Author: admin

Matthew 21:23-32 who runs this show anyway

Anyone here had a car breakdown?
Today’s modern cars have a unique feature. If something goes wrong, like the engine overheats, the computer system goes into default mode. That means, the car’s computer goes into a mode that is preset by the factory, and will run like that until the error is fixed. In other words, under extreme pressures, the car automatically goes back into default.

We have a default mode. A mode of operating we go into automatically when confronted with an extreme situation; when we sense an error or hurt against us. Our default mode is ‘look after me at all costs’. If our buttons are pressed, we automatically run on self-importance mode, our default mode; we become selfish and protect our right to exist and have to justify ourselves, even if it means we hurt and destroy others. And we can be included in this, is going into default mode to protect itself from harm. There is a credit crisis which threatens our comfortable way of life, so ‘click’, we go into default mode; self-importance mode and spend $840 billion to prop up dodgy banks and faulty investors so we can keep our way of life. Yet we refuse to spend money to prop up and save the lives of millions of people in third world countries who are dying because they have nothing.

We even refuse to fix the housing crisis in our own country; where we now have the situation of people so desperate for a place to live, they physically fight with other prospective tenants, to get the only affordable home in Sydney. Perhaps this is a sign that our default mode has become our normal way of running. Self-importance is the new way of life…its all about me.

Self importance is the essence of sin. By nature, or our default mode is that we are sinful as Peter writes ‘if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ When the pressure is on, its so easy to go into default mode and run purely on self-importance; we all do it. Even as baptised children of God, we still fall into self-importance.Life is a race and the winner takes it all, at all cost! Take a look at a clip from the movie ‘cars’. (cht 1 7.07-9.58)

Perhaps we can see some of ourselves in that car ‘lightening McQueen’? When the pressure’s on, we go through life as if we own the race; as if we control everyone and everything.

Jesus came into a world full of people like Lightening McQueen, who, through sin, were one man shows; running on default mode and consumed with self-importance. A world, as John records ‘that was made through him, but did not recognize him, a world that was his own, but did not receive him.’

After entering Jerusalem, one of the first things Jesus did was to visit the temple, a place of prayer, healing and mercy. Yet what did he see? According to Matthew, a ‘den of robbers; people who were not praying for others, loving and serving as he created them, but instead were running on default mode, were one man shows, grabbing as much money as they could from the poor and needy. Angry at this, Jesus cleared the temple, up turned the tables of the money exchangers and made way for the needy to be healed. He drove out the self-important and opened the temple to the repentant; to those who were truly seeking God’s mercy.

When the religious leaders saw this, the pressure was on them to respond and ‘click’, they went into default mode and puffed themselves up with self-importance ‘by what authority do you do these things’, they asked. ‘Who gave you this authority?’ Instead of getting into a power struggle, going into a default mode of self-importance, Jesus told a parable, one that would hit at the core of the issue

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard. “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” Can you answer Jesus’ question?

 

So could the religious leaders.  ‘The first’ they answered.  The son that was right with his father was the one that turned from his self-importance and went out and did what was asked of him. In answering that this son was the son that did the father’s will, by repenting and doing what he was asked, the religious leaders convicted themselves.  They were all ‘yes, yes’ to God, but never repented of their pride and self-importance, never changed from running on default and remained only concerned for themselves.  Oh, publicly they said they would, but as soon as the pressure was on ‘clack’, back into default mode.

 

We also answered Jesus’ question by saying the first son…have we convicted ourselves?

 

John the Baptist pointed to a fix for our default mode ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’.  Jesus also proclaimed the fix in the Sermon on the Mount ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’  Jesus is offering a way out from our default mode.  He is calling for repentance and a humble heart.  This is what it means to do the fathers will, as the first son in the parable did; to turn and recognise our sin and receive the forgiveness he is freely offering. 

 

Here today, once again, as he did in the temple, Jesus is offering a way out; a chance to get out of our default mode, a chance to break the code and enjoy the freedom of living as God intended.  He is truly present with us in Holy Communion, calling all of us who are tied of sticking up for ourselves to turn and receive forgiveness and mercy. 

 

He is calling all who of us who are tired of thinking we have to justify themselves and burdened from putting others down in self-importance, to repent and receive a fix for our problem.  If this is you, then the blood of Christ is for you, and this promise is for you ‘”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. .For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’  Amen       

On our knees Matthew 18  Kids club service in the park

 

I’ve just done the washing, and I didn’t have time to hang the clothes out to dry.  So if its alright with you, I’ll hang them up now while I talk with you. 

 

At kids club we have been talking and learning about faith changing people’s lives.  We’ve had a look at how faith changed the lives of people like Abraham, Noah, Jonah and also people like St Paul; whose life was dramatically changed when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus.  Yes, faith changes lives alright.  Faith in Jesus has changed the life of each and every one of us.

 

As I hang these pants up, (can you please pass me the top pair of pants) it reminds us of all the different sorts of lives people lead.  The clothes reflect the work and life of the person. 

 

What sort of pants are these? What sort of person might where them?  Yes, perhaps someone who works with their hands; someone who is skilled with fixing cars or perhaps good at wood work or welding steel.  The pants are tuff and hard to withstand the tuff and hard conditions the person works in.

