It is time now for me to tell you the story of the three little pigs.
That’s right the Story of the three little pigs.
Once upon a time there were three little pigs - There was Horace and
Maurice and Doris.
The Mama pig whos name was Loris and her husband Boris had a problem.
Basically no room in the sty - Horace and Maurice and Doris had really
grown and they were of such an age that Loris and Boris no longer
received family support for them. Lately the little pigs - had been
taking up a little too much space in the sty. Horace had been
challenging his father about some of the decisions he had been making -
like where the feeding trough should go and stuff like that - Maurice
had some really exciting plans on how to run some seminars on keeping a
tidy sty - which Mum Loris had got up in a bit of a huff about - and
worse than that Doris had taken it on herself to do all Mum’s cooking
and she had gotten to be such a big pig that there simply wasn’t enough
room in the kitchen. Mum Loris was expecting a new litter right on
Christmas and Pappa Boris was worried about what he could do and how he
could provide for all these pigs.
It was at that time that pappa Boris saw an advertisement for a seminar
- not another seminar screamed Mama Loris - but Pappa Boris had gone.
That seminar was called. - How to be a productive pig. At the seminar
Pappa Boris learned that the task of Pigs is to produce more pigs - and
their task is to produce even more pigs and that requires bringing home
the bacon.
At the sound of the words bacon some pigs went quite pink in the face
and a couple fainted. But the teacher pointed out that pigs to be
fulfilled needed to sacrifice themselves.
Pappa Boris thought about his three children Horace and Maurice and
Doris tucked up snugly and safely in their straw back home. Why they
were scarcely adults - During question time Pappa pig put up his
trotter - "Excuse me " he said politely. "Can I ask how they can produce
more pigs when there is no room in the sty? Why if we had any more
litters in our sty it would be litterly a - a - a PIGSTY." He roared.
"Quite right." said the lecturer an elderly visiting Sheep with a long
white beard and a kindly look. "What your pigs need to do is to leave
the sty and go out into the world and multiply."
AT THAT A DEATHLY HUSH FELL OVER THE GATHERED ASSEMBLY OF PIGS.
"Excuse me for butting in Mr Ramsey" said Papa Boris. " But isn’t that
dangerous - what about the Big bad wolf why he is lurking around
everywhere - why he would gobble up our little pigs like nothing else."
"Well." said Mr Ramsey. "I think you will find that most of them will
survive."
"Anyway!!" thundered Papa Boris "We’d miss them."
"Maybe" said Mr Ramsey. "But I bet you’re getting on each others nerves
right now - stepping on each others trotters eh? Everyone sticking their
snout in where it isn’t required?"
"Well a little maybe." admitted Papa Boris "But we’d still miss them."
"Of course you will." said Ramsey "But you can get together once a week
in the barn and you’ll be surprised how much your family will grow once
you get out there in the world."
"Well I just don’t know." said Papa pig and he went home shaking his
head. That night tucked up in their cramped bed Papa and Mama talked
about it - they were still talking when Henry rooster announced the new
day.
"Children." said Papa pig. "I have an announcement to make."
"What can this be?" Horace Maurice and Doris asked themselves. "Could it
be that they’re going to move out and give us more room?"
"From today." announced Papa pig. "You Doris and Horace and Maurice are
to go out into the world. On your own - fend for yourself."
"What!!" screamed the three pigs -"Us go out into the world - like get a
reality check - there’s a big bad world out there - there is inflation
- traffic jams - robberies and violence - and whata bout the Big bad
wolf? The wide world is no place for a self respecting pig. No we’re
staying put."
The cold clank of the sty door left a hollow sound as Horace and Doris
and Maurice set out to seek their fortune - we don’t have time to tell
you the whole story of straw, stick and brick nor of how they
eventually built firm brick houses and raised litters of many more
children but we would like to tell you how they used to meet in the
barn every Sunday for a celebration -
But something even more amazing began to happen when they moved out
there was so much less mud around that things dried out and they washed
more and well who they really were began to emerge - they weren’t pigs
after all but sheep - and once everyone realised that they were sheep
not pigs well the shepherd came and looked after them and when they were
doing what they were meant to be doing that big bad wolf kept his
distance a whole lot more because well he was dead scared of the
shepherd.
