Author: admin

The cross – road

Luke 13_31-35 the cross-road
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I have a weed here which is growing throughout the lawn.  I like the yellow flowers, so I suppose I could leave them out there.  Perhaps we could cover the whole backyard with this plant…a beautiful yellow field for the kids to run and roll around on.  Kids, would you like a backyard covered in these?  The down side are these ‘horrible’ spiny thorns!  (actually do this) Perhaps if I fertilize the plant and tenderly care for it by watering it, digging around the roots and pruning it, then it will stop growing the thorns.

Why won’t this work?  The problem is that this weed.  So the more I tenderly care for it, instead of reducing its thorns, the weed will actually increase its yield.   The more good I do for it, the more it shows its thorns!

What is the only solution left, if I don’t want to have thorns?  Yes, Round up!  The weed needs to be killed off to allow the grass to grow, to make way form the intended growth of lawn.  We know that in nature, dying brings new life.

We know this is true in farming and gardening, but we cannot see how this is true also in our own life.  We cannot see that we, since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, are produces of sin and are cursed to continually sin, as Isaiah said ‘All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.’  No matter how much we try and cultivate our good intentions, fertilize ourselves by trying to please God in what we say and do, following his commands to the last dot and iota, there is no way we can change who we are.  We cannot change any more that I can change this weed into anything but a thorn bush.  We need to die to self and let God make us a new creation.

Yet, we are constantly tricked into thinking we can re-create ourselves the more we are involved in Christian programs.  We somehow think we are better Christians before God if we don’t feel sinful; that God is more pleased, will warmly welcome us, is obliged to owe us, the more we tenderly care for ourselves and don’t produce the ‘thorns of sin.’  We read the bible as if its entire message is an instruction booklet to life, a guide to better living and growing; a self-help book on how to become good, like we would read a ‘Better homes and Gardens’ magazine to improve our backyard.  Believing we are better people before God by doing good things, is like believing I can get rid of thorns by caring and improving the weed…we can’t.

Sadly, that is how the Pharisees, the scribes and many of the people of Israel understood the scriptures.  They all had good intentions and strived to be with God, but could not comprehend all humanity’s complete and total sinfulness and separation from God.  They did not want to hear and refused to listen, even to Moses and all the prophets, that something far more radical than a good life was required to enter heaven – we need to die to self-righteousness and live by faith in God alone who makes all things new; who says in 1 Samuel 2: ‘The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.’

Rather, they wanted to walk the glory road to God and be self-appointed judges over who is good enough for God.  They stoned and killed the prophets in Jerusalem, which ironically means ‘place of peace’, hoping their message of repentance and grace would die with them.  The ‘place of peace’ became a killing field for God’s prophets, as Jesus laments ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you.’

Like the people of Israel, you and I also have good intentions.  We all long for and strive to share in the glory of God.  We came from glory, created by God to be with him and are therefore most at peace when in his presence, as one church father wrote ‘our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’  Sadly, our country, like Jerusalem was, is also a ‘killing field’ for God’s word.  Many would rather stay on the glory road of good intentions, the wide road; the road most travelled and be self-appointed judges’.  It is a glory road that leads to idolatry or self-trust, instead of trust in God.  It is a road that convinces us that we must at least try to do something on our part to get to heaven, and then, it is assumed, Christ will make up for our short comings.

The weed can only be a thorn bush, no matter how good it looks or how well I care for it.  As a sinner by nature, when it comes to the righteousness God seeks, I can do nothing but be judged a sinner, no matter how good I may look; we can sorrow over this, we can rebel against this, we can pretend its not true or we can take our chances, but God’s judgment remains, ‘all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.’

Jesus is saddened by so many choosing the glory road and laments over them for rejecting God’s word; a word which promised salvation will come through God’s own Son, and that salvation is given freely by grace to all who believe this promise, as we heard in Genesis” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.’  Again and again God promises salvation freely to all who believe, but sadly, many rejected his grace, as Jesus laments, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’

For anyone to be saved there is only one road that must be travelled and Jesus knows the road, the one that leads to the cross, as he says ‘I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day– for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!’  Jesus, as true man, must die in our place and for our sin.  The judgment of God upon humanity, ‘you will surely die’, must be fulfilled.  By journeying to the cross to die for our sin, Jesus is enacting the gift of free salvation promised in that same Garden of Eden, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’

The cross exposes the absolute depth and hopelessness of our sinful condition.  Only Jesus’ road to the cross, for us, can change our state of being, from sinner to saint.  Luther, commenting on what the cross means for us, wrote, ‘The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it.’ (Heidelberg Disputation 28)  That means, Jesus is not out and about in the world looking for good people to bring into heaven; rather, through the cross he puts to death the old and creates a new and pleasing people.  St Paul says the same ‘our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.’

With his arms out-stretched on the cross, Jesus gathered his children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  Jesus continues today to gather all people who believe, and he gathers and creates you and me to be his holy ones, as he stretches-out his arms beyond the cross, into the water’s of baptism.  It is ONLY here in baptism, where the cross is our ‘roundup’ that our old sinful nature is killed.  Yet it is also the water that brings new life,  as St Paul says in Romans 6 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.’

Jesus also continues to gather you and me to himself as his holy people, as he stretches-out his arms through the bread and wine in Holy Communion.  He is truly present for us, to re-create us, and we acknowledge this to be true in the liturgy of the church when we sing the ‘sanctus, or ‘Holy, holy, holy’, around the Lord’s Supper.  We repeat Jesus promise ‘I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

This is the gospel, the good news!  You are already a Christian, a child of God through baptism.  Your old self has been killed and continues to be killed by the water, Spirit and blood of Jesus and your new self in Christ now lives by the same water, Spirit and blood.  Go in peace and live each day under the protective wing of Jesus.

To tempt or be tempted

Luke 4:1-13 to Tempt or be tempted

I have some chocolates here!  Let me come and give you one. (pass around)  Now you are probably thinking ‘that was a nice and kind thing to do.’  But was it?  What if I gave you the chocolates because I wanted to get something from you?  What if I gave you the chocolates just to make myself look good before everyone?  Or what if I gave you the chocolates to gain control over you?  Perhaps it was just a kind gesture…perhaps there is something more sinister

Now before I create an air of suspicion, I just want to make the point that things are not always as they appear.  The good we do for someone, even with the best intentions, can be tainted by alternative motives.  The good that we do for others, may be in fact be benefiting us more that the receiver; it is me who actually ends up better off; you get fat and high sugar levels…and I get the thanks and the glory!

