Author: admin

I will wash you.

I will wash you John 13-1-17

There are times, perhaps when we have been working in the garden, or painting, or fixing the car, that we get our hands so dirty that they don’t come clean after washing them.  We can scrub and scrub, but to little effect; the dirt has actually stained our hands.  Over time the stain will vanish and our hands will once again be clean.

At the Last Supper, the Passover meal, where the disciples were eating the sacrificial remembrance meal, Jesus gets up and takes off his outer garment, grabs a towel and a bowl of water and washes the disciple’s feet.  Either, one of the disciples has really smelly feet and the odour was ruining the meal, or Jesus was making a spiritual point by washing the dirtiest part of a person’s body.

Of course we know there was more to Jesus’ foot washing than just trying to clean some dirty feet.  Otherwise he would not have interrupted such an important and religiously significant meal with such an un-dignified display.   The Passover meal drew the Jewish people back to the time of the exodus, the night of the Passover.  By eating a specially sacrificed lamb they remembered the night the blood of a lamb was spread on the door posts to protect the people inside the house from the angel of death.  When the angel saw the blood, he passed over the house and the first born male was kept safe, but all those without the lamb’s blood, had their first born killed by the angel.

Jesus deliberately used the significance of this meal to demonstrate the cleansing he was about to accomplish by his blood on the cross.  Every person, man, woman and child, you and me, are stained with dirt.  Every one of those disciple’s gathered with Jesus were stained with dirt.  No matter how much we wash we remained stained, not with physical dirt, but with the stain of sin and death.

Like when we cannot seem to get a stain out of our hands, we cannot get the stain of sin out of our lives; it is a mark that remains with us forever and taints everything we do and say, as Jesus said in Matthew 15: ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean.‘  The stain of sin is at our core and if left, separates us from the holiness of God.

Jesus washes the disciple’s feet to demonstrate that he will be the one who will wash their sinful hearts, just as king David pleaded and prayed for many years earlier ‘Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Peter however, rejects the washing because he feels Jesus should not wash his feet, that would be humiliating for him, but Jesus replies, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”… “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  The external washing of the disciple’s feet pointed to Jesus’ washing of our hearts that will clean them from the stain of sin once and for all.

The cross was to be the washing instrument and Jesus’ body and blood serve as the cleansing agent through whom God would clean the world of sin, death and the devil.  By washing the feet of the disciple’s, Jesus shows how he must be a servant of the world, a lowly cleaner if you like, just as foretold in Isaiah 53; ‘Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.’

Just as the blood of the sacrificial lamb saved the people of Israel and brought them out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus blood saves us, cleanses us and brings us out of slavery from sin, death and the devil and brings us into God’s presence, as Jesus said ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’  While Judas would have no part in it and left the room, by faith in Jesus word’s Peter allows Jesus to wash his feet, and he was cleansed.  By faith we allow Jesus to wash us clean.

By faith we trust that his blood has washed us, ready for heaven.  By faith we allow Jesus to be our servant, humble and gracious towards us, washing our conscience by his word and blood and serving us with his body and blood in his Holy meal, as the writer of Hebrews says ‘let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’

We have been cleansed by Jesus and tonight, as I wash the feet of some of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded of Jesus servant hood; his expression of love that saw him die in our place to make us clean.  Yet there is something else important demonstrated in this foot washing.  With Jesus in us by faith, we also become servants to one another.  Just by being cleansed ourselves, we are able to cleanse others through acts of love and forgiveness.  We can wash each other by choosing not to bring up past hurts or past sins committed against us.  By the power of God’s word and the Spirit’s encouragement, we can choose not to habour anger and bitterness against each other.

We can also wash each other when we speak, read, sing and pray God’s word to each other.  Jesus is present in his word, therefore his is present washing through the word, as he promised ‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.’ A disciple is really being Jesus’ co-cleaner, who’s only work is to be humble and a slave, to bring cleansing to others through the justifying  word of Jesus and to live humbly themselves as they also seek forgiveness from Jesus and other Christians for failing to do this very thing.