You should have went to those Sunday celebrations in the barn I guess
you could say that they lived Happily ever after.
Isaiah chapter 9 verses 1- 7
.
This is advent season in the church ADVENT (Lat. adventus, an arrival), the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, is the liturgical season preparatory to Christmas. In the Roman and derived calendars it begins on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew’s Day (Nov. 30).
Advent to me has a sense of expectation excitement about it - something is going to happen.
This week I had the privledge of being involved in an incredible event - a friend, a man in his mid fifties came and told me he was expected to die in about two months.
He has cancer - yet on Friday night he threw a party for all his friends - mixed in with the tears and sadness of his family is the sense of anticipation - yes perhaps even excitement at the rich inheritance he has in Christ - he decided to throw a party knowing that there will now be a wall between him and his friends should he die.
At his funeral he wanted the exciting news about Jesus told to all who would listen.
Why?
Because my friend is going to be with Jesus only because he has experienced first hand the incredible reality that is predicted in verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 9.
the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
This man for many years was living in the land of the shadow of death but then for him a light dawned upon him and ever since he has been telling folk about the good news that Jesus Christ had taken his place - He has been telling them with his lips and with his actions and now there is a real possibility that he could be going to live with him - for ever and soon.
You see for my friend the words - "for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders" are incredibly personal -
My friend can insert his name into this verse - he can personalise it as I can -
For John a child is born - to John a son is given -
Advent to you as a Christian must mean that to you personally - Jesus Christ was born and given to you . Jesus - on earth is God’s personal gift to you. - and it has incredible meaning.
It means the government will be on his shoulders - That means Jesus has authority -
The bible says "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Because - all power and authority on heaven and earth have been given to Jesus the day is coming when everyone including the five billion people living on planet earth today will acknowledge Jesus - we know that.
But we also know that for some it will be too late - the opportunity to receive what Ted my friend has received - will have passed.
Why? Because they shunned Christ - perhaps!
But it says - the people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
Jesus says - I am the light of the world.
But the christian church are to be God’s light bearers to the world
In Luke chapter 8 verse 16 we read - No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. - Instead he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
For there is nothing etc
This is a serious matter and it brings us back to the parable of the three little pigs -
The christian church for too long has been naval gazing - As long as the three little pigs stayed at home - there was overcrowding and discomfort - growth was difficult and impossible - The parents had to feed the pigs - no-one was free to go out and love the world in a major way - they were all too busy being responsible to each other and for each other.
In the right context such care is a beautiful thing - out of context it becomes spiritual gluttoney and leads to confussion and death.
I am not saying that we shouldn’t be responsible to each other - of course we need to Love one another and to care for the needy amongst ourselves.
But our task is not to just shine the light of Christ secretly to one another - Jesus wants us not only to shine his light here in the church but also out there in the world in Big bad wolf country - but we are sheep and we have a shepherd - Jesus will protect us.
In fact he says at the end of the passage that instructs the church to go out into the world making disciples of all nations - "Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age" - Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.
Jesus will not let you down
So we have this tremendous message of hope and of exciting good news.
Jesus calls us to go out into the world and reproduce ourselves.
Where should Christians be on a Sunday?
In church worshipping God and sharing around the word of God.
Where should they be during the week - in committee meetings - No no no!!! - Some meetings and groups are necessary - I encourage them in as much as they enable us to shine Christ’s light into the world.
During the week The christian church is to be shining the light of Christ into the world.
The little pigs went out into the world and discovered that they weren’t pigs - they were sheep.
You see staying in the church and not getting out into the world can make the church like the pigsty.
We do have some essential tasks and duties but they are not our main calling.
In fact I firmly believe that even what we do at church needs to be sensitive to the non believer or fragile believer in our midst. That does not mean that what we do will not be challenging to that particular group of people - but it does mean that it should not be in their face - we are called to be fishers of men.
It is only as you go out into the world with the love of Jesus that you are fully transformed into the sheep that God always intended you to be.
Jesus said - John chapter 10 verse 27 - My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
Listen - that means you are safe - unlike the three little pigs who were afraid of the big bad wolf
Jesus has said - no-one can snatch you out of his hand
- but more than that Jesus has said "follow me."
That raises a question -
The question is Where is your light?
On a table or under a bed?