In today’s gospel, Luke records the temptation of Jesus.  On the surface, what the devil asks of Jesus is not really a temptation, it is more an offering of help; a seemingly good deed by the devil to assist Jesus to get on with his earthly mission.  Jesus had just spent 40 days alone in the desert without food and now he was hungry.  The devil appears to simply want to help ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’  If we were there at the time, we may have said ‘what a nice and kind person to suggest that’, yet Jesus flatly refuses.

Appearing as a good friend, who never takes ‘no’ for an answer when help is need, the devil offers another good suggestion, he offers the world and all authority to Jesus.  How good’s that!  Jesus could short-cut his ministry without the cross.  What a good offer, yet once again Jesus rejects the good offer as totally out of hand.  Finally, what better kindness can the devil offer Jesus?  Well, as caring and kind as the devil can get, he takes Jesus home to his Father’s house, to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Perhaps the devils senses that Jesus is feeling so alone after being in the desert for 40 days, that a visit to his Father’s house ort to cheer him up.  To demonstrate to Jesus just how much he is loved by his Father and how important he is in the heavenly kingdom, the devil said to Jesus ‘If you are the Son of God,”…”throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

Once again and for the final time Jesus assertively says ‘no’, to something we would think was a good offer.  Things are not always as they appear.  The good that is offered, can be tainted by alternative motives.  The good that is intended for others, may be in fact be benefiting the giver more that the receiver.  Jesus knew this was the case here.  The devil’s offers were not good at all; it was a temptation into sin.  But how does he know to reject this offer?  Was it because he was God and man?  Had he read up on ‘manipulative techniques used by suspicious people’ in the latest psychological journals?  Perhaps you, as a Christian, are wondering how we can recognise when we are being tempted or worse, when we are tempting someone else, even when offering what appears to be good works.

Jesus had only one criterion through which he filtered every good or bad deed; the one criterion he measured everything by: Does what is being offered give all glory to God.  Let me repeat that: does the good offered give all glory to God the Father, or to the one offering it, or to the receiver?  That’s it!  That’s how Jesus judged the devil’s offers and how he judged the offers of all people, even us and found that we all glorified ourselves, as Psalm14 and 53 declare ‘ There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, … there is no one who does good, not even one.’

The devil tempted Jesus with something good…scripture, but used it for evil.  He used it for his glory and to tempt Jesus to do the same.  The devil used God’s word to entice Jesus and to gain for him self wealth, power and glory!  The great temptation trilogy, that first caused Adam and Eve to sin in the garden of Eden, and the same temptation trilogy that still causes us to fall into sin…wealth, power and glory.  Wealth, by telling Jesus he could make stones into bread, power, by offering him authority over the world, and glory, by putting the Lord to the test.  Jesus instantly knew the devil’s offer was a ‘wolf wrapped in sheep’s clothing’ by using the only criterion he knew…’does what is offered give all glory to God?’

No, it didn’t!  That is why he was able to reply with scripture against scripture.  Jesus rightly interpreted God’s word, for he is the word of God in flesh and knew that scripture only gave glory to God alone, as he said ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.’  The devil was using God’s word to bring glory upon him self, Jesus rightly brings glory to the Father answering ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.‘ And ‘It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ And finally, when tempted to take the glory for himself, Jesus responds ‘It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.‘

Jesus’ criterion, ‘does it give all glory to God,’ is how we are to judge everything we do and every temptation we face and is also the best way to understand God’s word.  We are to ask ourselves the question ‘is what I am offering or saying giving all glory to God’, or am I getting the glory.  Am I tempting someone, even with God’s word, with wealth, power, or glory, so they receive glory instead of God?  Am I being tempted, even with God’s word, with wealth, or power, or glory that is not mine to have?  If Christ was tempted in every way, we, who are sinful by nature, will certainly be tempted or be the ones who are doing the tempting.

That is why we can praise God and give him the glory because he has given us his Son, Jesus Christ, ‘Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!’  He overcame the trilogy of temptation because we did not; he over came sin, death and the devil because we could not.

We may have the criterion ‘to give all glory to God’, which helps in times of temptation, but the truth be known, we will constantly fall and grasp for our own glory.  But praise be to God, for he has given us Jesus, who overcame all temptation and made us sons and daughters of God.  It is the blood of Jesus that overcame sin and death on the cross.  Jesus blood now covers us and protects us from the punishment we deserve, as St Paul in Roman’s 10 says ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

By faith in Jesus, trusting that he now lives for us and in us, through his word and sacraments, we have already overcome sin and temptation.  Even though we continue to temp others, or be tempted ourselves; even though we still give glory to ourselves, by repentance and faith in Jesus atoning sacrifice, the blood of Jesus forgives and covers us…in Christ we have overcome.  Hear and believe what Jesus says to us in the book of Revelation: ‘He who overcomes will be dressed in white. I will never blot out their name from the book of life, but will acknowledge their name before my Father and his angels.’

In temptation, in times of trial, and in giving service to others, remember Jesus criteria for judging, perhaps this could best be done by memorizing these words from hymn number 793 in our Lutheran hymnal

‘To God be the glory, great things he has done!

So loved the world that he gave us his Son,

Who yielded his life an atonement for sin,

And open the life-gate that all may go in.

Amen

Transformed by the Light

Transformed by the light 1 Cor 3:12-4:2

A baby is born!  There is new life.  There is joy, there is future.  A new light shines in the world.  (turn on a lamp with a dimmer to full)  When we are born, our life is something like this brightly glowing lamp; its new, fresh and full of life.  But as we age, it is like the light of our life begins to dim.  There are the milestones in life that remind us of our mortality; of the dimming of our light of life (Turning the dimmer down get the congregation to recount some of the milestones in life, but don’t put out.)

The finality and certainty of death snuffs out our light of life. Psalm 103:15-16 reminds us of our dimming light: As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.’ (turn off light)

There is a point in life, when all of us will realise our life is dimming.  Yes, for some, this revelation will come at old age, yet for others, the dimming of their light of life may come at an early age.  Sickness, injury, depression, loneliness or hopelessness, reveal to us that our light of life is dimming.  It is at these times when it is hardest to comprehend and see the reality St Paul’s words that ‘we, … are being transformed into [Christ’s] likeness with ever-increasing glory.’

