The Text: Luke 15:1-10

When Heaven Rejoices Over You

 Few experiences in life arouse stronger feelings or stir us to action more quickly than when someone or something is lost. Hundreds of people will turn up to help look for a lost child. We can more easily identify with the woman who’s lost her valuable coin than the shepherd in this morning’s Gospel reading. What teenager hasn’t ransacked her or his clothing and bedroom until a lost $20 note is found, followed by a joyful shout, ”Mum, I’ve found it!” Luke 15 with its further parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the best loved chapters of the Bible. It’s considered the greatest chapter in St. Luke’s Gospel, since the Christmas story in chapter two.

Sadness hovers over a family where there’s a member missing. But what joy there is when the missing one returns home! The background to today’s two parables of good news is the eager welcome our Lord gives to despised tax collectors and other outcasts, an action which is strongly criticised by Jesus’ constant critics, the Pharisees. They’re complaining that Jesus invites tax collectors to have meals with Him even before they may have repented. Now if Jesus had announced that tax collectors would be welcome at His table after they’d renounced their evil ways and ‘cleaned up their act’, Jesus’ action would hardly have caused a ripple. But Jesus couldn’t wait for that to happen. He wanted them within His transforming presence as soon as possible. No wonder such folk flocked to Jesus. His critics, on the other hand, thought the worst charge they could level against Jesus was that “He’s the Friend of sinners!!” Jesus turned this criticism into a compliment. That’s why He’s come to our world – to be the Friend of all of us sinners.

So now, to defend His conduct in spending so much time seeking out God’s lost sons and daughters and then making them feel so welcome, our Lord now tells us two parables about searching for what has been so treasured and now becomes lost. Jesus went out of His way to spend the most time possible with those who needed Him the most, regardless of what it might do to His reputation. The new emphasis Jesus brings, as opposed to what the Jewish religious leaders had taught, is this – God actively goes in search for the lost and doesn’t want them to first “clean up their act”. Jesus is saying that because God is like this, seeking us unconditionally, I speak and act as I do. Jesus said that He was sent to seek God’s lost sheep because God misses them so much and treasures them so deeply.

Jesus assumes that His critics, when they lose a valuable animal, will act like the shepherd in today’s first parable. “Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety nine and go after the one that is lost?” The loss of even one sheep back in those days would have been a great blow to a shepherd struggling to make ends meet. A sheep which had wandered away from the care of its shepherd would be in danger of losing its life. The safety of the ninety nine sheep is no substitute for the loss of one. That’s why this good shepherd, who is a symbol of Christ our Good Shepherd, spares no effort in seeking its recovery.

Our society, our world places a big emphasis on statistics and numbers, which would suggest that we focus on the big numbers instead of only one. Not so with Jesus! Each single person matters more than they could imagine to their Lord and Saviour. Each of you matters immeasurably to your Good Shepherd, who made the ultimate sacrifice of His very life in order to rescue you. That’s how precious and invaluable you are to Jesus. No one else can take your place in Christ’s mission in this church and community. No one else can replace the unique contribution you alone can make to advance Christ’s cause. You’re more than “just another”. 

Have you noticed how much more blessed our worship here is when every member attends? Jesus needs your contribution, according to the gifts and talents He’s given you. His work is too important to not give it your all; your contribution can make such a difference to the life of His Church. The Lord’s work cannot be left to a few keen folk. Your presence and participation is an encouragement to everyone else.

A large part of Jesus’ ministry was with individuals on a one to one basis. He spent time with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman by the well, the man born blind, and with Martha at her brother Lazarus’s death. Jesus treasures you more than you feel you could ever deserve. We need to remember that the people we’re tempted to criticize are cherished immensely by our dear Lord.

Helmut Thielicke once wrote, “Though the burden of the whole world lay heavy upon His shoulders, though Corinth and Ephesus and Athens, whole continents, with all their desperate need, were dreadfully near to His heart, though suffering and sinning were going on in chamber, street corner, castle and slums, seen only by the Son of God – though this immeasurable misery and wretchedness cried aloud for a physician, He has time to stop and talk to the individual. He associates with publicans, lonely widows, and despised prostitutes; He moves among the outcasts of society, wrestling for the soul of individuals. He appears not to be bothered at all by the fact that these are not strategically important people, that they have no prominence, that they are not key figures, but only the unfortunate, lost children of the Father in Heaven. He seems to ignore with a sovereign indifference the great so-called “world-historical perspectives” of His mission, when it comes to one insignificant, blind, and smelly beggar, this Mr Nobody, who is nevertheless so dear to the heart of God and must be saved. Because Jesus knows that He must serve His neighbour (literally, those nearest here and now) He can confidently leave to His Father the things farthest away, the great perspectives.”

A farmer was walking down a lane carrying a half grown sheep. “How do they get lost?” he was asked. “They just nibble themselves lost”, he replied. “They just keep their heads down and just wander from one green patch to another. Sometimes they come to a hole in the fence, but they never find the hole to get back in again.” What a lost sheep cannot do for itself, someone else must do for it. It needs a caring shepherd to rescue it.

Now when the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he doesn’t reproach it for causing him so much trouble. Nor does he complain about having to carry it on his shoulders back to his sheepfold. Without his shouldering of this eagerly-sought burden, there can be no joyous restoration to its flock. The joy of finding his treasured possession overshadows everything else. That’s why he urges his friends and neighbours to celebrate with him his glad discovery. Joy has to be shared. It’s too good to keep to oneself. Jesus asks His critics: “Is it wrong for Me to spend so much time and effort over one lost soul as you do for one lost sheep?”

This parable is an invitation to them and to us to repent. “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance (v7).” What better reason can there be to apologise to God for all the times we’ve hurt Him and disobeyed Him? One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received was, “Always say ‘sorry’ more than you think you need to.” We can repent with joy because of the joy our repentance creates in heaven. Repentance need not be gloomy or morbid. Rather, because of the joyous reaction in heaven to our confession of sin, we repent as often as we can, as soon as we can, because our Heavenly Father is eager to welcome us back home again and embrace us with His unconditional love.

At the same time, God’s grief over those who see no need to repent and return to His House is like the grief of the woman who has lost one of her ten coins. This would have amounted to the loss of a tenth of her savings. No wonder she passionately searches for her lost property! As long as the coin is lost, it is of no value to anyone. No wonder she doesn’t stop searching until it’s found. And when it’s found, she invites her girlfriends and neighbours to a joy-filled celebration of thankfulness. She possibly even spends more on the celebration than the coin is worth!

In the same vein, Jesus shares with us the angels’ keen interest in our salvation. The angels can’t wait to joyously celebrate our eager repentance to our forgiving God. Today’s Gospel about Jesus eating with sinners is good news for all of us. His precious Supper is His Feast of forgiveness for us. He invites all of us who need Him so much and who are aware of their unworthiness to receive that life-giving gift. God’s Word says, “Do you not realise that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4)?” You can repent with joy because heaven rejoices when you do.

Look around you and rejoice at all those who have responded to the Gospel, and thank God for them all. Jesus wants you to have His permanent joy in you. Finally, thank God for the good news of great joy in today’s sermon text, news that’s a joy to share with others. Take up Jesus’ invitation to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).”

