Author: admin

Happiness Is.

True happiness

Matthew 5: 3-10

No doubt, some of you have watched Survivor. This immensely popular TV real life game show is watched by millions of people around the world.

Imagine putting 16 people together from different backgrounds – trying to survive together and at the same time competing against one another for individual survival. After each round, the participants meet together to cast their votes to see who will be dismissed from the group. It can be for any number of reasons –
such as I think you’re not pulling your weight,
you cheated by having some kind of contraband,
or you are too old, too selfish, too uncooperative
or simply because I don’t like your face.

The ultimate goal is not to get voted out. And the way to survive is to make sure that there are people on your side – alliances are made – and broken – leaving behind a trail of betrayal and suspicion. This is real life played out in a game show. That’s perhaps the reason why Survivor has been so popular – it brings out the best and worst in people – more often the worst than the best. The winner is not the person who is kind and considerate, but who makes friends, uses them and then turns against them. The winner is not the person who is the better or the nicer but the one who is ruthless and hurtful, who has no feelings for the others.

One person who was asked about his view of the show nailed it on the head when he said, “It’s sorry that our society is this way, but the people who are conniving and back-stabbing are the ones who make it. Unlike the movies where the scriptwriter controls the plot and good triumphs over evil. In Survivor, no one controls the plot and how things eventually turn out. It is a sad commentary on the way the world is.”

As we think about what it means to be happy or blessed we might say —
Blessed are those who earn six figures.
Blessed are the famous.
Blessed are those who don’t have anything to worry about.
Blessed are the powerful.
Blessed are those who have the determination and ruthlessness to eliminate everything that hinders the fulfilment of their dreams.

Our view of happiness depends so much on our circumstances and environment. For a young woman true happiness might be to find the right man, to marry and have a family, only later to find herself thinking that true happiness would come if she could divorce her abusive husband.
For teenagers, true happiness is getting their first car, but its not too long before they realises that they would be truly happy if they could have a certain car that was sleeker and faster.

Happiness is a common desire. Yet, so few people seem to have true happiness that we put it in the same category as four-leaf clovers and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – the elusive, the unattainable, the impossible. Happiness is a goal that we all strive for, but when that goal is reached, we realise that there is always something else that would make us truly happy.

I’m sure you can think of things that you would like to see changed in your life so that you can be truly happy. So we go about suitably arranging – and re-arranging – our environment and circumstances – so that we will be happy. On this basis, people have assumed that, if they are unhappy, it is because of this wretched washing machine, this wretched heart, this wretched person I am living with… They believe that they will become happy by changing their lot in some way.

It becomes a never-ending quest. Happiness, we assume, must be fun and laughter and expressing our own personalities (“doing our own thing”) – free from suffering, sorrow and hardship. It’s no wonder that we can’t ever say that we have reached our goal – true happiness. There is nothing wrong with the desire to be happy, there is everything wrong with the way we often go seeking it.

And that’s exactly what Jesus is talking about today in the Sermon on the Mount when he talks about true happiness. He says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
(We would hardly regard ‘the poor in spirit’ as “happy” because they are aware of how much their sinfulness is out of control;
their faith often wavers;
they lack the spiritual resources to cope with the upsets in life and easily become depressed and miserable).

Blessed are those who mourn.
(They are the least likely to be called “happy” because they are upset by the injustices in our world;
they grieve for the starving, the homeless, refugees and those suffering wars;
they are distressed over their own stupidity and sinfulness;
they are sad because of what death has done).

Blessed are the humble,
(those whom world regards as the least likely to be “happy” because they are always busy doing things for others;
they are gentle in their dealings with others, refusing to do anything for their own personal gain at the expense of others;
they don’t push themselves forward and are satisfied helping others.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
(These people can hardly be called “happy” because of their deep sense of what is right; they are passionate about justice for the underdog and won’t rest until something is done.
They are unhappy about the treatment of refugees, unnecessary logging, the treatment of prisoners.
They are also those who are” unhappy” with their own lives and want to live more as God intended.)

Blessed are the persecuted. (Being persecuted can hardly be called a “happy” experience. Persecution is an unhappy event when you are suffering because you are a peacemaker, or because you have shown mercy and compassion on someone whom everyone else thinks doesn’t deserve it, or because you are pure in heart – you know what is the right thing to do but no one else sees it that way.)

Can you see that Jesus’ definition of what it means to be blessed doesn’t depend on us and what is happening around us? The “happy” sayings of Jesus – the Beatitudes – present us with a whole new idea of what it means to be happy. True happiness has to do with knowing God, belonging to God’s Kingdom, being a part of God’s family. You might say that this is hardly a popular view, especially when worldly happiness depends so much on money, a house, the right car, and being free from sickness, death and anything that upsets our “happiness”. But Jesus was one for making true statements. True happiness is to be found in God. The fact is that we don’t find happiness by seeking happiness. We find God, and discover a deep level of happiness.

Or perhaps it is better said that God finds us.
In the middle of all the difficulties we have living out our Christian faith in our daily lives;
when we are sad and upset;
when we are despondent and depressed;
when others reject us and ridicule us for our faith or for sticking up for what we believe is right;
when we are trying to show mercy and love or bring about peace and we are told to butt out;
God meets us, he strengthens us, he comforts, he helps us endure, he gives us the courage to move on.

A woman was the victim of abuse as a child. She understood what had happened – she didn’t like it – she had been angry but God had helped her through her anger and now she prayed for her father. She also helped her brother to come to terms with what had happened and to rebuild his relationship with his father. She had suffered a great deal and yet she would say that she was blessed. The inner and outer scars will always be there, but she was happy because God was with her. He had helped her though it all and now God was using her to be a peacemaker.

George Matheson was a great preacher and hymn writer who lost his sight at an early age. He thought of his blindness as his thorn in the flesh, as his personal cross. For several years, he prayed that his sight would be restored. Like most of us, I suppose, he believed that personal happiness would come to him only after the handicap was gone. But then, one day God sent him a new insight: The creative use of his handicap could actually become his personal means of achieving happiness!

