Author: admin

 

 

“Gifted to gift”

Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-11

For the past two weeks we have been talking about priorities. Firstly were Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened to him instead of busying herself with other good, but less important things. Then with prayer were God invites us to ask him for our needs, and though we may not receive things exactly as we ask, we will receive according to His desire to give us what is good for us and others in His will that we remain in, and others join us in His eternal kingdom.

Today we have the trifecta as Jesus brings up the topic of money and earthly possessions and as with how Jesus lessons to Martha and Mary and with how prayer played out, we see that earthly riches are not wrong in themselves but need to be kept in check as we are told to “Set our minds on things above, and not on earthly things”.

In 1978 Dr. Ron Sider wrote a much loved and sometimes despised book concerning the rich Christians, churches and governments of western nations and I suppose in summary you could say part of the book covered his view of the token effort in sacrificial giving to the poor and needy of the world. He made some very good points; as did a supporter of his book who went on to add this:

“Is it just Western Christians that are neglecting the poor today? No. I live in the Philippines which doesn’t have a very large percentage of Christians, but the population is probably 5 to 10 percent Christian. Even though these Christians live in the midst of poverty- it is my estimation that believers here are just as lackadaisical about caring for the poor as Western Christians are. This goes to show that the problem does not lie in wealth. Wealth is not evil. The problem lies in a lack of solid Bible teaching and a lack of compassion that comes from spiritual immaturity. Do you want to be a charitable Christian that models compassion and generosity? It won’t start with your checkbook, but it will start in your relationship with God that can only develop through the Word of God.”

It won’t start with your checkbook, but it will start in your relationship with God. Very perceptive because if we turn to the Bible we can see that many of God’s key people were in fact wealthy.

In Genesis Abraham was said to be “very rich in livestock, silver and gold”. Similar, Isaac we are told like his father “became a rich man and his wealth continued to grow”, and in 2nd Chronicles we are told that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah was a good king who did not worship the images of Baal and obeyed the commands of the Lord. And that the Lord blessed him and all the people loved and respected him so much that they brought him gifts. In fact they gave him so much that he became very rich.

Very rich people, yet God’s people just like the many, many of God’s people in the scriptures of very meagre earthly wealth. As that person I quoted eluded to: the poor can idol worship possessions as much as the wealthiest person and the wealthiest person can worship God as much as the poorest as best said from 1st Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Note it’s not as many misquote as simply money being the problem, but the love of money that leads to what comes next in the verse: “(for) some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s”.

There’s the issue. Forget just money and possessions but add in status, a good reputation, sport, addictions and whatever else that gets you through the night-if it takes your eyes of Christ or gets in the way of your relationship with God it has become your idol and that’s the danger for as George Lorimer a well-known publicist wrote: “It’s good to have money and the things money can buy. (But) it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven’t lost the things money can’t buy”.

Well said, but understated as in living in our society of we, myself, I and its consumerism we must not just occasionally, but be diligent and vigilant in ensuring that our gifts and possessions don’t come to possess us rather than the giver and bringers of all things good: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Rich or poor, CEO or bottom of the rung and whether we do this or that is not the issue as it comes back to our relationship with God and His word, and that can look differently through different people.

Near being ordained my vicar father asked me if I would be wearing a clerical collar in ministry. After I said, and naively in a way that I wouldn’t be because of connotations of status he went on to say that he didn’t think I would but then added: “When I left the Sem. I didn’t wear one because of the same rationale as you. But my friend did occasionally and in later years he said that he always wore it because over that time after having been abused and spat on when he wore it publicly-he saw it as a lack of courage and trust in the Lord should he relinquish its use”.

Two different perceptions, but neither right nor wrong because both done not for themselves but in their personal relationship with God.

Our relationship with God that Paul talks of in today’s epistle where he says to “Set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on earth”. Here Paul is not despising the things of the earth but emphasising that this fallen world should not be our focus in our relationship with God through Christ. Verse 4: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. That eternal life which we now possess through baptism will be fully experienced in heaven and that through Christ we are participants in God’s glory no wonder Paul exhorts us to put off our old self of sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire and covertness, which is idolatry. And no wonder he says in the verse that follows todays reading to put on as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience and bearing with one another.

So how are you going with that? If you’re like me you may say not so well because this side of heaven we are and always will be works in progress. Yet when we came to faith, even if we didn’t know realise it, but because of his blood and the healing through his sacrifice our lives have been changed, as through His will Jesus has come to us that we might have a new better and fuller life. Because of Jesus substitution of his death for ours God brushes aside our old nature and recycles us into something usable and new in a way. No longer do we need to wonder in the dark-stumbling, groping and unsure because Jesus has brightened the path of our lives, and because of him we are restored. Our journey in Christ that is given imagery to in this story I read:

“A number of years ago the world watched three grey whales icebound off Alaska. They took turns coming up and grasping for breath at a small, lonely hole in the ice. The only way they could survive was to get to open sea five miles away. A seemingly impossible journey. But volunteers took chain saws and began cutting a line of breathing holes through the six inch ice and for eight days they encouraged the whales from one hole to the next. One of the whales died, but the other two lived when a Russian icebreaker arrived and finished opening a path to the sea.

Did the whales understand that when the chain saws started to rip into the ice that they were saved? When they heard the sound of the ice breakers propellers, did they know they would soon be free? Did they understand through it all that their rescuers had a master plan which would lead them to safety? We assume no to these questions and that all they could do through it all was to take one day at a time, going from one opening to the next, trusting that someone would help them”.

Great imagery of our journey with Christ, but even more so of his with us, as that is what it means to be alive in a living Lord. We cannot understand God’s plan, but as living Christians, renewed and empowered by the Spirit, we can trust him and we can follow him and the path that he gives us.

Six years ago I was giving a devotion at a school to some grade six students about serving God in our lives. And at the end, a boy who I had heard spoken of by a leading identity as an AFL football player of the future put up his hand and asked some questions. And it became apparent to me that he was thinking that to serve God he might “have to run off to the ministry” or something.

That was not what I meant so we talked of how he can serve God in his life, maybe even as an elite sportsperson should that come to fruition. And that this week I read that he is being tipped to go in the top ten, maybe as even as low as the first picked in next year’s draft, should he trust in and openly process to his faith in Christ while in the national spotlight what a great witness to God he will be. And should he be drafted to Port Adelaide Power, I know my work will have been done (only joking).

But one day the stadiums will be empty for him as they will be for us, and we will see that there is only Christ who remains, and as Rich, poor, CEO, elite footballer or not, as in today’s epistle we are to put of the old self and put on the new self for now “There is not Greek nor Jew, uncircumcised nor circumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free; but Christ is all, and in all”.

We are to put on as God’s chosen ones the virtues: of compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Yet these are not chores or ours to accomplish, but are gifts provided by God to live in our lives.

For in Christ alone through faith have we been saved, and saved in faith he has told us:

From 1st Peter 4:10 that “as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

And that from John 9:4, after the disciples asked Jesus whether the man before them with a physical impairment was caused by his sin were told, no “it was not that this man sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (and) We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; (for) night is coming when no one can work”.

On our journeys of sadness and our journeys of happiness, whether they be of much or of little earthly reward is of no consequence because we are all saved in Christ alone. All as one, yet all with different gifts from God, given to us not to accomplish for ourselves, but for him in the knowledge that through Christ we are participants in God’s glory here on this earth as we offer ourselves and our lives to him to use as he wishes. To keep our minds set on things that are above allows us not to serve the things of our world, but to serve his people. For as you are: rich or poor, CEO or not, God has given you the gift of Christ, and in your lives rich or poor, CEO or not, God has given you as a gift to the world, and to God be the glory. Amen.

