Easily distracted

Text Luke 10:38-42

Easily distracted

We are a society distracted by many things, like Martha.

Text messages – Facebook messages – Twitter messages – Snapchats – come all the time to distract us.

You go out for dinner these days and the diners aren’t talking with each other, they are looking down at their phones. Conversations are interrupted by the need to check out a text message or answer a call.

They are distracted by many things.

But in today’s Gospel Reading we are talking about a different type of distraction. We are talking about a distraction away from God.

There are many distractions in our lives that take us away from God, as it did to Martha.

It reminds me of the time when Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and asked to join him. Peter was fine while he was focused on Jesus, like Mary was. But as soon as he was distracted, like Martha, by the waves crashing around him he began to sink. The waves of fear and worry distracted him. Just as the waves of worry for Martha about getting things right at home for the guests distracted her away from Jesus.

So too the waves of fear and worry distract people away from God. Martha had gotten to the point of her worry that her work had stopped being a joy and vocation to God and had become a distraction to her faith in God. It had therefore stopped being a blessing to her and others and became a source of worry and anger.

Martha obviously had the gift of hospitality, making sure everything was right to welcome Jesus, but had become distracted by the worry. Instead of being a source of blessings to others it caused a division between her and her sister Mary.

It is easy for us also to become distracted by the worries of life and believe that we have to solve our problems rather than taking them to the Lord in Prayer. Like Martha, we have all been given a vocation in life by which we can serve God and our neighbour.

However, Martha’s distraction now saw her go to Jesus antagonised and angry with Mary. The love of God and neighbour was gone.

Our human nature can easily turn our love for God and neighbour around where we love ourselves only and forget to use our gifts to serve God and our neighbour. As Christians that’s where we can easily find ourselves, as we are reminded in the Parable of the Sower –

The seeds that were sown among thorns were the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the distraction of riches choke the word.

And so we need to keep coming back to the feet of Jesus and allow him to remove those thorns in the flesh in our lives.

This is where worship plays a vital role in the life of the Christian to keep breaking that cycle of distraction. We need to see our worship in the same way that Mary sees it as it nurtures our faith to keep us focused on our vocation as serving God and our neighbour.

We need to see our worship as sitting at the feet of Jesus being nurtured for our life for when we leave to go into our daily vocation and not as a duty to God.

And remember that vocation is not just employment. It is how God uses you each day as mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, sister, brother, friend.

Just look at how the distraction affected the 2 sisters of Mary and Martha. Sadly, to many Christians, church becomes another task in their already hectic lives. And when that happens we can begin to see the friction between brothers and sisters in the faith.

We become distracted by the tasks rather than the service of God. Church should never be seen in such a way.

No, it needs to be seen in the light of what Paul says about the church being the body of Christ where the riches of God’s glory have been placed.

And so the message of Martha and Mary also speaks a message to the church that its core message is always the Gospel that has freed us from our cares and burdens. The church needs to help us place our burdens on Jesus who says – come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

The gathering around the Word and the Sacraments is not another thing for the Martha in us to add to our schedule. Remember, Jesus is the host here and we are the guests.

We are called to be Mary here and be prepared for our vocations as Marthas in the world. Martha had sadly confused the two.

The Gospel allows us to revalue our gifts to become our calling and vocation rather than a burden that distracts us away from God.

How do you see your life?

Do you see what you are doing as a burden, like Martha, or do you see it as a calling and vocation from God, like Mary. The work that Martha was doing was not the problem. It was her gift and calling. But she had let them distract her away from her service towards Jesus.

Martha does not let her gift of hospitality become a service to God but a distraction from the spiritual blessings that would come from it. The work she was doing needed to be done – but allowing them to burden her the way they did was the issue.

Our lives are going to be busy and burdensome at times. But in our busyness and burdens we are energised by our worship life and seeing our work as a vocation and calling by God.

Jesus didn’t say – you shouldn’t be burdened – but come unto me you who are burdened and I will give you rest. You can find that rest in your worship but you can also find it each day.

Luther in his Catechism teaches us how:

In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Then go joyfully to your work,

In the evening when you go to bed, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Then go to sleep at once and sleep in peace.

Begin each day at the feet of Jesus. End each day at Jesus’ feet – and see how a new perspective of life comes on you. Our identity comes from Jesus Christ not from the work we do.

So when our work becomes our identity, like Martha, then the burdens take over as it did to Martha.

When our identity comes from sitting at Jesus feet, like Mary, then the burdens are easily transferred to Christ to receive his rest.

So choose the better part – choose to sit at Jesus’ feet and it will not be taken away from you. Amen

“The grass might be greener on the other side, but where is God?”

Dt 30:14
No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it.

Do you remember passing by McDonalds, and a child asks their mum, “mum can we have Maccas?” the mum replies, “No, we’ve got food at home”. How often do we look away from what we have, to say, ‘the grass is greener on the other side’? To forget the wonders we have been given, sun, clouds, rain, the precious breath of life; and chase after other things we don’t have or need. Of course we need food, drink, shelter and community; yet we don’t need all the money, power, or pleasure that the world can give. However, sometimes mum’s home cooked food gets boring; it’s not as exciting as Macca’s; so off we go to try and find something better, forgetting mum, her food and her love, and going out into this world of wealth, power and pleasure.

