For every decision you make.
For every way you live your life.
There are prices to pay.
And the price is not just money.
But every decision we make will cost us in time and relationships.
And at times, when we make a decision,
it prevents us or stops us from making another decision.
We may miss out on something.
For instance when we decide to go on a holiday.
We know it will cost us money, sometimes more than we think.
And going on a holiday will also cost us time.
And it may mean that we can’t spend time with someone or some group because we are physically away from them.
And unfortunately some Christians when they go on a holiday
also go on a holiday from God.
This is not healthy.
And going on a holiday means we will need to miss out on something else.
We can’t use that time or money to buy new curtains, to upgrade the car, to fix up the garden, to spend time with some people, or to earn more money.
Every decision we make involves bearing a number of costs.
However making decisions determined only by what something costs us is not the best way to live our lives.
If the only deciding factor was the cost of things,
then our pantries would be stocked with supermarket brands such as black and gold, and home brand products.
We would not see anyone.
We wouldn’t even go to work because that would cost us time.
We would never turn on the electricity in our homes.
Life would be pretty dim and miserable if we made decisions only on what it costs us.
Occasionally I come across stories of people who have accumulated great wealth,
And in some cases no one would have known.
Because they lived a fairly miserable life.
They lived in a squaller,
they hated sharing their time or money with anyone,
and they were miserable and complained a lot because all they could think of was the cost of things.
Of course we need to consider the cost of things,
but we also need to consider the benefits.
The reason any of us are prepared to incur costs in our lives is because of the benefits they bring.
And in today’s reading Jesus begins to unravel what the cost and benefits are in being a Christian.
And you can’t have one without the other.
Many of us are happy to receive God’s forgiveness for who we are and what we have done or failed to do.
But I want you to consider very seriously are you happy to also allow God to be your Lord?
Are you happy for Jesus not just influence but to transform and direct how you live?
Are you willing to allow God to speak to you about your attitudes,
your behaviours,
your approach to life?
Do you take seriously what scripture says and the commands of Jesus.
The Good News is not just receiving forgiveness,
but it also involves living a new life under Christ.
As God’s disciples our life should evolve around three things.
The first is loving God.
The second is loving our community, Christians and non Christians. That doesn’t mean accepting or approving of everything they do.
And the third is loving your fellow Christians, that is each other.
This is not my idea or even an idea from a few people from our parish or congregation.
This is what God says the Christian life is.
Scripture is quite clear on this, from Matthew 22 verses 37.
37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
And take one of the three out of the equation then we are failing to fully live the Christian life.
Please also notice something, God doesn’t say we have to like people.
Some of us are pretty hard to like.
All of us are different, and some of our differences absolutely grate on each other.
Instead God calls us to love each other and bear with each other
To love someone, despite their differences.
And loving God and loving people requires us to deny ourselves.
This is what Jesus is getting to in his discussion with Peter.
Listen again to Matthew 16, verses 24 and 25.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
One of the hardest things for all of us is not to be selfish.
Not to think only of ourselves, but also to think of others.
Our governments, our unions, our employers, businesses and other organisations we deal with don’t help in this manner.
They actually encourage selfish thinking by making life difficult for others, thinking of only their goals, putting others down and encouraging us to think of ourselves only.
And the problem is, unless we are aware of it we will automatically develop selfish attitudes to life because of our relationship to those organisations and people.
However have you ever noticed how selfishness breeds, selfishness.
And where there is a lack of love and concern for others, selfishness dominates.
It creates an environment of survival for the fittest.
And unfortunately in the survival for the fittest everyone is eventually be defeated, disposed of and replaced by someone else.
However Jesus highlights there is another way.
There is another option for living.
And that option orientates around loving God,
loving the community we live in and the people we mix with
and loving each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
And this means we not only accept God’s forgiveness,
but we also allow God to be our Lord, to speak to how we live in all aspects of our lives.
In other words we deny ourselves, our natural instincts,
and instead take on God’s approach to life.
So denying oneself doesn’t mean you are empty or you are missing something that is ultimately good.
Think of it as you replacing selfishness and unhealthy approaches to life
with Jesus, his forgiveness and his love.
And this keeps you on track for eternal life.
So whilst the cost of denying yourself appears significant.
The benefit in following Jesus is absolutely huge.
Eternal life is made possible.
Following Jesus gives not only you,
but also others a life that is far greater than you could ever achieve yourself.
Now lets look at two specific situations
how Jesus’ approach to life changes how we relate to each other and live.
In our families at times conflict exists.
Conflict exists because we are different and we have different needs and interests,
even in a close knit family.
Now for some the conflict may be obvious by yelling, screaming and arguments.
For others it involves people being upset, disappointed, seeing themselves as failures, feeling like there is little hope or some people feeling they are being undermined.
A selfish approach to life will come out in at least two ways.
One is someone saying my way is the only way,
I am going to win the argument in my family.
What I say goes.
The other is when people may not be so aggressive,
but still be selfish by saying something like.
I know there is a problem.
They may even say I know I have contributed to the problem.
But that is the way life is, this is who I am.
I am not changing for anyone, live with it.
Often it is not as blatant as that, but that is what they mean.
However let’s now drop Jesus into the picture.
Instead of allowing our approach to dealing with conflict to be determined by what we naturally want and think,
Let’s allow Jesus to influence us.
If we are listening to Jesus.
Rather than being focussed on winning the argument by making someone else lose.
Our priorities are to love God, which means following his ways.
To love those in our family.
And loving others affected by our actions.
This means our priority is then not about winning over someone else,
but about showing love.
And there are two main outcomes of this.
One is to deal with what we have done to contribute to the conflict.
This means identifying where our deficiencies are AND seeking help for them.
Help from God and from the people he has placed in our communities, including the church, professionals and friends.
And secondly our focus, our priority is on forgiveness.
Seeking God’s forgiveness for ourselves and forgiving others.
A word of caution however, working with Jesus and his approach to life may take time.
A second situation involves our lives as Christians in this congregation and parish.
And specifically, around the issue of Holy Communion.
As Christians every time we receive Holy Communion God is generously giving us forgiveness.
Our sins are being forgiven.
Unfortunately some people think that is all that is occurring or needs to happen.
But our lives as Christians, involves not only receiving forgiveness but it is also sharing God’s forgiveness.
Forgiving others.
I know this can be tough,
however frequently we pray, forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others.
And so as you receive God’s forgiveness today in Holy Communion,
remember God is also asking you to love and forgive every other person you are having communion with.
Every other person in this congregation, in our parish and every other Christian.
If you think this is too difficult, then ask Jesus to help you, and seek help from your pastor and others.
And if you are refusing to forgive some one, especially someone you are worshipping with then you have an issue to deal with, something you should not delay.
In fact in the early church God through St Paul,
instructed those who refused to forgive others not to participate in Holy Communion because they were not taking God’s forgiveness seriously enough.
So don’t avoid forgiving others and don’t avoid trying to forgive others.
Forgiving others is not an option, it is an essential part of being a Christian.
Forgiveness is one of the major characteristics that define a Christian.
Forgiveness is the cost of being a Christian.
The forgiveness we receive and the forgiveness we share.
But it produces unbelievable benefits.
And why is forgiveness so important, because it is the bridge to eternal life for us.
Because when we Jesus forgives us he is giving us the future, life with God.
And when we forgive others, we are reminding them of God’s love.
We are helping them experience the amazing love of God.
Let us pray.