 

 

Luke 11:1-13

When last Christmas I gave Cathy a handbag made by the designer label Guess, it reminded me of a quote attributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger who mentioned that “I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt with Guess on it. So I said (asking quizzingly) thyroid problem?”

A stumbling block in prayer life can be that we know that God the Father doesn’t need to guess how we feel or what we need because he already knows it, and in using the words of Martin Luther “I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide” we may agree and add, so why pray?

Likewise, have you ever wondered how unusual it was that in the Garden of Eden with its grand population of two, that after their fall to sin and while hiding among the trees that the all-powerful and all-knowing God the Fathers actions as recorded in Genesis 3:9 are: “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”.

A strange question asked by God and a logical question of prayer we may ask. A question from the all-knowing and a question from the un-knowing that are answered for us only in the revelation of Christ who has taken us from hiding in the bushes alongside Adam in sin, to standing before the Father in his righteousness. The revelation of Christ that has torn the curtain of the temple in two that now we talk to the Father not through fellow sinners, but through Christ himself.

To deny or doubt prayer is to doubt the Holy Scriptures and the redemptive powers of Christ himself. His redemptive powers born to us through his cross and resurrection that we be baptised into his family and have access to the Father himself who Jesus has told us today will hear our prayers and that they will not be in vain.

Access to the Father. Whether under a gum tree in central Australia or in a Cathedral in Rome. Whether on death row about to receive worldly justice or the Bishop holding court to the audience of a thousand, prayers are said and prayers are heard by the Lord himself. Through Christ’s atoning work on the cross he has fixed the fracture between sinners and God that we now have the privilege to complain, to beg, to ask and to thank the Lord himself as though he stands before in His compassionate, knowing and loving presence and with His welcoming hands out asking we draw near. Prayer is a great privilege and when in prayer we are souring in rare air indeed.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

The Words of our Lord and Saviour himself and under the premise that we either believe him fully or not at all-his words here on prayer must be so.

So what of seemingly unanswered prayer?

I believe the answer was supplied to me from one of our own here today who commented that the Lords response to prayer is either yes, or yes but not yet, or no-because I have something much better in mind.

No because I have something better in mind. Wise words because could it be that the problem may not be us asking for an egg and getting a scorpion, but that unknowingly we are actuallyasking for the scorpion in the first place.

Is it wrong to ask for this and that? I don’t think so. I don’t think God will take offence that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a new shiny red Lotus that goes zero to one hundred in 4.6 seconds with a top speed of 233 KM per hour. Would he mind if I had one, probably not but he might mind that should I get one, more than likely my last few demerit points might vanish along with my ability to travel in a parish that calls for travel.

As with Martha and Mary last week, prayer is about priorities-the Lord’s priorities that through the struggle of seemingly unanswered prayer become our own like seen by Paul that though his repeated prayer that the “thorn in his side may be taken away” was declined, was given so much more in hearing the confirming words of the Saviour that “My grace is sufficient for thee”. For as Christ prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane that the cup of the cross might pass from him if it were his Father’s will, the cross became his lot and his glorious resurrection turned it all into the greatest of triumphs. So too today may a Christian have such a huge problem that they may keep knocking in prayer on God’s door until their knuckles are raw knowing that he will answer in his time and in his incomparable way, and far from asking for an egg and getting a scorpion, and though we may unknowingly ask for a scorpion, He will provide the egg all the same for we know that if God is for us, then who can succeed against us as neither hardship or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword, nor death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A hymn says it well, that: “Although we tarry long, He never comes too late” and Martin Luther, a man of deep prayer testified that:

“All who call upon God earnestly and in true faith will surely be heard and receive according to their petition; though perhaps not at the very hour and time, nor in the measure of their petition, nor exactly what they pray for, yet they will receive something much better, greater, and more glorious.”

Yes, God loves us too much to give us everything at the snap of our fingers because great character grows out of great wrestling in prayer, as we persistently and sometimes agonisingly shape our prayers towards His will.

In Genesis Abraham struggled with God in repeated requests that the city of Sodom might be spared from destruction and Jacob even with an angel of God. Tough times but in their struggles both Abraham and Jacob came to know God better and this is the supreme answer to prayer-fellowship with God.

Yet ironically, the by-product of prayer is greater than his answer to our petition as ultimately that closer life with God minimises the problem, as in His peace and strength we can handle it more with and under His grace.

So Lord, you can still throw that my red Lotus my way if you wish, but if not I’ll go with it for like the thief on the cross, I see that worldly things as such are of no consequence. That like the thief on the cross we see that the miracle is not that you forgive us of our sins, but the miracle that we came to ask you for what you so wanted to give.

Recently I saw a “Far side” carton in the paper that tickled my fancy where a horse is sitting in a chair with his mouth wide open, and the dentist while looking the other way says “before we start, I firstly need to know if you’re a gift horse”.

God, seem through Him giving us his one and only Son, gives us no such need to doubt is Words.

So Lord, though your ways can confuse us we know that your gifts are free, eternal and that you hold steadfast to them. You have told us, that “when we pray and ask for something, that we are to believe that we have received it, and in that-we will be given for whatever we ask”. So we bring before you now in silent prayer those things on our hearts and minds trusting boldly, that whether it be in our time or your time, or should you answer in the ways of our fractured wisdom or your perfect wisdom- we know that it shall be done for us according to your good and perfect will. Let us pray.

Personal prayer

Amen. It is so.

 

“Retail Christianity”

Luke 10: 38-42

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” One sentence of 21 words that defines the love of God the Father and the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A string of words that once understood, describe the most wonderful truth that any person on this earth will ever hear. The glorious truth of Christ being raised from the dead, that we too will be raised on our last day. The truth that when it comes is like a glorious sunrise. A new day and a new start.

Yet the majesty of that morning comes at a price. The price that the Father and Jesus suffered in the darkness of our sins as Jesus was ridiculed, beaten and hung on the cross, that the Son may rise for us. And the price, hurt and agony of the lostness in our lives that we had to feel and suffer to see the truth of our Saviour and understand those words of John 3:16 for ourselves.

The words and truth of the Gospel in a nutshell that we’ve somehow come to understand-and as we should, we thank the Lord in worship and in our lives in response to what he has done for us. The Gospel we know, and the Gospel we come to further understand from today’s account of Jesus meeting with Martha and Mary. A story that seems so simple that one may have wondered why it even gets a mention. Yet ironically I would suggest a story that maybe as much a challenge to us and the Churches as maybe any in the bible. A story of hearing him first without first screening his words with our own prejudices or what we think needs to be done.

Jesus the Lord himself and others visit the household of Martha, Mary and Lazarus-and all I see is Martha busy preparing meals of thanks and Mary doing nothing. For me, I once saw Martha’s response as right and Mary’s as not so, and yet who does Jesus see as acting the most appropriate-Mary. And in that, we see the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Gospel that asks nothing other than we listen to him and hear him alone and know the truth, and to trust in it. The Gospel that is so foreign to the humanity of Christians and Churches of all denominations that it makes us easy targets for the powers of darkness who wish to misconstrue the truth of Christ. To make us raise our arms in celebration and sing of our great faith and our love for him. Of how we will climb mountains for him. Of what we will do. Of we, we, we to make us believe that worship is all about thanking and serving the Lord instead of the main truth, that it’s about coming to receive his gifts: of hearing His sacred Word, Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the alter.

The story of Martha and Mary is a story about getting things in the right order in our lives and a story about getting things right about Christ, and both those things are explained clearly to us in last week’s Gospel where Jesus appointed the seventy-two workers to go into the community in outreach and upon returning they are full of joy saying ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name’. And Jesus response, (yes), I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven”.