So, Matheson went on to write: “My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn. I have thanked you for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I have never thought of the cross itself as a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross. Teach me the value of my thorn.”

George Matheson had found God’s kind of happiness – the kind of happiness that is not only a future hope, but also a reality in the here and now.

That’s the kind of happiness that enabled the apostle Paul to write to the Philippians from his gaol cell, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (4:4).

That’s the secret of true happiness!
You may be suffering a great deal from sickness;
you may be persecuted for doing what you consider the right thing;
you may be upset about your own sinfulness or the weakness of your faith;
you may even be upset by those who have failed to show love toward you;
whatever the case, you can still “happy” in the knowledge that you are one of God’s precious children, that he sent his Son to die for you, and that when all is said and done, there is a place for you in heaven where there will be no more unhappiness.

This is the kind of “blessedness” or “happiness” that no circumstance or person can take away from us.
Amen.

Man fishing.

I will make you fishers of people.Sermon: 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.
Reading: Matthew 4:12-23

 

Jesus chose fishermen. Why? Any idea?

I don’t know, but as I have worked and meditated on this reading I have wondered if it was to make the point that it’s not what you know – your education or qualifications or abilities – that makes you an effective fisher of people, but who you know – in this case, the who being Jesus.

With this well known phrase from Matthew’s Gospel – “I will make you fishers of men” – we often grab first those distinctive words “fishers of men” as the key. But that is not the first thing Jesus calls these men to do. He says first of all, “Follow me”. It is through this following, this apprenticeship, that these men become fishers of people. They become Jesus’ disciples, his students.

And they do need to learn. Fishing requires patience and skill and commitment. Catching souls for Christ is like this too – we need to learn our skills and do our homework and build up our experience. We need to know Jesus and His Word and be able to express it. You can’t share what you don’t have yourself.

We all need to be students of the Bible. We need to grow in our relationship with Christ. These disciples after all had to spend three years with Jesus as their rabbi, their teacher. They needed to be taught and shown. They had to exercise the discipline of listening. They asked questions. Their values and ideas were challenged. And this is what Jesus calls us into as well.

Jesus says: I will make you. It has to do directly with what Jesus does with us – how he forms us as his fishermen.

But, you know, there’s another side to this too; a balancing truth. The fisherman has no ultimate control over the success of his fishing expedition. If you have ever fished much, you know that highly expert and experienced fishermen still can, and often do, come home with little to show for their efforts. The fisherman has to do his best, and then cast out his nets or bait his hook in faith – trusting to providence, not even knowing if the fish are there or if they are biting.

Fishers of people cast out their nets in faith too. Ultimately it will be Jesus who makes us fishers of people – in the sense also that it is he who brings the people to us, just as he brought the fish into Peter’s net in the story in Luke 5. It is Jesus who gives us the people and the right things to say and do to help them in their faith journey. It is Jesus who provides the catch.

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” These words apply not only to the disciples whom he calls here by the lakeside. It is clear from elsewhere in Scripture that these words also apply more broadly to all Jesus’ followers – pastors, lay people or whatever. These words apply to us, to you.

So are you fishing for people? This is where many of us feel that we fall down, or that we could never be involved in evangelism or outreach – the very mention of those words scares people to death.

Well, let me tell you something. Maybe you are fishing for souls without even realising it.

You don’t’ have to go door knocking or preaching in Flinders Street station. You may not have to even leave your home or go looking for the fish. They may be swimming right past your eyes already, and already you are reaching out to them.

I know many of our members witness to their children or their grandchildren, in a host of big and small ways. You are fishing for their souls.

Those of you who volunteer for the community meal are reaching out and serving in the name of Christ – those people who come know who we are, and why we do it. Our service to them is a living active statement of Christ’s love.

In Mary’s circle, the message of God’s grace in Christ is lived out and spoken about to all kinds of women from inside and outside the Knox church community.

Those of you who pray for others that they might come to faith or be renewed in their faith are fishers of souls.

And maybe there are some other untapped possibilities too – friendships where you can share your faith in small but powerful ways. I know a person who is a Christian today because when she was going through a really tough time somebody said to her at one point, “I am praying for you”. That was the hook.

It is interesting that the Christian who said those words was fishing in faith – they didn’t know what would happen, but they trusted in Jesus. And what does Jesus say? “I will make you fishers of people.” He will honour our faith in him, and do what he says, and send his Holy Spirit to work, even through us.

There are many ways and means and opportunities to fish for souls. And these words of Jesus remind us to make the most of them, to recognize that he has sent us with a purpose, on a mission – yes, each one of us individually and together as the church.

He calls us to continue being his students – learning, listening and growing in his truth and love – that we might get better at it. And these words assure us that it isn’t us who have to somehow save others. Jesus himself will provide the catch. “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
Amen.

Rock Solid.

Epiphany 2 – John 1:35-42 “Rock Solid – Solid Rock.
Stone and rock; rocks and stones – are they good or are they bad? Are they useful or are they a hindrance? What comes into your mind when you hear of stones and rocks?

Today we focus on the rock, because this is the name Jesus gave to Simon. The name Cephas and Peter are the Aramaic and Greek variants of the word — rock. Hence many times in the bible we hear about the disciple Simon Peter — Simon the Rock.

It’s unusual that we should focus on Simon Peter in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany concerns itself more with the revelation of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, as Jesus the Christ, Son of the Father from eternity. However, we hear in the Gospel, while Jesus is being named the Lamb of God, Rabbi, and the Messiah (or the Christ), he names Simon — Peter — the rock.

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:35-42)

So why does Jesus rename Simon — Peter. Why does he call this man — rock? And what is a rock anyway? Is a rock or a stone a good or bad thing?

Some might say rocks and stones are bad things, especially if one’s brother or sister or enemy is throwing stones or rocks at them. But then again, stones and rocks might be your best friend if you need to scare a ferocious animal.

