Sunday, 17 June 2007

Sunday School Class: Proverbs 23:20 & 21 Too much, too much!

Scripture reading: #631

Sunday evening - No Vesper's tonight – enjoy Father’s Day with your family and friends.

Wednesday Study Class 7-8 p.m. How to live as Christians in society: Honor – different from respect

Shakespeare - "...by that sin fell the angels."

(Henry VIII - Act iii Scene ii; & Jeremiah 1.4-10)  

William Shakespeare: King Henry VIII. Act iii. Scene 2 in which Wolsey admonishes Cromwell, "I charge thee, fling away ambition: by that sin fell the angels.”

Mark but my fall and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels. How can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee;

Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not;
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's; then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!

Serve the King, and-prithee lead me in.
There take an inventory of all I have
To the last penny; 'tis the King's. My robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own.

O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my King, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

“Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my King…”

Jeremiah 1.4-10

Jeremiah 1.4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5."Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

6. "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." 7. But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

8. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.9. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

What if Wolsey would have taken his 'charge' as seriously as Jeremiah? What if Jeremiah had decided to cultivate popularity and wealth instead of taking his charge seriously? What might history have recorded of their eras? 

Did Cardinal Wolsey have a Divine role to play in nations and kingdoms during the reign of Henry VIII in England? I believe he undoubtedly did.

Did he have a responsibility “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant?” I believe he undoubtedly had that responsibility.

Did Cardinal Wolsey abdicate that responsibility? Yes, by his own admission he didn’t serve God with half the zeal that he served Henry VIII. He curried favor and amassed wealth (including Hampton Court) only to lose it all on another bid for power.

What would have happened if Wolsey had been faithfully ‘God’s man’ with words of prophetic warning to Henry VIII as the king married and divorced, and had his wives put to death while demanding allegiance from the church to him as the head of the Church of England?

The bottom line is this - if, by his own admission, Cardinal Wolsey had devoted half as much deliberation to his calling as he did to his king, he probably wouldn't have lost his possessions (and his life).

Jeremiah chapter one gives us God's 'calling' of Jeremiah. Jeremiah took his calling seriously. He was known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because the words he felt compelled to give were sorrowful.

He spoke from a deep integrity against the affairs of his day, political and religious and personal. It didn’t enrich him or ingratiate him, but ultimately led to his forced exile and death in Egypt. During the same timeframe, Ezekiel was living out on the river bank in Babylon cooking bread over dung; and Daniel was living in a palace in Babylon eating food from the king’s table.

They were each being faithful to their calling.

I don't presume to know the details of Wolsey's calling, only the evidence of his acceptance and the details of his falling.

It isn't just Kings and Cardinals who fail in their calling. We each have a calling that we accept when we take on the 'adoption' of being a child of God.

While we may not feel that nations and kings are dependent upon our role and calling, actually, to an extent you will not realize until you stand before God - there are fewer than six degrees of separation within the spiritual realm of the Kingdom!

How you exercise your 'calling' within your lifetime, one day at a time, makes an eternal difference in lives you will never meet.