Similar Paul says “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’”. Getting things in the right order is Christ first, during and at the end of our lives. We know that and the Churches know that, because that is the Gospel of the Lord that we read in the bible, the Word of God. Saved in the faith which we played no part in gaining, saved in faith in Jesus Christ alone is the Launchpad for everything we do in our lives and that’s why we must hear it over and over. Like Mary we must sit at the feet of Christ before we busy ourselves, because without Christ as our only compass we will get lost amongst the distractions of the world in which Daniel talks of in “the last days”: “For many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”. This knowledge is not God Knowledge, but worldly knowledge and worldly learning. It is knowledge that is not based on the Word and wisdom of God but on our words and wisdoms.

Our words and wisdoms that not only are no help in knowing God’s will, but more than likely will lead us away from His will. Look at us today and what we can do in space travel and medicine. These things are amazing and the brain matter to bring these into play is a gift from God. We’ve been given the ability by God to be able to cure and extend peoples worldly lives in ways that were not long ago unfathomable, yet the world seems to be advocating that it’s also right and good if we choose these gifts to enable responsible death. It wasn’t long ago we looked on in wonder as we made it to the moon. But now there are “war” satellites and the cry of finding another planet to rape and pillage for its resources or even habitat instead of simply following God’s ways and living within our means here.

We live in a world where we take responsibility and boast of our triumphs yet blame or sue someone else for our failures. In living in God’s world and listening to ourselves and not him we see that we are still living in the Garden with the fallen Adam and Eve and with the builders constructing the tower of Babylon. We of the world are drug addicts intoxicated with me, myself I and unless we acknowledge our illness and turn back towards God and listen to Him we will continue to run to and fro looking for that unobtainable fulfilment in possessions, self-righteousness through works and retail Christianity. To turn back to God and sit at His feet alongside Mary and hear His Word and not ours or the worlds. To serve the creator and not the created is not part of the remedy to our addiction, it’s the only and full remedy for like a women can’t be half pregnant nor a person be half alcoholic-a person cannot half trust God.

We the Church live in the world under God’s word and not that of our own. We are either not saved in Christ alone or we are. God’s ways are either all wrong or all correct and we either fully trust him or we don’t, and unbelievably, our all-powerful God gives us the option to deny him. To deny him and believe we can partly save ourselves. To deny Him and only take those of His words that society and we want to hear into our lives is to suffer in this world by having to “win”, to live running anxiously to and fro. looking for answers but finding none that last, living with regrets and unanswered pain, and living with that emptiness that our ways cannot fill. Or we can heed His Word and His way of our salvation in faith in Jesus Christ alone. His Word and His way that allows us to respond to the world in our daily lives as those who rejoice that their names have been written in heaven. To rejoice in not having to do things for our Lord, but boast in Him when we do. To rejoice that given forgiveness,we can forgive others, and boast in him when we do. To rejoice that we can truly live each day under his grace, and boast in him when we do. To rejoice when like Mary we see his ways are the only ways and not those of the world. To rejoice when we see the need to sit at his feet alone. And to boast of him, when he alone teaches us how to stand. Amen.

 

“Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave”

Luke 10: 25-37

For some reason on Wednesday morning I woke up thinking how odd and different it is in today’s society that we still call washing machines, washing machines (or at least I still do). Sought of like if we had stuck with calling aeroplanes “flying machines” like the wright brothers back in 1903. Or instead of being the world champion boxer, maybe the world champion puncher.

Some times it’s good to just strip things back to core truths just as Jesus does in his dialogue with the lawyer in the story of the Good Samaritan. The lawyer who is well versed in the law of God yet he feels the need to justify himself as in his heart of hearts he seems to realise the impossibility of fulfilling the commandments that he has just cited, of: “Loving the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself”. So he seeks to limit God’s uncompromising demands diverting the discussion by asking “who is my neighbour”. A question designed to lead to argument about who is and who isn’t and criteria to be established and guidelines written. A ploy like we hear so often today to take the focus away from what we should do, to why we won’t do it.

Jesus will have no part of it and uses the Good Samaritan story to turn the question around and makes no attempt to decide whether the victim was properly a geographical neighbour. Rather he asks the lawyer which of the three men was neighbour to the beaten and robbed traveller to expose what the true meaning of love thy neighbour is-that the issue at hand is neighbourly love rather than the identification of who are the neighbours.

Neighbourly love that for us is basically actions and not necessarily based on our feelings. Yes the Good Samaritan is said to have felt compassion for the wounded traveller and acted with kindness and mercy. The kindness and mercy that for all we know the two that passed may have felt but did not act on-be it that they were late and were rushing to get to the synagogue where they were expected to play a part of, or that, and understandably they looked the other way in fear wondering if the robbers were still around in this notably dangerous road well known for travellers being ambushed. And seen through those eyes it’s hard to throw stones at the two that passed by when we think of the times we have all felt the same fear in our own cars when passing a hitch hiker as night is about to fall upon them. Never mind that if we link it up even closer to the Good Samaritan story, that the hurt man is a Jew, this would be like now in our time, an Israelite putting it all on the line for an Arab, or vice versa, on a dangerous section of the border between their two countries.

As always, upon a first reading it’s easy to have a crack at the Pharisees and the like in Jesus parables and stories, until we put his words into our own lives and see our own greed, selfishness and lack of courage. Never mind that Jesus has told us to act in love like the good Samaritan to our enemies and to those we find hard too like.

So what price do place on our Christian integrity? Is it fear of persecution and retribution or unfortunately, even much, much less.

Walking home with a friend of mine at about 1 am in a large regional town after a birthday party I noticed a young man trying to push his broken down car from the middle of an intersection and after my urging my friend helped me start to push the car out the way. And push and make progress we did, until I heard the guy we were helping, for some reason start abusing us. So that was it, stuff you I thought, stopped pushing, grabbed my friend and walked around to the front of his car and pushed it back to where we’d started from.

Fortunately this was before my saintly ways of today (joking).

Would I do that again? I would certainly hope not but the point is that if we act on how we see fairness or what someone’s “just deserts” are instead of how Christ sees things, even if trying to do the right thing our “stuff” ultimately gets in the way.

So which of the characters are you in the story. The one’s that walked the other way or the Good Samaritan that really did put it all on the line. That you are neither may surprise. Yes we are all probably a bit of both at times-but the one we were and are is the wounded traveller.

There we lie, ambushed by our own and others sin bleeding in the gutter unable to help ourselves. Nowhere to go and on the verb of our death Christ came and lifted us up. Carries us before His Father and asks that we be restored at the price of his own life.

The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of Christ. Christ who didn’t act according to his own consequences but according to ours-that only in his actions can we be saved.

A man asked Jesus a question regarding his understanding of the ways of God and of salvation and was told of the ways of Christ. The ways of Christ that once understood allowed Jesus to say “you go and do likewise”.

The question of God, ourselves and others, that should in our confusion we too are led to ask of, he answers with a clarity that cannot be misunderstood or manipulated:

Romans Chapter 10, beginning verse 9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says ‘Éveryone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew or Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’”.

Though undeserved, the Lord has come to us and provided for us physically and spiritually. Come and lifted us up in body and soul that we have the faith to call on his name and be saved.

Pray that we to have heard his call to “go and do likewise”. To see our neighbours without distinction, and “to love them as he has loved us”, that they too will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Amen.

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Ian Molly Meldrum remarked that when he met Elvis Presley, his presence in the room was overwhelming and you could feel “that thing” or “that feeling” that you cannot describe, and I’ve read of similar reports from people meeting Bill Clinton.

Yet on several occasions I’ve heard a well-respected sports writer and commentator note that often when meeting notable athletes for the first time, that he initially felt let down by their normalness, or even seemingly inadequacies. Supermen and women in their fields of brilliance, yet out of them were no different from the rest of us.