Amen.

Text: Luke 14:25-33, Psalm 1:5-6, Philemon

“Hard To Hate”

 

Hate is a hard word to hear. Especially in the context of the Gospel reading where we hear Jesus say a person must hate his or her very own life, hate father and mother, or hate sister and brother. Hearing ‘to hate’ startles the senses, yet Jesus goes on to shake us even more.

If you don’t perfectly hate like this, then Jesus says you cannot be his disciple. Added to this he says, “…any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33 ESV)

What does God require of you? He wants you to lay down everything and take up your cross and follow him. Anything less and you cannot be his disciple. Without this hate of self and family, without the bearing of your cross, you and I are seen as flavourless salt… and salt that’s not salty is good for nothing!

A simple test of your hatred of self and family in favour of God can be best observed by your focus on your birthday over against your baptism birthday. Which of these two days gets your greater celebration?

Does the brighter spotlight fall on the day you were born, or rather, do you rejoice more over the anniversary of your day of birth into the eternal kingdom of God. Do you celebrate and commemorate the day you were born into your sinfulness or the day you were crucified and buried with Christ, the day you were baptised into his death, the day your sinfulness was defeated and you received eternal life?

Unless you hate your birthday more than the day your cross became Christ’s cross, and pick it up and follow him, you cannot be Jesus’ disciple!

In light of his word here, we start to see the shocking insufficiency of our existence. In fact, some of you are hard up remembering just what date it was when you were baptised, while some of you are questioning his word, trying to side step it, ignore it, or perhaps trying to justify yourself.

What is revealed here is we’re not what we’re meant to be! Humanity has lost its way! Our thinking has become confused and contradicted against the truth of the situation and our real position in this world and with God.

Most of us have come to accept a benign type of Christianity, devoid of anything which might seem offensive to our postmodern ears. However, what might seem to be benign is in fact malignant if you allow the word of God to dig beneath the surface and expose the reality of your human existence.

Is your quest for your idea of life the very thing that’s cutting you off from the life God wants to give you?

You know, it’s not meant to be this way!

In Psalm One, we’re told, “…the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:5-6 ESV)

So what is it for you? Are you righteous; one in God’s congregation? Or, are you a perishing sinner?

There’s a number of ways you might respond. First there’s the way of pride. We might look at ourselves all puffed up thinking we’re not doing too badly! Then, there’s the way of brokenness. We might see deep within the darkness of our sin and in shame seek to flee further from God’s presence.

Both of these responses are flawed! They are both equally wrong because answers are sought from within you.

However, there’s another way! The third way! By this path you can be honest! And answer both questions… YES! Yes, I am righteous; I am one in God’s congregation! And yes, I am a sinner! There is a part of me perishing! Thank God it’s being done away with!

Why is this different from a righteous pride that comes from within, or, equally from within, a humiliation that leads to the giving up of hope? It’s different because the twofold yes comes from outside. It allows you to be completely honest knowing yourself as God knows you!

In fact, God knows you better than you know yourself. He knew you before you were born. He knew you before your baptism into Christ’s death on your cross! He even knew you before this world existed. As we’ve heard in Psalm One, the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

Now God calls you to know yourself! Know your nature; be honest with yourself and him. Know you’re dying, but not despair! Rather because of the eternal joy that awaits you, endure the cross of dying, the killing of your sinful nature, and look forward with hope; fully convinced of the future.

To see yourself clothed the way you were meant to be before sin entered the lives of humanity! To see with God given faith, when God looks at you he sees Jesus! To see you covered with the righteousness of Christ. Believing and trusting Christ’s righteousness is the only way of righteousness.

When this happens we will hate what we are, but love what we have become, what we’re becoming, and what we will become in Christ!

We will realise this life is more about death than life and regret and detest it’s like this. But we’ll also see in death what has begun in baptism will be finished and done away with, so true life can begin. We will grow in love in the knowledge Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And we will yearn, more and more, to be the same as him.

Today we also hear about Paul, Philemon (fill-ee-mon), and Onesimus (O-ness-ee-mus). Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, and after escaping and being found by Paul, Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon. But Onesimus is different from what he once was. He’s no longer a slave to sin but is now bound by the Gospel. He had become the same as Saint Paul.

Although we know little about what it’s like to live in a social setting of slavery, we in fact, like Onesimus, were slaves to sinfulness but are being freed from that old bondage.

If we look into ourselves we might seek to flee our slavery like Onesimus, in despair or arrogance. But Onesimus then relied on Paul to win favour with his master, Philemon. Likewise, Christ has won the victory for us and we can rely on him to put us right with God.

We could imagine Onesimus hated his old life as a slave. We too who trust Christ to put us right will detest our old life too. We will hate the way things have become in this world. We will hate who we’ve become, slaves of sin. And because of it long for something much better and trust God is bringing it to fruition in our lives.

In hating ourselves we might learn to truly love who God is re-creating us to be. And then with this Christ-centred love we might love our neighbour as ourselves. We might love and serve one another as Christ loves and serves us. Amen.

Pastor Heath Pukallus

Text: Luke 14:1, 12-14

Lillie loves to open her home to others. Often church folk have gathered around the organ in her home and sang together in praise of our Lord. The highlight of this time of fellowship is the supper which Lillie has delighted to prepare. Were you to ask her, she’d say with other Christians who love to practice hospitality that she has always received far more from her practice of hospitality than she’s ever given to others. In inviting folk into her home, she has no doubt “entertained angels unawares.” In stories of Christian hospitality, it’s a case of “for it is in giving that we receive.” In fact, it’s hard to tell where giving and receiving begin or end.

Many Christians will tell you that some of the happiest moments of their lives have been when they’ve invited newcomers or visitors into their homes and discovered with great joy how much they have in common with them. From New Testament times until recently, hospitality has been one of the chief ways Christians have expressed their love for strangers. The Greek word used in the New Testament for hospitality means “love of strangers”. The New Testament uses the same word for “guest” as for “stranger”. The early Christians were treated as strangers in the Roman Empire because of their strange new Faith. It was the warm welcome strangers received into Christian homes that assisted the rapid growth of the Christian Church.

A powerful opponent of Christianity, the Emperor Julian, wrote: “It is the Christians’ benevolence to strangers … that has done the most to increase [it]”. In our Lord’s parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan, a foreigner, treats a Jewish stranger as his neighbour. Jesus acted as Host to 5,000 hungry listeners when He fed them all from the five loaves and two fishes a boy gave to Him. What a motley lot of people there would have been in that crowd. We need to see newcomers, guests and visitors as our Lord does. “I was a stranger and you welcomed Me”, Jesus says in Matthew 25:35.

On the way to Damascus, two disciples of Jesus welcomed what they thought was a stranger into their home. What a blessing that turned out to be as they discovered the stranger was Jesus! Our potential guests may not look like the Jesus we expect. But then, how often do we expect our Lord to come in the guise of a newcomer or visitor? The New Testament links hospitality to folk we’ve never had in our homes previously, to love for Jesus. It’s a practice that enriches all involved. The quality of hospitality doesn’t depend on the cost of food, but on the warm, enthusiastic welcome given and received.