This is what it means to love one another and this is what Jesus offers us.  As you experience or witness the foot washing, we will sing to each other the very cleansing words of Jesus ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

 

Amen

Where is your confidence

Where is your confidence John 12_1-8

Put your hand up if you love going to the dentist!  Tell me why no one or very few people like to go to the dentist?  Well if you don’t like going why do you go?

Of course we go to the dentist because we need to look after our teeth, and we know that sometimes the best treatment may mean we will suffer pain; the pain of pulling a tooth, or scrapping of our gums, the agony of orthodontic work.  Just the sound of the dentist’s drill puts shivers up our spine.  We endure suffering and pain because we place our trust in the dentist and the outcome he is promising.  We may be a quivering mess, we may look like and feel like a wimp, we may even feel like crying, but the expertise of the dentist gives us the courage to trust in him; to trust that the procedure will heal us.  Fear yet hope.  Worry yet faith; weakness yet strength to endure; yet not faith in my strength, but faith in the professionalism of the dentist.

We say that we have faith in God.  We say that faith justifies, faith makes us right with God, Luther reformed the church proclaiming ‘it is by faith alone that we are saved.’  St Paul in Ephesians 2:8 says ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.’  Yet have you ever questioned yourself about what this ‘faith’ is; what it looks like, and how do I know I have the ‘faith’ that saves and endures suffering and temptation?  And is it after all ‘my faith’ that saves?

St John records a woman of great faith who is acting in a way that looks as if she has no faith.  Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who pleaded with Jesus to help her dying brother, who witnessed Jesus raise her brother from the dead, pours expensive perfume on Jesus feet and then wipes them with her hair. Luke records that she was a quivering mess, crying aloud in front of religious guests; with her tears she soaked Jesus’ garments.  Certainly not what we would expect of a woman of faith and neither did Judas.

He, on the other hand, looks, speaks and acts like a man of great faith.  He is offended by this flirty show of emotion, unbecoming of a strong woman of faith, and instantly points out her wrongdoing in poring out expensive oil on Jesus; such a waste of money!  Not good discipleship!  This same scenario could be played out in any church today.  One member may be shaking and balling, unable to compose themselves and they seem to always make ‘unchristian decisions’ in their life.  While another member is quite calm, always in the right, always doing what appears good, the idealistic disciple of Jesus.  As observers in the pews, we would tend to judge by outward actions that the calm member has the ‘faith’, while the other distraught person is a lost cause…but is that so?

Perhaps we judge ourselves or another person to have strong saving faith because, like Judas, we look for actions;  that we or they have a life of committed discipleship; can point out another person’s failures and weaknesses; can easily give advice on a how a person of faith should live and use money and are a wealth of on knowledge on religion.  Is this the ‘faith alone’ Luther speaks of, or the ‘saving faith’ Paul talks about in Ephesians? Or the discipleship Jesus was seeking?  Judas thought so and it showed by his very words and actions, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’  Sadly however, placing our faith in our good works is not saving faith.  The object of Judas’ faith was in himself and his plans and not in Jesus.

Faith always has an object it believes in; someone it trusts in for good and wellbeing.  Our visit to the dentist is an example of faith.  It is not ‘trust and faith’ in our calm composure or personal strength that brings about healing to our teeth, its our faith in the dentist, knowing that the pain and suffering he inflicts upon us will actually heal us.  This is why I can look a quivering mess, doing crazing things out of fear, yet still have strong faith…in fact my faith can even be greater than someone who appears to have it all together, because my faith is in the dentist and not in my personal courage.