Be it initially being inspired or let down when meeting people, ultimately we are either confronted or comforted by their normalness. Like we as Christians are confronted by our all-powerful God the Father and his law. Yet comforted by His normalness. His self-imposed normalness seen through Jesus Christ who purposely goes beneath himself, belittles himself to walk and talk with us. To walk amongst sinners. To walk amongst the flawed. To walk amongst the unintended normalness of our sin to bring us his gospel.

When Jesus came on the scene his ways and teachings made no sense to most of those of the day waiting for a warrior type of saviour. Just as today his simple and unpretentious ways are so difficult to understand that many have sought refuge in the seemingly more spectacular. Crystals, contacting spirits, public healings or the necessity of speaking in tongues and so forth. Things seemingly spectacular yet flawed. Things seemingly bringing meaning to those searching, yet just adding to the uncertainty. Things bought into to find peace, yet just bringing empty noise and confusion.

Confusion because they are our ways and not those of the Lord. Our ways that would see us earn our salvation through good works and self-righteousness. Or our ways that would see us beyond salvation through our sin, wrong ways and wasted lives. Two views at opposite ends of the spectrum yet that both join together in their errors and foolishness of how we would do it, or think it should be up and against the truth of Jesus Christ and what he has done.

His truth and peace which Philippians 4:7 tells us “is beyond our human understanding”.

His truths and peace which come differently to how we may imagine, yet come all the same like seen through Naaman’s experience in the reading from 2nd Kings.

Naaman was a national hero, the commander of a successful army. As a fighting man he was admired for his strength and power, and feared by his opponents. But he had been laid low by the skin disease leprosy. Naaman is now a picture of pity. He’ll try anything to get better, but every known cure he tries fails. What a blow to such a mighty man. He is now weak and helpless.

In contrast there is a slave girl who was captured in a war raid on Israel. She works as a maid for Naaman’s wife. This unknown slave from Israel shares her faith in God’s power. She announces that her God could heal Naaman through the prophet Elisha, who lived in her home land of Samaria. It is the simple faith and witness of this girl that changes everything that follows.

Naaman’s wife tells her husband about Elisha the prophet. Naaman is so desperate to be cured he tells the King about this foreign prophet who lives in the land of their enemies. The King sends Naaman off to the King of Israel, loaded with treasures. It shows us the value the King placed on Naaman. The King was rich and would give any amount of gold to have Naaman strong and healthy again. The future of his kingdom depends on Naaman leading the army.

Naaman passes on a letter from his own king to the King of Israel, an old enemy! It read, “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” When he reads the letter the King gets upset. He smells treachery and fear some sort of trap. We read in verse 7:

‘When the King of Israel read it, he tore his clothes in dismay and said: “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can kill or give life? He is only trying to find an excuse to invade us again.”’

Here is a king who knows his limitations and doesn’t like to pretend he is a god, in an age when many kings claimed to be gods. ‘Am I God, that I can kill and give life?’ he asks. Kings had great power. Kings could sentence a person to death. It was accepted as part of the power of a ruler. But only God could give life to a person condemned to die by contracting an incurable disease.

This King can see himself being set up for something treacherous. How delighted and thrilled he must have been to receive a letter from Elisha, the prophet, with the offer to take on the job himself! Elisha writes: ‘Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.’ Elisha will save the nation’s pride! Then we read, ‘So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited outside the door of Elisha’s house.’

This foreign commander, a great hero in his day, waits to see what the great prophet of God can do! And Naaman is ready to pay a fortune to experience it. Something great is about to happen. He will see God at work.

Elisha sends out a mere servant with a message telling Naaman what to do: just a servant and not Elisha the great prophet himself! We read in verse 10:

‘But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of leprosy.”’

It is like arranging an appointment to see the top specialist in Australia, and when one gets there the specialist doesn’t even come out to see you, but sends a mere messenger out to tell you to go and wash in a river seven times. Naaman is furious. He is deeply disappointed and feels insulted. Naaman feels he has come all this way for nothing, except to being insulted by Elisha sending out a messenger, when he expected to see God’s awesome power at work in a great prophet.

‘So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.’

Thankfully some officers talk some sense into him and suggest, ‘Sir, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured.’

Verse 14 simply says, ‘So Naaman went down to the Rive Jordan and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his flesh became as healthy as a young child’s, and he was healed.’and Naaman goes back to his home country and worships the living God there.

The Lord might have come differently to how Naaman imagined and “beyond his human understanding”, but he did come and it is a great story to open our eyes to see that even though we may look for peace and salvation in this or that or over there, he still comes to us today in Word and Sacrament to heal us of our affliction of sin by taking the wages of our sin on himself. To be raised on a cross in our sin, that we be resurrected with him in his Holy righteousness. A great story to see how God can work in our lives but an even better story of the Gospel. Naaman, a powerful and respected man yet from the wrong side of the tracks from God’s people the Israelites. Yet through a slave girl that whether directly or indirectly he was responsible for incarcerating tells him of the Lord and with nowhere else to go and with no other options gives it a crack. Through my eyes, hardly the resume of someone deserving the Lord, but thankfully for all the Naamans of this world, for me and you-the Lord sees things differently to how we may.

At the beginning of this message I spoke of people with great gifts, yet underneath it inadequate and failed. Seemingly conflicted but in reality just normal people like you and me. Normal people like you and me condemned by the law of God, yet acquitted by His Gospel in Jesus Christ who came and continues to come amongst that confliction to bring the peace of God that surpasses our understanding.

The confliction of the truth we know of ourselves against the truth of Christ in our lives is our daily walk. A walk that Johnny Cash knew well. A man that broke most of the rules. Yet a man that when at his lowest came to know a loving and forgiving Christ through his suffering friend and wife to be June Carter.

A man brought the truth of God through Christ, yet shown to him through the unspectacular and to a lesser or greater extent that is also our walk. A walk written off by Johnny’s good friend Waylon Jennings:

“I’ve spent a lifetime looking for you

Single bars and good time lovers, never true

Playing a fools game, hoping to win

Telling those sweet lies and losing again.

I was looking for love in all the wrong places

Looking for love in too many faces

Searching your eyes, looking for traces

Of what.. I’m dreaming of…

Hoping’ to find a friend and a lover

God bless the day I discover

Another heart, looking’ for love

When I was alone then, no love in sight

And I did everything I could to get me through the night

Don’t know where it started or where it might end

I turn to a stranger, just like a friend

You came a ‘knocking at my heart’s door..

You’re everything I’ve been looking for..

Now that I found a friend and a lover

God bless the day I discover(ed)

You, you, looking’ for love”.

And there we see the truth. We may look for peace on the mountain top or through the bottom of a glass. We may look for meaning in what we do or in the earthly treasures we can accumulate and we may even look for salvation in our actions and our steadfastness to our Saviour. Yet while “we were looking for love in all the wrong places”, you came amongst them looking for us, and God bless the day we heard you say to us:

“In all your affliction I was afflicted. In my love and in my pity I have redeemed you…and carried you all the days of the past. I the Lord hold your right hand saying do not fear for I help you. So be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid for I the Lord your God go with you and I will not fail you nor forsake you. I have given you a measure of faith, and your faith should not stand in the wisdom of yourself, but in the power of God. For I did not come to condemn you but to save you and whoever calls upon me shall be saved.”

May the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

 

Text: Luke 9:57-57

As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.” He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But that man said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.” Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” Someone else said, “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.” Jesus said to him, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”

At the crossroads.

I have read that an athlete has a training schedule of 20 hours a week in the pool and 3 hours a week in the gymnasium. That is his minimum amount of training per week. For one to have any chance against the world’s best one needs to have one focus, to make sacrifices, record there priorities and be single-minded, determined and committed to being the best in the world. Without that determination and perseverance they would soon tire of the routine and there ability to be the best would soon fade.

This is the extent to which people are prepared to go in pursuit of the glory of winning a contest of human strength and agility. It’s tough trying to be the best in the world – but if you want an Olympic medal then that’s the way it has to be.