Just the other day I was with an elderly gentleman.  His head was balding, with only a small ring of white hair remaining.  His face was weathered with age, his eyes showed that his years had been hard; he was a retired Uniting Church minister and he was leading us in a minister’s retreat.  He told us of the time when he looked into the mirror, it was his awakening, a realisation that he was now an old man; his light was dimming.  He, as we all do, struggled to grasp the good news that, ‘we..are being transformed into Christ’s likeness with ever-increasing glory’.  When he looked into the mirror, all he saw was death; he could not grasp the reality that some how Christ was in him shining in ‘ever-increasing glory.’

He wrote this poem…

Like the poem, Jesus’ disciple’s often peered and probed into Jesus, hoping to see a glimpse, a vision of the light and glory he often spoke about, yet it was not forth coming.  Jesus, the one who claimed to be the light of the world, seemed to be dimming like all of us.  In fact, he would often talk about his death to them saying, ‘the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death.’

Yet suddenly, in this dimness of light, in Jesus’ very body and life that was heading towards death, the bright gospel light is suddenly revealed.  Luke writes ‘As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.’

Jesus is transfigured, revealing the hidden glory of God that is within his very being; the light, the power, the awesomeness of God’s love: the same glory that Moses used to look upon in the wilderness; a light so glorious that his face would shine, long after he left the presence of the Lord.  A holiness that was so powerful, it was reflected on his face; so fearsome that the Israelites were too scared to even look at Moses and insisted he cover his face with a vale.  Jesus is the light of the world.  His transfiguration shines forth to proclaim that he is truly God, hidden and incarnate in the man Jesus, who was soon to be crucified.  Yet because he is the light of the world, the glory of God would continue to shine even in his death.  On the third day, he rose again to live for ever and bring many to glory.

The transfiguration of Jesus, the revealing of the glory of God, was a glimpse, a probing, a peering, a vision of God; a chance look into the glorious face of God. A face that shone love, compassion and grace as Jesus said ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’  So much love shone at that moment that Peter was awe struck and wanted to bask in the glory of God forever.

That very light of grace and love, that shone in Jesus, now shines in us.  What was once shining only in the domain of God is now ours in Christ.  What was once only shining before Moses now shines in our hearts through the gospel.  The glory of God now rests in us through Christ, who dwells in us by faith.  ‘And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ Our glory is still hidden in Christ.  We cannot see his light.  It is only by faith and will only be fully revealed in death.

Christ in us, as St Paul says in Galatians 2:20, changes our light of life, from a dying light, to a brightening light; ‘it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me’.  (use the light dimmer and make it brighter and brighter) In baptism, we are born again by the spirit and water.  The light of Christ begins to shine in us.  As we get older; as we pass those milestones of faith, where we hear and receive Christ and the power of the Spirit, through word and sacrament, the glory of Christ shines brighter and brighter (get congregation to name some milestones of faith and turn up the light).

Jesus reverses our light of life, from a dimming light that is snuffed out at death, to an ever increasing light of life that will at death, shine forever bright as we shine together with him in heaven.

Amen

God’s word, dare to believe

Luke 5:1-11 God’s word…dare to believe

(Begin by rolling a dice)  “The dice is cast and the number…has been rolled.’  There is nothing that can be done to change the fact that the number…has been rolled.  Call it fate, call it destiny, call it predestined, call it (number); once the die has been cast, nothing can change the reality of what is before us.

A group of despondent fishermen sat on the shore cleaning their nets near a crowd with Jesus, perhaps listening to him speak, perhaps not.  Fate was such that they had caught nothing, even though they had fished all night.  Reality stared them in the face as they folded their empty nets and left their empty boats…there were no fish:  no fish to take to market, not fish to take to the family, no fish to show for their hard work.  Nothing could change this fact.  For them, the die had been cast and it didn’t go their way…perhaps tomorrow night…perhaps not.

Jesus, standing near by, was teaching the word of God to the crowd gathered around him.  Teaching that the kingdom of God is at hand, announcing that the time of God’s favour is now, and that the Son of man, the Messiah, as foretold in the scriptures, is now dwelling among them and they are to turn and believe this word of God.  Seeing the fishing boats resting on the shore, with no fish, together with a group of despondent fishermen, Jesus takes this as an opportunity to challenge the people; to demonstrate his word by his actions.

Casting off, just a short distance from the land, Jesus gave the fishermen and those in earshot on the shore, a challenge, a duel if you like, between his word and destiny.  The dice had been cast last night and the result was clear for all to see…no fish.  Jesus, the word of God in flesh, the same very word that created the fish saying: “Let the water teem with living creatures’, now commands Simon to ‘let down the nets for a catch.’  Jesus is challenging Simon, and those who heard the word of God, to have faith that his word has the power and authority to change destiny; to change the role of the dice; to do the very thing it says…catch fish.

Jesus’ command to Simon is a challenge of faith.  In other words, ‘do you believe I can do this, or don’t you?  Do you believe that my promise to ‘bring life to the full’ has the power to save from your destiny of death?  Do you believe that the word of God I have been speaking is true?

Simon responds ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.’

Let’s freeze time for a moment, and reflect on what is happening.  Simon’s questioning of Jesus’ word, is another way of saying ‘did God really say.’  We last heard these words come from the devil’s mouth in the Garden of Eden.  The serpent tricked Adam and Eve into sinning and eating the forbidden fruit, by questioning God’s word saying, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?‘

The essence of sin, that brought death, is not that Adam and Eve did the wrong thing by eating the fruit.  The essence of our sinfulness, is not that we do the wrong things; not that you or I hurt, harbor anger, gossip, lie, cheat or are selfish.  Sin is unbelief.  Sin is to believe that ‘God is a liar and cannot do what he says.’ Sin is to attribute truth to us and falsehood to God; to think we are reliable and God is unreliable. The results of Adam and Eve’s decision are plain for all to see, death reigns…just as God said it would.  The die is cast – death is our destiny and we can do nothing to change it.

But Jesus is proclaiming a new word.  The word the fishermen and the crowds around Jesus heard; a word that promises life; a word of good news that proclaims ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’;  Jesus is the word of God, that challenges, defies and transforms our destiny from death, into a promise of life.  God’s word in flesh, Jesus, died to pay our dept to sin, so that we didn’t have to.  Yes, the die has been cast, and death is our destiny, but we can dare to believe God’s promise is true.