 

Look at these, who might wear these?  Yes, a student at school; a person who learns and grows in knowledge.  Someone who studies, so that they can understand things about the world they live in.  These are made of a softer material than the work pants, why?  So the person wearing them is comfortable during the long hours of learning; they are soft so that the student is not distracted from their learning.

 

Wow!  Check this pair out.  Who might wear these?  A sportsperson perhaps; someone who might run races or jump hurdles.  The Olympics have just been held and we have seen a lot of men and women wearing these sorts of pants.  They are called track suit pants.  Why?  Yes, they are made of light material so that the runner is not slowed down by their clothes.  These pants are specially designed for athletes.  To give them better agility, speed and endurance to run the race.

 

And these?  What sort of work would someone be doing with a pair of pants like these?  Perhaps an accountant or a business person.  Someone who works indoors and works mainly with their brain.  These people spend a lot of time planning and programming so that things can happen in the correct order and under budget.  They wear pants that are made of wool or cotton.  Why?  Yes, they need to reflect the importance of their job.  Their pants need to have pockets for money to pay for all the luncheons and coffees and also to fit their mobile phones and gadgets into.

 

O dear!  Look at this pair.  Wow, they didn’t clean up very well.  There are dirty patches and stains all over them and look, they are ripped.  The knees are all worn away.  What sort of person would wear these?  Why would the knees be worn out?  Perhaps these pants belong to a beggar, to someone who has nothing of their own, but owes a lot of money to a bank or a money lender.  Someone in this situation would have dirty clothes and ripped knees…why?  What do we do when we beg?  Yes, we get down on our knees and plead for mercy.  Perhaps this is why these pants have holes in the knees, perhaps this person has been begging for mercy.  Let’s hang them up and look at them as we talk about how faith changes lives and what it means to live a life that is ‘changed by faith.’

 

Jesus tells a parable about a servant who owed a lot of money to his king.  Perhaps he wore these pants (point to the accountant’s pants) and he was in charge of the king’s money.  His job might have been to invest millions and millions of dollars so that the king would get even more money.  However, it is obvious that this person was not doing his job very well and had lost lots of the king’s money. 

 

Jesus says ‘the king wanted everyone to pay back to him what they owed.’  The person that owed the most money came before the king first and was told ‘you owe me 10,000 talents, which in today’s money is millions of dollars’.  After hearing this, shocking amount, I’m sure the servant needed a new pair pants!

 

There would be no way that a worker could pay that sort of money back.  In fact he owed the king so much, that the figure may as well have been a billion dollars.  The king wants his money but the worker can’t pay, so he’s going to jail, along with his wife and family.  So what does the man do?  He begs for mercy ‘Lord have mercy on me, be patient and I will pay you back’. 

 

He takes off his expensive pants and puts on the beggar’s torn and dirty pants.  In faith he trusts that the king would be merciful, so he falls to his knees and seeks the mercy of the king.  He has nothing to offer except a sorry heart and trust.  He realizes his mistakes and cover ups and wants to appeal to the good and gracious heart of the king.

 

Moved to compassion, the king gives in to the man’s plea and does something incredibly gracious…he wipes the man’s dept clean; he now owes nothing.  It as if he never even owed the king any money and now the worker can go free.  The king pronounces the dept ridden worker free from dept; he is justified…put in the king’s good books. 

 

The worker believes the king’s announcement, trusts in his mercy a walks out a free man.  Faith changed his life.  He owed much, but paid nothing.  The only exchange, was that the king took the dept upon him self and gave the man his freedom.  What an exchange!

 

Faith changes lives. Are we not this man?  Aren’t we all beggars before God our king?  Our dept is not money, our dept is sin.  St Paul says ‘the wages of sin is death’ and God WILL make an account of what we have done’.  He WILL ask that we pay up in full.  Can we pay up?  What can we give?  Nothing!  So by faith in the mercy of God, we also put on these dirty and ripped pair of pants and fall to our knees and say ‘Lord have mercy on me, a poor sinner’.  By faith we appeal to God’s merciful heart.

 

The good news is that God has had mercy on us and has forgiven us our dept.  His Son Jesus has exchanged our dept to sin, which is death, and took it upon himself and died on the cross.  And in exchange he has given us his freedom and his new life.  Because Jesus paid off our dept, given to us as a gift in our baptism, God does something incredibly gracious…he announces us justified; put right with him…we are in the king’s good books; we owe him nothing.  Faith changes lives.  We owed much, but paid nothing!  By faith in the word of God, we walk free.

 

The ripped and dirty beggar’s pants are the pants of people who live by faith, who have had their life changed by God. The ripped and dirty beggar’s pants are the ideal work pants of a disciple of Jesus, of you and me. They remind us that we live and breathe every moment of our life on our knees, seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness.  The dirt and rips remind us of the great exchange that changed our lives.  And when someone sins against us, we are reminded to forgive the dept they owe us, because Jesus took our dept and gave us his freedom and life.  What a great pair of pants, wear them proudly…wear them every day!

