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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Rules for life

God’s law and love bring life; let’s not strangle it with red tape religion (Matthew 11:25-30; Psalm 145:8-14; Romans 7:15-25a).

Context

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

The rules of the game
Think about tennis, or your favourite sport – or if you’re like me and prefer exercising only your mind, your favourite board game. Does it have rules? Almost certainly! Would you be able to play the game if you disregarded them all? It would probably become chaotic and unplayable pretty quickly.

Rules, then, are generally created to help us, particularly in our interactions with others. They keep sports and games safe and fair and fun. The rules during Covid lockdowns put limitations on life that were hard to bear but it was done to help protect the vulnerable in a time of crisis. God’s law, too, is there to help protect us and let us live a full life in God’s love.

It’s natural to be angry with rule-breakers in sport, in a game, in life. But if we are honest, most of us will admit with Paul in Romans 7:18 that there are times ‘I can will what is right, but I cannot do it’. But there is good news: ‘Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ says Paul (v.25). Both forgiveness for our own failings and compassion for others can be ours in Christ.

Freedom from red tape religion
Sometimes imperfect human rules outgrow their purpose, becoming a burden without any attendant benefit. Or they may be just plain wrong.

The enforcement of tennis whites just to maintain a traditional aesthetic led to anxiety and the use of extreme workarounds for some of the players in past Wimbledon tournaments. Now, that unnecessary burden has been lifted, with one player, Coco Gauff, saying: ‘I think it’s going to relieve a lot of stress for me, and other girls in the locker room, for sure.’

In this week's Sermon ideas and Explore and respond we are encouraged this week to think about the unnecessary stresses and burdens we might be placing on people through our church culture and traditions. What have we loaded on top of the easy yoke Jesus asked us to take up? Are we at risk of creating a ‘red tape religion’ in the place of the ‘rest for your souls’ that Jesus wants for us (Mathew 11:29) – and for all those he calls to him?

 

Questions for discussion

  • Many forms of poetry have rules, within which creativity can still flourish, just as our lives can flourish within God’s law through the salvation brought by Jesus. What poetic forms can you think of? Maybe the 5-7-5 syllables of a haiku; the AABBA rhyme scheme and particular rhythms of a limerick; or the 14-line structure of a sonnet? Perhaps your congregation knows of other forms from around the world? If your group is up for a challenge, perhaps you could try to write some praise poems of your own within one of these many conventions. Here's a few if you’d rather borrow from me, just as I’ve borrowed from the Bible for inspiration. But I confess, I’ve had to leave the sonnets to Shakespeare!

    • Under the weight of
      your yoke the burden is light:
      my spirit rises.
      (Matthew 11:28-30; Psalm 145:14)

    • Held tight in your arms
      the pressure lifts. My open
      heart is freed to love.
      (Matthew 11:25-30; Mark 10:13-16)

    • In the soft confines
      of its mother’s wings, the chick
      can grow in freedom.
      (Psalm 91:4; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34)

    • There once was a shepherd and king;
      of his mercies his people all sing:
      ‘In his kingdom wars cease;
      he brings healing and peace.
      What a wonderful, wonderful king!’
      (Zechariah 9:9-12)

  • Read out some rules for popular board games – but don’t read out the name of each game. How quickly can people guess what the game is from hearing just the rules? If you’ve played the game, was it fun? If you’ve never played the game, does it sound like fun if all you hear are the rules? Can someone who’s played and enjoyed the game explain why it’s worth playing and win round the sceptics? If all we tell people about God’s kingdom are the rules we think they should keep and not the joys of the lived, loved experience, is it really a surprise if they turn away?

Rebecca Froley lives and worships in the London Borough of Sutton, mainly in the Baptist fellowship in which she grew up, and sometimes in a local Anglican church. She works in online business publishing and enjoys the privilege of continuing to contribute to Roots, for which she was the launch web editor some years ago. Preferring books and board games to badminton and basketball, this year she went to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham for the first time and loved it.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Twice this week I’ve had a conversation with someone who told me they were tired or weary and counting down to the end of term; once with a teacher and the second time, with a volunteer church children’s worker. We are on the countdown to the summer holidays, and children and young people are also tired. Many have already completed a tirade of tests or exams and then there are still the end of term concerts, sports competitions, award ceremonies, transfer days and end-of-term trips underway. The long restful six-week break can seem a lifetime away (though those who live north of the border are already enjoying their well-earned break!)

Following Jesus was never meant to be a wearisome journey, although there are times when we can give the wrong impression that it is; busy, busy church diaries, and emphasising a rule-driven life, rather than a life lived under grace. Today, we remember what it is to experience Jesus’ life-giving way of life which brings hope and peace and joy in every season of our life; a way of life which sustains us when we find ourselves under pressure from the world around us.

Becky May is Founder of The Resources Cupboard

 

Views expressed are the authors' own. Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by ROOTS for Churches Ltd.

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