Judas looked the ideal disciple, appeared to love God’s word, he followed Jesus and seemed to have his life together, but the object of his faith was money and glory, as John hints: ‘He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.’   When the hour of severe trial and suffering came, when he was confronted with the full wrath of God for what he had done; when the word of God accused his conscience for betraying Jesus, his confidence vanished, his works vanished, and so did his faith in himself; he could not stand alone before God and could not find comfort because the object of his faith was not in Jesus but in money and himself and so he tragically committed suicide.

When the object of our faith is in our self, even though we speak about Jesus and act confident and seem sure of our salvation, it is not saving faith, it is idolatry.  God’s word of law, that convicts us of this, is far stronger and will destroy us.   Only faith that has its object as Jesus can endure such suffering and work of God’s word. We should not be surprised when we suffer doubt and the pain that we are not a good enough Christian, as we fail in attempting to be our own saviour, it is God operating on us.  Like when a dentist pulls a decaying tooth to stop an infection that will kill us, God’s word of law works like a dentist’s instrument, pulling out any faith that is not in Christ; killing off any obsession we may have with self-reliance.

Mary, who looked weak and doomed, who was crying and seemingly wasting money had in fact, saving faith.  While everyone else in the room came to see Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead, Mary came to see Jesus, the object of her faith.  Once, she was proud, demanding Jesus act the way she thought, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’  But after seeing Jesus raise her brother from the grave, she was humble.  The suffering and anguish Jesus allowed her to go through, broke her pride and at the raising of Lazarus, she was able to see that salvation only comes through faith in Jesus.  God’s word of law killed, but his greater and final word, the gospel brought life and produced saving faith in Mary.

In a way, the perfume she poured over Jesus feet was a visible resemblance of her faith; a faith that was once bottled up in self-reliance; bottled as ‘precious’ by the world,  but was now broken free and poured out upon Jesus as a sign that Jesus was now her object of faith.  Even using her hair to wipe the perfume, which was a sign of humiliation, resembled the fact that she had nothing of worth to offer Jesus; she was willing to suffer humiliation and be nothing in the eyes of the world because her faith was now in Jesus.

Saving faith has as its object Jesus.  It trusts outside of itself.  It is a faith that justifies because it places its trust in Jesus who went to the cross for us and died on our behalf, ‘who was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.’  Your faith is saving faith when it takes hold and believes these words of Jesus ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.’  Saved by faith alone means nothing else than hearing this gospel and receiving the sacraments, trusting that Jesus alone saves through these means.

The law says ‘Do this to be saved,’ and it is never done.  ‘Grace says, ‘believe this,’ and everything is already done’!  Fear yet hope.  Worry yet faith; weakness yet strength to endure; yet not faith in my strength, but faith in Christ alone.  Amen

Forever eating or eating forever

John 6-25-35 forever eating or eating forever

Benjamin Franklin once said “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to
be happy.”  Some days, we’d have to agree with him!  There are, of course, many other pleasures in the world that can bring us delight and happiness.  When we come across certain smells, sounds, sights, touch, or tastes that we like, our senses are stimulated and delight over whelms us, and just for that moment, we seem to enjoy life more, and somehow, we sense God is found in our experience of good things.  Our senses, and the experience of joy they give us, are very powerful.  They seem to trigger our memory to past events in our life.  Its like we are transported, by a certain smell, or taste, back to a happier time, or even to a future anticipated time of happiness.

I have something in this bag (pine tree branch) that I don’t want you to see, but I want you to smell it.  I want you to close your eyes and let your senses take you back or forward to the time when you had or will smell this.  I don’t want you to say anything to anybody until I ask you.  (go around to a number of people)  What did your sense of smell remind you of?  Yes, most of you said Christmas.  The smell of fresh pine needles reminded us and transported us back to the happy time of Christmas with the family gathered around the Christmas tree.  In fact, as you look at the food around the sanctuary, each one of us will see or smell something special that stimulates our memory to a joyous time in the past or to anticipating LUNCH!