 

In encouraging you to show hospitality, I’m not wanting in any way to place an added burden on you, but inviting you to be blessed, really blessed, beyond all expectation, through your practice of hospitality. This is something too good to just leave to others. Jesus invites you to look on others as either your neighbour or a potential new friend. Many Christians have found that in their practice of hospitality, the distinction between host and guest evaporates in recognition of a new-found unity between those involved. Angels are messengers from God. Your guest may be a messenger from God as you discover how much they can bring God’s presence into your life.

Meals in the Bible were never secular occasions. They frequently turned out to be events of great religious significance. Simon the Pharisee’s guest in the Book of Luke is, through the stranger – the woman who weeps on Jesus’ feet – revealed to be the ultimate Guest. As the meal proceeds, the role of known and stranger, guest and host, is reversed. Jesus becomes a Host with the best news ever, that is, forgiveness for even public sinners, and the welcome announcement that the woman’s faith in Jesus has saved her.

After Easter, Christ’s followers discern His identity when He assumes the role of Host in the “Breaking and Blessing of Bread”. This “breaking and blessing of bread” illustrates Holy Communion where Christ Himself shares His richest treasures with us, so that we can pass onto others the blessings we’ve received from Him. Of all the means by which Jesus could have chosen to be remembered, He chose to be remembered by a meal, by His Holy Supper. What our Lord considered memorable and characteristic of His ministry was His table fellowship. Jesus transformed one of our most common daily events into an occasion of profound spiritual import. The early Christian Church continued His approach.

An outstanding feature of the Church in the New Testament is its enthusiastic practice of hospitality. The Book of the Acts ends by telling us that St. Paul practised what he taught: “Get into the habit of inviting strangers home for dinner (Romans 12:13)”, Paul encourages us. While in Rome he welcomed all who came to him for a bite to eat (Acts 28:30). In St. Peter’s first letter, Peter implores us to ”Be hospitable to one another without complaining (1 Peter 4:9).” In his third letter, St. John commends Gaius for his exemplary hospitality: “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the Church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore, we ought to support such people (3 John 1:5-8).”

Worship flourishes in a climate of hospitality. Research has found that the most important factor in whether visitors return to Church again was the presence of welcoming hospitality. Hospitality brings the Church into our homes and links Church and home inseparably together. We need to see our church as a “House of Hospitality”, and perhaps set aside the fifth Sunday of the month as “Hospitality Day”.

As we receive Jesus into our homes and meet His hunger, He reminds us that He is preparing, as our Host in heaven, a place where we will be His guests forever. Jesus moves among us now in ways we often only discover in hindsight. We can do more for one another than we’re aware of, as we act as co-hosts with Jesus.

Young people can make us feel younger as we listen to their fresh ideas and life plans. We can travel to others places in our imagination as they tell us about their home-places. A listening ear is the best cure for loneliness. I know of people who felt unneeded and undervalued until someone invited them into their home. It’s easy to be hospitable to relatives and close friends. In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord presents us with something more challenging and open to unexpected blessings. We offer hospitality in the context of Christ’s kindness to us, with our Lord as both our gracious Host and our blessed Guest. You don’t need surplus resources to do this. We aren’t out to impress anyone. Our Lord promises to bless whatever we share with others. It has been remarked on again and again that Christians of modest means make the best hosts. Hospitality can include a host of activities like afternoon tea, a card games afternoon, a chat over coffee, a video evening, a walk along the rail-line walking track, or an invitation to drop in for half an hour when the other person is nearby.

Visitors are to be received into our homes without apology, even when preparations haven’t been completed or when a house is untidy. The hosts needn’t do everything by themselves. Let your guests assist if they ask to. Resources can be pooled, like “Let’s have a leftovers party together.” Hospitality which is done for Christ doesn’t suffer the mistakes Martha made in Luke 10:40. “Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’”

No, hospitality comes before pride. It’s carried out in a spirit of humble service for the glory of God rather than as an end in itself. “Given and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap (Luke 6:38).”  You will receive a far greater blessing than you give.

The Christian practice of hospitality is too weighted with blessing to be postponed. God’s Word urges you, “Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15:7).” Above all, respond eagerly to your Lord’s call to you – that He may remain a permanent Guest in your home. He says, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with Me (Revelation 3:20).”

“Lord Jesus, we are Your guests;

 Through Your gifts to us, may others be blessed.” Amen.

The Text: Isaiah 58:13-14.

Honour the Sabbath

(Isa 58:13-14) “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, {14} then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

(Heb 12:28-29) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, {29} for our “God is a consuming fire.”

(Luke 13:14-15) Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” {15} The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

 

Today our readings throw out a challenge to us all with regard to our Sunday worship. More to the point, we are called on to reflect on what is our attitude towards Sundays and what and why we do what we do? And on reflecting on these readings this morning we see that we all fall into the dangers that God is making us aware of here. But even more significant is the fact that we are denying God the opportunities that he wants for us.

In light of attendances across the churches, we would do well to reflect on what God has to say to us here. I recognise that there is sickness and many other issues for a number of people, but at the same time the devil and our sinful nature is at work as well. Unless we take these things seriously we too will find ourselves in serious trouble; and we will be denying God the opportunity to bring the blessings that he wants, to us and our nation. He may well level at us the term hypocrite.

As we reflect on this issue then, we see that there are three keys problems that we regularly find at work in our lives and which the devil feeds.

The first one is that we don’t need to take what God has to say with regard to the Sabbath seriously. I’ve heard many comments over the years that go along the lines of: ‘You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian? I can miss a Sunday here and there and it is not going to affect my faith! I have to do this or that on Sunday. Worship is boring. I don’t get on with the people there.’ And the list could go on. Underlying many of these comments is the attitude that we have more important things to do on Sunday, or that we decide what is good and right for ourselves.

The other problem that so often arises and which our Gospel reading places before us, is the legalism that all too often becomes associated with the Lord’s day. ‘You can’t do this or that on the Sabbath! We can only do it this way. It has to be hymns out of the hymn book or it is no good. Or the opposite, ‘We have to move with the society and the times and change everything.’ As long as I … Or, ‘As long as I keep doing [insert pet sin], then I cannot commune because I’m too sinful’ And again, the list could go on. Here underlying it all is the attitude that we must do things just the right way or else we will not receive God’s blessing.

But overarching these problems is that much deeper and more pervasive issue of the fact that we see ourselves as the centre of what the Sabbath is all about. Worship is what we do for God, not first and foremost we he does for us. It is we determining if and when, where and how, we worship, and everything else that has to do with this day. Even right down to what we think is important and what needs to be in our worship services. Or more to the point today, what we can discard and not have. Therein lies the sin of each one of us. We want to be like God and we want to decide for ourselves what we think is good and important. We want to be our own gods. And it is that attitude which brings death. And maybe there is a good indicator as to why the church today is dying in the western world.