Now Moses, after leading God’s people from Egypt through the desert to Moab, calls God’s covenant people together. He lays out God’s Law to them again and says, “if you listen to the Lord your God and keep His commands and decrees that are written in the Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul; He will delight in you and prosper you.” (Deuteronomy 30:9-10). Then Moses says, ‘this is not difficult or beyond your reach.’ Wait a minute … To keep the 10 commandments is not difficult? To remember and keep the 600 odd other decrees is not difficult? What is God saying here? What is the Holy Spirit teaching through Moses? Is it that you should look to yourself for your salvation, whether you checked the boxes or not? No, rather that, just as Christ and the Apostles taught, when God makes you alive, when He frees you from slavery and gives you the treasures of His Word, even Himself; don’t forget Him or throw those gifts away even if you get bored of them. Simply put, live the life of Christ that you have been given, then you won’t cause Him pain.

Yet so often we see and hear people give up listening to God and reject the life He has given. Throughout the Old Testament we see the Israelites constantly chasing after other gods, reaching up to bring spirits down from the heavens, like Baal the storm god, or reaching down to bring up omens from the dead, as Saul went to the witch at Endor, or reaching out to other lands for their salvation, when Jonah fled toward Spain. And today so many Christian people are tempted to chase after wealth, power, pleasure, all sorts of things, all sorts of gods. And so often we feel bored with the gifts of God, we read novels or magazines rather than God’s Word, we listen to the radio or TV instead of reflections on God’s Word, we obey the commands of the broader culture living first as Australians then perhaps later as Christians. Reaching for salvation, for comfort, for truth, apart from God. This is sin, and it leads us away from Jesus, the one who loves you and gives you life.

Even if you may be bored or tired, why should you give up the treasure of peace, love and joy in Christ. Have we forgotten our first love? Are we chasing after other things running into idolatry, into adultery? Can we not come back together to Christ, gather around Him not just of a Sunday, hear His Word together? This Word you have here by your side, not something far off that you need to run a get, you know what He has said, the Holy Spirit has even preserved His Words in that handy little book. Can we not come together to sing glory and thanks to God with the songs of scripture and the songs we know, as well as the good songs that God might drop into our laps? Can we not dust off our hymnals and pray these written prayers and be guided by the Psalms, the litany and the prayers of the Church in your own prayer lives? Remember and celebrate the festivals we have recorded, lighting candles for the saints who now live hidden in Christ on All Saints Day, use the season of Advent as prayerful preparation for the coming New Creation in Christ, perhaps water games for the Baptism of Jesus, and think of how this community could celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit’s fire at Pentecost, could remember the conception of Jesus on March the 25^th, how as a community we can enliven and encourage each other, in our day to day, to see the treasures of what God has put in your pocket, your ear, your heart.

You have the greatest and most precious gifts in all of creation! Do not forget it! More than Maccas’ more than green grass, even more than mum’s home cooking, you have the Holy Spirit, you have Jesus. You have the One who sustains all life, you have your loving Lord and Saviour. What wonderful Good News, God Almighty is not far off, He is here now with you and He is for you.

And so the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

“Life by Law and Spirit”

Galatians 6:8
Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. You reap what you sow. If you act to please your flesh, forgetting your soul, from your flesh you will reap destruction. If you act to please the Holy Spirit, from Him you will reap eternal life. What is Paul saying? He is telling us what the Law of God teaches, what happens most everyday in this world; that drunkards sow to please their fleshly appetite and reap alcohol poisoning and death; that those who live according to God’s way receive blessings, like Elijah taken to heaven in chariots of fire, or like those who pray for small blessings that God grants like a parking spot. And yet this is still God’s Law, how you are to live and what will happen as a result: You reap what you sow.

At the end of this wonderful letter to the Galatians, Paul returns to the Law of God, to how we are to live. He has said that the Law was our guardian, a harsh schoolmaster; He has said we are now free to live in Christ. He has told us of Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil; of how Christ saves us, of the promise of salvation kept and guarded by God’s people from Adam to John the Baptist. That by trust, by faith in this promise Abraham was made right with God. That it is in trusting Jesus that we have a good and right relationship with Him, after all what is a relationship without trust? Yet now Paul points to your life, how this works out after Christ has started His work, after He has begun speaking with you and you with Him. What does God’s promise mean for your life?

It means you live by the Holy Spirit. It means you do not live according to the flesh, your own selfish and bodily desires. It means you can live according to the Law of God given by Jesus and enlivened by the Holy Spirit. This is the third use of the Law. As a short refresher, we can talk about three ways we receive God’s Law, curb, mirror and guide. It is a curb in that God’s Law keeps us from sinning (you will not murder). It is a mirror in that God’s Law reveals to us our failings and sin, our need for Jesus. It is a guide in that it shows us, who live in Christ, the right way to live with God and other people. And it’s this third way, the guide, which Paul applies today. That when one lives against the Spirit, we are to restore them to God’s right way gently; to care for those who have known Christ and been a part of the Church, yet have fallen for a time, be that 10 minutes or 50 years. That we together do not weary in doing good. That, as often as we have opportunity, we do good to all people and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ, those of the Family of God. To carry each others burdens, here in this congregation, amongst our members here, especially those struggling or unable to gather with us. Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the Law of Christ. By this you live according to God’s Law, to let yourself be guided by these words given by the Holy Spirit who lives in you. To live by the Holy Spirit.

