St Mary's Church 11:00am Sunday Morning Service
Sunday 1st May 2016
Preacher: Craig Young

Today we begin a series of sermons each prepared by the preacher but based on the Footprints series of talks which Andrew Buttress devised for our lent course this year.

Andrew introduced us to the way we leave a Christian footprint in the world and today we will be looking at the disciples as apprentices and how they followed the master.

I wonder what sort of image the name apprentice conjures up for you. A spotty youth with a big mouth, Alan Sugar getting tough with someone he doesn’t want to suffer gladly, or maybe Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice as we see an eager but naughty one who tries to use knowledge and power before they have the wisdom to appreciate their limitations or the consequences of their actions. Maybe you were apprenticed yourself.

For the last four years of my formal working life I worked on a consultative basis with many of the public service organisations in the East of England on running good apprenticeship schemes which has given me an insight into how best to succeed with apprentices. Selecting the right candidate is key to the process and the mantra used by good organisations is, recruit for attitude and train for skill.

Bright people who come from a good background and are well turned out are not always the ones who will succeed in the world of work. It depends on their attitude or as we used to say, have they a heart for the role to which they aspire. How much do they want to carry through with all of the training required to become a fully qualified in their chosen field?

Jesus selected his disciples, his apprentices, not from those whom you would expect to be disciples of a powerful teacher in the Lord. People chosen by the great teachers of the time as apprentices were often from wealthy families or were highly intelligent and diligent religious people who had the right connections in society. No Jesus chose ordinary people when making his selection. Jesus was looking for people who would follow him when the going got tough and he was looking for attitude. Jesus could discern something in people and could see the potential which a person had to possess if they were to be a follower of his. The important word to note is that of potential and this not just true for the disciples but also with us. Jesus has described all Christians as those whom the Father has given him which also means that as far as Jesus is concerned we all possess potential because we have taken that first step in agreeing to follow him. Jesus knows everything about us and can discern a potential in us which we very often don’t see for ourselves. We have been chosen or selected whichever you prefer and as we follow Him our training proceeds and our heart is put right for the task in which we have been invited to participate.

So how should we react to that which God is calling us? I’ll give you an example.

There is a very interesting story that came from the rebuilding of St. Paul’s as the first building designed by Sir Christopher Wren was destroyed in the great fire of 1666 whilst still under construction so he had to begin again.

One morning, Wren, who was not personally known by many of the workers, stopped and asked three different laborers, all engaged in the same task, what they were doing. He got three different answers.

The first said, “I am cutting this stone.”

The second answered, “I am earning three shillings and six pence a day.”

The third man straightened up, squared his shoulders, and still holding his mallet and chisel, replied, “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build this great cathedral.”

They each had three different ways of looking at the same job.

The first one was just doing a task.

The second one was just earning a living.

The third was doing a small part of a great work. He did not personally know the architect or understand how his task fitted into the overall plan. But he believed that there was a plan and that by following it, he would help create something greater than himself.

Which worker do you think was getting the most satisfaction from his work? Which worker was really on board with Wren’s vision?

Today in our reading from Matthew we see Jesus calling those in whom he recognised the sort of potential he was looking for and they had been selected for having the right attitude. Due to the Gospel writers and others such as Paul we know that the disciples were not all clones of Jesus. Whilst they had the right attitude and answered their calling to follow Jesus they were still all different in the way in which they carried out their appointed ministries. There were many disciples but scripture concentrates on the twelve really close ones. Those outside of the twelve were also following Jesus in carrying out God’s great plan but in a way which brought out and developed their own potential. Just read Acts and the epistles and you see many references to people doing great things as they follow Jesus’ teaching and build up the church, the body of Christ.

Paul often describes followers of Jesus as being part of the same body. Each part is vital to making the whole thing work. To be fully functional we need everything to work and that includes the parts we cannot see and even the parts that are far too small for us to see. We as followers of Christ have answered a call to be Christian and like the willing worker of Christopher Wren we should be aware that there is a big picture which Jesus is asking us to work towards. It’s God’s plan and it is much bigger than us but at the same time it cannot be completed without us. The plan is that one day the world will be perfect and as willing workers all we can do to make this happen is to do the basics, love god and love our neighbour as our self. When we realise the magnitude of the task we sometimes put up barriers. We might think that this is far too big for us to be of any use whilst others leap straight in and with a great demonstration of faith give everything up to follow. However we must remember that even the chosen few close disciples were not clones of Jesus. Jesus is perfect and is the master of everything. When we follow him we are in training and it is due to that we develop our potential. It’s a life’s work for us and we should not be discouraged. There are many barriers and I believe that one is that we look at what others do and dwell too much on what we think we cannot achieve rather than carrying on in faith. What we all too often do is to fail to appreciate our potential and maybe don’t recognise the power which Jesus has brought to our lives. I’ve been coming to St Mary’s for twenty seven years and have known most of you for many years. Over those years I have seen you develop in Christ as you have faithfully attended St Mary’s and carried out many duties. You’ve lived worked and witnessed in the places where you go and brought a Christian influence to all that you have done. The Holy Spirit has been working in you. This is true for all Christians to varying degrees so if you’re here for the first time today stay engaged with the process of following Jesus and you will develop.

However none of us are perfect and none of us have arrived at that stage where we can say we know it all because God’s plan is so magnificent. Our apprenticeship is a work for life and it is one where we are always learning whilst we try and emulate our teacher and master craftsman Jesus. Apprentices make mistakes. Have you ever made a mistake at work and felt awful about it? I bet you did. Being an apprentice for Jesus is just the same, we do make mistakes but the important thing is that we learn from these and move on. Justified by faith we have the assurance that we will be forgiven so there is no excuse for us not to take the hard knock of failure, or the fear of it, and to get back to the task of helping Jesus bring Gods plan to perfection.

In my own apprenticeship as a Christian I know that I have not got my heart sorted out in all sorts of areas but I take comfort in the fact that Jesus has not given up on me and that he is still teaching me. It’s up to me to keep turning up for my work with him and doing my best to discern what I can do to make the wider plan of God a reality. Not an easy task.

A question we should all ask ourselves is this, “Here I am Lord with all my imperfections, please guide me in the ways which will help me to appreciate what Jesus is doing for me and how I can help others to benefit from his teaching.”

A final note on apprentices. By taking on an apprentice you are in a way taking a risk because you invest a lot of time and effort in the person you have selected. God the father has invested in us and sees a potential which quite often we do not recognise for ourselves. All we need to do is to live and learn his values and pray that a right heart will be created in each of us. And so as we listen for the prompting of the Holy Spirit we grow in faith and stay on track for reaching our true potential.