However here it is that Jesus reminded the Pharisees of his day, as well as us today, that there is a far more central issue involved here, than what we do and how we do it. This day has to do with us being freed from that which binds us and grinds us into the ground. He speaks of being freed from Satan. It has to do with forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

It has to do with our Lord and who he is and what he does. It has to do with, as Paul says to the Hebrews:

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Yes, that is what God has in mind for you and me here this morning and every time we gather here in his presence. He wants to meet with you here, together with all the saints, and he wants to reassure you that you are part of a new covenant where we can have that guarantee that we are forgiven for all our selfishness and sin, and that he has many blessings surrounding that for you and me. God and what he has to offer is what is essential for this life and the next. He is here to do just that and along with that, he gives us the directives that we need for our worship and for life.

Here also remember that he was the one who set aside the Sabbath so that he could allow us to rest in his presence and receive all the good that he has in mind for us. He commands us to ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” That means as Luther says; ‘we should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.’ We are to use the form of worship that he has set down for us since the early days of the Church.

Here also listen to what he says in our Old Testament reading today.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

This is just as important for us today as it was back then. So we use this as an opportunity to turn away from doing that which “I” want to do and instead look to him and receive what he has to give. Following his Word, rather than the word of our sinful selves and the world around us. We take on board the fact that he is the “Lord of the Sabbath.” He is the one who is important, and he has much to give us as we live in a world full of temptations and troubles.

So as Paul said to the Hebrews:

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. [That is Jesus and his word of forgiveness] If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken–that is, created things–so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

We have a great, awesome, and loving God who calls us week by week into his day of rest and receiving of all the good things that he has in mind for us. Through Word and Sacrament, he seeks to richly bless us. Who then are we to deny him this opportunity? Or do we think that we are greater, stronger and wiser than God almighty, himself? No let us be challenged and encouraged to see the Sabbath as God’s gift to us for our welfare and good. And through it, may all glory and honour go to our great God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

The Texts: Luke 12:49-51, Hebrews 12:1-4

“All Good Things Are Yet To Come!”

All good things must come to an end. This is the way we view much of our lives.

As children we all look forward to birthdays, and Christmas celebrations with family. But when it’s time to go home sadness, tears, and tantrums take over because the fun is finished, and all the good things have come to an end.

We part company with our cousins, and the festivities, to return to the mundane everyday motions of life. The division causes distress, the fun never seems to last. It’s takes so long to arrive and then in a flash it’s over. Mum and dad are the agents of division and the destroyers of delight. It’s at this time children would rather be separated from mum and dad and reunited in celebration with their cousins.

This type of sentiment doesn’t end in childhood. We carry on through life looking to live for the moment, or we reminisce over the past. We long for things to be the way they were. We get distressed about what the future might bring – failing bodies, loss of loved ones, loss of our independence, and finally loss of life. Are you anxious, uneasy, or distressed about what you are becoming over time?

Jesus was anxious too! He was distressed but not in the way we are about the future. Rather Jesus’ distress occurred because of the present, and all the while his hope was in what the end of his ministry on earth would bring.

So, Jesus laments in a way which is different to us, he says, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12:49-51)

Jesus looks forward to finishing what needs to happen. He is torn to the core of his being; he is distressed, until the result is complete. While a quasi-superficial peace exists he is distressed. Until the things we perceive to be good come to an end, there is no peace in Jesus’ heart.

Just like a parent taking distressed kids home after a fun filled day, Jesus knows no peace until God’s children are laid to rest, so we might be rested and refreshed through his rest at the cross and in the grave.

See the problem here is as old as there have been parents and children. There is the constant struggle between those who have age, experience, and wisdom on their side verses the young who lack wisdom but have a whole bundle of energy to burn.

We put recreation before both groups asking, “What is recreation?” and get two very different answers. For some the idea of recreation is to go, go, go! Experiencing action is what recreation is all about! But for others recreation takes on a more subdued event of relaxing, sleeping, and resting the body.

For Jesus recreation is somewhere in between! He was distressed and wanted to go, go, go, but this is so he could get to the place where he was placed in perfect rest, completing his work of recreation.

Now this might seem all a bit confusing to us who live in an age where recreation and holidays have lost their original purpose. And we do well to take the word recreation and stick a hyphen in so we hear recreation as re-creation. Our recreation is a time to be recreated or re-created. So too for holidays! Holidays were once holy-days set apart for a very different purpose than what they’ve become today.

To find the function of holidays and days of recreation, the commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” is as good a place as any to begin. After all the Sabbath is where God rested when he finished creation, and it’s where we’re re-created as we rest in God’s presence. And if it’s good enough for God to rest, perhaps we can enjoy the work God gives us in creation, and rest in him to be re-created and made holy as he is holy.

In the Old Testament the Sabbath begun at sundown on Friday and finished at sundown on Saturday. The Sabbath was a day to be re-created, and it was done by resting in the hearing of God’s Word. And so recreation and holidays flow on in the same vein. We are called to enjoy our work while we have it, and look forward to the holidays and days of recreation, not to glorify ourselves and neglect his Word, but to learn and hear it through teaching and preaching, regarding it as holy and therefore bringing glory to God.

How mixed up we have become in these things today! We lament and are distressed by the work God gives us and then when times come for us to be re-created and made holy, we choose to busy ourselves to the point of exhaustion and distress.

When we need re-creation and holiness, we are blinded by our desire for recreation and happiness, and the holidays and days of recreation become difficult days of uneasiness — and dis-ease!

Recreation is meant to lessen our dis-ease, yet for many their pursuit of recreational activities has become a disease! In fact, our distress from the unholiness and chaos of our search for fulfilment exposes the greatest disease of humanity – our sinfulness.

So as life seems to ebb away we become more and more like children at the end of a day of celebration. We become distressed over what is passing away, rather than being distressed over the fact we have become addicted to death and transient things around us. We want to stay and play, wearing ourselves out to the point where we’re so delirious we’ve lost all sight of what God truly intends for us.

Jesus says his coming has brought fire to the earth rather than peace. And this fire comes not only to the world but to us as well. There’s a division within us; a struggle between who you once were, and into whom you are being re-created.

The Holy Spirit delivers the fiery Holy Word of God into our hearts and the battle begins. Jesus seeks to conquer our unbelief, restlessness, and idolatry. Our hearts are receiving the will of God, and subsequently the distress of Jesus dwells in us until our baptism is made complete at the day of our resurrection after our earthly death.

But the old nature doesn’t die easily; it fights and assails us because Christ is in us. Our human nature would have us believe life is about selfishness now! That peace comes from me being number one! We would be at peace if conflict didn’t occur in us. But the reality is we are not living but dying, and for those who allow God to re-create them in Jesus Christ, they are being made his new creations. But it causes distress within as it divides sinner from saint. Like Jesus we are looking forward distressed until the fire of Christ’s fiery baptism of blood on the cross finishes its work of refinement in us. Then life will really being and death will be a thing of the past.

Jesus’ work of recreation divides not only the new believer from the old Adam within. Jesus also says it divides families and communities. Our sin separated Jesus from his Heavenly Father’s love on the cross. He experienced the full gamut of God’s wrath as a result of taking our addiction to death on himself, so we might be joined with the Father.

