Month: June 2011

People have problems with God commanding Abraham to
sacrifice his only son and the willingness of Abraham to carry it out.

Scholars have debated this story;
Bible study groups have puzzled over
it;
some have dismissed it as a fictional story that foreshadows the
heavenly Father’s sacrifice of his own Son;
some have placed the story in
the too hard basket refusing to believe that God would ask anyone to do such a
thing.
Others have marvelled at Abraham’s trust in God.

Our feelings complicate things. We are horrified as Abraham
sets on his trek – Isaac beside him, wood on Isaac’s back, the pot of hot coals,
and a knife in his belt, and Isaac’s innocent question about the whereabouts of
the sacrifice.
We hold our breath as Abraham ties up his son, places him on
the wood on the altar and raises a knife to kill Isaac – or would it be better
to say Abraham is about to “murder a child”.
Then there is our sense of
relief when, at the last moment, God intervenes and stops Abraham from
completing what appears to be a senseless slaughter of his only son.

Questions rage in our minds.
What kind of God would ask
a father to sacrifice his son?
What kind of father was Abraham who was happy
to comply?
Should he really be held up as a model of faith for us
all?
This can hardly be held up as an example of child protection. If Abraham
tried this kind of stunt today he would quickly find himself labelled a monster
and locked up for a very long time.

Let’s take a closer look at this story. Firstly we need to
note how much Abraham loved his son Isaac! That boy was a true miracle baby. It
was physically impossible for a couple nudging 100 years old to bear a child.
Sarah even laughed when she was told she would become a mother. Two old gray
haired people becoming parents – that sounded just too ridiculous, too
impossible. But with God, nothing is impossible. Isaac was born – truly a gift
of God’s grace.

God had told Abraham that this boy, resting in his arms,
meant that God was keeping his promise that a great nation would come from his
descendants and that through this child would come great blessings for all
nations. We get some idea of how special Isaac was to Abraham when the writer of
this Genesis story very carefully retells God’s words emphasising that Isaac was
the delight of this old man. God called Isaac, “your
son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.”

But then came the blow! One night God came to Abraham with
an important request. “Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love. Go
to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains I will tell you about.” I can’t begin to imagine what emotions
must have surged through Abraham’s heart.

I don’t know how you would respond to a command like this,
but I know I wouldn’t have reacted as Abraham did. My reaction would be more
like, “Are you kidding, God! I’ve waited 100 years for this boy! There’s no way
I’m going to do this!”

But that’s not how Abraham responded. Incredibly we are told
he got up the next morning and saddled his donkey. He chopped the wood, got the
pot of hot coals ready, took two servants and his son, and set out for the place
where God had told him to go. Could we say at this point that he loved his son,
but he loved his heavenly Father more?

After a three-day journey they arrived at Mount Moriah.
Abraham told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go
over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

Did you catch what Abraham said? “The boy and I will go
over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.“ He
fully intended to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, but he had that remarkable faith
that believed that somehow, and he didn’t know how this would happen, both of
them would return. As Abraham and Isaac are walking, Isaac notices something is
missing. They have the fire and the wood but where is the sacrifice. Notice what
Abraham says. “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my
son.”

And that’s exactly what happened. God did provide. As he
raised his knife to kill Isaac the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham.

“Don’t hurt the boy or do anything to him. Now that I know that you have
obedient reverence for God, because you have not kept back your only son from
him.” Abraham sees a ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his
son. He names the place “The Lord
Provides.”

“The Lord provides.” This is a common theme in the Bible.
Throughout the pages of Scripture, God is portrayed as the One who sees and
cares for all of our needs.
We hear about how the very hairs on our head are
numbered.
We hear of his concern and notices when one insignificant sparrow
falls to the ground.
We hear about Daniel who is delivered from the mouths
of lions.
Gideon and the remnant of his army are rescued from their enemies.

The Israelites are saved from the Egyptians when a path is made through the
sea. And so we could go and on. The Bible is a book about how God loves and
provides for his people.