 

Amen       

 

    

 

 

Matthew 20_1-16

 

I have a number of prizes here.  Who would like to win something?  All I am going to do is read out some questions about today’s gospel reading, and you can correctly answer them for me…who’s in?
In today’s gospel reading:

1) How many times did the land owner go out and hire workers? 5 times

4) Who payed the wages to the workers?  The foreman

 Give those who didn’t answer the questions the prizes.  Explain that I never said I would give the prizes to the people who answered the questions.

 

Don’t you hate it when you are not rewarded for your efforts?  It just doesn’t seem fair to us that someone else gets what we deserve.  We put in the effort, but get nothing in return.  I have a collection of trophies here which recognise and reward the recipient for competing in an event or even winning it.  Perhaps you have a collection of trophies or medals which reward you for the effort you put in 

In fact, if you think about our whole upbringing, our childhood development, is all about being rewarded for our good effort.  ‘Because you did the dishes, you can have extra desert.’  Or, think about the words the song ‘Father Christmas is coming to town’ ‘he knows whether you have been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake’.  Even the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas is dependant on whether we have been good or not; we are only rewarded with Christmas presents if we have been good enough. 

 The story preceding today’s parable is a real life account of someone who wanted to be rewarded for his good efforts.  The story lays down the background or the context to the parable of the labourers in the vineyard.  A religious man who had done everything required of him, and was now looking for God to reward him for his efforts; he wanted a prize from God for answering the questions correctly. 

 

‘Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbour as yourself.'” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

 

He had answered every question correctly, yet Jesus never rewarded him.  He was sent away empty handed and sad.  He never got what he thought his efforts deserved.  Why?  Because even his best efforts at answering God’s expectations were not good enough, as Isaiah prophesise ‘all our righteous acts are like filthy rags’.  This is the background to Jesus’ parable; the background to Jesus ministry, his coming to earth, his death and resurrection and the kingdom of God.  All our efforts to please God in the hope of gaining the reward of heaven are futile, totally useless like filthy rags, because our hearts are in the wrong place; they are sinful and rebellious towards God, even when we are doing our best, as the rich man found out.  Often, when we are doing our best, were doing our worse because we are doing things out of pride. 

 

Volunteering in community groups, attending bible studies, donating blood, giving money to the poor, even going to church, while all good and important things, will never be works worthy enough of our heavenly Father’s reward.  They will never open the way to heaven.  The tragic fact is that we will all go away sad as long as we think God will reward us and give us a place in heaven with him because of what we have done.

 

The first workers to be employed in the vineyard worked for the landowner from dawn to dusk.  The second wave of workers toiled from morning tea until dusk, the third and forth group worked from lunch on.  The final workers employed, worked for only an hour; a huge difference in effort put in between the first employed in the vineyard and the last. 

 

Yet what happened when payment time came?  Yes, every worker was payed the same wage.  There was no extra reward for effort. No special trophies or medals for those who endured the heat of the day.  In fact, those who were employed last and worked the least hours where paid first.  The first were last and the last first.  Totally unfair in our eyes because we are so accustomed to being rewarded for our effort. Yet, this is how God works.  This is how the kingdom of God is. As one Christian said “Grace is always amazing grace. Grace that can be calculated and ‘expected’ is no longer grace.

 

God’s grace is that he saves all people by faith in the efforts of his Son Jesus Christ, not in our efforts, as Paul writes ‘God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.’  Whether we are seasoned campaigners for Christ and have lifted high the cross all our lives as the famous hymn says, or are converted on our death bed after 90 years of living a sinful life, all who come to faith in Jesus are treated the same by God our Father who judges each man’s work impartially.  

 

The only works worthy of salvation have been accomplished by Jesus Christ, whose work was that he gave himself as a ransom for us.  God’s grace, his salvation, is given to us as a gift through faith in Christ and by the power of our baptism.  In the kingdom of God there is no hierarchy of Christians.  What great news this is for us who believe and are baptised, we have already been given our reward; all of us, from the longest service member, to the newest.  Yet, as the workers in the vineyard found out, they still needed to work for the reward, still had to endure challenges and difficulties as part of the owners demands. 

 

But they did this because of the promise they had received.  They worked because they believed in the love and faithfulness of their boss.

St Paul also encourages us to do the same ‘Therefore, I urge you, friends, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God– this is your spiritual act of worship.’  We work for our Father in heaven, not to receive our reward, but because we have already received it.

 

Can I tell you a story that happened earlier this year? I think it sums up the parable well.  (story of the man in hospital)

 

Amen

 

 

 

 

The Father speaks Exodus 12:1-14

 

Today is Father’s Day; a special day to remember fathers and their role in our lives.  While many of us have fond memories of our father from childhood, of course, we need to be realistic that some of us may not have good memories of our father.  We live in a fallen world, where sin and the devil causes broken relationship, hurt and anger. However, Father’s day gives us an opportunity to reflect upon the role of fatherhood and how God provides fathers for us to have a relationship with; to nurture us and bring us up in the world.

