About 20 miles from where we lived in Uganda there was a road called "The Watershed Road". It ran for 60 miles from south to north, and it followed the top of a ridge, a watershed. Any rain that fell on the one side of the road ran to the east, draining into a river, the Kanyangereng, which flowed eastward and became the River Suam, which plunged through a gorge in the hills onto the desert of north west Kenya. It then wound its way for 100 miles across the desert, finally flowing into Lake Turkana - a lake with no outlet, and therefore very saline, with barren, blistering, rocky shores. The alkaline water was totally unproductive and quite undrinkable. Something of a hellhole.
That was the destination of any raindrops falling on the east side of the road.
So what about the west side? Well that water found its way eventually to Lake Kyoga, a vast marshy swamp, and thence into the river Nile, and then northwards through the Sud, the papyrus swamps of the southern Sudan, and on for 4,000 miles through the deserts of northern Sudan and Egypt. But being fresh, flowing water, used all the way to irrigate and cultivate, to transform the desert, to grow plantations of date palms, and fields of millet and rice.
And then finally finding its outlet into the Mediterranean Sea..
Two different journeys, all depending on which side of the road the rain fell. A watershed. A dividing line.
A completely different story, depending on which side of the watershed the rain falls.
St Paul's personal life had in it a watershed, and he wrote about it in our Epistle reading this morning, Phil 3:4-14.
For the first part of his life he was called Saul, and he was as kosher a Jew as you could wish. Circumcised at 8 days old; an Israelite, a member of the esteemed tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; a Pharisee, absolutely clued up on the Jewish law; zealous, giving all his energy and passion to persecuting Christians; a role-model Jew; a blameless keeper of the Law, a righteous man; and very, very proud of it all. We might say "smug"; self-satisfied.
"If anyone," he said "had reason to be confident in themselves, I had even more reason."
And then - he met with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He had that vision which turned his life upside down and inside out. An experience which totally changed him - even changed his name, from Saul to Paul. Saul the persecutor of Christians became Paul the leader of Christians. A watershed in his life. And he suddenly realised that everything in life that he had valued,
- everything that he had depended on
- all his kosher background and respectability
- were worthless, useless.
- They were empty things, a delusion.
- Rubbish!
- compared with the sheer joy and privilege and richness and value of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.
He began to see life, and its values, from an entirely new perspective. His life did a 180 degree turn-around.
His life, which had been flowing east into a wasteland began to flow west instead. It was a watershed.
In Paul's own words (vv 7-9): "Whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, that comes from the Law, but one that comes through faith in Christ."
What a turn-about! All that prestige and respectability and status he now regards as so much rubbish. "Rubbish". He uses here a very strong word, "Skubala". It is translated in the AV as "dung"; in other versions as "trash", "muck", "rubbish". Whatever - the things he used to value and rely on in the past -reputation, dignity, learning, status - are "skubala" compared with what he has gained through faith in Christ. What a turn-around! What a watershed!
Paul's life was now flowing in a new direction.
But he is not saying that he has arrived, that he has now got life neatly buttoned up and sorted out.
No - he talks of an on-going process. The whole direction of his life has changed, but the process of living and growing in faith continues. He says: "I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection"
He wants to grow in his knowledge of Christ, in his intimacy with Him. He wants to experience more and more His resurrection power, the power of the Holy Spirit, in his life. He goes on to say: "Not that I have already obtained this, or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.
Forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus".
"I forget!" "I strain forward!" "I press on!" The journey isn't over until that glorious day when God calls him - and us - to Himself. "The heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus".
Think again of the watershed in Uganda. Everything flowing eastwards ends up in a stagnant soda lake, with barren shores and no outlet. That water is going nowhere and achieves nothing. While everything flowing to the west goes through swamps and deserts, yes. It has a hard journey. But along the way it is used to bring growth and fertility; to transform the desert places. And it has an outlet, a goal. It keeps moving. Isn't that a sort of picture of life without Christ, and life with Christ?
I wonder, what is of "surpassing value" in your life and mine? What is most important to us? What motivates us?
In which direction is our life flowing?
I'm not talking here about the importance of family and friends to us. Nor is Paul. Of course they are important.
But what things matter to us? Respectability? Material comfort? Qualifications? Success? Status? To be liked?
Paul had all of these, and he took a huge and risky and reckless turn-around. He turned his back on the lot, and counted them as rubbish, for the sake of Christ Jesus his Lord. If we put all the "stuff" of our lives in one hand - as it were, on one side of the balance, and our faith in Jesus Christ in the other - which counts for most?
Do you know what is the most popular song played at funerals in crematoria? It's Frank Sinatra's ""I did it my way!"