From time to time we hear how someone has questioned God and
why he hasn’t done something when things aren’t going the way they believe they
ought and they face extreme difficulties and challenges. The pain, confusion,
upset, depression, bewilderment lead many to ask, “Where are you God when I need
you the most”. The absence of God and his seeming failure to provide for their
needs has been a constant cry throughout the ages. Just take a look at the book
of Psalms, and you will hear the same questions being asked.

Is God personally involved with our lives?
We know God
is love but why don’t we see more evidence of this in our lives and in our
world?
We’ve asked God for his help and apparently he hasn’t heard us. The
same old problems just keep on plaguing us.
God is all knowing and must know
what our needs are but why won’t he actually do something to meet our needs?

We may debate and argue till the cows come home about the
God who gives Abraham a son and a promise about grandchildren and great
grandchildren, and then asks that he kill his only son and burn him on a
sacrificial altar.
We could go on for hours about how a loving God would
never ask Abraham to give up Isaac – even as a test.
We can discuss the
reason God had to test Abraham in such a cruel and heartless way.
But the
fundamental fact remains – Abraham trusted God and believed that he would
provide and he did. The Lord provided. I can hear Abraham say to Isaac when he
saw the ram caught in the bush, “See that Isaac! I told you the Lord would
provide a lamb for the burnt offering.”

God will provide. So often we act and speak as if we had to
provide. We talk as if everything depended on us. We feel that we need to have
everything under control, every angle covered. Be hardheaded. Take no risks. The
Lord helps those who help themselves, and so forth. If we wait for i-s to be
dotted and the t-s crossed before we did anything then we wouldn’t get around to
doing too much at all.

When God told Noah to build a boat – not just any boat but
one of massive proportions – do we hear of Noah wanting to know all the whys and
wherefores before he started building? This was a huge undertaking no doubt
costly in terms of the money required to buy materials, tradesmen to build such
a boat, his reputation, not to mention that according to the weather forecast
there was no rain in sight. We are simply told that Noah did as God had said.

Obedience and trust in God go hand in hand. You see,
sometimes we just have to say, “I don’t really know how this is going to turn
out, but I believe that God knows what he is doing and I trust his love for
me.”
We can be scared stiff by the personal problems that we are facing, our
financial struggles.
We can be worried about the decline in the number of
people attending worship worldwide.
We don’t know why there is such a lack
of commitment by so many people to God, his Church, and what God wants to do
through his church for the people of this community.
We can be overwhelmed by
the myriad of challenges the Lord places before us because we don’t have
resources to do what God is asking.
Our heads can swim at all the
possibilities that God has placed before this congregation that we wonder if we
will ever be able to rise to the occasion and faithfully carry out God’s
plans.

God will provide. Are we ready to say that, in full trust?
God may not meet all of our requests right now. He may not give us the people we
need to carry out certain plans right now. A certain kind of ministry may have
to be left unfulfilled until God supplies us with the right people to be able to
move forward. But God will provide. He will provide a way for his plans to be
carried out. There is little point in God giving us so many opportunities to
minister to others and leaving us high and dry to work it all out by ourselves.
By the way, this isn’t an invitation to laziness or doing nothing saying, “Let’s
not do anything until the Lord provides.” Rather an invitation to trust and be
open to the way God provides especially through us.

The God whom we serve is faithful and true. This Old
Testament event reminds us of our heavenly Father who was prepared to sacrifice
his only Son. God did not spare his own Son. Since God went to this extreme for
us, doesn’t it follow that it is not beyond God’s will and power to do extreme
things through us and for us?

The real test of love is in the sacrifice that love is
willing to make. God’s love went to the limit. He might have argued “Why should
I? They aren’t worth it.” He might have reasoned, “Why bother? They will reject
it anyway.”

Like Abraham, he took his Son – his only Son whom he loved
more dearly than Abraham could ever love Isaac – and put him on the wooden altar
shaped into a cross. His love for us compelled him to give the best he had. Love
made a Father sacrifice his Son. Don’t be surprised if love, especially love for
God, will cause you to do extreme things, to make sacrifices that you would not
have otherwise made.

What we need to see clearly is that God is working out his
purpose in our lives. What is important is his plan for us. The good news is not
that we have a wonderful plan for our lives and our church and God will help us
to accomplish it; but that God has a wonderful plan for our lives and our
church and yes he will provide a way for us to accomplish it. He knows what we
need, where we need it, and when we need it. “The Lord provides.”
Amen.