If ascending a hill on foot or in a vehicle, stones and rocks can prove to be hazardous regardless of their size. Large rocks can make the climb impossible; small stone can act like marbles making the hill a slippery slope to scale. But once at the top if one slips back down, rocks and large stones, might be the very thing that stops the deathly descent to the bottom.

So if we see Simon Peter as the rock, designated by Jesus Christ, we might see him as a hazardous hindrance, or alternatively, a heavenly help. And in the bible Peter definitely fills the bill as both a help and a hazard in the ministry of the Gospel. So too stones and rocks prove to be objects causing one to stumble or fear, but also represent stability and strength as we hear God’s Word.

The bible is full of references to stones and rocks. In Genesis, Jacob used a stone as a crude pillow when he slept and saw the ladder descending from heaven at Bethel. Then in Revelation we hear of heaven in all its perfection, full of precious stones, such as jasper, sapphire, emerald, and topaz — to name a few.

In the Gospels we also hear of many different uses of stones. And Jesus makes many references to stones and rocks too. One that must be mentioned, because it sits with the Gospel reading, is from Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says again to Simon Peter, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

So what kind of rock was Peter? The church regards him as the leading Apostle; he is the foundation stone on which Christ places the church. Yet Peter acted more like a stone that crumbles and disintegrates under pressure. Perhaps he is more akin to what Jesus said in the parable of the sower, “A farmer went out to sow his seed… Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” (Matthew 13:3b, 5, 6)

And Jesus’ explanation follows, “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” (Matthew 13:20-21)

Jesus’ description of rocky ground goes a long way in giving us a picture of Peter the night the roster crowed three times. Peter is the disciple who confessed to his Christ that he would never fall away, but stumbled at the moment he was asked if he was an associate of Jesus.

So on what kind of foundation was Jesus to build his church? It must have looked pretty dismal with Peter weeping bitterly having just disowned his Lord, who was on death row. It seemed that all was lost, the crucifixion being the stumbling block, the tomb in the rock and the large stone over its entrance an impassable foolish end to Simon being the rock, and the man from Nazareth being the Saviour — let alone the Son of God.

But where failure and faithlessness seem to have won out, it’s precisely here where the victory of all victories exists — hidden.

Paul tells the church at Corinth, a church failing in the weaknesses of heresy, dissention, disorder, and sexual chaos, that God will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

Furthermore in Isaiah 49 we hear, “This is what the LORD says — the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel — to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:7)

So in Jesus Christ — in his weakness and death and in his resurrection and life — we find the true rock foundation of our faith and Peter’s faith too. Despite our weak and faithless nature, God’s faithfulness is real and victorious, through Christ at the Cross, and the Holy Spirit faithfully putting the cross and the Rock of our salvation back in front of us. And we see it by faith — trusting God’s faithfulness to us.

Therefore, Jesus tells us, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)

Added to this we know Jesus also said of himself, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes? He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:42, 44)

Peter is the rock on which Christ built the church. Incidentally the name Simon or Simeon is derived from a Hebrew word meaning to hear or announce. We know Simon Peter was the hearing rock and was the rock that announced what he had witnessed. But it’s only because of God’s faithfulness to Peter that allowed Peter to hear, be built up in Jesus’ blood and righteousness, and to proclaim God’s faithfulness in Christ Jesus.

This is also God’s will for us too. We like Peter, flounder and fight against faithlessness and failures. And so our hope, our hearing and our witness to others, is built and stands on nothing less, than on Christ the Solid Rock. Amen.

Born to save

Epiphany 1   Matthew 3: 13-17

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets, he was a law man. His life was one of calling the Jews to repentance but also pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah. Just as his fellow Israelites had dwelt in the wilderness, wandering with Moses for forty years, he too dwelt in the wilderness, and just as the Israelites of Moses day looked forward to a kingdom in the land of milk and honey, John and the Jews looked forward to the arrival of the Messiah and his kingdom.Like the desert wilderness, living under the law is not pleasant. God’s word tells us that the Israelites failed in keeping the law, and therefore, couldn’t stand before the holiness of God. When God made the first covenant with the Israelites, giving them the Ten Commandments at Sinai through Moses, they failed to keep the law. He had freed them from four hundred years of oppression by cleansing them of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, but they grumbled against God, doubted him and worshiped other gods. So God left them in the wilderness for forty years.Israel’s sin against God didn’t stop there either. Joshua led God’s people into the land of milk and honey through the Jordan River, passing from death to life, and still the Israelites turned their backs on God and the holiness he offered through the law. They chose instead to mix with the local pagan Canaanite and Philistine nations prostituting themselves with the gods of their heathen wives. God even gave them great judges like Gideon, Samson, and Samuel, kings like David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who led them in the ways of the Lord. And he gave the Israelites prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all of whom called God’s people to repentance and looked forward to a messiah king – a saviour. But the people of God placed their faith in other things rather than the holiness that God was offering through obedience to the law. So God withdrew his presence, the Israelites and Judeans were cut off from their land and they were exiled at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. And God was quiet—deathly quiet—, for four hundred years there wasn’t a word from neither a prophet nor a messenger of God.  Once again God’s people were under oppression from other nations and they lost their land. They were in the wilderness again, but this wilderness was much worse than the Sinai wilderness in which they wandered with God for forty years. Like Egypt, this was another four hundred year wilderness without his word. Some fourteen hundred years after Joshua had crossed the Jordan, John the Baptist baptised the children of Israel in the very same river. And as he washed them of their sins with a baptism of repentance he proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was near (Matt 3:2) and there was One coming whose sandals he was not fit to carry (Matt 3: 11).