Today gospel reading is also tough. In a nutshell Jesus is saying that if you want to be a disciple, if you want to respond to Jesus call to “follow” then be ready for some tough decisions and demanding actions.

A man comes up to Jesus and says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” That’s quite a promise. No matter where Jesus went he was prepared to be there right beside him. The answer that Jesus gave must have flawed not only the enthusiastic man but also those who had been quite impressed with this man eagerness to be a follower. Jesus throws a wet blanket on the enthusiasm of that first would-be disciple when he says: “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.” And that is right, we never hear of Jesus being “at home” during his ministry, or “going home” after a heavy day of miracles and teaching. He is always on the move, helping people in their needs, finding little rest, going from this place to the next.

Jesus tells the man who is dead keen on following Jesus that being a disciple is more important than personal security and comfort. It is true a basic human need is having a place to live – a place where we find support from those we love, where we find refuge and help, a place of security and safety where we can rest and relax and be ourselves. Jesus isn’t denying the fact that we all need a place to call home. He is pointing out that being a follower is not comfortable and easy. In fact, if we find discipleship cosy and easy then there is sure to be something wrong with our commitment and obedience. A part of the difficulty in following Jesus is this – there is nothing more important than following..

When Peter, James and John left the security of their jobs as fishermen and the comfort of their homes to follow Jesus, they risked everything to follow him,they took him at his word,they took the leap of faith and trusted Jesus to care for them as they followed him. Later they committed themselves to Jesus and went throughout the world preaching the good news of forgiveness, spending a good deal of time not in warm homes but in dark and damp dungeons. At the time Jesus called them, they had no idea of what was ahead of them. Their future, their security and their home was in the hands of the one who called them.

Like the athlete, the disciple must be ready to make personal sacrifices. It may mean giving up what we regard as comfortable and cosy in our lives or in the church in order to show the love of Christ and to proclaim the kingdom of God. To carry out the work of Christ, we are most likely to be challenged to do something that we have never done before,help people we have never considered helping in the past, tell about the love of Jesus to people whom we have always been afraid to tell, talk to someone even though we don’t have a clue who they are or what we will talk about, risk our reputation by sticking up for what is right or befriending someone whom everyone else think is a loser.The call to follow Jesus means take a risk, to step out boldly for the sake of the love of Jesus.

The second would-be disciple responds to the call of Jesus with: “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.” This request seems reasonable enough. This man has a sense of human responsibility. And not only that, he knows what the law requires of him – he is to care for his aging father and to see that he is given a proper funeral. Even the high priest was allowed to interrupt his duties to carry out his duties to his family.

Again Jesus is saying that to follow him is the most important priority that we have. The world’s athletes right now are focussed on only one thing – that is winning a medal – preferably a gold medal. Jesus told this would-be disciple “Let those who have no interest in following me bury the dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” Jesus is telling this person that nothing on earth, no matter how sacred, must be allowed to stand between him and the person he calls to follow. Don’t put off following Jesus, being obedient to his call to serve him until another day. Don’t we use excuses like
“I’ll do more when I’m retired and have more time”,

“when the kids are off my hands”,

“when things slow down at work”,

“when I have a bit more spare time”,

“when we’ve paid off the house”.

Jesus is calling us now to obedience. Who knows, there may not be a tomorrow for us. He’s calling us to do the work he has given us as the church and members of the church right now. Discipleship is a matter of getting your priorities right.
There is no place for conflicting loyalties when we travel with Christ! This is what Jesus told the third would-be disciple who said: “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say goodbye to my family.” This third would-be disciple is making terms – “I will follow, but first….”

It’s a bit like Ian Thorpe saying to his coach, “Yes, I’ll be there at practice but let me first eat these 6 cream buns and the delicious chocolate cake that my mum made for me. Then I have a TV appearance to make and then model my designer swimwear. But be sure I am coming.” I’m sure his coach would not be impressed by this kind of commitment.
Jesus isn’t interested in half-hearted or undecided or conditional discipleship. Jesus is only interested in an unconditional acceptance of his call. It’s important to see that Jesus isn’t saying that we should neglect our families, spouses, or work and use our devotion to church activities as a substitute for being at home with our families. What Jesus is implying is that when you follow me as first priority then you will be a better father, mother, grandparent, son or daughter, or employee.

Ian Thorpe must have given priority to his training and follow his coach’s instructions with dedication and perseverance if he wants to win gold medals. But even more important than winning gold medals is the call to follow Jesus. When we are called to “follow” then we must be careful of our priorities.

It’s worth noting that the true conflict we face when called to follow Jesus is not a conflict between what we love and what we ought to hate. Rather the conflict that arises is between what we love. Giving priority to those things we love over against what we hate – that’s easy. What is tough about following Jesus is giving Jesus priority over the things and people we love.

When thinking about our discipleship and reordering our priorities, putting first things first, it is tempting for us to draw up a list of priorities with discipleship being the most important among a whole lot of other important priorities. But that is not what Jesus is saying here at all. The call to follow Jesus is the priority over all other priorities.

When discipleship is the only priority, when it is the only and the most important thing in our lives, then all the other things will fall into their right places. It is wonderfully true, that when we make the radical leap of faith and commit ourselves to a life of following Jesus, and I really mean, responding to his single-minded and unswerving love for us with a discipleship that is single minded and unswerving, then all the other important things in our lives find their right places.

At this point I wonder if you feel the same as I do when talking about this whole matter of following Jesus and giving that our first priority.

Do you get an uncomfortable feeling when Jesus is so straight to the point, so blunt, and talks about total and complete unconditional loyalty to him?

Do you squirm a bit when you hear Jesus talking about following because the question that inevitably follows is–

“how well have I followed Jesus?”

I have heard his call, what has been my response?

How often have I offered all kinds of excuses, rather than obediently following my master when he calls “follow me”?

Our sinful nature gets in the way of truly following Jesus with all our heart, soul and mind. It is just for those times when we get our priorities all mixed up and upside down that Jesus died on the cross. Daily we need to go to Jesus in repentance and own up to our failure when we offer so many excuses and put the most important things last. Daily we need to experience the cleansing that Jesus gives through forgiveness and reconciliation. Daily we need a fresh realisation of the never-ending love that Jesus has for us.

And as we are forgiven we are again called to “follow him” and offer the commitment and dedication that comes as a response to all that Jesus has done for us.

If an athlete can make personal sacrifices, reorder his priorities, and commit himself completely to winning a medal at the Olympics, then surely we can do the same as we run for a much greater prize – eternal life.

May we respond to his calling with confidence because of his faithfulness to help us in the tasks he calls us to carry out whether they be big or small, spectacular or mundane. He can use us in all kinds of ways to call others to follow Jesus. He has given his Spirit to work in and through those who answer his call to follow.

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy

“The plans of mice and men”

1 kings 19:1-15a & Galatians 3:23-29

Sometimes it feels like the saying, that “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go amiss” should read “The best laid plans of mice and men, always go amiss”. A bit like in our human nature that sometimes “when all else has failed we’ll turn to prayer”, or as I have experienced, after having come to a dead end after hours, days or weeks of churning over something-in desperation I ask my wife Cathy, who nonchalantly gives me the answer I just couldn’t seem to see on my own.

Sometimes our plans do go amiss but that does not mean we shouldn’t plan as I surely wouldn’t want to be heading into the blue yonder on a flying bomb, commonly called a spaceship without some planning having been put in place and the same for buying a house or running a business or most of the big ticket things in our lives. Planning’s a good thing to do, but no matter how intensely you’ve seemingly covered all the bases, we’ll find we haven’t and there’s nothing surer that sooner or later we’ll have to take a “leap of faith”, roll with the punches and see where it takes us.