There are no shades of grey at the cross, Jesus was completely cut off from life, and experienced death in all its viciousness. And so the division continues to this day. We wrestle and struggle with those who choose the opposite from us. The question is this: Am I upholding God’s holiness and re-creation won for me in Jesus’ death, where one day I will be living in eternal peace? Or am I choosing to chase re-creation in unholy things, forsaking Christ’s work on the cross? There’s no halfway here! Either there’s surrender to Christ or surrender to eternal death. And between the divisions there will be an impenetrable void, impassable for all eternity.

So the reality for you is not that all good things are coming to an end but the truly good things are yet to come! Until death is a thing of the past, there will be times of distress, but at the second coming of Christ, we look forward to perfection and joy. Therefore, we’re encouraged as God’s children not to resist him but to be encouraged by all those who have gone before us bearing the forgiveness and faith of God. And so we hear…

…since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

Amen.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Beginner and Completer of our faith.

            In these last four years we have seen trials and troubles, drought, fire and flood; pandemic; death and for some family break up. Life in this world is hard. Imagine being driven out of your country, fleeing an army coming to slaughter you; being in a city as walls and buildings collapse around you; being rejected by your family and friends, being locked away not allowed outside. Now, I’m not talking about fleeing Prussia or Ethiopia, or the war in Ukraine, or disownment because of conversion, or even those Covid lockdowns; rather the Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, Rahab seeing her corrupt city’s walls fall around her, David rejected by his people for a time, and Samson imprisoned. There is nothing new under the sun. God’s people have always struggled since our first failure in Adam and Eve when pain, tears and death came into the world. And yet God came to help, He comes to save.

            The saints of old suffered because of their own sins and the sins of others. In the face of that sin, in the face of death, and before the face of the devil; they suffered, yet God provided for them. The Lord God gave them strength! “Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; they shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; their weakness was turned to strength; and they became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.” You know these saints, Joshua, Josiah, David, Daniel, Elijah and Elisha. You know what God has done through them and for them in their struggles, the same struggles you now face.

            And yet God did not take their suffering away. “There were those who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.” They suffered sickness, cancer, rejection and ridicule even by their own family, their own children. “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God has planned something better for us so that only together with us they would be made perfect.” That we would be made perfect in Jesus, by His suffering, death and His resurrection and ascension.

            Before Christ, the Old Testament saints were longing for the reconciliation to come, yet they could not see or understand what God was doing. Now with Christ, in the Year of our Lord 2022, we know Jesus our Saviour and Lord. We know what He has done for us and all people, all His Creation. United in Him, we join His suffering, His joy, His peace, and His faithfulness; yet still often we cannot see what God has done. And so Lewis, John, Ruth, Bev, Geoff, Joy, Vee, and Bill also joined Christ in His suffering and death and in His Resurrection being made children of God; yet still not seeing God’s promises fully come to pass.
We have commended them into God’s care, put in a eulogy, a good word, for them because of their faith. Yet God has planned something better for us all, that all together at the end of this world we will not just see the fulfilment of His wonderful promises, peace, joy and love everlasting; not just see Jesus; not just see each other; but also hold each other, and dwell with each other forever. This is the Resurrection when this fallen world finally passes away with all brokenness, corruption, pain and death passing away with it. When all those things that separate us, sin, hurt, death, and not enough hours in the day, when all these things that separate us pass away and we dwell together, with all the saints, with Jesus the founder and completer of our faith.

            He is the one who began the good work in you, and He is the one who completes it. He is the one who sends the Holy Spirit from the Father to guide you and draw you to His gifts. He is the one into whom you were baptised, united with Him in His life, death and resurrection. And He is the one who gathers the souls of those who fall asleep in faith, bringing them with Him wherever He goes. And finally He is the one who will raise the dead, the faithful to continue in His love together forever, and those who reject to continue in their rejection and hatred of Him forever. Now we see as through a dirty glass, but then we will see the truth clearly (1 Corinthians 13:12); that as we are in Christ, you are surrounded by all these saints whose souls rest in Jesus, resting in peace as we together await the consummation of God’s promises. You are today surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, even if we cannot yet see; these who kept the faith despite all that the world and that pathetic devil threw at them. Who through many of the same sufferings you face, by the strength the same Spirit provides, stood against the same enemies, and now stand together with Christ in Victory.

            This is our goal, to stand with them in the Resurrection, in Christ. So throw off all the things that hinder you and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing your eyes on the goal in everything you do; your focus on Jesus the author and perfector of your faith, on Jesus who began and completes your salvation and the salvation of all the saints.

            So together with this great cloud of witnesses, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and to life everlasting. Amen.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Luke 12:40
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.

            In a little over a week from now, my family and I will be driving out of Dubbo toward Biloela. Are we ready? No. To be honest it’s an overwhelming thing to have to leave those you love, and the work you’ve done in the garden, and the connections you’ve made in the communities, and the hurts you’ve caused and the failures you’ve made. To leave the stability you’ve found in this world, and uproot yourself, your spouse and your children and drive off to another place. It’s an overwhelming change, and yet it will be nothing in comparison to the coming of Christ. I’m packing to leave on Tuesday week, and I’m not ready. Christ might come tonight. Are you ready?

            Are you ready for this world to pass away? Are you ready to die tonight? Are you ready to never sin again? Are you ready to give up all your plans for this world and rest in the everlasting work of God? If you are, act like it. Provide for those in need, those in your family, among your friends, especially among your brothers and sisters in Christ. I’ve been told that, in the past people spent time to save money, yet now we want to spend money to save time; but money doesn’t fix every problem, often time with another is what is needed. This is why a pastor who visits is much more loved than one that doesn’t, yet it doesn’t have to be the pastor to come and listen, to eat a biscuit and lead another sibling in Christ to prayer. You can bring the love of our Lord to each other, you be Christ to one another, after all that is who every child of God is called to be. You are called to be Christ; to live in His life, death and resurrection, to love as He loves and serve as He serves. And that is who we will be when Jesus returns either to take you home, or to make all things right.

            This is why we do not need to fear. All the things that may terrify us, pain, loss, death; those things we fear, hurt, failure, sin; all the awful things, hate, murder, the demonic; Jesus is greater than all these. For in Him all things are made right with God. Jesus is stronger than all demons; the Holy Spirit more powerful than the zeitgeist, than the spirit of the age; and of course Our Father in Heaven is far greater than any king, president or prime minister, or father on earth. So do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Do not be afraid of the future, for Jesus is coming back in glory; do not be afraid of your past failures and sins, for you have been reconciled with Our Father in Christ; do not be afraid of lacking a full time pastor, for you have the Holy Spirit the greatest and most caring companion and guide. And you have each other, the kingdom of God; distance cannot separate us who are united by God’s love, not even death can separate us from Jesus or each other. As we gather in Christ’s presence, we gather with every Christian, every saint, from the beginning of Creation to now, and with all the angels, with Michael and Gabriel, we sing and glorify the King of kings!