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17)Matthew tells us in the gospel for today, ‘then Jesus came’. His coming changed everything forever. He came to the Jordan, the same place through which Joshua led the people of Israel after wandering in the Sinai wilderness for forty years. Jesus came to save all people from their sins, his name, Jesus, literally means – he will save. And it’s also no accident that the names Joshua and Jesus are the same name but just the Hebrew and the Greek variants.These men both came to the Jordan for life changing events. So we can’t let the significance of this location pass us by. The Jordan River is important; it’s the boundary over which the Israelites passed from a deadly wilderness environment into Canaan, the land of milk and honey. It’s the same waters which brought healing to Naaman, the same river through which Elijah passed before being taken into heaven, the same river carrying precious water, bringing life to the people and the land of Israel. This was the river where John the Baptist baptised the Jews for the forgiveness of their sins, the very sins God called them to turn away from through the observance of the law. And this was also the river where Jesus was baptised into his ministry of saving humanity.So as John the Baptist stood by the Jordan he knew who it was coming toward him. He also knew Jesus was far more powerful than he. He was aware that for him to baptise the One who could truly bring all people into the kingdom of heaven, the eternal land of milk and honey, just didn’t seem right. So he said, “Jesus I need to be baptised by you, and you come to me.” John baptised simply for repentance, Jesus didn’t need to repent, rather the one who needed to repent in Jesus’ presence was John. He needed the Holy Son of God to baptise him into the kingdom of heaven, to cleanse him from sin so he could stand holy before God the Father Almighty.John knew who he had baptised and everyone else present soon found out too. God had been silent for four hundred years, the doors of heaven were closed it might have seemed. But at that moment heaven was opened and God spoke to all saying “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” After four hundred years God the Father spoke, and sent the Holy Spirit down on Jesus. The Triune God has been speaking ever since. He does so through his written word by the power of the Holy Spirit as a result of his Apostles, who witnessed Jesus’ death, and resurrection from death, and whom he commanded to proclaim what they saw.Jesus came from the perfection of paradise, was born into his creation, was circumcised as a Jew under the old covenant, and was baptised in the Jordan into the wilderness of humanity’s sin, your sin and my sin, the sins of Israel and the sins of all people revealed by the law. In a very public way John consented to baptise Jesus so that righteousness for every person might be made complete in him. We live under righteousness because of he who was baptised into his public ministry, tempted by the devil, and tested by all around him. He did this and never placed a foot wrong. Then he took all our wrongdoings to the cross and buried them in hell, from which he rose victorious over death. He came from heaven and gives us heaven; he came into our wilderness and is taking us from our troubled wilderness wanderings. He gives us his holiness and has taken our sinful lives on himself in the waters of baptism.Nevertheless, we still live in chaotic times. Waves of sin continue to ripple through our lives wreaking havoc and seeking to separate us from our Heavenly Father and his Kingdom. However, the chaotic world in which we live constantly shows us why we need assurance and hope in Christ through the tranquil waters of holy baptism and his life giving word. So God the Father continues to give us his Holy Spirit. And in his written word, the Spirit always guides us to the gift of God’s Son whom he sent to take our hand and lead us through the wilderness of this life and into the paradise of eternity. Amen

What kind of home?

What kind of home?      John 1:1-18

We spent a lot of time getting our homes in order in the lead up to Christmas, didn’t we? Especially if we were having guests or family over for Christmas, we may have spent hours cleaning, decorating, cooking, and reorganizing. We want our homes to be welcoming places for those who visit us.

What kind of home welcomed the Son of God? What kind of dwelling place did he find? Well, you know the story well. There was no room for him at the inn, so his first home was in a stable. Not long after that Herod want to annihilate him, so he and his parents made Egypt their home. Upon return, his home became Nazareth, and there he lived for the next thirty years. Then, when his public ministry began, he was a guest in all kinds of homes. He dined with religious elite and with the prominent Pharisees of the day. But he also entered the homes of sinners and outcasts, like Zacchaeus. He visited the homes of those who were sick and those who had already died, like Jairus’ daughter whom he raised to life. In the many homes where he was a guest, there were those who loved him dearly and welcomed him. But there were also those who plotted his death – indeed, he would soon make his home in the grave; he would become a guest in the tomb.

But the gospel for today speaks of another home that Christ entered. In 1:14 the evangelist John tells us: ‘The Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us’. ‘The Word’ here refers to Christ, God’s Son. And what is meant by ‘flesh’? Flesh stands for everything we are: our bodies, our souls, and our minds; but also our weakness, our mortality and our sin. And that’s where Christ has made his home. He has made his home in our flesh. The Son of God has become a resident in all that we humans are.

What kind of welcome did he receive to this home? Not a warm one, John tells us: ‘though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him’. He stands at the front door of his own home, his own children answer the door, and yet they tell him: We don’t know who you are – good bye’.

What kind of welcome does he receive in your home? Do you always feel at ease with Jesus at your kitchen table, or in the back seat of your car? Is he welcome in the conversations you share and the thoughts you think? Do you invite him to join in the gossip? Is your home, is your flesh, a fitting place for Christ?

Well let’s face it, often it isn’t. But that’s just the point! Christ was born in Bethlehem for no other reason that he could live in your life. The Word became flesh so that you can welcome him every day. Christ is always a guest in the home of sinners. He won’t politely ask to leave when we become embarrassingly entangled in sin. He doesn’t mutter excuses about needing to be elsewhere when our good Christian front falls to pieces. As long as you’re willing, he’ll stay. For the Word became flesh – and he still is.

But as long as he stays, your home will also change. And that’s because as well as entering your home, he also brings gifts. Not a box of toys or bowl of tossed salad, but something much better. Listen again to our verse: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’. He comes with Christmas hampers full of grace and full of truth.

By his grace he accepts the state of our home – but with his truth he repairs and restores it. By grace he redeems us from the sins of our flesh – with his truth he renews us to serve him. His grace puts up with our ignorance and silliness – his truth enlightens our minds with the knowledge of God. By grace he dwells with sinners, and by his truth he sets us free from sin. This is the guest who enters our homes: the One who became flesh and dwelt among us.