(play video: Indiana Jones and the last crusade)

Indiana Jones, standing on the edge of a cliff, in faith steps out into the chasm, because the book tells him so, and he receives what is promised.  Simon, on the boat with Jesus, net in hand, knowing the fact that there are no fish, casts his net…because, ‘Jesus said so’ and he receives what is promised.  Luke records, ‘When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.’

Jesus was true to his word, fish where caught where there were none.  He did this to demonstrate to us his faithfulness.  He did this to demonstrate that he is the ‘way, the truth and the life’ where there is none.  Yet he did something even greater than to demonstrate that we can dare believe on him; that we can dare to cast our net of hope upon him and step out in faith, because he said so and receive what is promised…life after death.  Romans 5:8 ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

Sin is unbelief.  Righteousness is to believe.   St Paul says ‘the righteous will live by faith.’  Jesus calls us to faith in him so that we might receive his gift of life eternal.  He also calls us and challenges us to proclaim his faithfulness to the world; to dare others to believe on him also; to come and follow him.

You have the word of God, you have already believed and so received…go in peace, Jesus says ‘your faith has made your well.’     Amen

Hidden Love

Luke 4: 21-30 hidden love

I brought some beautiful roses along with me.  Here, I will hand them out to you to hold while I give the sermon.  The rose…beautiful, colourful and fragrant, what does the beautiful flower remind you of?  Love;

Commitment;

Hope;

Future;

Life.

Yet, as those who are holding the rose stem would attest, on the same branch as the rose blossoms, there are sharp thorns.  What do the thorns remind you of?

Pain;

Danger;

Warning;

Suffering;

Death;

(holding and pointing to either rose or thorns) How could God allow this to be?  How could God create such beauty together with such ugliness?  Two complete opposites co-existing together, like love amid pain; commitment in danger; hope in the midst of suffering; life in the middle of death: beauty and ugliness together make up the whole that make up the rose.

As we live our lives and go through the ups and downs of hopes raised and hopes dashed; experience the joys of new life and the sorrows of death, God can seem to us to be a rose flower one moment and the next a thorn in our side.  One moment God seems to pour out his love upon us, blessing us with health, hope and certainty, the next moment, it is as if we have just grabbed the stem of a rose bush and have been pierced by the thorns; trouble, fear and suffering is all we experience.

We experience the same opposites co-existing together in our Christian life. One moment we seem to be full of faith, trusting in the certainty that we are God’s baptised child, secure in his love, living in his grace and forgiveness; we praise him and give him glory.  The next moment we are gripped with uncertainty, doubt and fear because we cannot break free from an oppressive sin we know God is anger about.  We lose our faith because we fear his justice and retribution for our wrong doing.  Our praise for God quickly turns to grumbling.  One moment we love him, the next we hate him.  In fact, such is our experience of God, it seems easier to hate God than to love him.

Our experience of God as either a rose or a thorn is not new, the people of Jesus time, those who were touched by the presence of Jesus, who listened to his message of salvation and followed him around, constantly struggled to come to terms with his apparent contradictive nature.  One moment he was to be praised for his message of hope, his miracles of healing, and his call to life, as shown after Jesus raised a widow’s son, ‘all were filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.’

Then suddenly, it seemed as if he turned 180 degrees and was out to bring pain on these very same people who were praising him.  Like a thorn on a rose, he stung their lives with words of warnings, and actions that brought danger, suffering and even death.  This sudden apparent turn about by Jesus made the hearts and mouths of those who once praised him, to curse him.   Once, confused after Jesus criticised the religious people around him, they turned against him saying “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us.’  They had ears, but they didn’t understand; had eyes but they couldn’t see, as Jesus often warned.

Jesus was in his home town, teaching in the synagogue, the people who came to see and hear him, ‘all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.’  Knowing Jesus personally, and hearing of the miracles he had performed in Capernaum, they gladly praised him, especially after he read the prophecy of Isaiah and declared ‘today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.‘  Jesus was their rose flower, someone who brought life, hope and a future.  He was their chosen one to set them free with the Lord’s favour.  Then the next moment the crowds were furious with him.  As Luke records ‘They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.’ Jesus had told them the Gentiles were the recipients of God’s grace because of their unbelief.

It is very easy for many us to continue to have a similar ‘love/hate’ relationship with God throughout our whole life.  It is very easy to remain in a constant wave pattern of love or hate depending on how we experience God; a constant flipping from hearing to not hearing. God is a rose to us today, but a thorn to us tomorrow because of what happens to us.  Erasmus, a theologian during Luther’s time, saddened by his sinful state said ‘[God seems] to delight in the torments of poor wretches and to be a fitter object for hate than for love.’  (Bondage of the will: 54-55)  He knew God is love, yet he often experienced the sting of God’s anger against sin.

Why is this?  Is it because God is bi-polo and loves us one minute and hates us the next?  Or is it that our love for God is dependant on the good or bad things that happen in our lives?  Or is it our sinful nature that causes us to hear but not perceive, as Jesus warns “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’? If only we could know this mysterious God and stop our oscillating!

Thank God we don’t have to search the mysteries of God, because it is impossible for us to know God in his hiddeness and sovereignty  apart from Christ, as St Paul writes in Romans 11 ‘How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? ‘.  It is impossible for us to explain and interpret why God in his majesty does what he does.  The good news is that Jesus entered into our life as the light of God to show us the heart of God; to demonstrate that he does truly love us, as St John writes ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.’  Apart from Jesus, we will continue to remain oscillating between faith and unbelief.  Christ, his life, death on the cross for our sin and resurrection for our justification, grounds our faith and brings certainty.

Jesus says ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’  This simply means that like a child we listen to, and receive God for who he is in Christ Jesus, and not attempt to explore his mysterious ways apart from Christ.  St Paul also encourages us not to hate God when he seems to attack us, but to look to Christ in times of confusion saying ‘in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’

Our joy, our hope, our future, our life, especially in the midst of fear, suffering, sin and death, is the rose of God, Jesus Christ and him crucified for you.  Trust yourself to Christ; be humble enough to receive as God’s guarantee the word which God speaks to you in Christ, and trust yourself to Christ on the basis of that word however dreadful God may appear to you at times.

Faith trusts that just like roses are always found among thorns, God’s love will always be found even in the midst of sin and despair.  Luther once said ‘If I could by any means understand how this same God, who makes such a show of wrath and unrighteousness, and yet be merciful and just, there would be no need for faith.  But as it is, the impossibility of understanding makes room for faith…Now, the highest degree of faith is to believe that he is merciful, though he saves so few and damns so many.’