 I have a birth certificate here and it says ‘Cameron Joel Fiedler, born 20^th December 1997; father: Brenton Fiedler:

 

There you go…this certificate makes me a father, there is nothing more to it; it says here ‘father…Brenton Fiedler’.  Cool!  Now I have this certificate, there is nothing more to fatherhood.  Nothing more for me to do.  Is this right?  Does a certificate make me a father?  Does having a child make me a father? (act this part out with Cameron)  If I were to show Cameron this certificate, will he know I love him?  Will he know what I expect from him, will he know that I would like him to respond to my love with love and trust?

 

No, of course not!  Being a father is more than having a piece of paper, its about having a relationship with your child.  Its about talking with him, caring for him, training and guiding him as he grows up in the world.  Providing boundaries and handing out consequences and discipline when he strays outside the boundaries.  Fatherhood is not a noun, it’s a verb…a doing word; it’s a relationship based on communication, on words and on trust.  And the words of a father do things, they convey intention and purpose; they covey what they say.   

 

This is God our heavenly Father in a nutshell.  He created and therefore defines true fatherhood; what it means to be a father and what it means to have a father who wants to have a relationship with us.  When God created Adam and Eve, he became a Father to humanity; a father to us; he created a relationship with us.

 

It means that God took it upon himself to look after us and nurture us as we grow up in his world.  He took it upon himself to communicate with us, to initiate conversation; to convey his will and to enact his love for us.  He took it upon himself to set boundaries and give us work to do and opportunities to respond to his love through prayer and worship.

 

Genesis records God acting as a father by communicating with Adam and Eve.  Speaking with them and by this word, giving them roles to play as his children and teaching them about responsibility and the consequences they will face if they go outside the boundaries he has set.  Genesis records ‘The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.“ 

And God would speak his word of love to Adam and Eve, when, in the cool of the evening, he would seek them out and talk with them, to keep the relationship going.

However, as we are all aware, Adam and Eve, and so the whole of humanity, fell into sin by failing to trust in God’s Fatherhood.  They failed to trust in his word and in his relationship with them and chose instead a new father; the father of lies…the devil. 

 

Adam and Eve were tricked by this false father into believing they no longer needed God to be their father; they could do it alone.  How often have we continued in this thinking?  Can you remember a time when you rebelled against your father and chose not to listen to his word, and chose instead to listen to the father of lies and try and go your own way? Nothing has changed has it!

 

Yet, does our rebellion of fatherhood, mean that our father is no longer our father?  Does it mean that he no longer wants to speak with us, to convey his will and love for us; no longer wants to have a relationship with us?  No, fatherhood is not a piece of paper, something that can be negated because we reject our father.  Fatherhood is a relationship built on speaking and trust, built on fathers initiating communication and so conveying love and trust.  I am sure many of us can say with assurance that, even when we rejected them, our fathers always remained our fathers and initiated communication with us, tried to restart the relationship.

 

God, our father in heaven, even when humanity rejected his fatherhood, never stopped being our father, never stopped communicating with us, speaking his word to us which convey his love and will for us.  This morning’s Old Testament lesson records God as the true Father, initiating conversation with his children who are in trouble.  He chooses to initiate a new relationship by speaking his word of promise and hope to them, even when they have rejected him.

 

‘The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt…take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs…The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.’  God speaks his fatherhood into the lives of the Israelites.  His words are rebuilding the relationship he once had with humanity.

 

He is saying to the people ‘I am your Father in heaven who wants to care for you and rescue you from slavery.’   His words bring about action because he IS their Father, he HAS the responsibility to act by the power of his word, because being a father is a relationship, and relationships are built on conversation.

 

The Lord God of Moses and Aaron, who rescued the Israelites from slavery through the blood of the lamb on the doors posts, is the same God and Father of our saviour Jesus Christ.  Who through his blood poured out on the cross, rescued us from slavery to sin and death.  We have a Father in heaven who took it upon himself to speak his word into our lives; to speak his words of action to save us.  His word is Jesus Christ, as St John reminds ‘the word of God became flesh, in the man Jesus Christ.’  And his word was crucified and rose again on the third day so that we may have a new relationship with God our Father in heaven.

 

And our Father in heaven continues to speak to us, continues to save us and express his love for us.  And he does this through his word, both in the sacraments of Holy Communion and baptism, and in the bible. 

 

The bible is not a ‘certificate’ to tell us we have a Father in heaven.  It is not just a document or statement.  Like just Cameron only having the birth certificate but no relationship, what good would it be to him?  In the same way, what good would it be to us if the bible was nothing more than words on paper, with no relationship with our Father in heaven?  No, the bible is more than a certificate, the words are God’s words and they are living and active; they convey what they say.  God’s conversation with us, his relationship with us, the way he guides, calls and redeems us, as our Father, come to us through the words of the bible.

 

Even more than this, when we read the bible, his Spirit breaths the relationship of Fatherhood into our lives and we actually become part of a two way conversation; he speaks and we respond in the spirit through prayer and worship.  What a privilege!  What a joy we have.  Believe what you hear and become a part of God’s redeeming conversation with us.  He never stops speaking and he never stops wanting to have a Fatherly relationship with you.    Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section is used if there is no megaphone)

(I was given this funnel the other day, it wasn’t long before I found out that it doesn’t make a very good water filter. However, since then I have learnt what this funnel is really designed used for…to pour water or oil into a car engine. As Australians, being very industrious and inventive, we know there are always 101 more uses for things on top of what they were originally designed for. The saying goes ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, our necessity is that some people find it a little hard to hear, particularly when the speakers are not turned on. Well, this funnel makes an ideal tool to amplify sounds.)