            And yet we don’t see this treasure. We await that time when Christ finalises His victory, like servants waiting for their master to return from a feast; He won’t abandon His people, He won’t forsake His Kingdom. And so we wait, for 2000 years the Church has waited, now Phoebe joins us as we await Christ’s appearing in glory; the rest at the end of this fallen world, when He comes, our treasure, God’s love, joy, peace and life everlasting with all our brothers and sisters in Christ; the destruction of sin, death and the devil. What a wonderful gift to Phoebe and to all of you, Christ Himself, His eternal life, His victory. And today a foretaste of this treasure, a family right here! We might not see all the heavenly hosts, or all the saints from across the world and who have fallen asleep in Christ; but I see you and you see me.

Thank you for your love and for showing me Christ, and God continue to bless you through His Word through His sacraments and through each other. This is how we prepare for the life to come, to live in Christ now, to live in His Words and live in His authority, to live in love and trust with other Christians and for the benefit of all people and all Creation. This is the way of life the Son of Man will bring when He appears in glory, are you ready for it?

As you await our Lord, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now into the everlasting life. Amen.

The Text: Hebrews 11:1-6, 8-16

Your Faith in God Is Your Most Precious Treasure

There is a lot written in our newspapers these days about trust. Our political leaders are calling on us to trust them even though many people feel they have betrayed our trust. Perhaps that’s why God’s Word says, “It is better to trust the Lord for protection than to trust anyone else, including strong leaders (Psalm 118:8).” So much of life is a matter of trust. If you don’t have faith in the safety of aeroplanes, you’d be reluctant to fly on them, just as it’s important to trust our doctors for our health’s sake. The playwright G.B. Shaw believes “We have not lost faith, but we have transferred it from God to the medical profession.”

Yet the remarkable thing is that so many people still see their faith in God as their most precious possession. What you believe is the most important thing about you, will make all the difference both for this life and for all eternity. The kind of faith today’s text speaks about is something we can be sure of. We are assured that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (v1).” Faith in God is defined as a conviction that inspires confidence in God and leads to God-pleasing actions. The first example of God-pleasing faith in Hebrews 11 is that of Abel’s faith-inspired worship of God. The desire to worship God is in itself a significant form of faith. The truest expression of trust in God will always be worship.

A faith that loves to worship God pleases God immensely. One of the best ways of showing our love for someone dear to us is by praising them a lot. We show our love for God by our praise, thanks and adoration of our Creator. We say that actions speak louder than words. Worship is faith in action for the benefit and blessing of both ourselves and those around us. We can worship God on behalf of absent family members, relatives and friends, as we plead with God to be as merciful to them as God has been to us. Our worship of God together seeks to get us thinking more about others than about ourselves. Worship is education in unselfishness. Worship seeks to make us other-centred in our thinking and our actions.

This is what made Abraham’s faith so praiseworthy. His whole life was one great adventure in faith as he obeyed God and left his homeland for Canaan. Although Abraham engaged in lies and deceit on more than one occasion, his faith enabled him to think of others and put their needs ahead of his own. Abraham let his nephew Lot choose the better land for his flocks and herds. When God informed Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded on their behalf and pleaded with God to spare them. God encouraged Abraham to listen to his wife Sarah and heed what she said. “Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you (Genesis 21:12).”

Sarah’s faith in God enabled her to make great sacrifices. She had to wait a long, long time before she became a mother. At first she laughed at the impossibility of becoming a parent in her old age. But when God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”, her misgivings turned into faith as she looked forward to God fulfilling His promise. We’re told that she received strength to conceive because “she judged that God who has promised would keep faith (v11).” When her son Isaac was born, Sarah confesses, “God has brought laughter for me (Genesis 21:6).”

The heroes of faith celebrated in Hebrews 11 are less models for us than they are part of that great “cloud of witnesses” already in our Lord’s presence, urging us on to run the race of faith with diligence and single-mindedness. “And what of ourselves? With all these witnesses to faith around us like a cloud, we must throw off every encumbrance, every sin to which we cling, and run with resolution the race for which we are entered, our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish: Jesus who, for the sake of the joy that lay ahead of Him, endured the cross, making light of its disgrace, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).”

Abraham is mentioned seventy two times in the New Testament. The writers of the New Testament believed that Christ’s coming into our world has made it possible to recapture the pristine faith of Abraham, a faith that continually pleases God. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, made it easier for us to believe by becoming one of us. The God we believe in, love and trust, is a Christlike God. Jesus Christ is God with a human face and a human heart, overflowing with a love for you that is both human and divine.

Faith in our Lord expects great things from Him. Expect little from your Saviour and you will receive little, but if you come with eager expectation, you will be blessed beyond all your expectations. In the Gospels, our Lord honours the faith of all who come to Him for mercy and help. When two blind people come to our Lord asking Him to have mercy on them, Jesus asks them, “Do you expect that I am able to do this?” After they say, “Yes, Lord”, Jesus responds, “According to your faith let it be done to you.”

The first thing that Jesus seeks from those who come to Him is faith. Faith in Christ alone is so powerful it suffices initially in the absence of other virtues. Often Jesus first wants faith, before He performs a miracle. Faith in Jesus needs to be constantly fed if it isn’t going to shrivel up and die. God’s Word says, “Faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ (Romans 10:17).”

Christ-centred preaching strengthens our convictions about our Lord and all He has done for us and seeks to still do for us. Faith enables us to view life differently from those with no faith. Faith in our Lord gives us both insight and super-sight. Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory (John 11:40)?” In other words, “believing is seeing”. Faith enables us to see God all around us where we didn’t see Him before. Faith involves believing in advance what often only makes sense in hindsight. We cannot rely on our feelings, but we rely on God’s promises to sustain our faith in our Lord. We can trust God to keep His promises. Our prospects for the future are as bright as the promises of God.

One Monday a man went to his pastor to complain: “Yesterday I was filled with joy in the service but now all is gone and I do not know what to do. All is dark as night.”

His pastor replied, “I’m glad!”

“Glad?” asked the astonished man, “Glad! What do you mean?”

His pastor continued, “Yesterday, God gave you joy, and today He sees you are resting on your emotions instead of on the promises of Christ.”

You see, our feelings are like the weather; they change from time to time. They’re not necessarily reliable indicators of the state of our faith. When we feel depressed about our faith, we must focus on our Lord’s promises like John 10:27-28:”My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand.”

For the person stressed and worried about how she’s going to care for her elderly parents, God gives a promise: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).”

For the parents fearful about where their wayward child is, worried about whom he is with and what he is doing, He gives a promise: “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you (Hebrewws13:5).”

For the out-of-work person desperate to get a job, God offers a promise: “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).”

William James, a great psychologist, described a time in his early life when he was in the grip of a deep despair. “Fear was so incisive and powerful that if I had not clung to Scripture texts like “The eternal God is my refuge”, and “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden”, and “I am the resurrection and the life”, I think I should really have gone insane.”

Our faith is sustained and strengthened by constant exposure to God’s Word, on which we can fully rely and completely trust. At present we walk by faith and not by sight. But one day soon, faith will give way to sight.

“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).”

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).” Amen.

