

and we don't know

how many of those

they will be,

but the time will come

when they will come

to an end.

So the purposes

of this illustration,

this image,

which you imagine

that where the red bit stops

and the white bit starts,

is the day your life

on earth ends

and then we have eternity.

Why is it

that we invest

our time and our energy

in worrying about

all the stuff

that goes on here

and yet not thinking

about all of this stuff

going on here

because this

is so much bigger

than this.

And without suggesting

for one moment

that that means

that eternity

is some kind of abstraction,

just the opposite.

Because this is so huge,

because this just goes

on and on

and on and on

and never ever stops,

it impacts

every single day

or at least

should impact

every day of our thinking

during this bit here

and yet

it tends to not.

As we come

to give thanks,

when we think about

the importance

of having that

attitude of gratitude,

yes, it is important

that we are thankful

for all the stuff

that happens

in a single day

of our lives,

the mundane stuff,

the ordinary stuff,

we need to do that.

But you know,

because all of this stuff

is taken care of,

because of Christ's death

and his resurrection

that sets us free

for all this,

it means that

this bit here

is transformed.

You know,

Karl Marx

and classic Marxist

thinking would say

that, well,

you know,

that message of eternity

is just a distraction.

It's pie in the sky

when you die

and it just distracts us

from the here and now.

I would actually say

the very opposite.

It is precisely

because of eternity

and the difference

it means

that our time here

on earth

is radically transformed.

And the way

that we approach

time and space now

is different

because we know

that we have

all of this

ahead.

Let's give thanks

not just for this

but for all of this

which is to come

and to know

that that begins

right now.

Let's pray together.

Lord,

we thank you

that the message

of salvation

is not

just some kind

of abstract

idea

that starts

when we die

but it's

a message

for all eternity

which means

it affects

our whole lives

now.

Lord,

forgive us

for those times

when we

almost perhaps

pretend it doesn't

happen

or we bury

our heads

in our sand

because it

just seems

so distant.

Lord,

help us

to remember

that we

are forgiven

and that we

are set free

and we can

dare to

think about

mortality

and death

and dying

and the reason

we can do so

is because

you set us

free from it

in Jesus.

So Lord,

thank you

that we are

forgiven.

Thank you

that we are

set free.

help us

to remember

the importance

of being

thankful

and grateful

not just

when we go

to bed at night

but throughout

each day.

Thank you.

Amen.