 In those times when  crowds around you become furious at God, and seek to condemn and reject you because of him, take hold of Christ and together with him, walk right through the crowd untouched; trusting he is God’s love amid pain; commitment in danger; hope in the midst of suffering; life in the middle of death: beauty and ugliness that come together in Christ is that which makes up the whole of faith, that which makes up the whole of life with our rose, Jesus Christ.  Amen

And the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen

What matters most

1 Corinthians 12_12-31 what matters most
Who remembers learning how to walk?  No one I know remembers purposely planning to take their first step and walking.  Walking is something natural. It just happens.  Almost invariably, at the appropriate time in our development, we learn to walk.  Our body learns to work as one.  Each muscle, bone, ligament and limb work together with all our senses to begin to go forward; to walk; to be one body in motion and with purpose.  No part of our body is any more important than the other.  All parts of our body, see and unseen, work together to walk.  Otherwise walking unassisted would be impossible.  Each step we take is really a God given miracle of the unity of our body.

When Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 and onto the moon, he said these famous words (who can quote them?) ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ That special moment in history, when man first walked on the moon, was not Neil Armstrong’s individual achievement, it was humanity’s achievement as a whole that got him there.  It was a corporate body of people from all around the world who worked together as one that enabled history to be made; one step by one man, but it was the many steps of many men and women working together, as a body does, that enabled Neil Armstrong to make that one small step.

Two types of bodies working together to achieve, flourish and overcome, to step-out and to walk; Firstly, our own body working as one, the other, many bodies working corporally as one; both working together in harmony and unity; both walking together.  This is how it is to be in the church.  St Paul, frustrated with disunity, individualism, jealousy, division, boasting over spiritual gifts and prideful remarks between the members of the Corinthian church, wrote ‘The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body– whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free– and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.’

You and I as individual baptized people of God, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, actually make up the body of Christ, the church.  Two types of bodies, our own and then every Christian, make up the other body, the corporate body of Christ, the church, of whom he is the head.  Have you ever thought about this, the miracle of our walking as one body with Christ?  You did not have a say in your birth and you did not plan to walk, it all came about without your doing from the day you were born.

The miracle is that we became members of Christ’s body and walk with him in the same way, by no decision, effort or special talents of our own, but through the grace of God given to us at our new birth in baptism, as Jesus said in John 15:16 “you did not choose me, but I chose you.’  You, purely by virtue of your baptism were born again into a new body that is the body of Christ, our church here.  And it is in your new body that you now walk, together as one body in Christ.

When fishing on Yalata beach (yes I did catch the great big Snapper), with nothing but miles of beach, sand dunes and sea with no vegetation, you loose perspective of distance. I found this out very dramatically.  After casting my bait into the sea and putting by rod into its holder, I walked away to look for a place to camp for the night.  I happened to turn around and saw my fishing rod being pulled into the sea!  Thinking of nothing else but the possibility loosing the big fish that must have been on the end of my disappearing rod, I ran to grab the rod before it was pulled into the sea.  Well, I ran and ran, yet I didn’t seem to be getting any closer.  The distance was further than I thought.  Each step was agonizingly small compared to the distance I needed to travel.

However, I was so concerned about my own steps, that I forgot that my brother was just a few short steps from my disappearing rod.  I could have called out to him.  I could have trusted that his small step, though insignificant compared to my great steps, would have had an instant impact.  Instead I raced alone and risked loosing everything.

How do you view yourself as a member of Christ’s body and your walk with Christ?  Perhaps you are tempted to do what I did on the beach and try to run it alone.  In our passion to see results, see ‘fish’ caught for Jesus, we concentrate on what we are doing; on how our walk is making all the difference and when things get tough, we run that bit harder, not trusting or just forgetting that our brother or sister in Christ is just a step away from achieving the goal for us and together with us; forgetting that we were all given the one Spirit to drink, we are all one in Christ…walking together in one purpose.  Are you someone who is prepared to risk everything, even your own health, risking burn out and lose of faith all because you feel then need to run alone?

Unfortunately, there is a misguided emphasis in the body of Christ that promotes the belief  that what matters most is our ‘personal relationship with Jesus’.  Its unfortunate because it fosters members of the body of Christ to become individuals and personal walkers with Christ.  The emphasis on the Christian individual that ‘you can make a difference’ is not what Christ intended for his body the church.

St Paul uses the analogy of the human body to show how ludicrous it is when individuals try to walk alone in the body of Christ, ‘If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?… As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.’

Perhaps living in this individualistic Christian environment you feel your small steps in Christ make no difference, that your Christian walk will make little or no contribution to the church.  Perhaps you feel jealous of others because God has given them greater and more important gifts.  ‘They can do far better, so why should I try’, you may think.  What if my brother, standing next to my fishing rod, that was hurtling into the sea, and knowing I was struggling to get to it, thought ‘what would my couple of little steps do?’  Let’s not lose sight of who we are.  You are a new creation, re-born into the body of Christ through baptism.  You belong to Christ and you are a vital and important part of his body, the church.  Not because of what you do, or who you are, but because of who’s you are and to whom you belong.

Let me quote Paul from the message bible ‘The old labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free – are no longer useful.  We need something larger, more comprehensive.  I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less.  A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge.  Its all the different – but – similar parts arranged and functioning together.  If Foot said ‘I’m not elegant like hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to the body,’ would that make it so?  If Ear said ‘I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,’ would you want to remove it from the body?’

Knowing that we are all valuable members of Christ and his body, and not just individuals walking alone, when we step out in mission or ministry, perhaps we could paraphrase Neil Armstrong’s famous words ‘One small step for me, one giant leap for Christ’s church!’  Then, what would matter most, is not what I say and do as an individual, but what the body as a whole is achieving as we walk together in Christ.  What would matter most is not what I proclaim, but what the church as a whole proclaims and is founded upon, Christ and him crucified and our new creation as people of God through baptism.

So when you feel persecuted or unworthy, or don’t know your place in the body, or are suffering on account of body of Christ, remember you are a member of the church, who together with share your pain.  What matters most however, is that Christ is the head and thus when we hurt he hurts with us.

Let me conclude with Luther’s encouraging words in his commentary on Galatians ‘…the church suffers on Christ’s account, as Christ himself testifies when he says in Acts 9:4: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?  Saul had not done any violence to Christ, but only to his church.  But whoever touches this, touches the apple of his eye (Zech. 2:8).  The head is more sensitive and responsive in its feeling than the other parts of the body, as experiences teaches.  When the small toe or some other tiny part of the body is hurt, the face immediately shows that it feels this; the nose contracts, the eyes flash, etc.  In the same way Christ, our head, makes our afflictions his own, so that when we, who are his body, suffer, he is affected as though the evils were his own.’

Double vision

Luke 2:1-14 double vision

 

Have you ever gone to a 3D movie?  You know the ones, where you have to
wear those silly looking glasses with one red coloured lens and the other blue?  Before the movie starts, no one wants to look silly, so the special glasses are not put on!  As you begin to watch the 3D movie without the glasses, everything seems to be doubled up, nothing seems to be connected, one picture seems to overlap the other; yet they are the same picture.  You can watch the movie, but it is very difficult to really see what is actually going on.  It is only when you put on the special glasses, do you see clearly and enjoy the 3D special effects.  With the glasses on, the doubled pictures become one and then you become part of the movie, those with out the glasses remain watching in double vision and have no concept of what is going on.

St Luke deliberately opens the miracle of the first Christmas Day, when God the creator of the universe enters into his creation as a baby, with a very grandiose earthly introduction ‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to his own town to register.’  An earthly king, who’s reign is short and who’s life as a man is but a shadow, as Job says ‘He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow,’ gains great notoriety and power with his announcement and  plans to unite Rome and conquer the world, as reflected in Luke’s account.

Jesus, on the other hand, the creative word of God, who is born Christ the Lord, king of heaven, who has dominion over rulers and principalities, who entered into the world of this earthly king; into the earthly affairs and organization structures of the Roman Empire, gains little notoriety, Luke writes ‘and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.’  Two kings, two kingdoms, two rulers, both with their purpose to conquer and rule, both with plans to unite and call home their subjects.  One is known everywhere on earth, the other, Jesus, is known only by a few.

Like when we go to the 3D movies without the special glasses on and we only see double, it appears to be a confusing doubling up; two kings, two plans, two kingdoms, yet two completely different purposes; one earthly, one heavenly; one seen one unseen.  Caesar’s rule has its purpose and fulfillment in this life.  Jesus’ rule has its purpose and fulfillment in the life to come at the end of time.  There seems to be no connection what so ever between the two. Caesar’s rule, or for that matter, any earthly ruler, seems more important to us.  Jesus rule here on earth has little or no significance for our life now, his birth as a heavenly king only finds its purpose for our life after we die.  Double vision!

We often suffer this double vision, this disconnectedness between our life now and the relevance of Jesus’ birth for us today, because of sin.  Our sinful nature blinds us to the reality, to the hope and to the joy that Jesus birth in Bethlehem was to redeem all people from the bondage to sin.   The devil blinds us to the good news that Jesus does rule in our life now.  Double vision stops us from seeing that Jesus’ birth as Lord and saviour means he rules now and in eternity; we are blind and cannot see the hope Jesus can bring in our life now, as Jesus said ‘For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

The one special Christmas word, the gospel word that enables us to see again and to connect the importance of Jesus birth to our life now, the one word we need to hear to correct our double vision, is this…‘today’.  The gospel word ‘today’!  ‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’  The word ‘today’, that the angel spoke as part of the announcement, meant that right at that very moment, Jesus was already ‘Christ the Lord’.

‘Today’, the angel announced, while nothing had changed and the shepherds watched their sheep, baby Jesus was already the good shepherd, Christ the Lord, who shepherds people from their sins.  Today, while Caesar was busy counting his people, Jesus was NOT counting sins against humanity, as Paul writes in 2 Cor ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.’  As the angel spoke those words, ‘today’ right at that very moment salvation dawned upon all people and it will continue to dawn on every man, woman and child until Jesus’ return.

Jesus emphasized the fact that his kingly rule justified sinners ‘today’, that is, immediately, in the lives of those still living, by using the same gospel word ‘today’, as the angel did on that first Christmas night.  To Zacchaeus the tax collector, Jesus said ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’  To the man still hanging on the cross, who could do nothing but die, Jesus said ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’

The gospel word ‘today’ brings the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus as Christ the Lord into our lives.  The word ‘today’ brings salvation to our house; it is ‘today’ that we will surely be with Jesus in paradise.  Jesus’ word is living and active…it says what it does and does what it says.  That is why there is no dualism in life, no double vision, no separating Jesus from our everyday life.  Because of the gospel word of Jesus ‘today’, our whole life is one with Christ who paid the ransom for sin and redeemed us to himself on the cross.

Today, as you hear and believe Jesus’ word ‘whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned,’ you are the recipient and the joyful hearer of the of the angel’s Christmas message ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’

The epiphany of grace

Titus 2:1, 11-15  The epiphany of grace

 

I have a wonderful Christmas gift here.  Its just the perfect present for you,
everything you dream a present would be or imagine a present to be.  (hold out the ‘unseen present’)  This is the ‘unseen gift’ because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by giving you something they don’t want.  I am relying on your good will that the intention is good…I mean well!

The down side for you is that you will never see any evidence that I mean well.  You will never actually receive anything that is tangible, useful or even of benefit from this ‘unseen present’; a present that supposedly expresses my love.  In the end you will never be certain that I have actually given you anything.

The grace of God, the love of God…God is faithful, we even sing ‘God is an awesome God’, how often have we heard these phrases?   Yet in a way, these words and phrases lack substance and bring us little assurance.  After all, can we describe or experience the ‘grace of God?’  I mean, what is really meant by the grace of God and how can we be certain we have it?  Just talking about and knowing about ‘the grace of God’ means very little and gives us nothing, which means this ‘unseen gift’ is not a gift at all; a ‘gift’ implies there is actually something given that will benefit the receiver…The grace of God implies he has something to give us that will benefit us.

Tonight we celebrate the grace of God.  Tonight we celebrate with the words of St Paul in Titus ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.’  God did not remain hidden nor did he give us an ‘unseen gift’ of grace.  The grace of God has appeared to all people.  The grace of God has appeared in the human baby Jesus; born in a real stable, in a real manger and born to a real mum, Mary.  He is both truly God and truly human.  At Christmas we celebrate the epiphany, the revealing of God’s grace to us, the ‘seen gift of God’s grace’, the baby Jesus who will save us from our sins, as St John also declares ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

The grace of God is real and tangible in the Christ Child Jesus.  The grace of God, Jesus, who saves you and me, saves all people from their sin, is not an idea, a philosophy, a hope or wish, like an ‘unseen gift’, here tonight we celebrate the tangible; the historical fact and the reality that God has actually given us a gift of grace in his Son Jesus that will benefit all people, as we sing in, Hark! The herald angels sing ‘mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.’

Like with a real gift given to us that needs to be unwrapped once receive, Jesus’ birth was just the beginning of God’s epiphany of grace.  The depth of his love for us, the awesomeness of his grace was fully revealed on the cross, when Jesus was crucified for our sin.  On that real wooden cross, with real wounds, and real blood, God’s epiphany of real grace paid the dept of our real sin, as Paul writes in Romans ‘He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.’

The epiphany of God’s grace for all people began in the manger.  The awesomeness of God’s love was unwrapped on the cross.  The fullness of God’s grace has been completed in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven.   At Christmas we celebrate the epiphany of God’s grace to all people.  Every Sunday we celebrate the distribution or the giving out of God’s grace in Holy Communion.  Every Sunday God continues to reveal his grace to us, through his word and sacrament.  It is in the church that his gift of forgiveness is given and received.  The church and its liturgy are now the new manger of Jesus.  The church is the stable where we, who are made wise unto salvation, come and worship the king.

May this Christmas give you joy, hope, peace and the certainty that in Jesus, the grace of God is revealed.

Amen

A life changing moment

Luke 1:39-45 A life changing moment

 

Have you ever experienced a life changing moment?  That moment when a word was said to you; a word that made time stand still as you tried to take in the significance of what was said; as you tried to comprehend the enormity of change that was now dawning on you.  Perhaps you heard that life changing word in the doctor’s surgery…you have cancer.  Perhaps you heard that life changing word from the bank manager…we are gong to foreclose the farm.    That life changing word can also be a good one ‘will you marry me?’  ‘We’re having a baby!

And it is at that moment, as time stands still, with the impact of the words still soaking in, we realise our life will never be the same.  Many of us take days, weeks even months to comprehend it and to make that first step out into an unknown world.  For some of us that life changing word has been bad news and we remain stuck at that point, reliving and replaying the words in our mind night after night; questioning why, and how its not fair, crying why me, what did I do to deserve this?  Sadly, it is often at this low point we turn to our own plans to redeem the situation, rather than leave it to God who promises in Jeremiah 29 ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’

At this dark point we begin to contrive our redeeming plans; plans that we put in place to recoup what we lost; to try and bring new life for ourselves.  Plans that have our rights as the driving force.  Last year in Australia the life changing words ‘You’re pregnant!’ were said to 90, 000 women.  What life changing words, ‘You’re pregnant!’  Unfortunately, the life changing word was not what these women or couples wanted to hear.  That figure I gave you were the 90, 000 aborted babies in Australia last year.  98% of these babies were aborted because ‘the parents felt the baby was an inconvenience!’    The words ‘you’re pregnant’, probably repeated themselves in their mind night after night; questioning why and how its not fair, crying why me, what did I do to deserve this.  800 mums and dads every week in NSW alone, choose to redeem their situation and put an end the life of their baby.

Sadly, as with all our own redeeming acts to make a new life for ourselves, an abortion is not a redeeming act that brings life.  Far from it, most women suffer emotionally over the guilt for many years after.  In fact many never get over the second life changing words the doctor probably says ‘the procedure’s finished’.  Those words haunt these women to the point of deep depression, all while men continue to allow fellow men to push for this self-redeeming act…not even considering our God given duty to care for women, as St Peter urges ‘Husbands, … be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life.’

Mary heard these same life changing words, ‘you’re pregnant’, not by a doctor, but by God himself through the angel Gabriel.  These words could not have come at a worse time.  Mary was really still a young girl, yet to be married to Joseph and she was still a virgin.  She had fulfilled all care and duty to remain faithful to Joseph and to the law of God, and now she was going to have to endure public humiliation and disgrace, and the uneasy prospect of telling Joseph.  This baby Jesus was going to be ‘very inconvenient’.  Yet she did not run from the redeeming act of God for humanity; she did not devise her own redeeming act to try and bring normality to her life, she pondered the words in her heart.  Perhaps the promise of God ‘For I know the plans I have for you,”… “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,’ had already been planted deep in her heart and she used them to interpret the inconvenient life changing words of the angel.

Ignoring her own inconvenience, and in total trust in the good news, she responds to the message ‘I am the Lord’s servant,” … “May it be to me as you have said.’  By faith Mary journeys to the hill country around Judea, carrying the Christ child, to see her relative Elizabeth, where she receives a blessing from her, as Luke records ‘Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!’  She is blessed because she not only carries Jesus in her womb, the redeemer who will be a blessing to all people, as promised to Abraham centuries earlier ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’  She is part of God’s redeeming plan for the world.  And she is blessed because she forsook her own rights and life and believed the word of promise that this ‘inconvenient child’ is going to save people from their sins.  And as with Abraham, she too, was a woman of faith, and it was ‘credited to her as righteousness.’  She is blessed.

By faith Mary continued to journey with her son Jesus, all the way to the cross, and by faith she suffered the piercing of her soul as she watched Jesus die on the cross.  But her faith was rewarded through the cross.  She was the first to witness Jesus’ resurrection.  God’s redeeming act came to all people through the cross.   It is often true for us, as it was for Mary, that Jesus the Christ child seems to be very inconvenient in our well planed out lives.  His redeeming act to bring us salvation through the cross will often mean giving up our rights, our dreams and hopes and most inconveniently, our own plans to redeem our life.  With Jesus dwelling in our hearts, he will, as he did Mary, lead us to the cross where our soul is pierced, not with pain, but with his word of the Spirit; a word that is life changing because he puts to death our sinful nature and brings us to new life.

As we read and hear his word, and receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, where the word himself, Jesus, cleanses our conscience, he puts to death our pride, our false gods that we depend on as our right in life.  He puts to death everything that will stop us from entering the kingdom of God by revealing the sin in our lives and dealing with.  And this can be a difficult time in our life, we may even lose what we thought was most important and valuable in our eyes, as something sinful can appear good for us.  But by faith, we bear the cross of Jesus, trusting the promise that the Lord has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’  By Faith we hear and believe Jesus words ‘What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul.

And our faith, like Mary’s, which trusts in the redeeming act of God, which truly brings new life, unlike our own redeeming acts, will be rewarded.  By faith we trust God’s life changing word that there is another side to the cross, the resurrection; the other life changing word from Jesus, a word of good news that brings us into his kingdom.  St Paul says ‘For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.’