And this is also what Christmas is all about. For these days will soon pass through Epiphany and then on to Lent and Easter and Pentecost. The baby in the manger will grow, he will suffer, he will die, he will rise and take his place in his eternal home, at the Father’s right hand. And there, brothers and sisters in Christ, he prepares a home for us. Not in fallen flesh, but in the new creation. For the one who wrote: ‘the Word became flesh’ also recorded Jesus’ promise: ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms…and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’.

May the Son of God, who prepares a home for us, dwell in our homes today and always. Amen.

Born for a purpose.

Isaiah 9_2-7 Born for a purpose

Well, by now most of us have opened our Christmas presents, taken a look and perhaps, especially the kids, have even played with them, using the gifts for their intended purpose.  Every gift has a purpose.  Every gift is given to be used and enjoyed for what it is.  Perhaps you received chocolates.  They were made to be eaten and enjoyed.  Or perhaps you received a digital camera.  It is made specifically to take pictures, so that we can record the special moments in our life.  We receive and give gifts for a specific purpose.

Christmas Day is a special day in which we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus as a baby, born to human parents, Mary and Joseph, and yet born the son of God.  We also rejoice and celebrate Jesus’ birth because he was born to us, given to us, as a gift from God.  His birth is good news and of great joy to us, because he was born to fulfill a specific purpose.  Now, none of us could say that about our lives.  Yes, we can look back after many years and see how God has used us for one purpose or another, but none of us could say that from our very first breath, to our last, we were born for just one purpose.  Jesus can.  From his first cry at the breast of Mary, to his last agonising cry from the wood of the cross, Jesus life was purely and only a gift for us.

The prophet Isaiah foretold of Jesus’ destiny, telling us of his purposeful life, saying he will be all of this “a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and a Prince of Peace.”  The angel of the Lord, who appeared before Mary, told how he will be called Jesus, because the purpose of his life is to save people from their sins.  The shepherds, who were out in the fields, looking after their sheep, heard an angel say “Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  No other baby has ever been born to such a destiny and for such a purpose, only Jesus.  He was born as a gift for humanity and he was born to be given to you and me for the specific purpose of being the Christ.  Since Jesus the Christ is a gift to us, as with every gift we receive, it is important we acknowledge and receive the gift for its intended purpose.

The title ‘Christ’, used by the angel announcing his birth, is not Jesus second name, it is the meaning of his birth; Christ means ‘The anointed one’.  He is specifically born the Christos in Greek, translated from the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning ‘anointed to be king.’  Jesus, born in a stable, a place where only slaves, the poor and the hired workers go, is the king of humanity.  Jesus, lying in a dirty manger wrapped in rags made into cloth, surrounded be frighten parents, smelly animals and sinful shepherds, is the world’s Christ.  The lowly place of his birth, and the humble people that gathered around him on that holy night, reveal to us the purpose for his birth; to be the Christ to those without hope; to be the savior to those who are sinners and to be Lord to those whose only king is sin, death and the devil.

Jesus was born into the messiness of life to be Christ the saviour.  And Jesus the Christ is purposely born into the messiness of our life, not so we will try and clean up our act…the stables were never cleaned for his birth; but that he clean us with the waters of baptism.  He was born into our failures, not so we try and be better people, the shepherds remained shepherds, but that he may save us from our sins; the sin we were all born into, and the sin that rules our life and leads to death.  Just as Jesus was born king in the dark Bethlehem night, so too is Jesus born to us Christ the king, in the darkness of our life, where only we know and go, not so we shine with good works, but that he shines in us like the star over Bethlehem, pointing us to that good news that he has been born to redeem us.

The words of Isaiah are now true for you “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined.” This is the purpose of the gift to us of Jesus birth.  And for this purpose we come here today, to worship the Christ; to receive the gifts of his kingdom, the forgiveness of sins.  And to leave this place, this stable, and finally this life, in peace with God.  “Saviour of the nations, come, Virgin’s son, make here your home!  Marvel now, O heav’n and earth, that the Lord chose such a birth.  For you are the Father’s Son who in flesh the vict’ry won.  By your mighty pow’r make whole all our ills of flesh and soul.  Amen (LSB 332:1, 6)

What can contain God.

Luke 2_1-14 What can contain God

I have this present I want to give to a friend of mine.  But I can’t just give it to him like this.  It needs to be put into a box.  It needs to be all nicely wrapped and on show, so it looks like a present from me.  I have a few boxes here.  Let’s see.  (try fitting into the boxes).  Oh no, the boxes are just too small; perhaps if I just push a little harder and squeese it into the biggest of the boxes.  There is just no way it can fit…oops, now I’ve broken it!

Tonight is Christmas Eve when we celebrate Jesus’ birth.  And part of celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is to give and receive presents; to place gifts into boxes, wrap them and either put them under a Christmas Tree or give them to people we love and care for…belongs we have the right size box that is!

What size box would it have to be to contain Jesus who is God?  How big would it have to be?  In the gospel of John, we are given some glues, he writes “I the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  The whole universe was created through Jesus.  Everything that is in existence is smaller than God; that means, he is very big.  Let’s try and measure just how big God may be, to see what size of box we would need, if we were to wrap him up as a gift.  1. Here is a picture of the earth, its circumference is 40, 000 km’s, that’s big, but God is bigger.  2. Here is a picture of our solar system which is 5, 913, 520, 000 km’s across from the sun to Pluto, big, but God is bigger.

3. Here is a picture of just part of the known universe.  One of those bright dots is our solar system.  Scientists say the universe is immeasurable, but if we were to try, it would be about 46 Billion light years across!  Now if light travels at 186, 282 miles per second, you do the sums!  That’s big, but God is bigger!  Work out what size box you would need to wrap God…you just can’t.  God is immeasurable, unknowable and beyond our understanding.