(Use the funnel back to front)

There you go! Now you can hear me much more clearly…can’t you? Why not?

(if there is a megaphone, talk about how you know how people can’t always hear, so you have expertise in amplification and so brought along a megaphone)

(use it back to front)

There you go! Now you can hear me much more clearly…can’t you? Why not?

Now there’s a lesson for young players…just because you have been given all the right tools, doesn’t mean you are using them in the right way!

Peter, one of the disciples, was a young player in the ministry of Jesus and he had a lesson to learn. He thought he knew it all and was on a high after confessing who Jesus was ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Just because he knew who Jesus was, just because he had the information and could see the need for a messiah, didn’t mean he was able to correctly apply his knowledge. It didn’t mean he really knew what Jesus must do to be ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’.

Jesus did and he could no longer hold it to himself. It was time for the disciples to know the full extent of his mission; to know clearly what it means for them to be his disciples. Just when Peter and the others where on a high, thought they knew their direction, their vision and mission, thought it was all glory and power from here, Jesus pulls the rug from under them ‘explaining that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ The complete opposite to Peter’s vision.

If we could only get into the mind of Peter, to know how he would have felt at this very moment. We can’t, but we can imagine his devastation, his distress at this news. His vision of Jesus and how he is to be the messiah will be completely and utterly destroyed if he dies. So Peter took things into his own hands, obviously Jesus doesn’t understand. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” The mission of God can’t die with you. No, you must do it my way Jesus.’ Peter though he had the tools for God’s mission and knew exactly what to do, yet Jesus has some very harsh words to him ‘”Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus is saying to Peter, yes you have the tools of a disciple, yes you know who I am, yes you know the need for mission, but you have got it all wrong. Peter had yet to realise the seriousness of our human condition, our total sinfulness and unbelief. He didn’t understand what it would take for Jesus to save people; save us from sin, death and the devil. He didn’t understand that Jesus would have to suffer and die for us…that’s what is needed, not some cover up; some sort of soft option, only the death of Jesus would suffice if we are to be saved from the devil’s grip.

Peter had the tools, he had heard the word, but he is intending to use them in the wrong way, like when I was using the megaphone the wrong way around, it was never going to achieve anything. As long as Peter though he knew best, though he knew how to control Jesus and his destiny, nothing could be achieved. Peter wanted God his way, wanted mission without suffering, glory without the pain. He wanted salvation without the cross. Jesus rebukes Peter for this, for only death will pay the price of sin; only his death on the cross, in our place, would bring about the true mission of God.

How often, as Jesus disciple’s, have we failed to comprehend what is going on? How often have we thought that we have everything in control, we have all the tools of mission, know everything about ourselves, about sin and grace, about Jesus, and about salvation? How often have we wanted to be followers of Jesus, but like Peter, only by our way, not by the way of the cross? Perhaps for many years now we have been holding the megaphone of God’s grace the wrong way around; trying to be disciples on our own terms, without any suffering, without the cross; without dying to self and living for Christ. Perhaps this is why our churches are emptying?

Perhaps Jesus is also rebuking us…‘”Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’ A cutting word from Jesus, but perhaps it’s a word that we need to hear and hear again and again as disciples of Jesus. We need to allow ourselves to be told that at times we are receiving and using God’s grace to us, the forgiveness of sins and mercy for the sake of Christ, the wrong way round. We are using it for our benefit, for our glory and for our purposes and not God’s. We want salvation, but at no cost to us, or to God.

At times, like Peter, we think we have it all together and have no need for Jesus; we know what is needed to save us. The megaphone of God’s grace, his mission to us, cannot achieve its purpose for us and for others, if we continue think we don’t need the cross, death of our sin and death to ourselves.

When using the megaphone backwards, nothing is heard. God’s mercy is not being received; not being heard when the cross is not proclaimed. And because of this, perhaps you and I and the world are not hearing that Jesus works salvation through suffering; he brings life out of the lashes and grace from the grave. Isaiah foresaw Jesus’ mission when he said ‘he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.’

This is the good news we need to hear. This is the good news we need to apply to ourselves; the turning around of the megaphone of grace. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. As a disciple of Jesus, we trust and believe that are put to death before we are brought to life. That is, our sinful nature and everything that entails; our personal ambitions, our good works to get to heaven, our secret desires, our efforts to be god…yes everything, is put to death in our baptism and repentance, so that our new self, which rests in Jesus, is brought to life. We are a completely new person in Christ. St Paul had God’s megaphone of grace pointing the right direction when he said ‘we are buried with Jesus in baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised Jesus from the dead.’

This is what Jesus means when he says ‘For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.’ We lose our life of selfish ambition in baptism, yet we also then gain true life in Christ when we trust in him; we are raised to find life in death. And by faith we know that Jesus frees us from trying to play god and to do it all and be it all. He frees us from sin and death, and he frees us from the demands of the law of this world which always accuse us to take control.