The Text: Luke 12:13-21

Better a Poor Farmer Than a Rich Fool

Few things are sadder than family members fighting over an inheritance. The possibility of gaining from a substantial inheritance can turn lambs into wolves. Imagine interrupting a sermon to seek help to get more wealth! That’s what the brother in today’s Gospel does. In dispute over assets, this man wants Jesus to decide in his favour. Both brothers are captive to covetousness. The man with the lion’s share of the inheritance could have divided it equally with his brother.

No mediating of one dispute by our Lord will solve the deeper problem of the human heart. People who covet what they don’t have are unaware of their covetous attitude. A priest has reported that in 25 years of hearing confessions, he’s heard every sin confessed except that of covetousness! The man who seeks Jesus’ help wants the broken relationship between he and his brother finalised by complete separation. Jesus points out that He hasn’t come as a divider. He’s come as a reconciler. He wants to reconcile people to each other, not to finalise divisions between them. Reconciliation will require the petitioner to gain a new perspective on himself.

Receiving his portion of the inheritance won’t solve the antagonism between the brothers, for the issue is greed rather than justice. Jesus’ parable seeks to change human hearts, to free them from being possessed by their possessions. His story of a “successful” farmer is a subversive story. It calls into question so much of what we hold dear in our culture. Our culture holds up successful people as an inspiration for us. Any book with the words How To Succeed In …   in the title is assured of large popularity.

The farmer in today’s Gospel is an outstanding success in earthly terms. But Jesus calls him a dismal failure in what really matters, what matters eternally. The irony of success is that it can limit as well as expand our horizons. This farmer was locked in by his success. What he’s mastered had come to master him. No other story is so full of “I” disease. In its short space, there are eight “I”s  and four “my”s.  All goes well for him in his business. His wealth isn’t ill-gotten. There’s no mention of him being a bad employer. Many people see nothing wrong with his attitude. After all, he’s acting with prudence and common sense. Our modern society would consider him an eminent success.

It is significant that in light of the gregarious nature of life then, the rich man dialogues only with himself. He has no one else with whom he talks. He consults no neighbour or friend to exchange ideas. His speech is pitiful. This affluent person has arrived! He has made it! And he needs an audience for his arrival speech. He exclaims, “Who will rejoice with me?” He can only address himself, his only audience!

This self-serving individual deals only with things – things like the bigger barns he’ll build, the profit he’ll make from selling his grain when the prices go up, and the richer selection of food and drink for himself to indulge in. The greatest good he can imagine in life is maximising his own pleasure. It never enters his head to give to the needy, or to assist the poor. He has no need of anyone else. He lives only for himself. Not only does he give no thought to thanking God for his huge harvest, he reveals that he’s forgotten that his own body is mortal and he won’t necessarily live on for many years. The existence of others has totally dropped out of the picture. His formula for the “good life” is sheer stupidity. He cannot take any of his immense possessions into the grave with him. In his hour of greatest need, all his possessions will prove of no use to him.

Though this man may have had nothing to say to God, God had something to say to him: “You fool! This very night your life is being required of you (v.20).” The verb “to require” is used for the return of a loan. His life was on loan and now God, the Owner, wants the loan returned. Jesus makes it clear that our lives are not our own to do with as we like, but are a gift from God. God thunders to the rich farmer: “Look at what you’ve done to yourself! You plan alone, build alone, indulge alone and now you’ll die alone.”  The man doesn’t know who will end up with his assets and riches after his death. A fool is someone whose plans end at the grave. Was there ever a more searching question concerning the meaning of life than our Lord’s question, “What does it profit any of us if we gain the whole world, but lose our lives? (Luke 9:25)”

There are few things our Lord condemns more than greed. He attacks the false evaluation of life in economic terms. As if we can measure life in such narrow terms! Greed prevents so much generosity from occurring. Greed never delivers all the benefits it promises, benefits like peace of mind, security and happiness. We need five things for a reasonably contented life: (1) food; (2) clothing; (3) shelter; (4) medical care; and (5) the means to purchase the first four things. Jesus doesn’t oppose an appreciation of the good things of life. The best way to enjoy all the good things God has given us is by thanking Him for them. Nothing sustains joy and happiness better than gratitude.

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord” for life and health and daily food. “Life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions.” Life consists in the abundance of God’s undeserved goodness to us. God’s goodness is first of all evident in His gifts of family, friends, and neighbours. Where would any of us be without all that our grandparents, parents and siblings have done for us? Relationships with others are the true God-given riches of life. Relationships take time to keep together. Sadly, we see marriages breaking apart because couples are not spending sufficient time with each other. We hear of children becoming estranged from their mothers and fathers, because their busy parents haven’t spent sufficient time with them.

Advertisers give people unrealistic expectations of the benefits of material goods and possessions. God never meant these things to be the focus and goal of life. A TV interview with someone who had lost his home and possessions in a fire provides a vivid contrast to the rich fool in Jesus’ parable. He recalled that his brother had recently said they should avoid letting their possessions possess them. The victim of the house fire announced to the TV reporter with a note of unexpected triumph: “I am a free man now!” Jesus can free us from being enslaved to our possessions.

Jesus came into our world to help us become rich toward God. We become rich before God when we accept God as the Giver, and all we have as His gifts to us. We’re rich as far as God is concerned when we see the existence of everyone else in our lives as God’s gifts to us. We see and acknowledge faith, hope and love as life’s true riches, and Jesus Christ as God’s crowning gift to us. Thank God, His Son Jesus Christ shares the riches of His love, goodness and glory with us. “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).” Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life in all fullness and richness (John 10:10).” It’s a life too rich and wonderful to end in death. Let this good news of great joy possess you and overwhelm you with all its glorious possibilities.

Those who are contented with what God has given them are truly rich indeed. What better can we hope for in this life than God-given contentment? “Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these (1 Timothy 6:6-8).” The more grateful we are for all we have already, the more contented we will be. Saying “I love you” as often as possible to those near and dear to us fills them with a sense of contentment. We can be content in the knowledge that what God chooses for us is better than what we may choose for ourselves.

Better a poor farmer than a rich fool!

“Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5)”

Amen.

Text: Luke 11:1-13

 

It’s wonderful, isn’t it, when someone tells you they’re remembering you in their prayers. It can lift your spirits marvellously and transform your day. Today’s Gospel encourages us to pray. It seeks to impress on us that our prayers are welcomed by God and responded to as He sees best. Prayer is an essential part of being a Christian. Faith in our Lord and praying to Him belong inseparably together. Prayer isn’t just one expression of faith among others. To believe is to pray, because prayer is our response to God speaking to us in grace and love. The deepest expression of faith is to seek good things from God in prayer. So then think highly of your prayers, because we have God’s Word to trust that He welcomes them and encourages them.

God wants the best for you. He responds to your prayers in ways that are best for us. In prayer God either gives us what we ask for or something better. The great tragedy isn‘t unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer. God won’t let your prayers be for nothing or be wasted. Our spiritual safety and protection lie only in prayer. It’s the strongest shield we have against the devil. Prayer is the door through which God enters our home, our workplace and our community, in order to bless us in unexpected ways. When we pray we’re, as it were, sitting at Jesus’ feet speaking to Him as one friend to another. Prayer is an expression of Jesus’ friendship with us and our friendship with Him.