All things were created through him, so he is beyond creation.  Yet tonight we hear something astonishing, something remarkable that is announced by the angel of the Lord “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you…[or this is the box you will find him in]…a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Jesus Christ the Lord, through whom the whole universe was created; the Son of God, who was, who is and who is to come, the biggest of big, is so small and venerable, that he can be wrapped in cloths and be lying in a manger.  The angel said “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”  The good news is that Jesus came to us so small, that Mary could hold him in her arms; that we too can hold Jesus in our heart through faith.  The great joy for us is that Jesus came to us so harmless that shepherds could dare to come near, that we too can dare to come to him and be touched by his love and forgiveness.  He came for all people, so that even three wise men traveled from afar just to bring him gifts; so that we too, no matter where we live in response to Jesus we may raise our holy hands to him in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.

This is wonder and amazement of Christmas, that God would become one of us in baby Jesus.   That God, who is big enough to fill the universe, is small enough to fit in a box, the size of a manger.  The good news of great joy of his coming is that he was born as a child, as one of us, so that nothing can separate us from the love of God; neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  For he is our present, our gift, our Lord and our salvation, sent to us with love from God.

The way it is.

.

Isaiah 7_10-16 The way it is

There are some things that naturally just go together.  Like horse and cart.  Like bricks and mortar.  Like paper and pencil.  Like man and woman. They work together, they belong together and together they create something greater.  Then there are things that don’t quite work together. Like cats and dogs. Like fine wine and Maccas.  Like Australia (England) and cricket.  They don’t make sense together and don’t create something great when joined.

When in a tight situation, or even a desperate one, we want things to come together; we want things to join so that something great can come of it. King Ahaz of Judah found himself in a desperate situation, when the city of Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged by a foreign army.  He wanted something to come together that created something great; like an alliance with another country.  It made sense to join two different armies to one great army to defend Jerusalem.

When he and all of Judah and Jerusalem had heard the attacking Syrian army had already done this, making an alliance with Ehpram, the Northern kingdom known as Israel, it is reported that king Ahaz and all the people shook like trees in a forest during a storm; as naturally you would when members of your own family are plotting against you.  King Ahaz wanted to defend Jerusalem by doing the same.  To strengthen his position, he would have to join with an old enemy Assyria.  The alliance would have made sense, they belong together as natural as lightening belongs with thunder to create shock and awe.

Plans, similar to Ahaz’s go on all the time in our lives don’t they.  In order to escape out of a difficult situation, or to better our position, we make natural alliances with other people we think suit our needs.  Or we join with electronics, with money, with power, with anything we think belongs together to better our cause.   The nobler the cause, the more tempting it is to make an alliance.  Who could criticise us for acting shrewdly if our intentions are good?  Who could judge our alliances as wrong, if our cause is to better the world; or who could consider we were acting contrary to the God’s will, if we are certain our plans and alliances are purely to make great the mission of God?

Perhaps Ahaz thought this very thing when planning to join together with Assyria, a long term enemy of Jerusalem, to destroy the other branch of Israelites.  Who could criticise him for wanting to protect God’s own people; who could judge his alliance as wrong in such circumstances and for such a noble cause.  He was only doing all he could to keep the promised seed and kingdom of David alive; the promise foretold to David by the prophet Nathan, found in 2 Samuel 7 “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: when your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom…I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be his father and he will be my son…Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”

When it looks to us as if we are about to lose something precious, we need to be careful about making alliances, and working with what we think should come together for our cause, as the cause itself can become an idol; something we must do, even at great cost.  As you know, an idol demands a sacrifice, and we can sometimes be so blinded by our noble cause, we don’t actually see what is being sacrificed.  The Prophet Isaiah came to King Ahaz right at this very time, right when he was planning his own rescue package for the line of David at all cost.  Isaiah comes to Ahaz to tell him not to form an alliance with their old enemy Assyria.  That the Lord himself would fight for him; that the Lord has a greater plan already in motion to continue to kingdom promised to David.

 The Lord had already made an alliance and it was to be through this coming together that the shoot of Jesse, the seed of King David would come and not through any human alliances or plans.  The Lord even attached a sign to show Ahaz that his deal was fair dinkum; that he planned beyond the immediate saying “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  God himself had chosen to join with humanity, to become one with them, to be born to them as a child of a virgin.  And the child born will be called the son of God, Immanuel: God with us.  In this unlikely alliance, through this impossible union, a saviour will be born and he will be Christ the King.  And the kingdom of David will be upon his shoulders.  He will rule his kingdom in grace and truth.

A virgin giving birth to a son will be the sign of God’s covenant with Israel; that he himself will be their king and will be their God and live with them.  With that sort of impossible alliance, and with that sort of sign, that a virgin can give birth, but even more impossible, that God himself will be the son, only faith can grasp such a promise.  Only faith that lets go of reason can trust God could do such a thing.  Apart from faith, we can only go on relying on our own alliances, as King Ahaz ultimately did, only to destroy himself and most of the kingdom.  Yet this is how God chose to bring in the reign of his kingdom; through a virgin, through a son and finally through a cross on which the son of man was crucified for the sins of the world.

If Ahaz’s alliance could have worked to protect the seed of David and make great God’s kingdom, the Lord would not have had to send his son, born of a virgin.  If the kings of Israel could deliver from evil, then Jesus would not have to be born a servant king.  If the good deeds and religious acts of the Pharisees could have atoned for sin, then there would have been no need for the son of God to die on the cross.  No human alliances, no amount of coming together could ever be enough to overcome and defeat our enemy of sin, death and the devil.  Only the son of God, born of a virgin, and named Immanuel, could achieve and deliver such a victory.  The son to be born to the virgin will be named Jesus; he will save people from their sins.

Luther writes in his commentary on John the Baptist “No matter who a man may be or how prominent he may be, all count for nothing.  Something higher than, and different from, man is necessary, even though he be king, patriarch, or prophet…even if I wear a leather girdle and camel’s hide, eat locusts, and dwell along the water, I am not purified there by.  Christ alone does this.” (LW 22;434; 440) Our alliances and efforts to better ourselves, or the world, or to further our cause for the gospel, not matter how noble, are futile if the true alliance, between us and Christ Jesus are not glorified; if all we do and say does not point to Christ.

Advent is a time for us to remember the sign of the promise of God that “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  In this unlikely union between God and man, Jesus the Christ was born for all.  And in this alliance, God fulfilled the promises of old, that he himself would be our king and delivers us his people into victory, as St Paul writes in 1 Cor 15 “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Advent is a time to relook at the promise given by God at your baptism, “whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’; to trust in the promises held out in Holy Communion, “my body and blood given and shed for you”; and given also through the absolution “your sins are forgiven”.

The son born of a virgin was born for you; to be your God; to be your salvation.  Some things just belong together. The word and promises of God are our only alliance in which we trust, and Jesus is our only king.  To him be the glory forever and ever Amen

Deluge and abundance

Isaiah 35_1-10 Deluge and abundance

Well who would have imagined.  Who could have predicted.  Who could even comprehend the deluge of rain we have had in the past week?  And the huge amounts of water that can flow down the Macquarie River.  When we as a family drove through the city of orange for the first time on our way here to Dubbo, the country looked green and fertile.  Then we made our way down onto the plains.  Well! Who could have imagined.  As we drove through the drought ravaged land, our hearts dropped and we though to ourselves ‘we were told this area was prime farming land, but look at it’.  Having never been in this area before, being surrounded by ash and smoke haze from the Ganoo Forrest fires, we could not see how the rocky fields, the red dust and the dry dams could possibly ever be green again, let alone grow a viable crop.  We quickly realised how life on this land and in this region is fickle.

We just need to cast our mind back 12 months to remember the hopelessness and desperation we felt as the drought continued to worsen.  Some farmers and locals even took their own lives, sadly not being able to face the uncertainty anymore over how to pay back the years of debt, and ending it all rather than choosing to walk off their farms.  Back then our prayers to God reflected Psalm 77 “I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me…at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted…will the Lord reject forever?  Has God forgotten to be merciful?  Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

 Who could have imagined, that in one week, perhaps even in one day, the Lord God changed the fortunes of this land and completely flooded this region with a deluge of abundant rain.  After 10 years of nothing, in one day, in one week God poured down enough rain to break all records in some parts, showing us his mighty power and dominion over the earth and above all showing us his eternal faithfulness, mercy and compassion.  St Paul praises God saying “now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power…to him be glory in the church…”  ‘The Australian poem by Dorothea Mackellar says it all:

“I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains.  I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror -The wide brown land for me!”

In a way we are privileged to live in this region, because the very land we live on preaches God’s grace and faithfulness to us.  The droughts and flooding rains give evidence of God’s work.  Isaiah uses extreme droughts and flooding rains of his wilderness as synonyms to the workings of God’s promise of salvation thought the seed of Jesse.  The Messiah will come, Isaiah declares “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…he will come to save you.  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped…Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.”

Isaiah uses the imagery of droughts and the paradox of flooding rains to reveal the paradox we experience in life and compared with the promise.  The Israelites were living in exile and could not see a future.  They were in the wilderness of God’s judgment, the promised future, that they will be a blessing to all nations, seemed to have dried up; they were in a drought of God’s word.   Many Psalms of lament were written during this period.  One, Psalm 137, most clearly tells of their despair, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion…How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land.”  How can any of us sing of the Lord when we are in desert places?  We all have times of wilderness in our lives, when we struggle with the paradoxes of what is actually happening in our life and faith in Jesus who promised ‘Lo I will be with you to the very end of the age.’

We all go through droughts of God’s word, when our faith is tested with suffering and hardship.  When God seems to abandon us, leaving us with a desert like faith that is dry and parched and we can no longer sing God’s praises.  We don’t even want to open the bible, or study the word.  Instead of having a living and vibrant church life, we shrivel away.  Like with a drought, when the hot desert  winds sweep away the top soil, revealing all the rocks below the surface, in a time of personal struggle, its as if God seems to speak like sweeping spiritual winds, revealing  all our hidden rocks; faults in our character we thought we had dealt with; idols we never knew we had.  Our sinful nature is laid bare for all to see.

What then? Do we judge ourselves, God and the world as lose, as we often did during the effects of a drought in this region?  We can do this, go and hide, walk away from God, church and our faith.  We can judge what is going on by how things currently are, or we could go out into the desert and wait for the rains to pour down upon us.

The words of Isaiah spoke into the crisis of faith for Israelites ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…he will come to save you’.  In other words, the rains of God will come; the word of God will come to bring comfort and hope. Who would have imagined?  Who would have predicted?  Jesus, the promised shoot of Jesse, the Christ, did indeed come, and his miracles of restoring sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf and healing the lame, point as testimonies to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”

The droughts of faith we experience will pass, just as we have witnessed with the flooding.  The Lord will come, he will save you.  It is during the drought we need to take heed of what God is doing.  Droughts of faith are his alien work, to make us dry and thirsty for him.  To make us aware of our hidden rocks so that they can be dealt with; to drive us back to Jesus so that he may bless us with forgiveness and eternal life.

Jesus explains the paradox of living in spiritual drought and the pouring rain of God’s grace in the beatitudes “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”  God drives us to thirst, and be in desperate need of righteousness in our crisis of faith.  Not to destroy our faith, but to point us to Christ; in whom we have redemption.  Our thirst is filled with Jesus’ own righteousness, declaring us forgiven and accepted by him, for the sake of his suffering and death, even though we experience otherwise.  This is why St Paul writes “we live by faith, not by sight.”  By sight we experience life as if God is absent, not caring and even punishing us, by faith we know that his word, Jesus Christ, dwells in us richly and is working springs of life in our parched souls and causing our faith to burst into bloom.

