THIS WAS A TALK FOR A FAMILY SERVICE, GIVEN IN THREE PARTS.
PART 1: A glass ship in a glass bottle
Perhaps you have a jug at home that’s made of Pyrex. [EXAMPLE.] This kind of jug can withstand high temperatures. You can put it in the oven and you can put it in the freezer. That’s because it’s made of borosilicate glass.
At school I expect you do science experiments. In chemistry, you probably use flasks and test tubes. You heat them up, so they have to withstand high temperatures. They’re also usually made of borosilicate glass.
If you do A Level chemistry, you’ll probably do what’s called fractional distillation. You’ll use something called a fractionating column. A fractionating column looks like this. [PICTURE.] You can see that it’s a complicated piece of glassware. Have any of you used fractionating columns at school?
After the Second World War there was a lot of demand for laboratory glassware. Various companies in the north of England, especially around Sunderland, made it, using borosilicate glass. But later, the demand for this kind of glassware went down.
In those companies, some of the glassblowers sometimes made glass ships in glass bottles just for fun. When demand for scientific glassware went down, they set up companies to make glass ships in bottles [2 PICTURES]. There was a lot of demand for those! The first company to make glass ships in glass bottles was called Mayflower Glass. That was in about 1979. There was also a company making glass ships in bottles not far from us, in Lymington. They made very high-quality glass ships in bottles which were sold in Harrods.
But in 2005, Mayflower Glass decided to move its production to China, and it shut down its factory in Sunderland [PICTURE]. Now, no company in England is making glass ships in bottles, and knowledge of how to do it is dying out.
You can also get wooden ships in bottles. It’s no secret how they get these ships into the bottles. The masts fold down and then the masts are pulled up after the ship is in the bottle [PICTURE]. But that won’t work for the glass ships. These masts won’t fold!
These glass ships in bottles are sometimes called ‘IMPOSSIBLE BOTTLES’ because it seems impossible for the ship to be put inside the bottle. Sometimes people would ask the glassmakers how they put the ships into the bottles. And the glassmakers used to say, ‘We can tell you the answer, but then you can’t leave the building!’
Would you like to look at some glass ships in glass bottles? [EXAMPLES.] How do you think the glassmakers got the ships into the glass bottles? Have you got any ideas?
Jesus once told a story in which he talked about a very LARGE animal – a camel – fitting through a very SMALL hole – the eye of a needle. That sounds just as impossible as getting a glass ship into a glass bottle, doesn’t it?! We’ll look at what Jesus meant later in the service.
PART 2: Success!
There’s a magazine called Time. It’s probably the world’s most famous news magazine. Usually, Time puts a picture of someone famous on its cover.
Do you recognize the man on the cover of this issue? It says, ‘Citizen Musk.’ Who’s he? He’s Elon Musk. What is he famous for? He’s the richest person in the world, among other things.
This issue shows Donald Trump. What is he famous for? He’s the president of the United States of America. Most people consider the USA to be the most powerful country in the world.
Do you recognize the woman on the cover of this issue? I’ve covered her name so you can’t see it. It’s someone called Sabrina Carpenter. Have you heard of Sabrina Carpenter? What is she famous for? She’s a leading pop artist. Last year, she went 21 weeks at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart and one of her albums sold more than a million copies.
Let’s have some questions for the grownups.
This cover has a picture of a man leaving and a woman entering. Can you guess who they are? [Joe Biden leaving and Kamala Harris entering.]
This cover has a picture of a man. It says next to him, ‘Bibi at war.’ Who is he?
This cover has a picture of someone called Nicola Coughlan. Who is she? She an Irish actress.
Time doesn’t ALWAYS have pictures of people. For example, there was an issue recently with a picture of a robot. Digit is the first robot which looks like a human which is working in a factory. But Time often has pictures of people.
Why do you suppose Time puts pictures of people on its covers? It doesn’t matter if the people are good or not. In the past, Time had Hitler and Stalin on its covers. It’s all about INFLUENCE. That’s what Time says. Time puts people on its covers who we’re listening to. Important people. People who affect things, change things.
But I wonder. It’s true that these people have influence. But they have other things too. They tend to be rich or powerful or beautiful. They have glamorous lifestyles. They achieve a lot. Perhaps that’s why we’re fascinated by them and want to read about them. Perhaps that’s why Time puts them on its covers.
PART 3: The rich young man
We started by thinking about how to get something through a very small hole. Then we looked at the kind of people who are on the front cover of Time. They tend to be rich or powerful or beautiful. I’m now going to bring those two ideas together.
A man comes up to Jesus. He would certainly have been a candidate for the cover of Time in his day. He’s rich, young and a ruler – and he seems like a good guy! He’s keeping God’s commandments. Maybe not perfectly, but it looks like he’s doing very well.
This rich young man is interested in just one thing. He asks Jesus, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’
The Bible teaches that to get eternal life we must put our faith in Jesus. It teaches that there’s nothing we can DO to earn eternal life. So, some Christians think we don’t have to do anything at all.
So, we might be a bit surprised at how Jesus answers the man. He tells him, ‘To enter life, keep the commandments.’ Huh? That doesn’t seem right! We thought that to get eternal life we didn’t have to do anything. All we had to do was put our faith in Jesus! But it clearly IS important to keep God’s commandments! Jesus wouldn’t have said this otherwise.
Many years ago, I used to go walking in some mountains with a guide. We walked high up, in snow. I trusted the guide, so I did what he told me. He knew the way. It’s a bit like that with following Jesus. Putting our faith in him means we make him the boss. Trusting him means we must do what he tells us.
The rich young man was obeying God, at least, in all the things Jesus asked him about. But did he TRUST Jesus? Was he willing to put his faith in Jesus? There was one way for Jesus to find out. Jesus asked him to give all his money away. Then it would be clear who the man put his trust in.
The rich young man didn’t have to do something to earn salvation. But he had to do something to show where his faith was.
But he didn’t want to sell all his possessions. He went away sad.
Lots of people today are like the rich young man. Money is dangerous. If we have money, it can very easily become their God. People think, ‘Money is something I can see! I can hold it in my hand! Money gives me what I need. I can go to the shop and buy things! I can go on holiday! I have a house to live in. I have a pension. And people respect me because I’m rich! Why should I give it up? And why WOULD I give it up anyway? I can’t see God! Can I really trust God to take care of me?’
People who have money are likely to put their trust in their money instead of putting their trust in God.
This is such a big problem for rich people that Jesus said that it’s harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! In other words, it’s impossible!
What’s the answer?
We looked at the glass ships in the glass bottles. How could the glass ships get inside the bottle? It looks impossible! And yet, it clearly IS possible because the glass ships are there in the glass bottles!
It’s like that for rich people. Jesus told his disciples that it’s impossible for rich people to enter God’s kingdom. But then he told his disciples, ‘But with God all things are possible.’ So, how is it possible?
If it’s impossible for rich people to enter God’s kingdom then I think we need to stop being rich people. We need to become poor people. We may still have money in our bank accounts. But we can no longer think of it as ‘our money.’ We must tell Jesus that it’s HIS money, available for him to use as he wishes. We need to decide that we won’t put our trust in it. Then, when we truly put our trust in Jesus and not in our riches, we can enter God’s kingdom.
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 9TH FEBRUARY 2025, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE
