Author: admin

“The Lord provides”

Text: Genesis 22:1,2,7,8,14
God called to Abraham, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!”  “Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”  As they walked along together, Isaac spoke up, “Father!” He answered, “Yes, my son?”  Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.” And the two of them walked on together.
Abraham named the place “The Lord Provides.” And even people today say, “On the Lord’s mountain he provides.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that’s exactly what happened. God did provide. As he raised his knife to kill Isaac the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham.
“Don’t hurt the boy or do anything to him. Now that I know that you have obedient reverence for God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.” Abraham sees a ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. He names the place “The Lord Provides.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy

 

Baptismal Mastery

Think of a person you know, an everyday type of person; a person to whom you look as a role model. This person is someone that you may have had dealings with, but then again maybe they’re not. They might be someone you have read about, or seen on television. They might be one of your parents, or grandparents. This person might be a friend or someone with whom you’d like to be friends.

Perhaps they are someone with confidence, or wealth, a healthy lifestyle, successful in whatever they do, or they seem to be at peace with themselves.Whoever this person might be, you see them as one who has it all together. They are lords of their lives, it seems. You see them as masters of their domain.

We don’t use the language of lords much these days, when speaking of everyday people. We no longer use the term to honour those whom we respect, and we don’t use it as a name for the rulers of our country, or for landholders, as they still do in other parts of the world.

Nor do we have a great cause to ponder the function of masters and slaves. We might hear the word master when talking about someone skilled at the top of their trade, or when master is used as a definition of a principal, such as a master bedroom or a master builder.

When we uphold these role models as masters of their domains, or as lords of their lives; we receive a terrible blow when these people begin to fade and struggle with life, or when their domain comes crashing down around their ears. When death comes to those we love and look up to, it usually hits hard. Or when the person we have upheld as such a good example, is not who they first appeared, the let down can leave us feeling deflated.

A harder shock for us all is when we find life harder and harder to master. Our bodies and our wills seem to enslave us. We find that we can’t do what we know we should be doing. Or perhaps we shudder when we find out someone else looks up to us. Disgusted, perhaps you think, “If only they knew what I’m really like!”

We humans are very good at making ourselves slaves, belittling ourselves, and burdening ourselves or others by our misconceived ideas as to who and what is worthy of lordship. When we make these types of judgement, the very elements of life we uphold as being necessary, become the very things killing us and driving us to despair.

The best example of this is at funerals. While hearing the deceased person eulogised, thoughts can arise that either crush you or confuse you. As you listen you might wish you were as good as the person who has passed on, but go away crushed and downhearted. Or you might wonder if you are at the right funeral, thinking to yourself, “Hang on, this person wasn’t as good as what they are being made out to be!”

And so we arrive at the reality of life. This reality is revealed for every person at their death. Unfortunately though, it’s too late for the revelation to do anything, once we die.

However, for Christians, we who believe in, hold onto, and remain in our baptism, the reality is daily revealed why we die but also who is really worthy of being eulogised in our death, and in our being raised to eternal life.

Therefore, we find that baptism and funerals are inseparably joined. And in the inseparability is the need for us to remain with Jesus Christ given at baptism, who is faithfully walking with us every day of our lives, and willing us to trust him for salvation even in our last breath of earthly life.

Death, and our need for baptismal living, reveals that no person can be lord of their lives, and that any mastery of one’s domain is temporary at best.In fact we hear from Saint Paul that in our original condition we can only master one thing — that is sin leading to death.

We hear in Romans 5:19-21… For just as through the disobedience of the one man (that is Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus Christ) the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul then goes on to speak of our struggle against sin and the reality in which we live as believing baptised children of God.

He says… 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11)

No longer do we have to eulogise or uphold the things that end in death; rather we can give all glory to Jesus Christ whose life we have received in baptism. In other words we uphold and remain in the only thing that ends in life, our baptism into Jesus’ death. In baptism we no longer have a master standing over us, enslaving us. But we now have a Saviour who faithfully stands and has mastered sin and death in us.

In the gospel we hear, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. (Matthew 10:24-25a)

We have already seen that Jesus is not our master in the religious sense. We are not bound again as slaves doing works for righteousness. But Jesus is our role model, the only worthy role model. We look to Jesus’ baptism as our example as we hear John the Baptist declare, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

Jesus was baptised with water and the Holy Spirit came, we too are baptised with water and the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit came. Jesus endured a baptism of fire ending in death at the cross, and we too will face many fiery trials in this life ending in death. This is the cross we all must bear.

But, like our teacher, we will be raised to life, because this teacher now lives in us. His death has mastered our sin and our death. Sin and death have no power. They now are dying slaves of Christ; serving him in us so we might have life with him forever. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are Lord of lords, and you are master of all dominions, powers, and authorities, and yet you live in us and daily win the battle of sin and death in us. Thank you precious Lord Jesus, not only do we abide in you, but you faithfully abide us. Amen.

Pastor Heath Pukallus 

Love isn’t love until it’s tested.

 

 

Love isn’t love until it’s tested.

For example a parent’s love isn’t tested until a child disobeys or rejects their love. A child’s love of a parent isn’t tested until their mum or dad fails in a promise and lets them down. A husband’s or wife’s love isn’t tested until one breaks the trust of the other or acts in ways that are selfish or hurtful.

Love isn’t love until it’s tested.

But sometimes we test love the wrong way.

For example, a boy will often say to a girl, ‘If you really love me, you’ll let me take you to bed.’ Or children will often say to their parents, ‘If you really love me, you’ll give me what I want.’

Therefore the argument continues that if we don’t get what we want, then the other person doesn’t really love us. In this way we use love as a bargaining chip, or as an emotion to hold for ransom. In reality we don’t play this game of ‘love blackmail’ out of love, but out of selfishness, greed and lust. I suppose we could answer back, ‘If you really loved me, you wouldn’t test me and my love in this way.’

Now of course, true love sometimes withholds things. For instance, a good parent won’t let their children have chips and chocolate for every meal because they love them and know what’s good for them. It doesn’t mean love isn’t there, but love is sometimes expressed by not giving in to every whim and desire you have. Even though you might at first be upset about it, sometimes love and respect can be increased when a family member or friend doesn’t let you get your own way.

There is perhaps another one you test.

Have you ever said to God, ‘If you really love me, then you’ll give me what I want. Now what I want is happiness, good health, riches, no problems or difficulties, good friends, all my enemies to get their just punishment, and everything to go my way.’

You may then think that if everything is going your way, then God is for you and he loves you. But if you become unhappy, if your relationships break down, if you suffer in your health, if you’re poor, if you have problems or difficulties, if you have enemies who seem to get away with their treatment of you, and if things don’t go your way, then you may be tempted to think God doesn’t love you.

This is why some people say, ‘If God really loves us, he wouldn’t allow terrorists to fly planes into office buildings. If God really loves us, he would have stopped the earthquakes and cyclones from killing so many people. If God really loves us, he wouldn’t take young children away from their parents or let them get so sick, he would stop the spread of cancer, he wouldn’t allow people to suffer unjustly, or he would always protect the innocent.’

Some people then blame God for all their troubles and think God’s against them. They might think God is punishing them. So when people try to blackmail God into doing what they want for the sake of his love, people’s hearts aren’t softened, but hardened against God through their fear and rebellion.

Although God may sometimes allow the results of people’s wickedness to visit them, God doesn’t desire to punish his people. God doesn’t want to punish you, but he wants to strengthen your faith in him.

Although bad things may happen for no apparent reason, God will want to use your times of trouble and suffering to lead you closer to him. He may use your times of darkness and despair in order to test and strengthen your confidence in him.

In this way, God may use your troubles, your afflictions, and your tribulations in order to bring about perseverance and endurance. He might use your suffering to build up your steadfastness of faith. He may use your pain to put your character to the test.

You see, your character isn’t tested in good times when everything’s going your way. It’s only when things go wrong and you feel under pressure, under the weather, or under oppression, that’s when your character is truly tried and tested. So, will you crack? Will you take the easy way out? Will you bow to peer or public pressure? Or will you stay the path? Will you remain true and faithful? Will you trust God even when things don’t go your way? In other words, are you a fair-weather Christian, or are you in with God all the way and through all the storms of life?

Your endurance, your character and your hope are gifts given to you through faith in God, but you never put them to the test while things are going well. These gifts are tested and strengthened through your pains, your afflictions, and even through your tears. These gifts of endurance and character aren’t given to you on a silver platter, but given to you and built up through toil and heartache.

Also, your hope and your confidence aren’t based on your feelings (because frankly, you don’t feel very good when you’re suffering!), but they’re based on facts and truth. Feelings are not faith. Feelings are fickle and rise and fall in a moment. Instead, your feelings in suffering often identify your deeper spiritual needs.

So yes, the fact is that you may be going through troubles right now, or you might face them in the future. This doesn’t make you feel very good about yourself, about others, or even about God. But your feelings don’t negate the truth that through faith in Jesus Christ, you’re given peace with God. The troubles you experience aren’t sent as punishment, but God will want to use them in such a way to deepen your faith and deepen your confidence in Christ alone. After all, if everything went your way, why would you even need God or his Son’s death and resurrection?

Your troubles can help you realise your weakness and God’s strength. In fact, it’s often when you’re at your weakest that you realise again your need to rely on and trust God and his promises. After all, it was while you were weak, sick or helpless that Jesus died on your behalf. Christ bought you peace with God through his death for you when you were weak and sick with sin.

Therefore your sufferings aren’t punishment sent from God, or signs of God being cruel to you, but they may actually be blessings in disguise. Your sufferings can be good for you and your faith in God. Your sufferings may lead you to a deeper level of love, trust, and commitment. Your sufferings then, may be something you can actually boast in.

Now this doesn’t mean you should compare your sufferings with each other and boast to each other as if ‘my sufferings are bigger than your sufferings’, but instead you should pride yourself that through your sufferings, you’re being led closer to God and are growing in your confidence in him.

You can boast in your sufferings because they drag you to the foot of the cross, sometimes kicking and screaming all the way. They can force you to admit your weakness and helplessness. They’ll compel you to find confidence in the death of Jesus Christ. He died for you while you are still a sinner. He died for you while you are still helpless. He died on your behalf.

The cross is painful. Your own crosses of suffering are painful. But as you kneel at the foot of the cross you see your sins hanging on Jesus. All God’s anger against your sins are taken out on Jesus, so therefore your suffering can’t be punishment, otherwise Jesus died in vain.

As you look to that cross in your suffering; your pride, your selfishness and your vain glory are also being put to death. Sometimes every vain and transient thing you’ve unconsciously or consciously put your faith in is being stripped away so all you have left is Jesus on the cross. As you look to the cross, your only confidence grows from the fact that Jesus died for you in order to bring you peace with God the Father. Through the death of Jesus on that cruel cross, God demonstrated his love for you.

Christ is at work, not just in your happiness and your victories, although those things too are a gift, but Christ is most at work in your suffering. That’s where your faith and love and confidence and hope is truly tested and put to work. That’s also where God dwells – in suffering. That’s where you see him the most clearly, and that’s where you realise he is near.

It’s when you suffer, that your experience of God grows. For some people, this brings fear of God and is expressed through their anger and rebellion, but for you, your suffering should bring you closer to God. Therefore your sufferings are a blessing to you.

Thankfully, as you kneel at the foot of the cross, you’re also led to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. As you endure your troubles, you may sometimes think your own resurrection from your suffering seems such a long way off that you may think it’ll never come. But just as surely that Jesus rose from death, he still lives for you and will bring you to be with him in glory. If you have been reconciled and vindicated by his death, how much more will you be saved by his life.

As strange as it sounds, brag and boast in your sufferings. Not because they’re any worse or better than anyone else’s sufferings, but because through them you’re being brought closer to the cross of Christ. Rejoice because your hope and confidence in Jesus Christ through his glorious death on the cross will help you realise and experience God’s love for you and bring you closer to him. Rejoice that Jesus died on your behalf to bring you peace, love and hope.

They say that love isn’t love until it is tested.

God’s love for us was put to the test through his precious Son’s death on that painful cross.

When our hope and confidence in God is put to the test, may be brought closer to him, so that…

The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, even in the midst of our sufferings. Amen.

A Creation Community

After half a church year today we arrive at Trinity Sunday. Last week we heard how the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost; ten days before that the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ; another forty days again and it was Easter Sunday, Good Friday, and Lent. These days introduced the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus after the proclamation of his divinity in Epiphany, his humanity at Christmas, and his coming into the world at Advent, way back in the four weeks of December.

Now from today we focus on the Christian life in God’s fallen creation, redeemed and being redeemed by the blood of Christ who is seated at the right hand of God the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, three persons in one God.

However, there is a tendency for us to believe if Jesus is at the right hand of God, in heaven, he is no longer here with us. That perhaps we have been, more or less, left to our own devices to fend for ourselves. Or we might recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power to escape this world so we might ascend with our hearts and minds to a place were we see God. Since he is not attainable by our natural senses anymore! Right? Well no it’s not! God’s written word from Genesis one to Revelation twenty-two tells us otherwise!

In fact the thought that God is not with us in our creation, is a thematic thread right the way through the bible demonstrating the sinfulness and faithlessness of humanity. But rather, the Trinity is present in creation, giving us God’s creation, so we might dwell with God in his threefold holy community of being and love.

Atheism and atheists, mock us because of our confession of an unseen Triune God and our hidden communion with him in his creation. However, these western infidels and scoffers of the Christian faith only exist because of Christianity. The Romans, who believed in a pantheon of gods, scoffed at the Jews after bursting into their temple in Jerusalem some two-thousand years ago, finding no visual God in the Holy of Holies. Go to a Hindu or a Buddhist country today and atheism is basically nonexistent.

Yet in the Christian world where God is hidden and there are no idol images of gods, it’s not a big step to believe there is nothing. So today the modern cynical athiest claims there is no God and the word of God is just “pie in the sky, for those who are going to die”.

On the other hand, we in the church in the second half of the church year celebrate the victory of Christ in his creation. However, neither the victory in creation, nor the God of this creation, is seen in the normal sense. God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is not seen, and our world still seems to be spiralling out of control into greater and greater turmoil. Perhaps we might be tempted into the epitome of negativity with the atheist, and believe there is no God and therefore lose hope.

But God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit calls us back into his word, and today especially his “word of beginnings”. His victory calls us to see creation as it was at the beginning and as it will be at the end. And we’re called to see what it is today with the eyes of faith in a world that would rather look into the misery and darkness of the hopeless self with human reason.

When we look at the creation account in Genesis one, God reminds us he loves us. He created the heavens and the earth for one purpose; for an environment where we might be with him in a threefold community peace. In his creation he created a paradise garden so that he might rest in it with us. However since the fall, it’s been lost to our sin, but now since the cross access has been won by Christ’s bloody death and glorious resurrection. And all creation now rejoices and looks forward in hope to the full restoration of creation.

So for us who believe in Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension; for us who believe the Holy Spirit has been sent to reveal Christ to us in this creation; and for us who believe the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ exist and work together so we might live in the presence of God the Father in peace — can turn back to the beginning and see the unseen reality of a hidden paradise won for us by Jesus Christ on the tree of life. Added to this we can examine the last chapters of Revelation and see the exact same reality, and continue in the same hope.

Many get caught out when looking at the creation account by falling into the debate on whether creation is seven literal days or perhaps something different. This argument only leads one away on a tangent from a correct emphasis on the creation text, regardless of what position one takes.

For us everything is a distant second from the little phrase in Genesis one, “And God said”. In fact in our search for answers to creation, this simple phrase is in danger of being overlooked. But the whole point of the creation account is to draw our faith to God’s word, in all its power and glory. God’s word needs not our proofs or reasoning, but rather it demands our trust. God said it, it happened — do you now believe it?

The other thing we need to take notice of is the order of creation, and in understanding its order, we soon come to realise its function.

First we hear, “In the beginning God created…” To imagine nothing in the beginning, is impossible, and added to it pondering the beginning as an eternal timelessness, will only make you go completely crazy. We are beings in time and place, and have not the capacity to contemplate boundless nothing. But having said that, God was there before any of it and this can only be believed by faith.

At the other end of the creation account, in Genesis 2, after all had been created by the word of God, God now rests in time and space in his creation.But God created this day of rest for a holy community – us and him together in peace.

All the events of creation fall between these two events in a very deliberate order, so this community of peace can exist in a perfect paradise with a thrice holy God. In fact creation’s order rolls along like a snow ball growing, or like an onion having its layers put on one after the other. In this way the first event of creation, serves the second, and so on until God rests in its completion.

The second last event God commanded in creation is the making of us, and in seeing the order of creation we learn that God created one thing after the other for you and me, in community. And at the very last he desires to be present with humanity in peace and perfect joy.

Now we know a lot has happened since God created the heavens and the earth. But he also calls us to now know that this reality has been restored in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So as we travel through the next half of the church year, we are called to see with the eyes of faith that the Triune God is present, although hidden.That we are called to peace with God, peace that passes all human understanding, peace that enables us to realise we are already in the arms of a loving God who calls us to rest with him, and trust that an eternity with him has been happening since our baptism and will continue on unto eternity.

We can all take stock from the last words in the bible from Revelation chapter twenty-two, where Jesus assures us that “Yes I am coming soon!” And we rest in response, “Amen, Come, Lord Jesus come.” As we trust the ever-present reality of the last verse, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” (Rev 22:20-21)

 Pastor Heath Pukallus

When God speaks

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

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

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

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

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

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

The amazing thing on Pentecost day is that the disciples didn’t need dictionaries or people to translate to find the best way to say something in a foreign language. We are told, “All of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?” (Acts 2:7,8).

There are 3 words that describe what happened that first Pentecost Day. Heard, saw and spoke.
Firstly, those present heard a sound – they heard what sounded like a mighty rushing wind.
Secondly, they saw – they saw what appeared to be tongues of fire which spread our across the crowd and touched each person there.
And thirdly, after hearing and seeing, they spoke. They preached. They testified to the great good that God was doing among them. Jesus had said that he would send to them his Holy Spirit who would be their helper and stay with them forever.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spirit-filled people are moved to love those around them. They are given a new outlook on the problems and the needs of other people and are happy to help and care for others. Spirit-filled people reflect the love of God into the lives of the people around them. This is how Paul described Spirit-filled people and how he saw the Spirit active in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Spirit-filled people want to share what Jesus means to them. The news about Jesus is too good not tell. This is something we can do on our local scene, as we go about our work, or talk to our neighbour over the back fence, let’s not be afraid to let people know that Jesus is someone special to you.