For the past few weeks we have been talking about “salvation through faith in Christ alone” and in today’s epistle reading Paul gives us the confirming outcome:

Now that faith has come….(that) in Christ you are all sons and daughters of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise”.

I bet you didn’t see that one coming when you got baptised as an infant. And that’s the point, with the God stuff; we’ve just got to let God be God as even today here in worship, what have we ourselves really done. I would suggest to you the only thing we have done is turn up and be present. Yes, we have heard the word of God, and we will join in Holy Communion shortly-gifts that the Lord has assured us are good for us, good for bringing us to faith and strengthening our faith and whether today you leave feeling as though you’ve been taken to the mountain top or not-those gifts work in us. But in all honesty, what have we done today-we’ve turned up, that’s it and while it doesn’t seem quite like the lofty efforts of the Elijah’s and Moses’ and what they got up to in serving God, in just presenting ourselves before the Lord today and letting God be God is mighty in his eyes.

To believe and know the truth of “Salvation through faith in Christ alone” is not of our rationale or logic, it has come from outside of us when we knew him not. Yet here you are today, living breathing vessels of the truth. Living breathing miracles blessed by The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit who I know are, and will be a blessing to others.

I have no doubt that each of you will do great things for the Lord, the same way as you are today-by simply presenting yourself as you are before the lord, to let God be God-and as a living vessel of the truth, you will do great things by just presenting yourself to the world, simply as who you are and Let God be God.

Stand before the world as vessels of the truth and in letting God be God creates miracles.

Miracles like the countless and unplanned ones that come from the seemingly simple and random efforts of the Gideon’s in placing a vessel of the truth, a bible in a motel room.

Like the one that started when a friend of mine, bored and with nothing to do found a bible in the motel room cupboard and started reading it. A journey seemingly started by chance that continues this day.

God has all the tools at his disposal. All consuming power yet he seems to work in ways that we would not, as seen in our reading of Elijah.

There is Elijah, hiding away in a cave after having putting it all on the line, yet for seemingly no result. Despondent and living in fear for his life. But worst of all it all seems for nought. So God comes to him and after asking Elijah what’s going on, Elijah responds:

“I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your alters, and killed every one of your prophets. I am left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Then there is a mighty windstorm that ripped rocks and boulders free from the mountain, but the Lord was not in it. Then a mighty earthquake followed by fire and still the Lord was not in them. But then there was the sound of a gentle whisper, and it was the Lord.

Adam and Eve failed the test, yet God with all power, chose to cloth them after failing him. And God with all power, to a broken humanity sends a small child to grow amongst His failed creation, and walk in humility to his own death on a cross, that those that have failed him, may be clothed in his righteousness.

God has total power, yet he often chooses to work in the quiet, the small and seemingly insignificant. Yet most astonishing of all, he works through sinners. Through people, the same people who though they may have moments of genuine intent, still fail him. People like the great Elijah, or the many “bottom of the rung in society” that Jesus touched on his walk to the cross and all those in between. People like us.

Failed human beings yet like a vessel of the truth placed in a motel room drawer, who as Paul says to Timothy “are entrusted with the mystery of Christ.”

The mystery of Christ we carry in our lives as parents, children, mechanics, business owners, employers and employees. The mystery of Christ we carry in our lives and while sometimes it may seem of no avail like a bible sitting away quietly in that motel room, we still carry it and present it by being present and let God be God and know that somehow, someway-someone will see a dusty old vessel of the truth that continues to fail, yet perseveres. See us hurting, yet living in hope. Broken, yet restored.

They see us for what we are, yet in all off that God will be God and by us being present in him, somehow they may just hear Christ for themselves, and they too be entrusted with the mystery of faith, life and salvation. Amen.

“We are many, but we are one”

Luke 7:36-8:3

After having moved to a small country town, I remarked to my dad how thoughtful the president of the local football club was. He said he was not surprised. Unbeknown to me, my parents had lived in the same town for a short period early in their marriage. They were bottom of the food chain. People of very humble origin and means and new to the town. The father of the football president I mentioned was a large land holder and poultry producer, and local identity. And having heard that mums and dads half a dozen chooks weren’t laying eggs, one day he visited them, introduced himself and spent three to four hours with them trying to work out the problem with their six chooks. My dad told me this story thirty years after it had happened, and it still moved him that a man like that, would give a man like him, two to three hours of his time.

For all intentions purposes this man could have treated them like a charity case and gave them new chickens, or offered them his own eggs or even some financial assistance and Lord knows they could have used it. But this man gave something much, much more. He gave them his time and he gave himself and in him including them into his life, even if but for a short time: he gave them self-esteem, and the Lord knew they needed it.

Imagine the courage it took for the lady in today’s gospel to enter the house of the Pharisee. A “lady of the night” who has the audacity to enter the house of one of the religious elite. You’ve heard the story read and as always it’s easy to have a crack at the Pharisee. But’s let’s put this into perspective. Firstly he’s invited Jesus to his house. Yes, probably to check him out but he still did. This in itself would have been risky among his colleagues. Then uninvited, a notorious women invites herself to the table. It’s like a scene from happy Gilmour who attracts the scorn of his new noble golfing colleagues for the type of “uncouth “supporters he’s attracting to the game. Seriously, what do you think would be the response in the good “Lutheran heartland” if at the induction of the new Pastor with the local and state dignitaries present, his mates and others that had heard of him rock up: the local drunks, thieves, prostitutes and maybe throw in a few outlaw bikie members. To say the least, I would think that there might be some who would doubt of the new pastor or be embarrassed.

And as we know, the women offers Jesus everything that the Pharisee did not. After working the streets in her dangerous and degrading occupation she pours expensive ointment on his feet. Weeping, she uses what she has available-her tears to wipe his feet and dries them with her hair. Yet for all this going on, the reason Jesus says her sins are forgiven is because of her faith.

For all the differences of the people before Jesus that night, the difference that Jesus saw was that one of them was there to check him out, to see if he was O.K., and the other who came to be made O.K., to be released from the bondage of the sin that she knew of herself and that the community and Jesus knew of her.

For the previous weeks we have been talking about “forgiveness and salvation in faith in Jesus alone” and in today’s reading we have “seen” it.

A notorious sinner knowing who and what Jesus is approaches him. No doubt she has a sad and lonely story of how she found herself to be what she has become in the world. Yet she offers no excuses or reasons for her lifestyle. She does not offer one word during this whole story other than the words of her heart and faith as she throws herself at Jesus feet for healing and mercy. And Jesus response, no why’s or now get your act together, only “your faith has saved you, go in peace” and that IS the gospel of the Lord, praise be to God.”

Living in what some would call a “rough and tumble” opal mining town I had “all bases covered”. During the day I worked in the only bank in town and at night in the only pub in town. Mining opal is hit and miss and a person can have nothing one day, and extreme riches “the next”. There’s no guarantees of anything except for a lot of work and the need for a lot of luck and I still remember two miners both in their dirty mining gear, standing at the bar together-one still holding onto the dream and the other who had just found it. Two who were once brothers in arms in situation, now still brothers in arms in extremes. Though one had been blessed with riches and the other not, but both were still as one standing at the bar, the same as they had been the week before.

Standing before Christ are we not these two people. Those fortunate and those less fortunate, but as one before Christ. Those who have heard his call and those that haven’t-but both equally loved by the Lord.

Like Jesus stood amongst a respected Pharisee and a lowly prostitute and wanted nothing of either except for them to know him, he stands amongst all those in our world wanting the same. He loves both the attacker and the attacked, the ungodly and the godly and offers both the same-a new life in him. Some to be released from their harmful ways and some to be released from the pain of being harmed.

In this world we are all as one, as in sin all have fallen short and while God does not love our sin, he does love to release us from it.

In this world we have all fallen short and the Lord sees the chains we have placed on ourselves and the bondage in which we live-and offers himself in their place.