We should not be surprised by this, that created things bring us joy, and remind us of happy times; that we feel, in some special way, a part of creation and we have a sense of closeness to God.  We shouldn’t be surprised, because we were created by God out of creation, Genesis 2 records ‘the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’  We are created by God from the same dust as this tree comes from.

We live and breathe God’s creation, we eat of God’s creation and till the soil and rule over creation as God has commanded; everything we sense, experience and enjoy is for our good and well being.  God created the world for us, as Genesis says ‘And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground– trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.’ And the prophet Jeremiah also reminds us of the goodness of God ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’  Today is Harvest Thanksgiving, when we thank God for his goodness to us.  We display the fruits of his earth to remind us of his providence towards us; to praise him for his wonders.

Sadly, however, because of our sinfulness, we can easily mistake our happiness in creation, and the continual abundance of good things, as a sign that God is happy with us, like Benjamin Franklin’s quote, and so we are content to just chase after worldly happiness and nothing else…after all, if God is happy if I am happy, what else is there to chase after?  We receive so much joy and delight from the things we love, thinking its proof God’s happy, that we forget Jesus’ word of warning in Matthew 5 ‘[My Father] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.’

God does indeed provide everything for our physical wellbeing, and in that sense, he is happy that we are happy enjoying his creation, but we have a problem, a relationship problem; a spiritual problem that God is unhappy about and cuts us off from eternal life.  While we are glad to receive all physical good from him, we have chosen to make these things into our god, our priority in life, which is a rejection of God’s 1st commandment.

We have chosen to love and enjoy the goodness of creation, and not God.  We have chosen to chase after everything that makes us happy, praising our possessions for bringing us self-worth and purpose, rather than looking to God as the giver of all things; who gives us life on earth and in eternity.  God, because of our sin, is forced by his holiness to reject us and exclude us from heaven.

How frustrating and saddening it must have been for Jesus, who came into the world as the bread of heaven, to feed and bring people into life eternal, only to be rejected for earthly, perishable bread; bread that only lasted a while.  Crowds of people gathered around him after he fed them with five loaves of bread and two fish.  Instead of recognising that the miracle pointed to Jesus as the one who gave food for eternal life, they chased him for the perishable bread, so Jesus warned them saying ‘Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’

Jesus sets before us, two types of food side by side: the perishable and the eternal; the food of the field and the food of heaven.  Both are given by God for us, both are for our good, but one, the bread of the field is limited to this life.  The bread that came down from heaven, Jesus, is food for eternity.  The bread of the field, we eat with our mouths.  We forever eat this bread only to perish.  The bread that came down from heaven, we eat with our ears, by hearing his word, and this bread we eat forever, never to perish.   The bread of the field we toil and labour to eat just a few crumbs; Jesus, the bread of heaven is given to us as a gift.  All of eternity and not just a few crumbs are given to all who eat of Jesus.

There is no work, labour or toil, to receive the bread that feeds us to eternal life, as Jesus said in his reply to the question ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?” …”The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’  Here today, believe that Jesus is present feeding you in his word, and present feeding you now through the words of my mouth.

Believe in Jesus, the one sent from God; Jesus is the one with the seal of approval from God the Father, who said ‘This is my Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to him.’  Why would we want to be fed from anyone or anything else that is only good for this life, instead come to Jesus, as Peter confessed ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’

As you come to the Lord’s Table, to receive Jesus the bread of heaven, present in the bread and wine, stop, and like you did with the pine needles, smell the fragrance of the fresh bread and the aroma of the wine.  Close your eyes and let Jesus’ body and blood remind you of the joy of the eternal banquet that is yet to come.  Let the aroma and the taste of the wine stimulate your senses to remind you that this is the Lord’s blood poured out for you on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins.  This is your meal, given and shed for you that you may eat of eternal life.