Let’s turn around the megaphone of God’s grace and once again clearly hear God’s word to us. This is Jesus clearly speaking to you ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ Amen

What happens if a foreign object or a dangerous virus or infection gets into our blood stream, what then? Yes, our body begins to attack the virus or foreign body; it goes into fighting and survival mode. There is an increase of blood flow, high temperatures and immune cells fight the deadly object to help the body cope with and destroy the foreign object.

What happens if the body is unable to defeat the foreign virus? We die! Something so small, so insignificant actually kills a living person millions of times larger than itself. Viruses are deadly because they find their life, and in fact, find their whole being, in sucking the life out of their host, and in doing so, ultimately kill themselves, by killing off the body who is keeping them alive.

The story of the exodus; of Israel breaking from their oppressors, is a true story about a life and death struggle of a body fighting a deadly virus. The body is us, the whole human race, who survives lives and finds its well being in God the creator of heaven and earth. From him we have been created and have life. The virus infecting the body is a deadly infection…a foreign god. A god, the Pharaoh of Egypt, who claims to give life and provide all things, but sadly this god is a virus, an infection that finds its life and being in the living body of the human race. If not treated and dealt with, will kill the body, the Israelites and him along with it.

The significance and utter importance of the exodus story must be understood and known by us who believe in God. Why? Because it is the battle for heaven played out on the battle stage on earth. Sounds dramatic? Sounds a little over stated? Not when we being to realise what is happening and what is at stake. If the battle had been lost and the Israelites remained in Egypt to be ethnically cleansed, killed off, where would we be as people, as Christians; as the redeemed people of God?

This sermon is a little different to what we have been used to, we are going to take a look at the story and discuss some key points to try and bring out the real spiritual meaning to what seems to be just an historical and factual event.

To set the scene for the exodus story, we need to wind back time. (power point slide)

Like all battles, this war began many years earlier when a foreign god, the serpent convinced Adam and Eve to trust in him rather than God the creator for our wellbeing. In doing so, in serving a foreign god, humanity became infected with a deadly virus, the devil, who, like a virus, draws all life out of us until we die. In the exodus story the devil isn’t in the serpent, its the Pharaoh of Egypt. (picture of Pharaoh) The Pharaohs, if you don’t know your ancient history, believed they were gods. They were not born on earth but came down from the gods of the sun. The role of the Pharaoh on earth was to have divine rule over all the people. Everyone was to serve him, and in turn, he would provide everything necessary for life.

Sounds familiar? (next slide) What was the devil trying to do in the garden? What was he trying to do with Jesus when he said ‘”All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” The devil is trying to be God, latch onto another life to kill it.

(next slide)

The story begins with ‘Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt’ What is meant by ‘did not know’?

To know means more than to just being acquainted. Knowing in the bible means ‘to have a personal, committed and in depth relationship with someone.’ For the Pharaoh to not know Jacob meant he had rejected any relationship with Jacob; he did not recognise what Jacob represented. That he is the one through whom God would create a new nation of people, holy and pleasing to him. As you are well aware, it is through this family line, the Israelites, that God would bring his Son into the world, to redeem the world. ‘Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”

(next slide)

What do you think is important in this verse ‘Come, let us deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’?

The words ‘come let us’, were the words God used when he chose to create human life and bring Adam and Eve into the world. They are words of life. “Come let us make man in our image’. The Pharaoh uses these words to bring death, just like a virus. To act shrewdly was to stop life. We know from later in the story that he forced the Israelites to work extremely hard, and when this failed to kill them off, he murdered every male Israelite child by drowning them in the Nile. The Devil wants to kill off God’s chosen people

We as Christian are also God’s chosen people and the devil continues to try and destroy us. We can recognise his presence in our own lives. He doesn’t create but rather, he pulls down and destroys…or deals shrewdly with us. He kills us through fighting and disunity in our families and relationships. He kills us when hatred and anger affect our moods and controls us. He kills us when he gets us to trust in him and his ways to solve our problems. He kills us when we serve him.

(next slide)

There is a very important word, deliberately used by the writer, in the next verse, see if you can pick it. ‘So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.’ Any guesses? Probably not. The word ‘forced labour’ come from the word to serve or ‘worship’.

The Pharaoh is commanding that the people of Israel worship and serve him rather than their God. And he is going to force the issue. The Israelites have a choice to make, what is it? Yes, they have a choice of who they are going to worship, a false god, or the true God. Take the easy road, serve the Pharaoh, or worship their God and suffer the consequences.

Perhaps you have had to deal with this same decision. Perhaps you have had to choose the hard road and no longer serve a foreign god; no longer serve your sinful nature which has held you captive to an addiction or secret desire. And, like the people of Israel, who chose to continue their worship of God, and so suffered the consequences of hard work and even death. Perhaps you too have had to suffer losses or danger or difficult times because you choose to serve and worship the God of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Today’s text concludes with a ray of hope; with God breaking into the darkness and death of slavery and oppression under the power of the devil. A baby boy is born into a world of death. Moses is the man who will eventually lead God’s people out of Israel, but first he too must be saved from death.