Yet it is not your prayers that died for you. It is not the money and loving care you give that paid for your ransom. It is not your abstinence that stands victorious in the Highest Heavens. It is Christ Jesus our righteousness. He is the one who has made you right with Him, who has given you the Holy Spirit that you might live by the Spirit. It is His work that saves you and He is the New Creation, God and humanity at one, Creator and Creation reconciled. So, with Paul we may never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to you and you to the world. In Christ you are dead to the corruption in the world, you are a New Creation; therefore let the corruption in the world be as though it is dead to you, just as death is dead to Christ. For if anyone falls into sin and rejects the promise of God, they receive the wages of their sinful works. Death. But for those who fall into sin yet turn back to the promise of God, their sinful works are taken from them and they receive the wages of their life in the Spirit. The Life of Christ. So boast in the Cross of Christ, for it is His Work that forgives and reconciles; yet don’t be lazy in the faith for now you have life you are called to live it.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

“Free for what?”

Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free! I graduated from school 12 years ago. The next day I rode past a school bus near my school; “Ha! I never have to do that again,” I thought, “I’m free!” Young and free, the whole world before this teenager; work or study, adventure, love, fear and danger; this young adult: free. But free for what? Last week we heard that God’s Law was our guardian, like a harsh schoolmaster; yet now that Christ has come you are free! Free from school, free to go out and live, free to make your own choices. But what choices will you make? Will you respect your old schooling, or make a new way? What now will you do?

Today there is so much freedom across the western world. You are free to study, free to work, free to own land, free to marry whoever, free to divorce, free to do so much that our ancestors even 200years ago were not free to do. So much freedom, so much choice that people are creating their own answers as to what they are free to do. But we don’t always make good choices, if you are free to travel the world, free to live as a different gender, free to work or to just brood in a basement; if you are free yet don’t stand firm in what is good, true and beautiful then you submit yourself again to slavery, burdens and suffering. We hear this in the news all the time, the pain amongst broken families, the troubles of substance addictions, riots and shootings; those people who, not standing firm, are influenced, pushed this way and that, by so many things, dreams, movements, politics, ideals, idols. So many, being free, submit themselves to these false and deadly gods.

Is this the freedom we are called to in Christ? No! Of course not! For you were called to freedom and life, not the burdens of sin and death; so do not use your freedom as an opportunity for these things, rather serve one another through love. (Galatians 5:13). The devil is defeated, yes, but that does not mean that the demons are not now at work. We are tempted by the ads we see and hear, by your body’s selfish desires, even by stray thoughts in our heads; by our enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. These are what our guardian, our school master, taught and protected against. God’s Law prepares us for life with Christ. Now that we live free of our guardian; will we respect it and the Holy Spirit who gave it? Or do you freely submit yourself to sin? To porn, impurity, sensuality,sorcery, strife, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and things like these? These things trap you, enslave you, and kill you. Perhaps your body desires them, yet these acts, doing or causing these things and fulfilling those desires does not bring peace only pain. These evil works destroy the gifts God has lavished on you, doing them kills faith and drives away the Holy Spirit, this is why Paul can write that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. God does not save you so that you can kill yourself again. Christ does not give you life so that you can throw it away. The Holy Spirit does not give such great gifts, even faith, even Himself, so that you can despise Him and throw Him out. You are not free to sin.

You are free to live the life of Christ. You here today, forgiven and made new in Jesus, are free to go out and live a life free from submission to sin, death and the devil. To live in accord with the Holy Spirit and with the Law He gave. For all who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is why you broken people come together to be reformed by God’s Word, to be conformed to Christ. So, you are now free to respect all of God’s Word, the most troubling or obscure text of scripture and chiefly the Gospel of Christ; and free to respect all of God’s Works, His allowance of all your pain and suffering and chiefly the Cross of Christ. For it is in His Gospel and His Cross that you find the answer to your sin. It is God’s Word and Work that heal you. Jesus has defeated your sin and death, and the demonic powers at the Cross; this Gospel is given for you clearly and assuredly in Baptism, in the Absolution, His words returning you to the grace of your Baptism, and in Holy Communion. In Baptism your sinful self is drowned, slain again by Christ’s Word in the Absolution; and in Holy Communion, you share in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, the defeat of sin, the devil and death. The Holy Spirit either comes into you, or if we have not chased Him out, sustains the life of Christ in you. This is the wonder of God’s Word and Work for you here today; He promises you He has dealt with your sin, He has given you life stronger than death, He has cut you free from any demonic influence. Today you are free; For this freedom Christ has set you free!

So now we live by the Spirit! He produces in us who trust Him love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. There is no law, no crushing burden, that comes with the peace of God, joy does not hurt. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. If Christ has set you free from sin and worry, live as the righteous and faithful people He has freed you to be.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

“Genesis or Jesus, who do you trust?”

Galatians 3:24
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

My son is two years old, and he has a guardian. He goes to childcare once a week, and there he is protected and guided by the workers. He’ll go on to school and for 13 odd years he’ll be taught and protected by many teachers and staff. Then he’ll go out into the world, either work or study, but he won’t have a guardian. When my son becomes an adult he will no longer have a guardian because, if the guardians have done their work well, he won’t need one.

Now God’s people had in the beginning proven that they needed guidance and a guard. And so God provided clothing; He kept them away from the precious yet dangerous trees; He destroyed the evil corruption by the cleansing waters of the flood. It’s not unlike a parent clothing their child, keeping the glassware locked away, and washing off filth. And then God made a covenant, began anew a relationship, with Noah; then with Abraham; then with all the people of Israel through Moses. Now every relationship begins with some ground rules; for instance, when you meet someone new you might give them a handshake, but you don’t slap them across the face; so God lays down the ground rules for His relationship with His people. These ground rules, or family rules, are what we mean when we say, ‘the law of God’; these ground rules the first five books of the Bible, also called the Law, were the guardian for God’s ancient people.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. These writings are how God formed His ancient people. These are the stories that the Israelites told to their kids, it was Israelite and Midianite rather than cowboys and Indians; kids grew up wanting to be like Abraham not Superman; and they sang the wheels on the chariot (fall off in the mud) when they went on their school trips. As we read the history of God’s people, truly we see how immature they were. How little respect they had for their relationship with God Almighty; and how like a child they needed a guardian, a guide. Thank God, He did give them these books, and the Prophets to speak to them and a book of songs to sing. But did they listen to their guardian? No, like so many children they didn’t listen to their guardians, to the guidance given. They did not trust their teacher, and they went their own way; rejecting the guardian’s protection God’s people ran into danger.

And how often you do the same, failing to be faithful to God’s family rules? This is not the fault of the guardian, it was not the fault of God’s Holy Law that Israel adulterously worshipped idols, it is not the fault of good teachers that a child shoplifts. These ground rules set by God, this way of living in God’s family, is not bad or wrong; but when you break it, the Law punishes you severely. The Law says every sinful descendant of Cain was killed by the flood. The Law says the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire, them and their land. The Law says when some priests and Levites worshipped incorrectly, they were consumed by fire and the earth. Like a harsh schoolteacher the Law of God brought the fear of death as it taught God’s people what sin and wickedness is. The Law of God is Holy and Good, against it’s harsh light your sin stinks as the thickest, darkest stain of dung.

“So the Law was our guardian until Christ came.” The Law of God protected, prepared and taught God’s people, like a boarding house can do until the children mature, until the time is right. “Until Christ came that we may be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” So what is the difference between the guardian and Christ? The Law of God shines a light on your failure and sin, when you hear its condemnation, you should shudder; yet the Law cannot fix you, it cannot live your life for you. God’s Law, His family rules, cannot make you part of the family; what makes you part of the family is either begetting/birth or adoption. It is not God’s Law that justifies you, it is Christ. When you are convicted of your sin, of your failure; do not rely on Genesis, trust in Jesus. Genesis, like a good school teacher, does teach you how to live with God, yet it can’t take away your sin, it can’t make right your relationship with God. This is why we don’t have a lecture hall for a church building, yet why the sermon still has a place. After all, this is a house of prayer, not a hall for study. This is a gathering together with Christ.

As we gather here, Christ comes and renews the promises at your baptism; when you were adopted into God’s family, when this relationship was certified and publicly made known. You, in Christ, are forgiven! He speaks to us in the readings and we speak with Him in song; having a chat before the meal. We together consider all the family, and what this family is all about; as we pray the prayer of the Church. Then we get ready to have a meal, communion with the family.

But the Law does not come to the table, the school teacher is not part of the family. We can respect the school teacher, but they are not your father, and they are not a son. This is why Paul can write: “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith,for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” You are publicly part of this family by God’s work in Baptism, not by your obedience to the Law. You are not baptised into Genesis; you are baptised into Jesus. You derive your identity not from Adam or Eve, but from the Only Begotten Son of God. You do not rely on your school teacher to make you live with Jesus, because you are already living in Him. As Jesus says, wherever two or three are gathered in my name I am with them, I in them and they in me; This is the effect of His Ascension, this is the result of the Holy Spirit’s work at Pentecost and beyond. God’s people were being taught and prepared up to the time of Christ, now mature we are called to live and work with Jesus by the strength the Holy Spirit provides. To care for those in your family with Christ’s humility, to love your brothers and sisters in Christ, to be open about the wonders Christ has done in your life, to daily join Christ and all God’s family in prayer. Yes, respect God’s Law as good and right and true, yet trust in Jesus and live the life He has given you.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

All working together

Text: John 16:12-15.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

All working together

Here today in just these few verses we are given an insight into the workings of God and that which is important to him; and this then has an impact on who we are and what we are on about as well.

Now here in this reading we are reminded of how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the three members of the Trinity are at work in our world today. The thing that strikes us very strongly is that they are all working together, from their different positions and roles within the Godhead. That is they are at work making known to us that which is of God and which is important for us: that which is all truth. Very clearly, however the point is made that this knowledge has to do with Jesus and what he has said and done for us as he lived on this earth.

Now here Jesus begins by telling us that The Spirit of truth is come to guide us into the things that are important for us to know: the truth. This Spirit, we are told elsewhere, proceeds from the Father and the Son, and will make known to us only that which he hears from them. His sole purpose is to lead us to faith in Jesus Christ, which in turn brings glory to Jesus. He therefore, is sent to us, to make known to us all that Jesus said and did through his life, death and resurrection. The things yet to come, are a reference to Jesus death and resurrection which was yet to come, and which were of great importance for our salvation.

In that regard the Holy Spirit has often been regarded as the shy member of the Trinity. His focus is not on himself and what he does, but has come simply in order to make salvation through Christ, by grace through faith, known to us: to bring us to this knowledge and to help us to trust in this message, so that glory may in turn go to Jesus Christ and from there to the Father. He does not speak or act on his own behalf; as an independent agent, but only of that which he has received from the Father through the Son.

This then highlights the work of Jesus whilst he was here on this earth. God himself come to us, so that he might save us from the hell we have brought on ourselves through our rejection of God and our failing to live under his authority and Word. He took the punishment we deserve, on himself, so that we in turn might be forgiven and assured of life and salvation. Then he was raised from the dead so that we can be assured that he is for real and that eternal life is now there for all who are in Christ.

All this is from the Father. Everything Jesus had and gave he had in common with his Father. The divine love and power is reflected from the Father through the Son, and then made know by the Holy Spirit. All are working together to bring forgiveness, life and salvation to us all. There we have the greatness of our God, and that which we truly thank and praise him for.

But this work and cooperation has continued on from there. This Good News of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed year after year ever since. It has brought life and salvation down through the ages to many, many people. Through the Word and Sacraments, the Spirit has made known all the truth that surrounds Jesus’ death and resurrection that we need to know. Around the world, people have come to faith in Jesus Christ. And glory is going to the Father for all the goodness that he has extended to us.

This goodness and work even now goes on here. The Spirit of truth is still at work, seeking to guide us into all truth. Salvation by grace through faith is still being proclaimed. The emphasis of Christ alone, grace alone, scripture alone and faith alone are still held up in some quarters as vital. Jesus death and resurrection is still the focus in preaching and teaching. The Triune God is continuing to work together to ensure that this message of Jesus continues to go on.

This is surely then also where we join in this important work of God. As we allow the Spirit of truth to work in our lives we too will be focussing all that we say and do on Jesus Christ and the importance of his death and resurrection for our salvation and life. Like the Spirit, we will not act as independent agents, but will act under the guidance of the Spirit and under the authority of God himself. We too will only speak of what has been passed on from Christ as of first importance. As we do, we can be sure that God’s work will go on and continue to bear fruit.

So today, we are reminded again that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all working together with one purpose in mind: Each in their different roles and priorities, all with the same end in mind.

The Spirit of truth is sent to lead us into all truth: The truth and importance of Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us through his death and resurrection. In this, the love and power of the Father is extended to all people.

So also then, when we focus on that same message we know that we too are being joined into that work of God himself. We also know that where that message is, and is proclaimed, that it will bring blessing. But more importantly, glory will go to our Lord Jesus Christ. That in turn will bring glory to the Father. Here again as I conclude this message let us remember that to God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, belongs all glory and honour, now and always.

AMEN.

“Coughs, cross, and Spirit; can you wait?”

Romans 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For the six weeks of Easter my family has had about six days free from coughing. We hid inside our rooms for a week because of covid, just waiting to get out. Kids coughing, mum moaning, dad groaning. You can imagine us being worn out, and yet this is nothing compared to the groaning of the whole of Creation right up to the present time. Groaning as in the pains of childbirth, as God’s Creation suffers thousands of hurts because of us and our sin. God knows the beauty of His Creation, and the perfection He has planned for it. And yet Creation waits in pain for the Fulfillment. When will it come? How much longer?

God has made a promise that He would fix the brokenness Adam and Eve brought on the world; and humanity has been waiting for it ever since. The promise to Abraham that all peoples will be blessed through His descendant, the Israelites groaning in waiting. The promise to the kingdom of Judah of a Messiah, a saviour; the Jews longing for the Fulfillment. And now you, disciples of Jesus, who have seen the first-fruits of our salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord; you join this waiting as you groan inwardly for the complete redemption of our bodies. You can wait as the faithful have for thousands of years, living the life of Christ, walking His way of the Cross; or you can go your own way as the wicked giants before the flood, or the self-destructive ways people invent today. But you who do cling to this hope, the redemption of our bodies, the destruction of sin, death and the devil, the healing of all our brokenness, body and soul; you who cling to this hope, wait.

But am I strong enough to wait? Can I hold out for that long? My Grandma waited her whole life, yet as far as this fallen world sees, she could not last. Could Jesus’ disciples, without the Holy Spirit, have gone out into foreign lands, among strange tongues, before kings and emperors and spread the gospel? No, by themselves they were huddled inside like isolated covid sufferers. However, God did not leave them orphans. Someone unseen as the wind came into the apostles, filled them with power and made their proclamation understood by all peoples who heard them in their own mother tongues. And now, a mixed multitude praises the One Lord Jesus Christ, bringing all their prayers to Him as they wait.

As we wait. Waiting as my family suffers coughs, waiting while our faithful forebears have died; still the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. He sustains our faithful forebears who still live because of Christ. The Holy Spirt sustains us through trials and tribulations, despite our failings and fears; He is the one who draws us back to Christ. He is the one who intercedes, praying on our behalf, when we do not know what to pray. When you are dry, He is there; and when you are fit and full, He is the one who provides the strength. He is the one who guides us in accordance with God’s will. And this is the reason for our celebration today, that God Almighty, our loving Heavenly Father, chose this day to send the Holy Spirit to enliven His Church. That all peoples, not just the Jews, but Germans, Scots, English, Irish, Tigrayans, Estonians, even Australians, might hear and be saved. That we might receive the Holy Spirit as our advocate while we wait for final and lasting peace in Christ. That by the Holy Spirit you might be joined with hundreds, thousands, millions, of people with hundreds of languages praising, serving and being served by God together.