Disciple. Mathew 28:16-20

On Wednesday  night last week my son Matt and I went to an Ice Hockey linesman’s course.  The instructor asked if anyone could explain  the off-side rule.  No one wanted to risk  it; it was too complicated to explain in a short sentence, so we all sat there  with confused expressions on our faces, hoping someone else would have to  answer for us.  Most of us have been  playing the game for a number of years and see off-sides called all the time in  games, some even abuse the referee or linesmen for getting it wrong, yet when  it came to the crunch we weren’t confident enough to state the rule.

There are lots of  technical words that we use in the church perhaps without ever really unpacking  what they mean, or maybe we just think we know what they mean.  I reckon if I asked someone to explain the  term disciple to me it could be a struggle too.   Is anyone game to give it a go?

The Oxford  Dictionary lists two possibilities 1) a personal follower of  Jesus during his life, esp. one of the twelve Apostles or 2)  a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosophy.  The Free Dictionary online adds another  variation, One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of  another.

Given those  definitions, do you think that you are a disciple?  We can all rule out the first definition  given by the Oxford,  none of us were around during Jesus’ life.   We can probably manage to fit ourselves under the second version though,  we follow or are students at least of Jesus, through God’s Word, but what about  the last definition, can you say that you embrace and assist in spreading the  teachings of Jesus.  My guess is that on  the last one there are a few of us who might struggle a little.

Some might say  that’s the role of the ordained clergy and paid church workers to go out and  spread the teachings of Jesus.  That’d be  a bit of a cop out though wouldn’t it?   You see Jesus said go and make disciples of ALL nations.  Not just the Israelites, or the Romans or the  Greeks, ALL nations.  The way I read that  is that there’s a bit of a domino principle going on.  The disciples that were there with Jesus were  to go out, with the authority given to them by Jesus, to make disciples of all  nations, that is, to replicate themselves.   That’s what they were after all wasn’t it, disciples?  Go out and make some more of yourselves!  Then what will happen, those new ones will  also be commanded to obey everything that Jesus has commanded, can you see a  pattern developing here?

But how do you go  about ‘making a disciple’?  You can’t go  to the supermarket or hardware store and get a ready to make kit; it’s a bit  harder and a little more obscure than that isn’t it?

Perhaps by taking  a look at the six marks of discipleship suggested by Dr Michael Foss we might  find some answers to the how question as we look at what being a disciple  entails.  You might remember my sermon a  couple of weeks back about prayer, which is the first mark of being a disciple,  maintaining a conversation with our Lord.   The second is to spend time each week in worship, celebrating the  presence of God through Word and Sacrament in communion with fellow  believers.  Number three is reading the  Bible.  What better way is there to know  more about God and learn from him unless you read his Word that was written for  you than to read it for yourself?

The next  suggested mark of discipleship is serving in and beyond your congregation, that  is, living a life that reflects the joy and hope that you have through your  Lord and Saviour, and responding by serving others in love.  Then comes nurturing relationships with  others, having people that are important to you that care for you and that you  care for in response.  The final mark is  giving in response to God’s love of what he has first given you to support the  work of the church and other charitable organisations.

Now I’m not  saying that God is going to measure you on these things and judge you on how  well you do.  These are merely suggested  ways of living a life in response to God’s love for you, reflecting the way  that Jesus lived and allowing God into your life beyond the hour or so on a  Sunday that you might spend in a worship service.

You might also ask  why would you want to be a disciple, what’s in it for me?  It’s fairly common to want to know the answer  to the ‘what’s in it for me question’ these days isn’t it?

Let’s think about  it for a minute, our world is a difficult place to live in.  There is fear, oppression, inflation, natural  disasters, illness, interest rates are increasing, more people are defaulting  on their mortgages, and rental prices are at a record high.  Life’s tough isn’t it?  People need hope and joy in their lives,  where do you think that might come from?