(next slide)

‘When Moses’ mother could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him…placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.’

What is ironic about this rescue?

The same water which killed so many other children is the water which saved Moses. It is through water that Moses is brought from death to life. God uses something that kills to bring life.

(next slide)

You and I have been brought from death to life through the waters, not of the Nile, but of baptism. It is through the water and promise of God that we have life and salvation; freedom from the bondage of sin; our exodus from slavery to a new life in Christ.

Can I encourage you to read the story of the exodus, the whole book, and start to see the spiritual connections between Israel’s exodus and reaching the Promised Land, and what God has done for us in Christ.

Amen

( a demonstration using a water purifier) I have a bit of trouble on my hands. I keep getting dirty water out of my water purifier. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, dirty water constantly comes out. I know! I’ll put cleaner water into it. Perhaps the water I am putting through the filter is dirty and needs to be cleaned first. Here, nice clean tap water is going in…oooh but look, the water coming out is still dirty. I know, perhaps if I polish the glass bowl then water will come out clean (clean it)….no, that doesn’t seem to work. Well, perhaps if I polish the whole outer casing and keep polishing it while the water goes through, then I might get clean water out of the filter…no. O boy, what now?

What would need to happen for clean, filtered water to come out? Yes, I need to address the problem occurring inside the purifier. (put in a new filter, turn on tap and watch the clean water come out). The reason why I was getting dirty water coming out of the purifier was because the inside the purifier was dirty, making the water come out dirty. Changing the water made no difference, because the water going in was not the problem. Cleaning the outside of the purifier makes no difference either. I could polish all I like, it could be the shiniest purifier you have ever seen, but if the inside is dirty, then the water will be dirty; its not what goes into a purifier that makes things dirty, its what’s inside that make the water come out dirty.

Jesus spoke very similar words to the Pharisees and his disciples, who were caught up in external religious traditions. “It’s not external cleaning and religious acts that make a person clean before God’, he argued. The Pharisees in particular, but the disciples were not exempt, were very devoted to polishing up their morals by religious works; cleaning all the ‘outside’ parts of the body in order to remain clean before God. Believe it or not, there were over 600 ‘little laws’ to ensure people remained clean before God; all very religious looking, all external ceremonial acts that presumed to give people clean hearts. Like me washing and polishing the purifier, it all looks good, yet had no effect on the water purity!

When they complained that Jesus’ disciples never ceremonially wash their hands before eating, Jesus said ‘”Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.'”

You can wash, polish, shine ceremonially and religiously clean all you like, but its what’s in your heart that makes you unclean. Like the purifier, the dirt inside causes the water to come out dirty; the heart of the purifier, the filter, needs to be clean. Jesus is pointing to the sinful heart of people; it’s the heart that makes you unclean. Its the heart that is sinful, or dirty by nature and out of the heart comes all the sinful acts, making us unclean before God; it is the heart that needs to be cleaned.

As part of the confirmation course, the confirmees have been looking at this exact issue; what it means to be a Christian. We discussed what faith is, why be a Christian? Is it about being religious? Is it just about morals and doing good things to be clean before God? On camp in Orange, we discussed what is right and wrong, and what causes us to sin? Is it external temptations? Temptations like the ease of illegally burning CD’s. Is it the ‘software manufactures’ fault we illegally copy CD’s or is it that we are sinful by nature and misuse legal equipment for illegal purposes. Are we being externally influenced or is it the sin already in us that cause us to do wrong things?

Think about these confirmation questions in light of Jesus’ words. ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’. Jesus clearly answers our question, its not external influences which cause us to sin, no, we sin from the inside out. Our hearts are like the dirty water filter, what comes out of our heart causes us to sin. So no matter how hard we try to live a ‘clean life’, we can never have a clean heart before God.

For this very reason, that we cannot clean our hearts, Jesus came into this world. It is precisely because external acts can’t clean, that Christ Jesus came to make us clean. St Paul knew this well and says, and I’ll paraphrase ‘Therefore no one will be declared clean in the sight of God by observing law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sinful heart. But now a cleanliness from God, apart from trying to clean ourselves, has been made known, to which the bible and the Prophets testify. This cleanliness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.’

This cleanliness from God has been given to us as a gift in our baptism. It is through the waters of baptism that our hearts have been washed clean; cleansed from sin and born again pure and clean before God; in a similar way to the new filter in the purifier. Though we cannot see the filter, we trust that a clean filter has been fitted and is working. In the same way, we cannot see our clean heart, we can’t comprehend how God can do this, but we trust that Jesus has cleansed us and made us clean before God through baptism.

Dilly, Joshua, Aaron, Ashley and William, this is the good news you have heard, and this is the good news that you will soon confess before us to say you believe. It is the good news that Jesus has come to cleans your heart. It’s the good news that your external good works cannot make you clean, but it is by faith in Jesus, and the power of baptism that makes you clean before God. It is the good news that is central to the faith of the Lutheran church; it is the Lutheran trilogy of the clean heart ‘ by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone’. This is the constant cry of the Lutheran church among believers and non-believers alike, and it is a call that you have heeded and the call you believe.