Don’t be too hard on yourself but do try to answer the question positively.
If it is not exactly where it should be then, here are three things you can do to get it out from under the bed and onto the table.
Identify for yourself the important message Jesus has given the church to deliver to the world.
In Isaiah chapter 9 we read - for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given. We need to know personally what that message means - Sometimes we need to freshen up on the profound message of salvation that is tied up in Jesus.
Jesus died for the sin of the world - That is he died for the corporate massive weight of sin that so distorts planet earth from the paradise it was intended to be as revealed in Genesis chapter 1.
But that
You meet so many people today suffering from rejection and low self esteem.
Behind the bravodo of so many are scars of hurt and rejection - fears and concerns because of what the world has done to them.
Children who have been scorned - unloved - rejected or bashed carry around permanant records of pain in their lives. Crying out for help they build reactions and protections into their lives that stop the child inside the adult ever being hurt like that again.
Christians who have accepted Jesus can sometimes continue wall off large sections of their lives
because of these wounds.
They also can hide their lights under their beds becasue of the same fears and hurts.
But Jesus’ died for the sin of the world - The Prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 and verse 5 speaks
profoundly of Jesus when he predicts - Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.We need to allow that message to penetrate all of our being and to allow God’s incredible grace to break down the walls that fence off that part of who we are that stops us enjoying the fullness of God’s grace and healing. Chuck Colsen says:- When Jesus talks about the church. He’s talking about his people purchased with his blood - the new community called to bring redemption to mankind and to give the world a foretaste of the coming kingdom.
So much of what we are called to be together is tied up with grace.
The word for fellowship in the New Testament koinonia means a "communion" a participation of people together in God’s grace.
The more we allow Jesus to pervade our lives - the more we dethrone the Christianised flesh within us the deeper and more profound will our lives together be and the more the light of CHrist will shine from our lives and our Christian communities.
The three little pigs could not leave the sty whilst crippled by their fears.
You cannot go into the world crippled by yours either.
You and I need to discover afresh just what Isaiah meant when he said:- Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.
Secondly - Clarify How God would have you shine his light in the world. God does not want us to go into the world and to build straw houses - he has a permanant work for you. That work is distinctive.
The Apostle Paul describes his distinctive role in Galations chapter 1 verse 15 and 16:-
But when God who set me apart from birth and called me to his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the gentiles - -
Each of us have a distinctive role.
Brother Andrew tells of being in hospital full of resentment and hatred during the Indonesian war in 1946. Whilst in hospital a bible had been delivered to him.
One day - he writes - I asked the nun who came to bathe me how it was that she and the other sisters were always so cheerful.
"Why, Andrew, you ought to know the answer to that - a good dutch boy like you. It’s the love of christ." When she said it, her eyes sparkled, and I knew without question that for her this was the whole answer, she could have talked all afternoon and said no more."
"But you are teasing me." she said, tapping the well worn little bible where it still lay on the bedside table, "You’ve got the answer right here."
This is a very good example of how to let your light shine through the distinctive ministry of compassion. it is a distnctive gift from that as Paul which he says in I timothy one was that of a herald and a apostle.
We to need to clarify our role.
Thirdly we need to enjoy seeing our particular contribution to the Kingdom being part of the picture that is Christs body on earth.. David Canistraci says - If you look at a newspaper photograph, you will see that the image consists of a series of printed dots. The better the printing, the less you notice the dots, but they are there. It’s the same with television. Close up you see tiny red, green and blue dots that come together to make up the image on your screen.
Whether in the beautiful stained glass windows of Europe or the wonderful mosaics of the mediterranean the principle is the same. the value of each individual dot, piece of glass or fragment of tile is best appreciated when step back and see the pieces coming together in one accord to reveal the beauuty of the overall image.
If you can get the picture of what we are aiming at - together - and that is an exercise we are planning to undertake in the next year. If you can see that you are making a valid contribution to that picture then you can feel a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
These three things then.
Identify for yourself the important message Jesus has given the church to deliver to the world.
Clarifying How God would have you shine his light in the world.
Enjoying seeing our particular contribution to the Kingdom being part of the picture that is Christs body on earth..
will allow our church to be the Flock that Jesus has called us to be and avoid the trap of the crowded sty.
Let us pray.
jgullick@xtra.co.nz.