Some people will  try to find it in alcohol or drugs, through sport, relationships with others or  maybe material possessions.  But you and  I know that there is something or someone better don’t we?  In our Lord and saviour Jesus we have hope,  for an eternal life, but more than that, he has promised to be with us to the  end of the age.  Unlike many people we  might have come across during our lives, he won’t reject us or double-cross us,  he has promised to love us and be with us, no matter what’s going on in our  lives.
By living as his  disciples we help him be a part of our lives, we read and hear his Word, we  receive his gifts to us through the sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, we  hear his forgiveness spoken to us through our pastor or fellow Christians, we  talk to God on a regular basis and live a life in response to all of that, with  him present with us.

So what is a  disciple?  You are, when you go home  tonight and look in a mirror, that is a disciple, you’ve bothered to come here  today and hear God’s word, pray to him and receive the Sacrament.  How do we make other disciples, by showing  God’s love to others and praying for his help to share his Word through our  lives and relationships with others, wherever that may be.  We teach and baptise and walk their journey  with them, just like others have walked the journey with us and all the while  Jesus has promised to be with us too.
Amen

WHEN GOD SPEAKS

Text: Acts 2:5-8
There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world. When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?

When travelling in non-English speaking countries, signs that have obviously been literally translated into English for visitors can be often confusing and amusing. Here are a couple of examples.

From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo, “When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigour”.

On the office of a doctor in Rome, “Specialist in women and other diseases”.

In a Greek tailor shop, “Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation”.

Making a good intelligible translation from one language to another is hard work and can be very difficulty but for the disciples on the Day of Pentecost there was no problem at all. Normally the disciples with their thick Galilean accents would have had difficulty speaking to those gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world of that time. The language barrier can be quite a difficult one to deal with. This was brought home to us when we visited the parents-in-law of our son. We arrived on their doorstep in a small village in France – we didn’t speak French and they didn’t speak English. It was hard work communicating using hand signs and thumbing through a dictionary. What a difference it made when their son arrived who could speak both French and English.

The amazing thing on Pentecost day is that the disciples didn’t need dictionaries or people to translate to find the best way to say something in a foreign language. We are told, “All of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?” (Acts 2:7,8).There are 3 words that describe what happened that first Pentecost Day. Heard, saw and spoke.
Firstly, those present heard a sound – they heard what sounded like a mighty rushing wind.
Secondly, they saw – they saw what appeared to be tongues of fire which spread our across the crowd and touched each person there.
And thirdly, after hearing and seeing, they spoke. They preached. They testified to the great good that God was doing among them. Jesus had said that he would send to them his Holy Spirit who would be their helper and stay with them forever.

The crowd out in the street scoffed saying, “They’re drunk!” The mob couldn’t imagine that God Almighty would use ignorant and unlearned people from the backwater of Galilee to speak the languages of those present with such skill and precision. In spite of the mockery, Peter gets up and speaks about Jesus. His sermon is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles. It’s not all that long. And yet three thousand people heard and believed and were baptised that day. The account of the Pentecost coming of the Holy Spirit concludes with the reaction of those believers. They continued to learn from the apostles, took part in fellowship meals, shared their belongings with those less fortunate, prayed together, and praised God (Acts 2:42-47).

There is a dynamic here, a powerful movement that is at the heart of the Bible’s story about who God is, who we are and what we are doing here.
The first thing we notice is how God reaches down and speaks to us. Our God is a relentlessly, unceasingly self-communicative God. There is something about God that loves to speak us, reveal his heart to us, and demonstrates a determination to get through to us with words that
express his untiring love for us,
his sacrifice for us in his son Jesus,
his dedication to rescuing us from our sinful ways,
his commitment to making sure that all people hear about the free gift of forgiveness that he offers to everyone.
Our God is one who just wants to speak to us.

A sure sign that two people are in love is that they long to be with one another. More than that, they way to talk with one another – the telephone, email, whatever – hours upon hours of talking. The talk is so important because our speech is our primary way of expressing ourselves, of sharing ourselves, giving to and receiving from others.

Every time we gather here for worship, we gather under the promise that God will speak to us. This is an important aspect of our worship services. The large part of our worship is listening to what God is saying to us.
His word of reassurance of the forgiveness of our sins,
his Word to us from the Scriptures,
his Word to us through the sermon,
his Word to us through Baptism and Holy Communion,
his Word of blessing as we leave here and face whatever the week ahead will bring.

