Checking Change

In common with many youngsters in the 50’s I earned pocket money by delivering newspapers for a local news agent. Mr. Cook was a kindly chapel going man, attending the Congregational chapel opposite his shop. One pay day I bought a small item from Mr. Cook and gave him a £1 note to pay for my purchase. Mr. Cook took the note, went to the till and returned with my change which he rapidly counted out into my outstretched hand. I was about to pocket my change when Mr. Cook said sternly “Have you checked your change”? “But - you just counted it” I blustered. Fixing his stern gaze on me he said “Check it boy.”  I checked, and sheepishly found I was a coin short (2 shilling). Holding out the coin he had concealed in his hand he said “Always check your change, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye.”

          How easily we are deceived into thinking everything is just fine, when the reality is the very opposite. PROV 14:12: 16:25 warns us that ‘There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.’  Jesus told of the two roads one a narrow way, the other a broad road that leads to destruction, the narrow road though hard to find leads to eternal life MATT 7:13,14.

          What looks right is not necessarily right, it is all too easy to be deceived, so it is vital we make the right choice. The fact that many are traveling the broad road does not make it right, for us, nor indeed for them, when the end is destruction.

          What we must do then is check for ourselves. The Athenian philosophers checked out Paul's preaching concerning the resurrection of Jesus for themselves by inviting Paul to address them in the Areopagus, and some believed him, becoming followers of Christ ACTS 17:16-34.

          There are many who will say this way or that way is the right way, scripture exhorts us not to believe everything we hear as being from God until we have tested it 1JOHN 4:1.          Although Jesus said few find the narrow road that leads to life, He also said if you seek you will find MATT 7:8. Check it out for yourself. 

A Christmas Message

          If you have a 3D television, there was something new for you to enjoy last month, as for the first time, the Queen’s Christmas Day broadcast was available in this new medium.  I don’t know what difference it made – did it seem that the corgis were going to jump out at you? – but the television news reports of the broadcast made much of the fact beforehand.

          Afterwards the reports concentrated on how Her Majesty had looked back on the two major events of 2012 – the Diamond Jubilee and the Summer Olympics.  As always, perhaps the most important part of the speech, which is the only one we are told that the Queen writes herself every year, was passed over by the news broadcasts.  As in every year recently, the Queen had spoken of her faith, and of what the Christmas season means to her.  Though the politically correct media organisations seem embarrassed by the fact, it is clear that a personal faith is a most important part of her life and what she said this Christmas is worth thinking about as we enter a new year.

            Speaking of the wise men of Matthew chapter 2 she said,

“visitors from afar … came with their gifts to worship the Christ child. From that day on he has inspired people to commit themselves to the best interests of others.  This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son 'to serve, not to be served'.  He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ.  It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others.

          It was interesting to hear such words about prayer, worship, God sending his only Son, and the person and work of Christ, coming from our Monarch.  It should give us renewed encouragement to pray ‘God save the Queen’.  But it was especially good to hear her at least partially quote the words of Jesus found in Mark 10:45;

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

          As the Queen reminded us, this verse points us to the example of Christ in serving others.  It was originally spoken to the disciples as they were aguing amongst themselves as to who was the greatest.  The Lord wants His people to rejoice in serving one another.  That must be our attitude in the twelve months that lie before us.  As the church of Jesus Christ we are all different and we all have our faults and failings.  But we are commanded to love and serve one another.  How will you do that in New Inn Congregational Church in 2013?

          But the part that the Queen didn’t quote is of great significance too.  The Lord Jesus came not just to serve but to give His life as a ransom for many.  Our only hope of eternal life is in the sacrifice of the Saviour on our behalf.  It is that message that we need to believe, preach and go on emphasising in another New Year.