This is who we are, the Church, the Bride of Christ, clothed in many colours, gathered from every tribe and tongue. You have been gathered to dwell with God Almighty, to pray and speak by the strength of the Holy Spirit in your weakness. To rely on Christ in your day to day, keeping His word, obeying His commands. And by the strength of the Holy Spirit to join Him as an advocate for those around you, family, friends and colleagues. For in the same way, as Paul wrote, the Spirit helps you in your weakness.

And as He does, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

“The Bride says, Come!”

Revelation 22:12-21
I, Jesus, have sent my messenger to give you this witness for the churches.

Christ has sent out His messenger as a witness of His Gospel, the Good News of His victory! And this is the message: Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Now it’s a strange book that Revelation, sometimes seen as the most vital of all scripture, sometimes tolerated as a dusty book in a forgotten corner. And yet it is a record of a vision God gave St John for the benefit of all Christians, for the benefit of you. And we have now heard just the end of this vision of Christ, recorded by St John, and preserved by the Holy Spirit through His Church. But what does all this mean? It means come!

Come and be washed; come and hear; come and pray in song; come to the feast; come into a new way of life, the Way of Life Everlasting. Come! Just as the parent calls for their almost toddler, “come, come on you can do it, one foot after the other, come!” Come to my arms and receive good things, or reject me and go your own way into danger. Then as that child grows and another is born, again the parent calls, “come, one foot after the other, come!” Now the first child, who has heard their parents’ words, can join in that call, to encourage and join in saying, “come and receive good things!” Here are the good things, yet if you reject them and go your own way you will be in danger.

Children of the Living God, that is our life together in the Church, this beautiful yet battered Bride of Christ. And this is our Christian life, the life sustained by the Holy Spirit. That our Loving Father, God Almighty, called to the first humans, “come!” Yet they went their own way into danger. God called Abraham, He called Moses; they heard and witnessed to the Good News, calling to those around them, “come!” Yet by and large the Israelites rejected the witness and went their own way into danger; especially in the times of the prophets, those on whom the Holy Spirit Himself rested and empowered.

Then Jesus came. He came in the flesh to call out to all, “come!” Because of that call and its rejection Jesus suffered and died, yet He was not in danger, they were. For He rose on Sunday, today, defeating death by His death and by His Resurrection winning life everlasting for you. He then went to the upper room and His disciples witnessed this wonderful result of the Resurrection. Forty days later, last Thursday, He sent out these messengers as witnesses to the ends of the Earth. And today He continues to send messengers who carry His Gospel, that is what I am, what you, this church, has called me to be. That the pastor, whoever he may be, has been sent to point you back to Christ, His Word and Work; to say as an older brother to the toddler, “come, come into these loving arms and receive good things!”

And so today we come into His arms, Just as this account from Revelation tells us. We come into Christ’s presence in His name, Alpha and Omega; just as He comes to us. We are washed in Baptism and in the absolution Christ returns us to that grace. You are spotless for He has taken away all your sins, preparing you to receive all good things. Yet those who reject His call wander into danger, like a toddler onto a road, yet wilfully. For Jesus is the only sure foundation, the root which gives life to those united in Him; He is the promised descendant of David with authority over all; and He is the only light in the darkness, the bright morning star.

For this reason, the Holy Spirit says, “come!” and the Bride of Christ, who is the Church of God you are a part of, says, “come!” Let you who hear join the Spirit and the Bride saying, “come!” Let the one who is thirsty come and receive good things, the water of life without price. Come be refreshed by Christ Himself, as He comes here for you.
But now comes a warning: if anyone not just rejects the Gospel but also changes God’s Word, whether adding or taking from it; they will suffer and loose their life. An older child can listen to their parents and pass on their words, but if the older sibling twists their parents’ word and convinces their younger sibling to follow them, then they are both likely in trouble.

Jesus says, “Surely, I am coming soon!” Yet this is nothing to be afraid of, for as we heard last week and today after the absolution, He says to you “Peace be with you, My peace I give you.” And on that night before His death, He was praying (John 17). So intensely He was praying all night until His arrest, praying blood, sweat and tears for you. For the disciples, yes, for the Church His Bride, and for you. That we might be one, united in Him, that we might know Him and through us that He be made known to the world. As we pray His prayer today, we join with His pray that night, with the certain hope that God hears His own prayers.

So, we pray together with the whole Church for the rulers, for His Church, and for all in need. We pray as His Holy and Beloved Bride that Christ come and make things right, to fix and heal and hug, that all creation might receive the good things and be renewed. We pray with St John, with the whole Church, today in His Divine Service, even before our meals; we pray, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!” Come today in Word and Sacrament, come everyday into our lives, and come on that final day and make things right.

Unto that Day, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now to Life Everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

‘Peace, God’s command and promise’

John 14:23
Jesus said, anyone who loves me will keep my word.

When I last preached I was meditating on remembering, on making something part of our lives here today as we live them. Remembering that last week of Christ’s life. Making the crucifixion part of our living. The New Resurrected Life of Christ as part and parcel of our bodies today. Remembering Christ in the way we live. And today we remember some of Christ’s teaching on that last night before the crucifixion. As the disciples and Jesus eat and make their way up to the mount of Olives, Jesus says, “anyone who loves me will keep my word.” Or ‘anyone who loves me obeys my commands’, as it is sometimes translated and rightly so, yet it’s much more than that. Anyone who loves Jesus will keep His word, and if you do not keep His word then you do not love Him. But what does it mean to keep? And what is His word?

Well, I’ll ask the question, what have you kept? And what have I kept? Digging around in my old box, I found a bag I made in grade 8, with a brass spoon Great Gran gave me, and a wooden spoon I won as last place on a quiz night. I’ve kept both these spoons for over 10 years, safe in a bag in a box, guarded from hands that might want to clean up and throw things out, I’ve kept them safe and haven’t used them. Perhaps that should change.

I’ve also kept in touch with an old school friend, catching up over the phone and face to face maybe ten or so times over the last ten years. Perhaps the friendship would keep better if we were in closer contact, yet we are still good enough friends.

And I’ve also kept some words in mind over the years. My dad told me, “It takes two to tango” a bit vague, especially because I don’t really dance, but it means all parties involved need to take responsibility for it to work, at work, in relationships, in all sorts of things. I’ve kept that word in mind and it’s sort of changed the way I see the world, it guides the way I might interact, and I suppose you could say it shows my love for my father. To keep something well, you guard it and keep it safe, you don’t forget about it or refuse to use it, and your life in some ways revolve around what is kept.

Anyone who loves Jesus will keep His word. And what is that word? His first sermon, “Repent and believe the Good News, for the Kingdom of Heaven is here!” His last sermon on the cross, “It is finished, complete!” And His sermon before the Ascension, “Go and make disciples of all nations, by baptising and teaching them to keep everything I have commanded you; and surely I will be with you to the very end of the age.” In the word He left, Jesus promises the Kingdom of Heaven; that His mission, the defeat of sin, death and the devil, and full reconciliation between God and humanity is complete; and that He is with you always. In the word He left, Jesus commands us to repent, turn toward Him, and to go and make disciples, teaching them to keep all His commands. This is Law and Gospel, promise and command, and yet Jesus doesn’t separate them. When He declares your sins are forgiven, He promises that He has dealt with your sins and they need not burden you anymore, and He commands that you reject your sinful habits and live free from sin and it’s burden just as He has already freed you. In one word, ‘I forgive you’ He promises and He commands. In one word, ‘You are my beloved child’ God Almighty promises His fatherly love and commands obedience to His family culture. In a word Jesus gives and commands, as He says to you, ‘Peace’.

Peace as the world cannot give, peace which surpasses all understanding, the peace of God, of Jesus Christ our Righteousness. “Peace I leave for you, my peace I give you.” If you love Jesus you will keep this good word, treasure it, guard it, and share it to the glory of God. Yet it’s not simply only this word of Divine Peace, you can hear all the depths of His word, and for that you need others to teach you, that is your pastor, your parents, your Christian brothers and sisters; and Jesus commands you to teach those He gives to you. To keep all His word, and part of that word is for when you fail, ‘repent, I forgive you.’ Though His Word is not a burden for you to be crushed by, it is a command to hear and to do; yet more than a command it is a promise and a gift of love, life and peace. And so our loving Lord and Saviour says, those who love me keep my word.

And hear that word again: the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and to life everlasting. Go in peace! Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

What’s new about the ‘new’ commandment?

The Text: John 13:31-35

What’s new about the ‘new’ commandment?
Let me read to you from the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:18; ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. This is the Old Testament, and there we have the command to love. So what’s new about the ‘new’ commandment? The newness has to do with the person who gives the commandment, our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who ‘makes all things new’ (Rev 21:5). Jesus has loved, and does love us, and so he transforms our love for each other.

As we meditate on this new commandment to love, let’s consider four features of it today: (They each start with the letter ‘s,’ so we can more easily remember them):

Love is given a new shape,
Love happens in a new space,
Love becomes a new sign,
Love arises from a new source.

Shape, space, sign and source.

So first is that in this new commandment, love is given a new shape. What does that mean? Love is given a new shape in the sense of taking on a particular focus, and being characterised, in a particular way: namely the ‘shape’ of sacrifice.

Jesus says, ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’ If we then ask ‘How did Jesus love us?’ the context of this passage tells us a lot. Jesus is speaking these words on the night before he died. Judas has just left room to begin the chain of the events that would lead to Jesus’ death. Jesus talks about loving as he loved in the context of his sacrificial death. He strengthens this connection as he repeats this command a little later where he says: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ (15:13)’.

This emphasis becomes like an echo throughout the New Testament, where again and again love is talked about in connection with the theme of sacrifice. To mention just one more example, in Ephesians 5:1 Paul writes, ‘…live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’. The love Jesus calls for is characterised by sacrifice. That means: total and utter self-giving love for another.

Let’s just think for a moment about how radical this love is. Think of membership at a football club. Actually in a place like a football club there can be some strong forms of love – strong comradery and this sort of thing. Around Anzac day, football coaches might try to inspire the players by talking of the Anzac spirit and so on. But then think about this: when finals time arrives and there are two players were left competing for the final spot in the A grade team, could you ever imagine one player saying, ‘I’ll give up my spot in the team for him’. It’s virtually inconceivable. Not only would it not happen, it would probably be looked on as weakness.

In contrast, this is the very sort of love that is to be cultivated in Christian community. We love by sacrificing our time, sacrificing our money, sacrificing our own desires and pleasures, sacrificing different parts of our life, for others.

So the first thing Jesus does is that love is given a new shape, that of sacrificial love.

The next point is that in Jesus’ new command, love happens in a new space.