By faith, with Jesus in our heart, we journey the same journey with Mary. Together with Jesus he takes us to the cross in this life and then beyond the grave to eternal life.  Yet even in the shadow of the cross we can rejoice, because it is Jesus who is leading us and his plans are to prosper us and give us hope that goes far beyond Christmas.  May this hope encourage you to ponder in your heart, the very life changing word of Jesus this Christmas ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’

 Amen

One greater than me

Luke 3:7-18  One greater than me.

 

For the past few months, I have been training our dog, Sox, a purebred boarder Collie, to round up and herd sheep.   I have been going out to a place on the Dunnedoo Rd, where a guy by the name of Toby trains dogs for sheep trials.  With a few tips and a short demonstration, Sox and I were let lose on the sheep!  We actually went quite well…surprisingly.  Sox went around and around the sheep, herding them in.  Each time Sox and I went out to Toby’s place, Sox got a little better at responding to my commands and rounding up sheep, and I was getting better at being the ‘boss’.  In fact, just the other day, when Sox had obeyed every command well, I though to myself… now I’m great, no one could do better.

Well, Sox must have sensed what I was thinking and the next time we went out, she refused to listen to any of my commands, no matter how much I shouted them.  After a short time of frustration, from the in the corner of my eye, I saw Toby coming towards me.  Sox didn’t she was to busy running amuck.  Toby stood next to me, and in a commanding stature and with a pointing glare in his eye, he commanded with a load voice ‘stop, that’ll do!  Sox froze.  She had just heard the voice of the ‘real’ boss, and I just realized someone greater then me, someone more powerful than me, had come to save the day. I had a misunderstanding about who was the greatest!

John the Baptist was a great man of God.  He spoke with authority, with insistence and determination in his words.  He was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.  So great was John that many of the people of Israel came out to hear him and hoped that he may have even been the messiah, Luke records ‘The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.’

What is greatness to you?  What makes someone great?  What about a great man or woman of God, what faith or actions might make them great…who comes to mind?  Have you ever wondered about yourself, what makes you a great person before God? We often hear of great people doing great things for God.  And there are times in our life of discipleship when we are convinced we are doing great.

In the book ‘Faith Like Potatoes’, the author told how he would hand his crop over to the Lord and say ‘Here it is, Lord.  Your crop of maize’.  And when it was nearly dead from lack of opening rain, he prayed ‘Lord, your crop is dying’, and sure enough, God brought rain to grow the crop.  Perhaps a great person before God is someone who has committed their whole life to prayer and giving everything to God for his work, as the potato man.   Your prayer life…how great are you?

Being great before God may be seen by us as a verb, an action word, an imperative, as Jesus himself urges ‘For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.’  Perhaps greatness before God is measured by religious commitment; how passionately we say the Creed, how neatly we dress, whether we sing with gusto the latest Christian songs or by the number of church events we turn up to. Look at the greatness of the Pharisees, as Jesus mentioned.  They went to every religious event.  They knew the scriptures well and adhered to every command of God and kept every day holy, not just the Sabbath.  Is that what makes a great Christian?  How great are you at being religious…greater than the Pharisees?

Luke records John’s harsh words to the religious and sanctimonious of his time, when they came to him to be baptized, something you’d think would have pleased John, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.’  John was great enough to know that these outwardly religious people were coming to be baptized by him, not because they were repentant and intended to turn from sin, but because they thought their outward action of being baptised would make them great before God, like every other religious act they had fulfilled.  They believed to be great before God, or to be righteous, was within their human power; God had set out the ‘way’, be baptized, you just had to tick the boxes.

The error of active righteousness or active greatness before God is riddled throughout the church, just as it was among the Jews in John’s day.  Luther called this active greatness before God a theology of glory.  It is glorious to us because, like me with training Sox, we mistakenly take ourselves to be the boss.  Its glorious because we don’t have to admit sin and daily repent.  Its glorious because we are the ones who choose to follow Jesus.  Our decision for Christ and our choice to be baptized is what makes us great before God. A self-made greatness, that leaves us uncertain about our personal salvation in times of temptation, despair or doubt.

John was not a prophet of glory.  John was a herald and prophet of the cross and of death and new birth.  He was only a voice in the desert saying, ‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’  He didn’t promote himself, he promoted the coming Christ as the more powerful one because he is the ‘righteousness of God’; he is the one who will make all humanity, you…me…great before God by his greatness alone, through a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire.

John’s baptism cleansed with water, Jesus’ baptism cleanses with the Holy Spirit and fire.  For you and for me, for everyone, Jesus was born in a stable as a baby, born to be one with humanity and was baptized in the Jordan with the water and the Spirit.  Then he was sent to the cross to die, the baptism of fire, cleansing us of the wrath and judgment of God our Father.  A baptism of fire that cleansed and dissipated the Father’s anger over our sin, clearly heard in Jesus words ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.’  And he raised Jesus to life to live forever as the Son of God who, through baptism, the Holy Spirit and fire, brings many sons to glory.

Baptism, Spirit and the fire of the cross is what makes us great before God.  A greatness before God that is given to us by one more powerful than us; a greatness that is received by faith.  A greatness that is in God’s hands which leaves us in no doubt about our righteousness before God; in no doubt about our salvation, as Jesus himself said ‘who ever believes and is baptized will be saved.’  And it is precisely in baptism, as John foretold, that we are infused with Jesus, our life becomes his, as St Paul says ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’

Robert Kolb, a Lutheran pastor and theologian wrote ‘At the cross God meets his human creatures where they are, in the shadow of death…only at the foot of the cross can true human identity be discovered.  There, realising whose I am, I realise who I am.’

A great Christian is known by all three witnesses; baptism, Holy Spirit and fire.  All three bearing witness to your salvation.  Yes, even the fire.  The fire of the cross in our life; the fire of suffering and persecution for Christ’s sake; the fire of our own death to self and death to sin, as we daily repent and seek God’s forgiveness and new life in Christ, as St Paul said in Romans 6:11 ‘count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’

So praise be to God, each one of us can boast in the certainty that we are great Christians before God. All of us have received the three great witnesses, but our boasting is not about ourselves, but about Jesus, the one who is greater, as Stuart Townend writes in ‘How Deep the Father’s Love’; ‘I will not boast in anything: no gifts, no power, no wisdom.  But I will boast in Jesus Christ: his death and resurrection.’

Amen