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

Spirit-filled people are praying people. Paul encourages us, “Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray for all God’s people” (Eph 6:18). It is the Spirit who gives us a child’s confidence to go to our heavenly Father in prayer. It is the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness … and intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” It is the Spirit who enables us to pray the most unlikely prayers in the face of suffering, on the battlefield, here in worship and at the kitchen table. Spirit-filled people “take everything to God in prayer.”

Spirit-filled people are worshipping people. In Philippians we read, “We worship God by means of his Spirit…(3:3). We have been saved by Jesus our Saviour and daily we experience the blessings of the Holy Spirit as he leads us to change the direction of our lives and assures us of the love and forgiveness of God. Spirit-filled people join with fellow Spirit-filled people of the body of Christ to give thanks and praise to the God who has done to so much for them.

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

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

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

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

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy

Living lovingly in a world of hate

Bible reading: John 17

I love you sweetheart… you are so beautiful… I can’t wait to be back with you… I’ve nearly finished the assignment here… I’ve been telling everybody how wonderful you are … It’ll be so good not to have to be parted… to hold each other… not to let go… to dance together as close as possible… I love you so much… I love you too.

It’s kind of embarrassing to walk in on a telephone conversation between lovers. That’s like what we’re doing here in John chapter 17. Jesus is speaking to his Father, whom he left to come to earth to be with us and love us and give his life for us, but now he is about to return to the Father he loves.

He speaks of the work he has completed. He speaks of the love the Father and Son share. He speaks of glorifying one another, that is doing what pleases each other, and therefore puts the other in the best light. Jesus only did what honoured his loving Father. He’s had to suffer for that. He will have to die for that. But you do that for the person you love the most. Jesus suffers and dies and shows how much God loves us all. Jesus knows his Father will honour him again in heaven.

It’s kind of embarrassing walking in on somebody praying to the God they know and love, like we see here. This prayer shows us a lot about the deeply loving relationship between Jesus and the Father. God is love, and here we see this amazing love of God as it beats eternally between the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As we see Jesus praying we see the eternal dance of love in action. Here we see the Trinity working together bringing honour to one another by reaching out to give eternal life to people.

Jesus wants us to eavesdrop on his relationship with the Father, so we can learn how to relate to one another.

Don’t be embarrassed to walk in on Jesus praying. Watch him and learn from him. Listen to him as he prays in the Garden before his death, before his resurrection and Ascension to his loving Father. Learn all you can about this unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Learn all you can about this divine love. Listen to every word Jesus speaks through his entire ministry for he says: “whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” Watch everything Jesus does for he says: “whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”

Why is it so important to listen to Jesus praying to his Father and speaking his word, and watch him doing his Father’s work? Because Jesus says the way the Father, Son and Spirit live in love and harmony is the way we are to live. His prayer for us is: “that they may be one, as we are one.” Jesus wants us to eavesdrop on his relationship with the Father, so we can learn how to relate to one another.

There are two pitfalls here. The first is that we think unity is something we have to do by trying harder to love one another, or being ecumenical. Unity is a gift God gives us when we are joined to Christ in Baptism. In baptism we are united with Christ in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. That is God’s gift of love to us. We can’t always see it, but because God gives it to us by grace in Christ, we believe it is so. “Whoever has the Son, has life.”

The second pitfall is that we think we have to maintain this unity by our own efforts – try harder to love people even though you really can’t stand them. Jesus’ prayer points us to the work of the Father for us.

Sixteen times in this chapter Jesus prays the words so that. That means he is speaking about outcomes, results he desires to see in us. Each time Jesus says what he or the Father will do so that the good results will flow into our lives. Listen to his prayer:

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

This is another way of praying that we will all know and love God so much, and be so thankful to him for all he has done for us in Jesus, that we will always go to him in prayer, and find strength to love one another, even at times when we are under attack.

The wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and they follow him, and no one can snatch them out of his hand.

As spokes of a wheel are attached to the axle, so we are attached to Jesus Christ and the Father, and through that we are kept safe and loved in a world of hatred.

All pastors of the District have attended the Ambassadors of Reconciliation conference these past weeks. There we have seen how the wolf leads to disunity in the church and breaks relationships and scatters Christians and destroys the church. We Christians are all sinners and like our first parents fall out with one another.

Where do we go when relationships break down? Too often we turn on one another in anger, and we turn to a lawyer for help … Jesus rather calls us to turn to God in prayer

Where do we go when relationships break down? Too often we turn on one another in anger, and we turn to a lawyer for help. The result most often is that relationships are severed, the people of God are hamstrung, the church of God is ridiculed by the world, and its witness to Jesus is torpedoed. Is this the way of God, revealed in Jesus’ prayer?

Jesus rather calls us to turn to God in prayer, and in the strength of God, to turn to one another in love and forgiveness. Jesus had done no sin, yet he allowed himself to be led to the cross to die for our sins, so that we might be forgiven and reconciled to God and to one another. This is the Triune love that the Spirit of God pours into our hearts, so that we love one another, live in unity, and bring glory to God. This is the truth that Jesus dedicated himself to for our sake so that we may be dedicated or sanctified in truth.

There’s a final so that. Jesus prays for his church to be united in love like God:

So that the world may believe that you have sent me… so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… As the Father has sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Can you see the pattern God has in his love for the world?

God so loved the world he sent his only Son to love the world and die for its sins on the cross, so all who believe in him will have eternal life.

Then God takes all who believe in him and are saved and united in love to go into the world and live this new life of love, in the midst of all the broken relationships and hatred and litigation and apathy… “so that world may see, and know and believe” that through Jesus Christ there is a way to be saved, and in the church there is a new community of love and forgiveness, and there is a heavenly home, where we can all be with God and see his glory forever.

Don’t be embarrassed to see and hear the Triune God at love. Let God love you into loving, “so that the world may see and know and believe, and God be glorified.” Amen.

Pastor David Christian

Ascension power

It is a terrible thing to feel powerless. It is terrible thing to feel helpless in the face of something that threatens your happiness and health.

Imagine what it must be like for those parents with children who live in countries where there is continual hostility and fighting. (East Timor springs to mind this week.) Daily parents must fear for the safety of their children. They fear that one day a stray bullet will take the life of one of their children as they are playing or going to school. How powerless and helpless they must feel! They can’t do anything to stop the fighting. They have no where else to go.

On one Friday afternoon a teenage boy was seen walking home carrying all of his school books. Those who saw him said to one another, “What a nerd! He must be going to spend all his weekend studying.” A bunch of kids ran up to him, knocked the books out of his arms and tripped him so he landed in the dirt. He got up with tears in his eyes, picked up his books and went on. It seems he had cleared out his locker at school for a reason. That night he killed himself.

For a young person to do that, he must have been feeling completely helpless and powerless to bring about any change in his life. He could see no reason to continue his existence. How terrible it is to feel useless and powerless!

There are times when we all feel helpless.
We may feel helpless in the face of illness or surgery.
We may feel powerless to change the direction our children are taking.
Or we might feel incapable of changing our lifestyle, or our habits.
Many people admit they need a power beyond their own power to solve such issues. Some turn to astrology, fate, crystals, science, “someone up there” or some universal force to find a greater power than themselves.

The characters in the Star Wars movies refer to a power that holds the universe together. Humans can tap into this universal force when the odds are against them. When faced with the seemingly hopeless task of defeating a far greater enemy, they encourage one another with, “The Force be with you”. TV series and movies explore the possibility of the existence of powers, you might say supernatural powers, that are greater than anything we know – powers that are able to help us in our everyday problems.

Why am I bringing up all of this here this morning? The answer is this – today we heard from God’s Word about a single, continuous, unbroken power. In the brokenness of our world, there is a power that is far greater than all other powers;
a power that is real;
a power that meets us at the point of our need;
a power that is dependable and consistent.

It is the power that God has shown for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see the power of God on the cross when out of love he gave up the life of his Son for our sake. God used his power to load all the sin of all humanity unto the shoulders of the One who died on a cross.
With power, God brought Jesus to life again when he raised him from the grave and then gave him all power and authority when Jesus returned to heaven.

The power that you and I possess, and even the power of the great forces that shape the world, are temporary and in comparison to God are very feeble indeed. God’s power, however, is permanent, and St Paul is at great pains to make sure we know it. He wrote this,
“He raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven.
There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers.
He rules over all beings in this world and will rule the future world as well.
God has put all things under the power of Christ,
and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything”
(Eph 1:21-22 CEV (1) ).

It is important to note that Paul emphasises God’s power in the context of prayer. The apostle is praying for the people at Ephesus. He is praying that they might receive the Holy Spirit so that they will know the hope that comes from knowing Jesus. He prays that they might know the great and mighty power of God.

And where does Paul turn to see evidence of this power? He doesn’t turn to creation to find proof of God’s power – the power of the sun and stars, of volcanoes and cyclones, of tidal waves and earthquakes, of sunset and sunrise. If you have ever seen those programs on TV that vividly describe the force of any of these, there can be no doubt that these are indeed powerful.

Neither does Paul look for evidence of God’s power in the events of human history. There we find more often than not the corruption and misuse of power to bring misery and fear into people’s lives. You only need to look at a little country like Afghanistan where the power held by the opposing military forces has brought so much fear, death and grief to the people of the country.

God’s power is based on love. Because of his love for us God used his power to “raise Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.” Christ rules there over all other powers and authorities not as a cruel, distant and unfeeling tyrant, but he rules with love. The Lordship of Jesus is total. All things have been put under his feet (control). He rules the world and the church totally and completely. And in contrast to the way humanity has abused power which has resulted in cruelty and suffering, God’s power and God’s love go hand in hand. The apostle Paul sees the greatest sign of God’s power is his love.

When the disciples saw Jesus ascend to heaven until he was hidden from their sight by a cloud, they must have suddenly felt all alone. They had experienced this kind of feeling once before when Jesus was arrested, tortured and then killed on a cross. They felt helpless and weak against the authorities who could have come at any moment and arrested them. But Jesus came alive again and all was well for a while. But now he was gone again. This time they knew that this would be for a lot longer time. But this time their reaction is quite different. This time there is no fleeing, no hiding, no grief, and no remorse. Instead we are told “they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God” (Luke 24:52,53).

Jesus was gone but they rejoiced. They knew that wherever they went and whatever they did; Jesus would be there with them. From that moment on the disciples were never beyond the reach of Jesus. Previously they could be separated from Jesus by a door or wall or a stormy lake. Now there was no barrier that could keep him from them. Now Jesus was always available and present with power to help, strengthen and comfort them when they needed it the most.

Jesus did go up, ascend and leave the disciples that day, but he left this earth so that he could be the ever and always present God. He is Lord of all and wherever we go on this earth, under the sea or out in the depths of space, he is there – he is there with power.

The power of Jesus isn’t like any power that we know on this earth.
His power redefines, changes our lives. It recreates us as his new people through the water of baptism.
His power is stronger than death – it gives eternal life.
His power forgives even our worst sins.
His power gives us new directions – daily it kills everything that is evil and corrupting in our lives and renews us as his chosen people.
His power gives us his body and blood in a piece of bread and a sip of wine.
His power gives us faith through the Word of God.

He is ready to use his power in our lives, our families, and our work places; he is ready to use his power when we are overcome with fear, worry, grief, and pain. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven he said, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). That means that Jesus not only has the power to be present in our lives as we come to terms with what is happening, but as Lord of lords and King of kings he has the power to do something about it.
When we learn that we have a serious health problem;
when we hear the news that someone close to us has died;
when we worry about money, our children, our job or lack of it;
when we are upset, hurt, guilty, angry or depressed;
when we have to make difficult decisions about the future;
we are reminded that the ascended Jesus is close by and ready to use his power.

When we pray we are praying to the one who is the “supreme Lord over all things”. We know that he has the power and the knowledge to answer our prayers in the ways that are the best for us. He is waiting to use his power on our problems. He is waiting for us to call on his name. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4.16). Because Christ rules with grace and love, we know that he doesn’t treat us the way we deserve to be treated because of our sin, but rather he understands our predicament and gives us divine help and strength.

I can say with confidence that we don’t take seriously the fact that Jesus is Lord.
If we are serious about God’s power in our lives and certain that God uses his power everyday in our lives then we would honour, love and trust him more than we do.
If people are certain about the lordship of Jesus, then this church would be packed with worshippers every Sunday.
If people are sure that Jesus rules with love in the very ordinary affairs of their lives, forgiving their sins, strengthening their faith in times of trouble, then they would respond with praise and worship.
If we seriously believe that Jesus is not some distant deity, but walks this earth with us, then our lives would be real testimonies to the lordship of Jesus as people see in us love, patience, tolerance and understanding and a firm belief that Jesus can handle anything in our lives.
If we seriously believe that we are the children of our loving Lord what an impact this would have on the church. Nothing would stand in our way of serving our Lord with whatever time and talents and money that God has made available to us.

We thank God that Jesus is more than just a powerful king – that kind of absolute power could be too scary. But Jesus is our loving Lord. He knows our weaknesses and lack of commitment to doing what God wants us to do. That’s why he died for us. He is our loving Lord who empowers us to be his people and to make a difference in the church in the world.

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy

 

The Four B Club

A congregation has a group for elderly people. It meets in the church hall every fortnight and is well attended. It was a great time of fellowship and encouraging one another. It was called the Four-B Club. A newcomer to the group asked why it was called the Four-B Club. The answer was simple: The four Bs stand for Baldness, Bifocals, Bunions, and Bulge.

Growing older is something that affects every person on this planet, from the tiniest baby to the oldest person. Some of you are a long way from being a senior member of our society, but time will go fast and next thing you too will be wondering where the years have gone. We are all heading for the Four-B Club, that’s, if we are not there already. God created time when he created day and night, the seasons and the years. God created the days and years and said that it was very good.

But this good creation of God was affected when sin came into the world through the disobedience of the first man and woman. The passing of time began to have a negative effect on God’s creation. People and all things in this world began to show the signs of age. Time has been ticking away and everything you can see and feel and touch has been getting older. The process of aging that we are all familiar with changes people, animals and plants to the point that they became weak and eventually died.

In Psalm 90 the writer compares the shortness of human life to God who is from everlasting to everlasting. He says, “Seventy years is all we have— eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone” (Psalm 90:10). Then the psalmist is quick to explain why our life is so short. It’s because of sin. Death is God’s judgement on sin and the brevity of our life has been brought about because of our rebellion against God.

The effect that time has on people is really obvious to us when we meet up with a family we haven’t seen for some time. We can hardly believe our eyes at the changes that have occurred. The children are all so grown up, the parents have aged and perhaps put on a little weight, their hair is a little greyer, or they have changed because of sickness or some other distressing time. Others say the same about us. As the saying goes, “Time doesn’t stand still for anyone”; we are all getting older.

As we journey through life there are significant moments that remind us that with age come changes in our lifestyles. We realise that a certain part of our life is gone, never to be recaptured or relived.
For instance, the day you completed your schooling may have been a day of rejoicing on the one hand, but on the other, it marked the end of a part of your life that will never be repeated.
What about the day your last child leaves home and you wonder where all the years have gone.
Or what about the day you retired realising that what you had done over so many years was now finished.
There are those defining moments when we realise that things will be different from now on. The passing of time has seen to that.

What can we do about this? Some people over the years have searched for the ‘fountain of youth’ or something similar that will wind back the clock and give them extended youthfulness. Some try to slow down the aging process with face-lifts, pills and potions that will give them a fresh face look. In our youth-oriented culture people have a fear of looking old.

The Greeks called the fear of old age ‘geraphobia’. Those who have geraphobia want to live longer and never grow old. In fact some people are highly insulted if reference is made to how old they are. To some degree we all suffer from geraphobia. We fear that one day we might end up in a nursing home, unable to feed ourselves or control our bodily functions, not able to remember anything and maybe not even recognise our family when they come to visit.

When the fear of growing old grips our hearts or we see what getting older is doing to our bodies, or we see what age is doing to those whom we love, how do we handle this? How can we see our aging in a positive way and growing older as something meaningful and acceptable?

Let me start in this way. If you visit the southern states during winter you would find that most of the trees lose their leaves and their branches are completely bare. If you didn’t know any better you would say they were dead. From the ground to the upper most branches there is not a green leaf in sight. But we know that the trees are not dead. You may not be able to see the life in the tree, but it is there, and that’s what is important. Without that life, the tree really would be only a piece of dead wood.

Our lives can be compared to the trees as they go through the seasons. As time goes on, just as the trees lose their beauty and look dead, so too it happens with us. Time marches on with us, the things we were once able to do become more difficult, events and people become memories, and as we approach the autumn of our lives we realise that a large part of our life is over.

But behind the dead looking limbs and branches there is still life, waiting to burst out in fresh, green life. We know that the resurrected Jesus has won for us eternal life with him in heaven. Time may be marching on for us now and we can’t do anything about it, and as much as we would like it to stop so that we can accomplish all that we would like to in the years we have left, we have the assurance that our dying is not the end of us, but the beginning of a glorious new spring.

We heard Jesus say to the disciples in today’s Gospel reading, “Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1,2). Jesus is reminding us that even though we will go through the autumn and winter of our lives that doesn’t mean the end. There awaits all those who believe in Jesus as the way, the truth and the life a glorious spring where there is new life and new beginnings and a new home where there will be no such things as aging, the aches and pains that aging brings, or dying.

Though the writer of Psalm 90 is well aware of how his years are passing away and that nothing can recapture the years that have passed, nevertheless he is not pessimistic about life. He is not all doom and gloom when it comes to growing old. His confidence is in God. As he says at the very beginning of the psalm: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Because God is eternal and gracious, because he will always be there and will always be our loving God, life has an enduring and lasting quality about it. The years may be passing away, but beyond this life and in spite of the grave, there is life through Jesus our Saviour.

As we wait for the day when we are called from this life to that glorious new spring, God promises, “I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4). He states that his love for us will never fail and he is always ready to help us deal with all that growing older brings. We may not know what the future may bring but we do know that his promise stands, “I made you and I will take care of you even when you are old and your hair is gray”.

You see the Bible always looks at life in the context of God’s relationship with us. This applies to every stage of life including that time when we notice the changes that aging is bringing into our lives. Even if we do end up in a nursing home with our minds and bodies failing, God’s promise still stands. We can still rely on him to be our strength and help even when we are the frailest and even when our memory fails or our speech falters. He still promises, “I will give you help and rescue you”.

One of the problems of this world is that people no longer see their lives in a relationship with God. They have broken away from God. All too often life is seen as a once only cycle. We are born, we live, we grow old, and we die. And that’s it. Once you have reached the autumn years of your life, and approaching the lifeless winter, that’s all that can be expected from life. There are many people who face the passing years with a kind of hopelessness, a sense of purposelessness and aimlessness.

But when we view our life from God’s perspective we get a whole new outlook. Jesus wants nothing but happiness for us and has gone to extreme lengths to make sure that we are happy now and forever in eternity. He assures us that he is with us always and that when the time comes for us to leave this life he wants us to be in the place where he is – that is in heaven. And as we move toward the end of our earthly life he reminds us that he is our everlasting God who provides us with help and comfort as we face all the fears and worries that growing older brings. He provides us with the reason for wanting to make the most of the time we have in this life, enjoying life, and serving and helping others in the way that only those can who have experienced the passing of the years.

Whether we are talking about getting our first job, or taking up new studies or an apprenticeship as a young worker, the responsibilities of being parents and the anxieties this brings as you watch your children grow from babies to young adults, or your own lapses of memory, failing strength, the wrinkles that worry you, your concern over your middle age spread, all are signs that we are all getting older, that we are passing from one season to the next.

One day baldness, bifocals, bunions, and bulge will become characteristic of people in your age group. When that day comes let’s greet it with a song of praise on our lips rather than moans and groans.
We have a God who is faithful to his promises and will take care of us and help us even when our hair is gray.
We thank God that he sees wrinkles and unsteady steps as something beautiful.
We praise God that the winter of our life will give way to the glorious new spring of eternity.

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy

 

Do sheep have free will?

   “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

On Good Shepherd Sunday, I ask one of the philosophical questions of the ages that have stumped many:  Do sheep have free will?  We usually understand “free” as in “free will” meaning free to do anything one wants.

Then yes, sheep seem to have free will:  on their own, they will do whatever they want and so they easily get lost, upset, terrified, wanting luscious green grass until overgrazing and the like kills them, prone to the thief and the robber. Yes, sheep, if not guided, led, called, cared for, do whatever they want and that means injury and death.

That definition of “free will”, doing whatever one wants, does not seem so free, does it?  There seems to be a wilful stubbornness on the sheep’s part to do it my way and that is not free, but bondage, bondage of the will.  Do sheep have free will?  Answer:  No.

The sheep will go off on their own.  We all like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way. Yet, the will, the heart can be set free in the sight and care of the shepherd, trusting in Him alone:  to feed, to give drink, to be cared for, to be protected from enemies, from wolves to the weather.

“And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name throughout all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24: 47) There is the voice of the shepherd. Recognize it and follow if you are a sheep.

There is only way to enter the sheepfold that is the Church:  going through the Good Shepherd.  He invites, guides and lets us in, night after night, day after day.

Sheepfolds were low stonewall enclosures which did not have wooden gates, they would probably rot too quickly exposed to the elements, but the shepherd himself was the gate, the door, as you can see on the screen.

The shepherd night after night, laid his body on the line for his charge.  He would not flee the sheep when they were attacked.  A shepherd’s voice would reassure them in the storm raging in the night.  The Good Shepherd does not flee the sheep, nor fleece them, like the hawkers of false doctrines who smile pretty and talk about your best life now, that is your own life, not the Lord’s indestructible life He gives freely to His sheep. Jesus promises the abundant life, His life, His flesh and His blood, not our flesh getting everything I ever wanted. The Good Shepherd’s hand is imprinted with the mark of the nails.  This shepherd laid down His life for the sheep, for you.

Like a sheep on a shepherd’s shoulder, you do not have to lug your sins around or pretend they do not exist or minimize their infection.  They are on the Good shepherd’s shoulders as He was nailed to the Cross. Jesus is quite clear, He is not any shepherd.  He and His Father are one, one God. He alone has carried the full brunt of the just Law of God and it’s punishment for our sake.

Jesus is saying this is what His Church is like:  a sheepfold.  Not grand and glorious is it?  People may think the magnificent church buildings of  Europe  and our nation are great to sight see, but will complain about the people who actual worship there are not a sight to see, “a bunch of hypocrites”.  Yes, that’s right, sinners, sheep. Kind of like a cop at a crime, nothing much to see here, move on…but don’t move on, taste and see the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever..

In the parable of today’s Gospel, the Lord Christ compares it [the Christian Church] to a sheep-fold. He compares the Holy Spirit to the Gate-guard, and Himself to the Door into this sheep pen, [as well as] to the Shepherd of the sheep. It is precisely for these reasons that these two items are placed side by side in the Third Article of our Christian faith, where we say: I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.

The first Christians on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit gathered them together, baptized into Christ Jesus, the Lord  showed them where to feed and be fed:  they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Anything else is junk food, a cheat.  Luke tells us they  were joyful.  Also, Jesus concludes the parable of the lost sheep, “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.”

Mothers and fathers give oversight to their children but they cannot over look them and their actions.  The price of parenting is eternal vigilance.  Getting children from point A to  point B day after day safely, with much prayer so they won’t be lost is so akin to shepherding.  Keeping them away from the enemy, Satan, who has done quite a number on a culture astray.  Sheep going astray is not some prosaic, pastoral scene, sheep going astray means only thing:  death.

Parents bringing children to the Lord’s House, His sheepfold, not keeping them away from Jesus, their Good Shepherd.  In my cynical moments, it seems that these days it is not 1 sheep who is lost, but 99, yet I do not know the ways the Lord is working, and He is working still.  With the Good Shepherd we need to rejoice in Him over one sinner who repents. There are parents in households and parents in the Church; pastors.

…the Chief Shepherd. He, in turn, has under-shepherds, which consist of all faithful teachers and preachers. In keeping with Christ’s example, they are to faithfully graze the flock, direct them to the right Door, and guide the little lambs to Christ. Those who do otherwise, says Christ, are thieves and murderers, for they take away Christ’s glory; and they kill the souls of men through false doctrine, just as death devours little lambs in a poisoned pasture. (Pr. Johann Gerhard)

The voice of the Shepherd is peace for it is the Word of our forgiveness and peace.

My sheep here My voice He says, and I know them and they follow Me, and I give them eternal Life. Just as Christ  teachings are a complete rule of faith, so also is His life a clear, complete mirror for every good work. Learn from Me, He says in Matt, 11-29, as if to say: You have enough to learn about My love, about My patience, My humility, meekness, friendliness to do you for the rest of your lives. As a result, you will well forget about the commandments of men with which you serve God fruitlessly and in vain, Matt. 15:9. 0 God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, highly praised in all eternity: Give us all such an obedient, willing heart for following the voice of Christ in doctrine and life. (Pr. Johann Gerhard)

The Good Shepherd has the wounds of the Cross and His sheep have wounds, but He has branded His sheep with His Cross, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Mark Schroeder

The Journey



Luke 24:13-35

Maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t read a novel in about 20 years, but for some reason I love the way the narrative unfolds in today’s Gospel reading, the story of a journey takes us on a journey, it has changing moods, elements of surprise and even some irony.  As you read it draws you through from start to finish, it builds expectation, partly because we know the story, but also by the way the story is structured.

Here we have two men walking the seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  They’ve headed out following the events of Easter; they’re sad, depressed, they have the events of the last three days playing on their minds as they walk along and discuss them.  They’d hope that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but then he had been put to death by the very people who should have been supporting him.  Its three days since Jesus died and they’ve heard stories from some women that Jesus’ body was gone and that some angels had appeared and told them Jesus was alive.  Then to make things all the more troubling, some of their mates had gone to have a look and found the tomb was indeed empty but they hadn’t seen Jesus either.

Then this guy comes along and he obviously hasn’t been paying attention if he’s been in Jerusalem and hasn’t worked out what has been going on.  As an audience who already know the story we can see the humour in the situation, even the irony.  Here is Jesus standing right there with them, not only does he know what had happened in Jerusalem, but he was right at the centre of the activity.  If it was a pantomime we’d all be shouting to them, “It’s him, it’s Jesus that’s talking to you.”  Or “It’s him right in front of you”.  But alas they don’t work it out.  We’re told that their eyes were kept from recognising him.  We don’t know whether that is simple lack of understanding or perhaps divine intervention, but like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, they didn’t recognise who it was.  Well not at first anyway.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Jesus calls them foolish and slow of heart because they don’t believe all that the prophets had said.  Then he sets about telling them all about the things that mentioned him, form the book of Moses (Genesis) right through the Old Testament.  It may have taken a while to finish that trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus, because there are lots of references that would have needed to be covered.  Still they didn’t recognise him, even when they were nearing the village and Jesus went to continue on ahead of them.  They were polite though and invited Jesus to come and stay with them, it’s not like there were lots of hotels there for him to book into after all.

So this stranger stayed with them.  Now we get to the good bit of the story, the bit we are hoping for even though we know it’s going to happen.  He took bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them, does that formula sound familiar, have you heard it somewhere else in the last couple of weeks?  At last their eyes are opened and they recognise him, but hang on there’s a bit of a surprise here, Jesus disappears from their sight.  Finally they work out who it is and ‘pfft’ he’s gone, vanished, disappeared.

But they still seem excited, they realised that as Jesus was pointing out the realities of the scriptures to them, their hearts were burning, they were understanding that Jesus really was the Messiah that God the Father had promised and now they had seen him too.

Straight away they get up and head back to Jerusalem and find the disciples, and their experiences agreed, The Lord has risen indeed!  Then they told the disciples that Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.

They’d made the journey from sadness and confusion to excitement and understanding, they didn’t need to search for answers anymore, Jesus had explained to them and then they had finally recognised him and understood.  It’s a journey many of us have taken throughout our lives, perhaps often, perhaps all in one day or maybe even faster, depending on our personalities.

It’s a similar journey to the one we take each Easter, depending on our situation and ability to attend some or all of the services from Maundy Thursday through Good Friday and the Easter Sunday.  We start with the celebration of the institution of the Lord’s Supper and then hear of betrayal and end the service with the stripping of the altar.  Our Good Friday services are usually somewhat reflective and even sad or confronting, but there’s still a looking forward to the events of Sunday.  Then we have the rejoicing and hallelujahs of our Sunday celebrations and Christ is risen.

In some ways our service each week follows a journey like that, we often begin with a song of praise, followed by confessing our sins, our failings as people of God, we get a lift when we hear the absolution and the readings.  We hear God’s word read directly and then proclaimed in some way during children’s addresses and sermons.  Then we again give thanks and break bread and pour out the wine, the body and blood of Christ as we rejoice with the whole church on earth and all angels and archangels as we share in the communion meal, still hosted by our Lord and Saviour Jesus, who comes to us in this meal.

We are then ready to leave, prepared for the week ahead, to go out like the two men who were with Jesus on the day of his resurrection on the road to Emmaus.  Just as they ran off back to Jerusalem to tell others about what they had seen, we should do the same.  We’ve got exciting news, we shouldn’t be depressed about it, and there’s no need to be shy either, Christ has risen from the dead, and in his victory over death we’ve had a victory as well.  We share in that victory, because in his death he has fulfilled the Scriptures.  The old covenant has been completed and we now live in the new covenant in his blood, shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.

So don’t be sad or depressed about your faith, rejoice in it.  Don’t stay away because you feel unworthy, come, come to the waters and drink, come you who are thirsty, as we sang in the hymn earlier at Lilydale.  “Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that though bidd’st me come to thee, O lamb of God I come.”  We bring nothing but what God has first given us, we are only worthy because his blood was shed for us, and he is calling us to come and receive what the Lamb of God has won for us and given to us, forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

So enjoy your journey, yes it will have its ups and downs, but know that Christ is with you always and he reveals himself to us too, in the breaking of bread and in his Word.
Amen.

Pastor Tim Stringer