Luther writes regarding affliction of the saints ‘[God] alone it is to whom we must flee as to a holy Anchor and our soul refuge when we think we are lost.  This is our task supreme: to become able to call upon God as a benign and forgiving Father, such as he ever is, even when we feel that God is against us and angry with us and that we are sinners who have deserved wrath and damnation.  And so indeed God must be judged, not according to what we see but according to his promises, in which he has assured us that he would be our Father and our God.’

The promise foretold by Isaiah has been fulfilled in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Yet the promise remains; that the word is near you.  By the power and action of God’s word and sacraments, you are recipients and benefactors of Jesus continuing ministry through the church.  As Isaiah promised in Chapter 55 of God’s word “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish…so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God in Christ Jesus, even in the midst of crisis, is deluging us with grace, abundantly pouring out his mercy and forgiveness.  You are hearing the good news that is still being preached to the poor; and are having your eyes opened, as the blind are having their eyes opened to God; and though you struggle to walk with the Lord, you together with the lame are walking on the way of holiness.  Who would have thought!  God is achieving immeasurably more than we asked or imagined.

Amen

Rewards points.

Matthew 3_1-12 Rewards points

Most of us have one or more of these. (show a rewards card).  The idea of a rewards card is to buy certain products or pay for purchases using the card, earn enough points to exchange them for a reward.  A rewards card works best when used often.  The more we use the card, the more certain we are of getting a reward, like air tickets, bonus fuel vouchers or whatever your rewards card offers.  Christmas is an ideal time to ensure we meet our rewards requirements; to use our credit card to the max; to flash the fly buys card in participating shops; to purchase only products that give us the most bonus points, so that we can be sure of our reward.  It’s a great system, nothing wrong with it as long as we don’t make the mistake of purchasing for the sake of getting a reward.

We are transactional people; it makes sense to us.  I do this for you, you give me a reward.  I spend money, you give me what I want.  Christmas gift giving reveals our transactional behaviour.  Think about it. How do you feel and what has your response been, when you received a gift from someone you didn’t expect, and had nothing in return to give them?  I can tell you now, you would have squirmed, felt uncomfortable, perhaps blushed and even excused yourself with a whole lot of fast talking, for not being able to give a gift in return.  We are transactional people, its how we function in the world.

John the Baptist was offering a gift.  In the waters of the Jordan, John was baptising people for the forgiveness of sin as a gift from God, apart from and free from any of the religious duties demanded by the ruling religious leaders of their day.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” was the message and many people throughout the region heeded the Baptist’s call and were baptised.  For doing nothing more than receiving the good news that God’s kingdom was near, and allowing themselves to be baptised, they were rewarded with the gift of the cleansing of their sins.  There was no transaction made, God was giving it all and there was nothing to give back in response.  There was no trans – just action on God’s part.

When the Sadducees and Pharisees came to do likewise, to be baptised by him, John, in typical prophetic style calls out, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”  Why, if baptism is a gift from God for the forgiveness of sins, does John scold the religious leaders for coming out?

John knew they were the great religious-transactors, that’s why.  As Jews and descendants of Abraham, they were given the very words of God, the Ten Commandments, and were given the promise that a saviour and king would come from their Father Abraham, as Isaiah foretold “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”  Sadly however, the gift of the promised Messiah foretold by Isaiah, who would freely forgive the sins of the world, was now only available to those who played the transactional game; a ‘reward’ transacted between the religious players and God.

Like when we use our rewards card to collect enough points to earn our reward, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptised believing they were earning ‘points’ that could be exchanged for  a reward from God; the forgiveness of sins.  They did the same with every religious act.  For them, religion was all about transactions.  If you were to adhere to the conditions and stipulations of the commandments, and those of their own making, it was worth something before God.  Then, with enough points, God would reward you with the kingdom.

John refused to baptism them because they were simply going to use the baptism as another transaction between them and God; another point on their religious rewards card; I do this…you reward me with that. He couldn’t baptise them because his baptism was dependant on repentance and faith in the coming Christ, as Jesus later said “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved”, and not on works and rewards.

We also often play the same game with God.  By nature we want to transact with him.  We think we have something we can offer, some ‘points’ we can use to redeem a reward from him.  In a transactional Christian faith, we oblige God to reward us; Christ and all his benefits no longer come to us by grace through faith, but by works and rewards.  While we are not as overt and boastful as the Pharisees, we are of the same mould.  We all have a hidden rewards system we use to try and manipulate God.  We know we have a transactional faith if we get angry when other’s aren’t as committed to our cause as we are; if we are jealous of another Christian’s strong faith; if we belittle someone for not being disciples in the same way we are; If we believe God only likes our style of worship or only songs and not hymns; Or we try to do every job at church because we feel others wouldn’t do it satisfactorily.

A transactional faith always looks to how many ‘points we are earning’, looks for rewards and judges others for their lack of ‘points’.  John the Baptist challenges this belief system by saying “I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”  Throw away any thoughts of a transaction. God is a God of action. He created stones out of nothing by the power of his word, so he can also make these same stones into sons of Abraham.  As I have said previously, God does not go around looking for people who can reward him, rather, he creates that which is rewarding to him.  By the very action of the suffering and death of his Son Jesus, the shoot of Jesse, and by the action of his resurrection, God creates holy and pleasing people.

The gospel of Jesus that, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification,” is the very action of God that brings about our repentance and faith; that creates us into righteous people, pleasing and rewarding to him.  God has done all the transacting; his son’s death in exchange for ours; his Son’s life in exchange for ours. That is why St Paul says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”.  Luther’s explanation of the third article in his Small Catechism, explains it best “I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him.  But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith.”

A transactional faith gives glory to our selves, repentance and faith in Christ alone gives all glory to God, which is the fruit of repentance.   To produce fruit in keeping with repentance is to know this assignment from Jesus “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  Advent is a time for us to reaffirm our faith in Christ alone.  That he alone saves.  That God is not a God of transaction but of action; that in the coming of Jesus “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”