Prayers in the Bible display a fervour and frankness not often seen in prayers today. They remind us that God seeks honesty from us in our prayers. God is thrilled when we honestly face ourselves and bring our real needs to Him. The weaker our faith, the more essential is prayer. The degree of our faith is the degree of our praying. Luther said, “Prayer is the most important thing in my life. If I should neglect prayer for a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.” No one can say their prayers are poor when they’re using the language of love. There’s nothing that can lead us to love someone as much as prayer can. The most important purpose of prayer may be to let God love us as He listens to us. What a wonderful expression of love listening to someone is!

Prayer changes us in ways we never dreamed of, for the blessing and benefit of those around us. A bad prayer is better than no prayer at all because we learn to pray by praying. When we’re feeling low, prayer seeks to take us out of ourselves and into our Saviour’s healing presence. For prayer is first of all about communion with our Lord to maintain, sustain and strengthen our friendship with Him. It’s more about having a conversation with Him than about presenting Him with a shopping list. Prayer is both a gift and a duty. The Lord’s Prayer is His gift of grace to us. It is one of the greatest treasures of our Christian Faith.

Jesus’ disciples had recently heard Jesus pray a prayer of thanksgiving to His heavenly Father. So now in order to pray like Jesus did, they ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is the only time they ask Jesus to teach them anything. Jesus knows of no better prayer He can give us. He gives it to us in two versions with the version in St. Luke’s Gospel slightly shorter than the one in Matthew 6. In this prayer, Jesus lists the things we need to pray about every day. The purpose of the petitions is that we’ll never have an excuse not to pray. The Lord’s Prayer opens our eyes to our real needs. In the first two petitions, Jesus invites us to identify with Him as God’s Son. In the next three petitions, our Lord identifies with us and our human needs.

Jesus prayed in a revolutionary way, by addressing God as “Father”. He used the title and form of address of “Father” for God more than any other. By doing so, Jesus changed the way people viewed God. “Abba” means “Dear Father”, that is, God as someone near and easy to approach rather than someone distant and aloof from us. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus invites us to either address God as “our Father in Heaven” or “Father (Luke 11:21).” A father is someone who is close at hand and approachable at all times. The Father whom Jesus reveals to us is the Father of prodigal children who continues to think fondly of us even when we’ve wandered away from him. He’s our ever-present help in trouble who sympathizes with us in our distress and wants to share it with us.

Fathers delight in giving to their children. So our heavenly Father wants above all to give us the Holy Spirit to pray for us when we’re weak and vulnerable. Our heavenly Father acts towards us as His Son Jesus acted towards little children, the sick and the needy. If someone wants to know what God is like, we point them to Christ. Our God is a Christlike God. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9).” He is a model for earthly fathers. There’s no one more like a father than God. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus reveals to us a Father who provides for our daily needs, forgives and protects us. Fathers know what their children want, but love it when they ask for these things. So it is with our Father in heaven. “Father! To God Himself we cannot give a holier name (Wordsworth)” That’s why Jesus wants us to honour God’s name and treat it with reverence and awe. To love and honour His name is to love and praise Him. God’s name represents His nature, His works and words. Jesus hallowed God’s name by showing us why God is worthy of our worship, honour and glory. God’s power is released on us when we do that. God’s holiness is revealed when He reveals His glory to us, especially in and through His Son Jesus. His glory is part of the majesty and beauty of His holiness.

God has vested His name on us as His children. His reputation is at stake in how we live. We praise and adore His name in our worship together because His name for us is all about His gifts of hope and love, joy and forgiveness. We hallow His name by eagerly hearing His Word and gladly putting it into daily practice.

Where God’s name is so honoured, there His Kingdom with all its unique blessings embraces us. Wherever Jesus went, He brought the good news of His Kingdom to those who welcomed Him. The secret of God’s Kingdom is that its King is our Father. Jesus says to us, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Through baptism we’re brought into God’s royal household as His adopted children. God advances His Kingdom through its embassies, our churches, and through us as its ambassadors. As its ambassadors, we pass on and promote God’s work of reconciliation so that living in reconciliation with one another, the routines of daily life can become celebrations of love. “In the Kingdom of God, eating and drinking aren’t important. The important things are living right with God, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).”

The next petition concerns our daily needs, which Jesus wants us to pray about. “Give us day by day our daily bread”. The technological development of our modern world only seems to increase our sense of insecurity. The more scientific our world becomes, the more insecure we feel. God wants us to trust that He will provide for both today and tomorrow’s needs. “Our bread” reminds us of the unselfish nature of Christian prayer. We pray the Lord’s Prayer for each other, on behalf of one another. There’s no room for any prayer that seeks advantage over someone else. Gandhi said, “There is enough food in our world for everyone’s need, but not for anyone’s greed.”

“Daily bread” involves everyday necessities, not luxuries. It includes caring fathers and mothers, healthy children, pleasant people to work with, good government, good friends and good weather. Here we acknowledge that God is behind all that goes right in our lives each day. Instead of taking everyday blessings for granted, this petition leads us to receive them with gratitude. “We are conscious of that, in normal life, so much more has been received than we have given, and that it is gratitude that first makes life rich (Bonhoeffer).”

We need God’s forgiveness, God’s most characteristic quality as our heavenly Father, as much as we need daily bread. Forgiveness is God’s barrier-breaking, future-opening gift to us. “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and blessedness.” Forgiveness meets our longing to make a fresh start in our relationships with God and with one another. Forgiveness means you can live as if today is the first day of your life, because God promises to remember no more the sins He has forgiven. Passing on God’s forgiveness to each other frees us from past hurts and resentments and helps our love for one another to grow warm instead of cold. A school boy, after confessing his sins to his school chaplain, was reassured of God’s love and forgiveness. He then rushed outside and turned cartwheels right across the football pitch. The reassurance of God’s forgiveness can make us want to turn cartwheels of joy, in spirit at least. What a priceless expression of love is forgiveness!

“Save us from the time of trial” is our battle cry. We realise how easily we can be tempted to sin. Here we need our Father’s help more than anywhere else. It’s a prayer we pray for each other as well, realising how vulnerable we are to giving in to what we know is wrong. Here we pray that we won’t be caught off guard when we’re tired or depressed, but ask Jesus to pray for us as He has promised. Jesus prays on your behalf to His heavenly Father: “I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but I ask You to protect them from the Evil One (John 17:15).” God’s Word reassures you, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).”

Victory over a time of temptation and testing brings you closer to Christ and more grateful than ever for all that He has done for you. When you then face temptation, pray passionately, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. God knows how to rescue you from temptation in ways that may surprise you. In this petition, we pray that we will always remain citizens of God’s eternal Kingdom until we hear our Saviour’s words, “Come, O blest of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you (Matthew 25:34).”

In conclusion, remember if you’ve had an earthly parent who let you down, God is the most reliable Father you can have. “There’s no one more like a Father than God is (Tertullian).” Amen.