In the movie “Gran Torino” Clint Eastwood, a tarnished war veteran haunted by his past actions is told by a pastor that he can still find peace in the Lord as what he had done as a soldier is what he had to do. To which he responded: “It not what I had to do that condemns me, it’s what I didn’t have to do”. And we may never be able to accept people like Jesus did, or for that matter accept ourselves like Jesus does. That’s just how it is as both sinners in ourselves while being saints in Christ.

Unfortunately, in our human nature and original sin we will all depart this world still as part Pharisees. But fortunately, in knowing of that, we know our only answer is in Christ-the answer he gave with his life that even we will be fully restored on our last day. Because whether in circumstance or in heart, in sin we have all fallen short and stand as one. Yet to a Pharisee and a prostitute, to both a poor miner and a rich miner standing at a bar, to the abuser and the abused and to you and me, Jesus says it’s not what you have done that condemns you nor good works that will save you. For I don’t give you charity, I give you much more. I give you myself, that to me-you may give of yourself and know my peace.

Pray that in knowing the Lord’s peace in our lives and in knowing that in circumstance: “that there bar the grace of God we may have gone”, that to the less fortunate, the hurting and the lost “that in the grace of God, to them we may go,” that in standing alongside them, that as one-they may stand alongside us, in both this world, and in the world to come. Amen.

 

“It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s the truth”

Galatians 1:11-24

On Thursday I read an article in the news titled “10 tips from CEO’s to help you get ahead” and I took particular note of what Pip Marlow, the Managing director of Microsoft Australia wrote. She says:

“Be the real you. Think of the leaders you respect and understand why they evoke that response. For me, it’s about authenticity, but you can’t try to be authentic-you either are, or you’re not. What you can do is stay focussed on your true north. Know who you are and what you believe. Leaders who do this lead and speak from the heart. That is what I aspire to do every day.”

“Stay focussed on your true North. Know who you are and what you believe. Be authentic-Be yourself.” Good advice when we consider from Revelations the Lord’s assessment of the church of Laodicea against their Key performance indicators.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you from my mouth.”

“This spit you from my mouth” when looking at the Greek text is more like “spewing you out, throwing up”. A harsh assessment that the Lord says is the result of them not knowing their own wretchedness. Of not seeing the full extent of their sin and their desperate need for Christ because of it.

In the Galatians reading we heard of Paul, and of being lukewarm he was certainly not.

In verse 23 Pauls says that the churches of Judea that are in Christ were continually hearing reports of Paul the persecutor. And I might add, that as well they might because these churches were where they were because of having to flee Jerusalem for their lives after the stoning to death of Stephen, the first of those martyred for simply being a Christian and in Acts chapter 8 we are told that:

“Paul (then named Saul) approved of his execution and was ravaging the church and entering house after house, dragging off both men and women and committing them to prison.”

One thing Paul was not was lukewarm. As he said he was a Zealous person. Fanatical, passionate and enthusiastic in his work in which he believed. Then as we know, enter Jesus and the rest is history as after his conversion he would use those same gifts to unabashedly preach, preach and preach some more of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 12 and 13 Paul states: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”

Jesus had pulled off a masterstroke as this would be like the same happening today in our world to the most ardent and renowned of atheists (and pray that might happen).

Yet Paul was no “on a soapbox condemning hypocrite”. He had been shown his true North-Jesus. He had been shown what he was-the worst of sinners, and he had come you know what to believe-in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

He came to faith in Christ alone, a faith that Martin Luther states is:

“a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a person could stake there life on it a thousand times.”

Paul in his previous beliefs was confronted by Christ, and in turn he confronted those in Galatia and elsewhere of who they are to listen to in their spiritual lives, of who determines the truth for them: God or man? And this is as important a question today as it was for the people of Paul’s day. For there are many today who are proclaiming a different gospel, and leading people to place greater importance on human ideas and actions, above that which God has given and done for us. We are even being encouraged to accept things which go against and change what Scripture itself has to say

So also today, we face ridicule and denigration when we make a stand for the true Gospel and God’s Word. We are branded as fundamentalist and conservative. We are told; ‘How do you know that you are right?’ or ‘What right have you got to impose your views on us, or say that we are wrong?’ We are encouraged to be more open, flexible and tolerant; and I could go on. But the point is that we face many pressures which are trying to pervert the Gospel and take our focus away from Jesus Christ and the importance of his death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. So we need to be wary of these forces and know what it is that is truly important for us.

In light of all of this we need to keep in mind what Paul has to say here. The true Gospel does not come from any human sources. It is God’s revealed truth to us; and we need to be prepared to stand by this revelation. Salvation by grace through faith; Christ alone; Scripture alone, faith alone; are basic truths of the Gospel that cannot be compromised. These truths and the Good News that underlies it are God’s revelation to us; that is Paul’s big point here. God has given and revealed this Good News to his Church, and we must not walk away from it or place the emphasis anywhere else.

In this reading, Paul tells us that he had studied the Old Testament Scriptures and the traditions of the Jewish faith for years; that he was a master of them; and yet, till Christ revealed himself to him, he was in the dark and worked against the Gospel. It was only after Christ had confronted him that all the Scriptures that he had read and studied, finally made sense. The Good News had then been made known to him.

So are we reminded, that we do not receive the truth through research alone; Although God can certainly do his work in us when we do. And the more time we spend in God’s Word allowing him to speak to us, the more he reveals his truth. But just because a person has done extensive theological study, that doesn’t mean they know the truth – that the Gospel has touched and changed their lives. The devil knows the Bible better than any of us; yet he does not know the Gospel. If we simply study the word to legitimise our own point of view and actions and try to use the Bible for our own purposes, it places ‘me’ in the centre and not God Almighty himself. Human logic cannot comprehend the Gospel; for as the Scriptures say it is foolishness to reason and a stumbling block to those who are seeking miracles.

The Gospel comes only by revelation from God himself: a gift from above. That is Paul’s big point here. He hasn’t simply been listening to others in order to know the Gospel – popular opinion played no part in his theology. Even though he had been devoted to the traditions of the Jewish faith and prided himself on his understanding of and practice of that faith; he was brought to see that it was all for nought. It was not the Good News of salvation. Instead, he was brought to see that it was God’s grace that had chosen and saved him and which now called him to serve. This same grace revealed Jesus Christ and the fullness of what God had done through him and his death and resurrection. This Good News transformed Paul from a murdering zealot to a faithful, suffering servant and preacher of the faith.

So also do we, today, need to look to God to reveal to us what we need to know when it comes to our spiritual lives. The true Gospel and the truth only come from him, through the means that he gives; and that is primarily through his Word, the bible. This undeserved love of God that came to Paul, has also chosen us all and seeks to reveal to us that Jesus died for our forgiveness and made it possible for us to be in his family.

He wants us all to know that he loves us and has made it possible for us to be with him in eternity. He makes it quite clear that all who simple believe: that is trust in what Jesus has done through his death and resurrection have the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of life and salvation. This is the only Good News for us all that there is. There is no other salvation; no other real life; and no other way to God.

Anyone or anything that seeks to add to this Gospel or take away from it, is a perversion. Any human work that is seen as necessary for salvation does not come from God. At a time when so much emphasis is placed on the ‘self’ and the importance of what we do [both outside the church as well as within] we need to be ever vigilant that we do not get slowly led astray. Christ alone; Grace alone; Scripture alone; faith alone, are key understandings of the revealed truth of the Gospel.

So it is this revelation of God that we need to keep in mind when we face all kinds of issues in the church and in life. No matter whether we are thinking of what it is that constitutes the Gospel; or worship issues; outreach to others; moral and ethical issues; or whatever, we need to look firstly to what God has already revealed to us. We do not merely follow the teaching of our world around us; social opinion, a bit of this religion and a bit of that; or anything else. God determines truth for us, not mankind.