Sadly, while we are able to feast, there is a famine of heavenly bread just out those doors.  Not that the bread is lacking, its just that many, like in Jesus day, still chase after the bread that perishes.   As we leave the feast today, allow the fragrance of Jesus that is still on your lips, fill your home, your work place and the community you live in.  Let the word of Jesus stir a hunger in those who are full of perishing bread.  Just one or two words of Jesus, spoken by you, as you are prompted by the Spirit, can instill a new spiritual hunger.  You have nothing to lose, yet they have everything to gain.

Just as you would recommend a great restaurant to your friends, that served fine food, so go in Jesus name and in the confidence that you can recommend such good food that it is heavenly, for the food you bring are the words of Jesus, who declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’  Amen

Freedom from slavery

World Day of Prayer Acts 16_16-34 Freedom from slavery

We hear from Luke in the book of Acts, a story of a slave girl.  Many of us
may have read this story numerous times without even considering the plight of the girl; without even reflecting on her captivity and abuse as a salve girl at the hands of some greedy men.  We glance over what seems a minor side issue that sets the scene for the bigger story of Paul and Silus in prison.  Yet, when we spend a little time dwelling on the girl’s plight, we begin to see how her ‘owners’ or ‘abusers’ took advantage of her to better their own lives, stripping her of any dignity, taking away her childhood and exploiting her for the sake of a few easy dollars.

If we were to delve a little deeper into the story, we would realize that the owners of the slave girl were only instruments, stooges, playing their part in the devil’s plans, so in a way, they too, were enslaved without knowing it.  They were taking advantage of her ‘already’ enslavement to an evil spirit; a spirit that had kept this young girl in bondage to sorcery, trickery and lies; she was enslaved to a slave driver, but worse still, she was in a greater and more dangerous slavery to an evil spirit.  Even though she saw Paul, Silus and the other missionaries and knew they were from God, saying ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved’, she could not set herself free or do anything to break her chains of bondage to the evil spirit.

By this story, God draws us into the realisation of our own bondage and slavery…to sin.  We begin to see, as we reflect on our secret thoughts, our words and actions, that we are like the girl and are born slaves to sin, as King David says in Psalm 51 ‘Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.’  We, like the girl, and even the slavedrivers, play our part in the devil’s schemes and are powerless to free ourselves from our bondage to sin and death.  We look around and we see evidence of this everywhere.  All over the world there are still slaves and slavedrivers.  In Asia there are sex slaves, as young as 10, held captive to satisfy perverted Australians caught in their own slavery.

In many developing countries there are children slaves working for only food and water to make cheap goods to sell in our country to satisfy our slavery to consumerism.  We feel hopeless and unable to do anything about it.

It is precisely at this point, and for this very reason, that Jesus came into the world.  It is precisely because we are helpless and totally enslaved and in bondage to sin, that Jesus comes to bring freedom to the captives, as he says ‘The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.’

On the cross, Jesus paid the price of sin, died in our place to set us free from the bondage of sin, death and the devil that rendered us helpless.  Jesus is raised from the dead to live forever, breaking the chains of death that once held us captive…forever.  Freedom from our slavery and captivity to sin is the victory of the cross, and this key of freedom is given freely to all who trust in Jesus who says “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’

In this freedom we now live, we now live in Christ and have a great and joyous task.  We have the authority and power of prayer; to call on the name of Jesus to bring freedom to those still in captivity to sin and to also bring freedom for those captive to physical slavery.  Paul, in anguish of heart and spirit, knowing this girl could not change her situation, turns saying ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.’  She has freedom!

In our prayers to the Father through Jesus, we acknowledge that we cannot do anything, and that Jesus ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.’  Prayer in Jesus name is given to us as our weapon of choice against all that keeps captive.  Prayer, in Jesus name sets in motion freedom for those still in captivity.  Pray tonight, pray tomorrow.  Pray for those who are free, pray for those suffering and finally, pray always, as St Paul says ‘pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’  Amen

The cross – road

Luke 13_31-35 the cross-road
.

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.’