Doesn't that say something about our society? We pride ourselves on individualism, on self-determination, on self-reliance. We consider it an admirable thing to live life the way I want to,
- to believe whatever I want to,
- to kow-tow to nobody, to be servant to no creed
- to do life "my way"
That's not, I think, a song Paul would have chosen for his funeral. He turned his back on "my way", and submitted himself to Christ. "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" he said. A Lord is someone you submit to, and bow to, and follow.
There are many, many stories of people who, through history, have had a turn-around experience. They have turned their backs on wealth and fame and success, and have given their all to Christ, Who has been their "All" to them.
CT Studd, the cricketer; Albert Schweizer; Eric Liddell. In our generation brilliant men like the surgeon Denis Birkitt, who gave his life to research in the Third World. Each in their way has said: "I regard everything else as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
But you and I don't have to go to the ends of the earth to do this. We have done, or can do, a turn-around right where we are in life. It's not to do with where we go. It is to do with who we are living for what our priorities are what motivates our lives. Me and my way? Or Christ Jesus my Lord, and His way?
Jim Elliot, the missionary murdered by Auca Indians in Ecuador, once said: "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose" That's exactly what St Paul is saying. He is no fool who gives up skubala, to gain Christ. He made a reckless, risky, magnificent, glorious turn-around.
How does this U-turn in life work out for us? Any of us here who has visited a third-world country, and has met Christians there, cannot help but be struck by the reality and vibrancy of their faith. Because they live constantly on the edge. They are not cushioned like we are. Here we, in the midst of the worst recession for decades are, most of us, still cushioned - cushioned by pensions, the NHS, Social Security, investments cushioned by reliable and clean water supplies, and abundant food and good housing.
We don't get up each morning wondering if it will be our last, wondering if we will survive the day. But many Third-world Christians do just that - they live on the edge. They face daily hunger, sickness, violence and death.
We are cushioned. And it is so easy, if we are not careful, to rely, not on Jesus Christ, but on our cushions.
To take them for granted. And our Christian faith, instead of being a radical and revolutionary thing, which turns our world upside down, and transforms the way we live, and what we do with our lives. and which isn't easy but is costly, as Jesus said it would be - instead of all that, our Christianity can become little more than a cultural ornament.
It can become just another cushion alongside all the other cushions. A pleasant, undemanding social thing, which makes us feel good and religious, but doesn't really in any meaningful way impact our lives.
That is most certainly not the kind of Christianity that Paul knew and preached. His faith was life-changing, radical, living-on-the-edge Christianity. It involved a complete change in direction and destination. It was risky and extravagant.
In our Gospel reading today we heard of another risky, reckless, extravagant, glorious act. Jesus was at Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, at the house of His friends Martha and Mary and Lazarus. His trial and cross were looming very close. And Mary took a whole pound of pure nard -perfume worth a whole year's wages to a working man - and she poured it over Jesus' feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house, we are told, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
What a crazy, reckless, extravagant, wonderful thing to do! Of course Judas was appalled - they could have sold the nard, and given the money to the poor (not to mention the cut he could have taken for himself). But Jesus said "Leave her alone. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me" Jesus welcomed her outpoured love, her extravagant devotion. And there was no turning back. Once poured it was poured. A symbol, a foretaste, of what was about to happen that momentous week, with the death, and anointing and burial of Jesus.
A watershed moment.
Which side of the watershed are we? In which direction is your and my life flowing? Can we say, with Paul, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord!" Is your life, and mine, an extravagant, reckless, self-less outpouring of love for Jesus Christ? Is it a fragrance that fills the house, and impacts the lives of other people? Is it a river that waters and refreshes the lives of others as it flows by?
Do you ever watch the Channel 4 programme "The Secret Millionaire?"
- millionaires who go incognito into poor areas, and get involved helping with local charities, with those who are trying to help the local community.
And after just 8 days of living rough, and doing their bit, they declare themselves, and donate often large sums of money to what they consider are worthy causes. Their donations of course transform many struggling charities and causes, But the biggest change is often in the millionaires themselves. They see people who have very little, giving of themselves to help those with even less. And they are deeply moved. And time and again the millionaires say "My life will never be the same again!"|
That's what Paul said when he met with Jesus. "My life will never be the same again!" "I regard everything else as loss, as worthless, compared with the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
What is this saying to me and to you, this Passiontide, this Easter? Which way is my life, your life, flowing? Which direction are we travelling. Are we, like the Pharisees, keeping safe and comfortable in our little worlds? Or are we following Jesus - taking the risky, extravagant road which leads to a cross,
- that cross where His love was poured out so extravagantly for us,
- but a road which flows on through death to a glorious resurrection?
Let's go, this Passiontide, this Easter, with Jesus.
Let's do it His way!
David Webster
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