That continually leads us then to a focus that is centered very much on Christ and the importance of his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. So again, we will be wary when we hear a lot of talk about ‘christianty’ without a focus on Christ and him crucified. There is so much talk about ‘living the Christian life’ but often with little reference to Christ and the cross. Thereby our sinful human nature will grab hold of that and get us to place our trust and focus on ‘me and what I must do.’ But always, God would have us focus on Christ and what he has done for us and what wants to do in our lives.

So as we go forward, let us not be confused or led astray to ‘another gospel’ which is no Gospel at all. Let us be sure that we seek to listen, understand and follow God’s Word and not some hollow human philosophy or ideas. We must base our souls’ eternal welfare on the teachings of our Lord, rather than additions and subtractions. Remember the Gospel that comes from God is all about Jesus Christ and grace: it is all a free gift. Whereas the gospel of humanity adds what we have to do; and that is a perversion.

Christ is not lukewarm. He is authentic. There are no maybes, ifs or buts-he categorically states that in faith in me alone you are saved. That is, in faith in Christ alone you are saved.

Listen to God and what he has to say in the Bible and you will not go wrong. Look first and foremost to Christ and the cross and you will find the help and life that we desperately need. With that, God will continue to reveal his truth to us as we go forward as his Church. Then through it all not only will we be blessed but we will also be a blessing to others. But most importantly then all glory and honour will go to where it belongs; to our gracious God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Part of this message referenced with thanks from Pastor Roger Atze.

Luke 7:1-10

On Monday, a lady I know who worships at the Seventh Day Adventist Church gave me this magazine that she thought I might find interesting. It is their monthly publication and there is an article discussing the church from the fourteen century. It goes through many of the servants of God who during those times made a stand against the manipulation and errors of interpretation of the scriptures. Those who risked and even gave their life for the truth to be brought back into the light. People who risked and gave it all on a long and seemingly unwinnable fight, and then this:

“Then like a brilliant sunrise chasing away the darkness, Martin Luther burst onto the scene. His desire was not to form a separate church, but to have the church stay true to Scripture and be more like the early church. His efforts were neither accepted nor appreciated by church leaders. Excommunicated, he made his historic stand alone for the truth, that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus and not by what a person does. And his famous words echo through history: ‘Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God.’ (and) his followers became the great Lutheran church”.

An American psychologist defined arrogance as the expectation of special treatment. A person who thinks that he or she is not bound by the same rules that apply to everyone else. Because of money, position, success or something else-the arrogant person wants to have the best seat, get special honors, arrive late, leave early, go to the head of the line. To be treated like a VIP”.

The last words Martin Luther wrote were hardly an anthem of his achievements. Just six “simple” words scribbled on a piece of scrap paper: “We are beggars. This is true”.

St. Paul said that “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” And those words from Luther are more than the musings from a dying man. They describe whom we are in the light of God’s grace shone on us in Jesus Christ. They point our focus away from ourselves-and to the truth, to the One who has died and been raised from death for us as the only foundation and source of our life and ministry together.

Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, Mother Teresa, Abraham, Moses, Noah, King David, Mary the mother of God, Joseph and the angels that visited them and many, many others. Great servants of God and though their lives and works are the stuff of legend, they still did not get ahead of themselves.

The centurion in today’s Gospel is yet another such person.

In the original Greek New Testament Jesus is amazed by only two people. The first those in his home town who “amazed” him by their lack of belief, and this centurion who amazed Jesus with his faith.

And when we look at this guy and his behaviors in those times we too see that he was a very special fellow that we could all learn from and indeed do well to model our own lives on.

Here we see a man of great power. A high ranking Roman officer in charge of hundreds of troops who in Capernaum had both the power and authority to rule the area as if he were a local emperor. Yet with this great power and though the Romans and the Jews were arch enemies of the highest order, he respected them and they him, and one can only wonder of the back chat and silent accusations of being a “brown noser” that would have come from within his own society when they found out that from his own funds he had a church built for the Jewish people. Or the skepticism and suspicion of the officers and soldiers under him, who used to ruling by force and fear start wondering if their leader has gone soft when they heard of him worrying about his servants health, when the normal practice would be too just throw him out and let him gradually die in the street. We see this guy is truly special, yet for all this, what is the only thing amongst it that is said to have amazed Jesus-simply his faith. This man amongst his world of the anti-Jewish, this man amongst the people of God-the Jews who had seen and heard Jesus preach for themselves, amazed Jesus because somehow he had come to see and know the truth amongst of all that was before him: “And when Jesus was not far from his house, the centurion sent friends saying to him’ Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But say the word, and let my servant be healed’”.

For all the riches and power this centurion had, for all the reasons that should have got in the way this man had still come to know the truth, that: “We are beggars. This is true” That for all the goodness he displayed in a goodless society, he came to know the truth, that: “salvation is by faith in Jesus alone and not by what a person does,” or is.

In my first year of studies during a class barbeque a bedraggled man approached and asked if he could have some food. While eating he professed that he was an alcoholic and though it had destroyed his life, he just couldn’t beat it, his days of denial were over and he was a broken man who said he had come to realize that this was his lot in life and finished with “the only thing I have is Jesus’ forgiveness.”

Two men at opposite ends of the spectrum who had every reason to believe in anything but in the truth of Christ. One with power, riches, respect and good works towards society and God, and the other: powerless, living on welfare and peoples scraps, lacking respect from self or others and with seemingly nothing to offer society or God alike. Two people with nothing in common, but the truth of Christ in their lives.

We look at these two people playing in the sand pit with their brothers and sisters and wonder whether one would have thought he would become a person of such esteem, wealth and power and the other of being a homeless alcoholic.

In this life we are what we are. Some rich and some not so. Some builders, bankers and politicians. Some students, unemployed and even pastors. All are different, yet all are the same. In his song “I am, I said” American musician Neil Diamond after having achieved fame and fortune likens himself with the story of a “frog that became a king”, yet follows with:

“But I’ve got an emptiness deep inside

And I’ve tried but it won’t let me go

And I’m not a man who likes to swear

But I’ve never cared for the sound of being alone

I am, I said

To no one there

And no one heard at all

Not even the chair

I am, I cried

I am, said I

And I am lost, and I can’t even say why”

When leaving my previous job in the finance industry my colleagues gave me a card in which they had written all the usual nice things, except for one who simply wrote: “I pray you find peace”.

Being rich or a pastor does not ensure peace and happiness like being poor or homeless does not ensure despair and hopelessness, because what we have or do is not the cause or the cure.

The cause is sin and the cure is Christ, and only in them do we answer to God.

The sin of a powerful yet kind and good natured centurion and the sin of a person given up on himself and living on the streets. The sin of a pastor and the sin of a banker. We are what we are. We all look different-some seen as good and some seen as not so good. Some judged harshly by society and some not so. Yet all are the same in sin.

What we have become or will become, or how we feel and act may be different from what we imagined playing in the sandpit with our brothers and sisters.

We may have everything in this world, but have nothing without knowing the truth

We may have nothing in the world, but have everything when we know the truth.

Our circumstances may have changed but sin hasn’t and nor has the answer, that of faith in Jesus Christ alone. The faith that sees both a Roman soldier and a homeless alcoholic standing as one before the throne of God, covered in the glory of Christ.

Our roads today may be different, but the road to salvation is not and that is what brings peace.

The peace of knowing the truth. That whether we celebrate or despair in our situation, that whether we feel some affection of ourselves or not, that whether our lives seem one of happiness or not, that whether we feel blessed or not: that to know that “We are all beggars”, is to know the truth of Christ and the work he has completed for us. His work that has ensured that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. And while in our lives on this earth, should the only peace we truly know be that of Christ-that is enough, because that is everything. Amen.