Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The Psalmist
David prayed with the words: ‘O LORD, we lift up our soul to you; in you we trust, O God, our precious Father. Show us your ways, O LORD, teach us your paths; guide us in your truth, for you are God our Saviour, and our hope is in you all day long.’ (Psalm 25:1–5 NIV84)
Let’s join with David in prayer: O God our loving Father, we are privileged to share our worship of You. By your Holy Spirit, in word and sacrament, be present in our worship and guide our time together that we may choose life in your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, express the joy of our salvation, and grow into the people you want us to be. Gracious Father, hear our prayer for the sake of our risen Lord, Amen.
In the Gospel today, Jesus warns that a choice to let God’s Holy Spirit guide our lives to become disciples is not to be taken casually. He relates two embarrassments that were evident around him in Jerusalem and the surrounds.
When Jesus spoke of an unfinished tower, the listeners of Jesus would have recognised
the aqueduct Pilate began to build that was never completed, and became an embarrassment for the Roman Governor’s reign. Jewish history relates that the cost of that aqueduct became a burden the city could not meet.
And when Jesus spoke about the uncertain warfare of a king, the listeners of Jesus would have recognised the often short-sighted military operations of the Zealots as they attempted to throw off Roman oppression. They could never muster the support or strength to make even a dent.
Jesus holds both examples up to public ridicule. Examples of not being able or willing to finish that which was begun. But my question today is: why are we hearing these parables of failure to persevere? I believe the answer is that Jesus knew the challenge ahead for his apostles, disciples, and even casual followers, alike.
Jesus knows that even in Australia, as Christians we too will face opportunities and responsibilities that will witness our choices and our perseverance.
Those times when we choose to follow Christ Jesus. And those times we allow the distractions of family, friends, work, or social responsibilities tempt us to set aside what God has started in us. That is the message for all of us, especially the fathers among us whom we are celebrating today.
Faith in Jesus Christ brings us into the arena of a work begun. Jesus sets the hard word before the huge crowd following him. He says, “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
As believers, we discover that in the final analysis, all we really have is our stubborn will. Our soul already belongs to Christ Jesus. Our heart is the home for God’s Holy Spirit. Our mind remains the battle ground. I’m not sure who said it, but the old quote, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” seems to apply here.
As Scripture encourages us, when we submit our will to God, we will never be embarrassed or ridiculed in his eyes. But not so in the eyes of the world around us. When we set our passion on living for Jesus Christ, we will truly be disciples. But it won’t always be easy. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are well on the way to becoming the beautiful people that God wants us to be. And that is the encouragement for living our faith.
At every stage in our development as disciples of our Saviour, and complete human beings, we are pushed and pulled, tried and tested, turned every which way but loose. But not so much by the gentle and strong Spirit of our Creator. All this happens to us as we live and grow in the broken world in which we exist.
But our wondrous Father has an ultimate plan for us. By his Son’s sacrifice, we have faith that will make all the difference. By his grace and mercy, his Holy Spirit guards us from the tensions that try to destroy in us all that is so valuable to him, but considered worthless by the world. If we choose life of faith.
In the Epistle today, Paul wrote to his friend Philemon, who was well on the way to becoming the beautiful person that God wanted him to be. Paul writes, ‘I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.’
Even though Philemon was becoming the person that God wanted him to be, there was still a challenge. All through our lives, there will be challenges to face. Challenges to our faith, to our sensibilities, to our life as Christians. Challenges that call us to choose to yield our will to God our Father, as Christ Jesus encourages us.
You see, Onesimus, a slave of Philemon, did a runner. He ended up in Rome, where Paul was held in chains. It is possible that Onesimus was in chains there beside Paul, awaiting the fate of a returned slave. But we can’t be clear about that. We can’t even be clear that Onesimus received the gift of faith before or while in chains beside Paul. What we can be clear about is that Onesimus embraced the grace offered by God and the faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Faith that is the beginning of a new relationship with God, and is the fulfilment of our salvation for all of us.
This letter is Paul’s encouragement for Philemon to receive Onesimus back, not as a rebellious and obstinate slave, but as a dear brother. A fellow child of God, and believer in Jesus the Savour of us all. Faith that makes Onesimus useful.
Paul writes, ‘Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.’
I’m told that Onesimus, in Greek, means useful. From Jewish history, there is evidence that Philemon followed the advice and encouragement of Paul. That he received Onesimus back with Christian love and charity. Some scholars believe this Onesimus is Onesimus the Bishop of Ephesis, praised in a letter to the second-century church from Ignatius of Antioch. It is believed that the position of Onesimus preserved Paul’s letter to Philemon in the cannon of the New Testament. And we have it to share today.
I suspect that we can discover aspects of our own journey in the life of Onesimus. At times, rebelling against God, and running away from the reality of Jesus Christ. Encountering a Saviour who says to our Father God, just like Paul writes to Philemon, ‘If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.’ And then Christ Jesus paid our debt for us.
We journey through life with faith in our Saviour who took our every wrong and sin when He was sacrificed on the cross. We, who were once useless, have been made useful, in our baptism. We, who were once rebellious, have been made obedient, as we receive the words of the Holy Bible. We who were once blinded to the light of Jesus Christ, have been made to see the reality of the Gospel in the Lord’s Supper. We who have ventured off on our own, have been received into the loving arms of our Father God in his mercy, by his grace, through his Son.
Like Onesimus, we can give thanks to a loving, forgiving, and accepting Father who will not turn his children away, ridicule them, or discard them. And God encourages every person to live the example of our wondrous Saviour Jesus Christ.
We are God’s chosen people. We have been gathered around Jesus and set apart from the world to be His disciples. Jesus calls all of us his beloved brothers and sisters. Compassionate Mothers and Fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, uncles and aunts.
We are encouraged to enter the challenge to choose Christian living every new moment of our lives, with serious reflection. But knowing that we will make mistakes in our sinful humanity. Be encouraged that Jesus is making us into the people He wants us to be. The Holy Spirit is moulding us into the character and nature of a disciple. Giving us the freedom to choose to love the Lord Jesus Christ our God and Saviour with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And then likewise to love our neighbor as ourselves.
In everything we choose, may the grace and peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the calm assurance of salvation in our living Lord, Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. dave Thompson.
Port Macquarie.