Jesus says love ‘one another’. What does that mean? Who is the ‘one another’? Where, and with whom does Jesus want this new commandment of love to happen? The simple answer is that he seems to be referring to the Christian community – to love specifically within the church. Only his disciples are in this room, and he says, love ‘one another’. A parallel passage might be Galatians 6:10, ‘So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.’

Now this can strike some people as a bit confusing. We hear Jesus teach about loving one’s neighbour, as the Old Testament does, which seems fairly general. We even hear about Jesus radical call to love one’s enemies. So then it almost feels to some people like we’re going backwards here, retreating into a “holy huddle” or something. So it’s worth asking, why this particular command to love one’s brothers and sisters within the Christian family?

Here’s one way to think about it. Isn’t it true, that it can often be hardest for Christians, to love other Christians? Think of the sad history of conflict and division within Christian congregations. Think of the various debates we’ve had in our own LCA in recent times, and how quickly our lack of love for one another can rear its ugly head. Now St Paul does always remind us that love ‘rejoices in the truth’ (1 Cor 13:6), so we do need to have robust discussions in the life of the church. But he also calls us to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Eph 4:15). Think, too, of the way we have sometimes acted towards Christians of other denominations and traditions. Maybe Jesus is onto something more important than we at first realise, when he points us to the Christian community as the space for love.

It’s worth noting too, that this new commandment of Jesus is framed in John 13 by two spectacular failings within this first Christian community. Firstly, Judas betrays Jesus, and secondly, Peter denies Jesus! This, too, can help us understand why Jesus focuses on love within the Christian community.

We find a parallel in human family. Most people would say the people they love most in the world are their family. But if we’re really honest, isn’t it also true that our families are the hardest people to love? After all, we’re stuck with them! We live in close proximity to them. We know their flaws and they know ours. We can’t hide things from each other. We expect more from each other.

There’s a specific focus here in Jesus’ new commandment on living in love within the Christian community. Love is given a new space.

Then Jesus gives another reason why this focus on the Christian community, and this is our next point, that love becomes a new sign. ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’. How interesting and mysterious and even seemingly paradoxical, that if we want to reach out to the world with the love of Christ, the first step is that this love is lived within the Church, with each other. Jesus says in effect, ‘people will notice this, and love will be a sign to the world.’

This has been true throughout Church history. The early church father Tertullian reported that one of the things outsiders said about the early Christian church was, ‘See how they love each other.’ One of the Roman leaders said about the early Christians in one of his letters, ‘They love each other almost before they even meet.’ Love truly has been and will be a sign to the world.

Sadly, we know this today also in a negative sense don’t we? When we fail to love, it will likewise be noticed by the world. We know that it can be incredible damaging to the Church’s witness.

Now Jesus presumably teaches us this because it’s always going to be true. But maybe this is true and even more relevant for us in 21^st century Australia than at other times and places. Because one thing we are seeing in our culture today is that people, especially young people, are searching for and craving community in which they can experience true love. This is perhaps because so many of our traditional communal structures have broken down.

So love is given a new shape. Love happens in a new space. Love becomes a new sign. Finally, love arises from a new source. All this teaching we covered so far is good stuff, the only problem with it, is that it’s really, really hard! It’s an incredible, if not impossible task to live a life of sacrificial love within the Christian community, and to become such a sign to the world! When we truthfully examine our hearts, do we find much of that sort of sacrificial love within? It’s interesting how central the issue of love is in one of our prayers of confession of sins: ‘We have not loved you with our whole heart, and we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves.’ That’s the truth of the matter!

But the good news is, is that in Jesus we find not only a new shape for love, but a new source of love. We find not only a new pattern for love, but a new power for love. Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross is not only our example of love, it is his love acted out for us. Jesus is pointing to this when he says, ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’. The ‘as I have loved you’ is not only saying: ‘Look and follow my example’, but it’s also saying, ‘By going to the Cross for you, I am actually enabling and empowering you to love. That’s what makes it possible for you to even begin to live these lives of self-sacrificial love.’

Because it’s as Jesus gives his life for us on the Cross, that there is forgiveness of sins for us, and that he defeats the powers of evil for us. So he frees us all from this life turned in on ourselves. He rescues us from the path of love-less-ness. Jesus has loved us and continues to love us, so that we can love one another. Jesus himself is a deep well of love from which we draw. In 1 John 3:16 it is said like this: ‘We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another’.

And as we think about how we actually receive his love, it’s worth considering an interesting, or rather vital, connection here. The same night Jesus gives us this new commandment, is the night he also institutes a new meal saying this is the ‘new covenant’ in my blood. There is a connection between the new command of love and the new covenant meal of love. It’s through this Sacrament that all the benefits of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross are given to us, so that we continually receive the love of Christ as we attend this meal. Jesus has left us his meal of love, and he has sent us his Holy Spirit. We remember that the first fruit of the Spirit is… love.

St Paul say in Romans 5 that ‘…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.’ This means that this is something anyone can pray for with great confidence when love seems to be lacking. Are you struggling to love your spouse? Your family? Someone in your congregation? Come to Holy Communion. Receive the love of Christ anew. Pray to God, and ask for the Holy Spirit to work in you his fruit of love. In Jesus there is a new source of love. You’ll be amazed at how receptive people can be in reconciling differences after sharing in this holy and love-filled meal!

So, love is given a new shape – that of sacrificial love. Love happens in a new space – the Christian community. Love becomes a new sign – of where Jesus’ disciples can be found in the world. And love arises from a new source – from Jesus himself, for he has loved us all to the end. ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ Amen.