God spoke to those gathered at the first Pentecost and he speaks to us again and again at the weekly celebration of Pentecost here at worship. We hear him speaking to us and being filled with his Spirit. What God says to us places us under the power of the Holy Spirit.

That leads me to ask then, what difference does God’s Word and his Spirit make in our lives? What are the characteristics of people under the power of the Spirit?

Spirit-filled people are people who know God’s love, they know they’re not perfect, but they know they have forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And they are able to pass that forgiveness to those who sin against them. Spirit-filled people know they have God’s power to help them and he will remain faithful and always love and care for them.

Spirit-filled people are growing people. They are continually growing in their faith, from the time of their Baptism to this day. They seek out every opportunity to discover Christ, and what it means to be children of God. They can’t get enough of hearing God speak to them.

Spirit-filled people are changed people. Through God’s Word and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit wants to bring a change into our lives. He wants to come into our lives to bring light into our darkness; to turn our death into life; to change our lives from sin-filled to Spirit-filled. Every day Spirit-filled people try to live in their baptism. Daily they listen as the Holy Spirit reminds them, woos them, and persuades them through the Word of God. When the Word of God is heard the Holy Spirit draws us closer to God, brings us to repentance, to an assurance of the love of God for us and turns our lives around. He changes our direction!

Spirit-filled people have a new language. I don’t mean they go around speaking pious sounding words all day or use the name of Jesus in every other sentence. What I mean, Spirit-filled people speak words that heal and restore and make people happy and build people up instead of tearing them down. They speak a good word to our world, the good news about a crucified and risen Saviour.

Spirit-filled people are moved to love those around them. They are given a new outlook on the problems and the needs of other people and are happy to help and care for others. Spirit-filled people reflect the love of God into the lives of the people around them. This is how Paul described Spirit-filled people and how he saw the Spirit active in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.Spirit-filled people want to share what Jesus means to them. The news about Jesus is too good not tell. This is something we can do on our local scene, as we go about our work, or talk to our neighbour over the back fence, let’s not be afraid to let people know that Jesus is someone special to you.

Spirit-filled people are concerned about the concerns of God.
Is God concerned about the way we are destroying our world? Spirit-filled people are!
Does God care for the starving, the dying, the homeless, the sick? Spirit-filled people are!
Is God concerned about those who don’t know of his love? Spirit-filled people are!

Spirit-filled people are praying people. Paul encourages us, “Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray for all God’s people” (Eph 6:18). It is the Spirit who gives us a child’s confidence to go to our heavenly Father in prayer. It is the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness … and intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” It is the Spirit who enables us to pray the most unlikely prayers in the face of suffering, on the battlefield, here in worship and at the kitchen table. Spirit-filled people “take everything to God in prayer.”Spirit-filled people are worshipping people. In Philippians we read, “We worship God by means of his Spirit…(3:3). We have been saved by Jesus our Saviour and daily we experience the blessings of the Holy Spirit as he leads us to change the direction of our lives and assures us of the love and forgiveness of God. Spirit-filled people join with fellow Spirit-filled people of the body of Christ to give thanks and praise to the God who has done to so much for them.

Spirit-filled people are praising people. There is nothing more that we could ask of God. We haven’t done anything to deserve it but he has given us everything.

As you have listened to God’s Word to you about the Spirit-filled life, I’m sure your response is much the same as mine.
God has spoken but I haven’t been listening.
God has been giving me directions but I have chosen to ignore them.
God has kept on speaking, speaking and speaking to me about his love and his plan for my life and I still I don’t get it.

The longest word in the English language is “pneumono-ultra-microscopic-silico-volcano-coniosis,” which describes a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of volcanic matter or a similar fine dust. An even longer word, nearly 100 letters long, was used by James Joyce in his book ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ (1939). He created it to describe a thunderclap at the beginning of the story: (not even going to try to say it) bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuvarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk.”

The words that God speaks to us are much simpler than that. “You are my child. I have sent you my Son and given you my Spirit that you may believe and have eternal life”.
Amen.