Our prayer for you today is not that, now you are confirmed, you fulfil all your external Christian duties by regularly attending church, going to bible studies and be a squeaky clean Christian, though all important. No, our prayer for you today is that you will not depend on being ‘externally clean’ for salvation, but that you depend on no other than Christ Jesus for your salvation and a clean heart, and that all good deeds flow out of this. Our pray for you today is that the Holy Spirit will strengthen your faith, fill your life with joy and assurance and give you the courage to live as a child of God, safe in the promise of your baptism.

Amen

We have spoken a lot about faith this morning. About the faith five, and how we nurture faith by spending time together in the word of God in family huddles. The seminar me, Cathy, Karen, Ros and Neil went to at Warrambui was all about faith in God; how we can teach and nurture faith in our young people. We need to be realistic, and it’s a sad fact, if currant trends continue, 75% of the children in our churches now, will not be worshipping with us in their adulthood. Take a look at the children here today, (Gil..take a look around, how many of our children should be here, but they are not) which of these children do we want to let go of? Which ones are we willing to say ‘nice knowing you, now go on your own way, without Christ’?

Not one of us could say this. Yet, its so sad that it is happening. For too long the egg of faith has been laid by the power of the Holy Spirit in baptism, but we have failed to nurture it. We have not nurtured the young in faith, from embryo to adulthood, like the penguin parents do with their young, who shield their young from storms and bring them into the heat on sunny days; All so that they grow into strong penguins in their own right. Our children have not been nurtured to be Christians in their own right.

Faith Inkubators is a program that is all about nurturing the faith of our young people, and their motto is teaching the faith ‘every night in every home’, and as you saw from the children’s address, it involves every one of us. (talk about and show some of the material)

But hold on, before we go any further, before we start all this. Do we really know what faith is? Take a look at the next slide…what can you see (list findings)

The story of Peter walking on water is a story of faith, in fact its more than a story, its actual faith in action; faith visualised…faith as experienced by you and me. The scene of faith is set with the disciples of Jesus in a deadly situation. The winds are against them, the waves are pounding the boat and darkness surrounds them; the disciples are terrified; lost to the depths of the ocean; they have no life line to cling to. Then, out of the darkness, in the midst of the storm; in the darkness of death, Jesus speaks a word of promise ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’

The word of promise, Jesus’ words, speaks life into the disciple’s situation. Jesus’ words are not empty, they are words of action. When Jesus says ‘don’t be afraid’, his words actually change the situation of the disciples; they are actually out of danger. It is as if they were safe on dry land. Jesus demonstrates this change of situation when he calls Peter out onto the water. Peter can walk on water by the power of Jesus’ promise. When Jesus, the word of God in the flesh, says ‘don’t be afraid’, it is not just information, something to be heard and decided upon. No, Jesus’ words of promise are living active; they effect what they say. God’s word says what it does and does what it says!

Faith then, is simply taking God at his word! Faith is simply grabbing hold of the promise of Jesus and trusting our situation has changed, even before we see any results or experience God’s presence in our lives. Peter stepped out of the boat and onto the water, before he saw any change in his situation, before he experienced the close presence Jesus. The boat was still being buffeted, the waves were still crashing all around, and Jesus was still far off, yet because Jesus said ‘don’t be afraid’, Peter knew his situation had changed, he was safe, and in faith he walked onto the water…and he walked on the water! Even when he was sinking, Jesus’ promise still remained, only Jesus himself carried Peter on the water.

The promise of God changed the situation of Peter, and it changes ours. There is a promise for you and I; a word of God that changes our situation. Jesus says to us ‘whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’, and again ‘For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit… baptism now saves you also…It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ and again ‘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.’

Faith is simply taking hold of these promises of Jesus. Faith simply knows that the word of God actually changes our situation. We are dead in our sins, but for the sake of Jesus and his death and resurrection, God declares us to be in a new and good relationship with him. God says ‘our dept has been paid, you are forgiven, come all of you and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.’

Right now, we are going to do just that! Take God at his word and baptise little Emelia. We do this in faith knowing that it is not our doing that changes Emelia’s situation, but God’s own promise. Because remember, God’s word says what it does, and does what it says.

There used to be an add on TV promoting a certain car servicing company. A mechanic was listening to a customer trying to explain what we wrong with his car. The person couldn’t explain it with words because he didn’t know what the problem was. He couldn’t diagnose the fault himself and say ‘the shims between the hydraulic lifters and the cam lobes are worn causing the variable cam timing to be out which in turn has decreased the power out put of the engine by 7 and ¾ percent…can you fix it!

No, he couldn’t say what was wrong, because he didn’t know. He stood there unable to speak. Then from within him, sounds began to come out, he began mimicking to the mechanic the noises the engine was making. ‘It goes like this he said ‘weer, weer, weer’. The mechanic replies ‘you mean ‘whoom, whom, whoom’. No, says the man, more like ‘weeer, weeer, weeer’. O, you mean Wheerr, wheerr, wheerr’. Yea! That’s it responded the owner excitedly. That’s it! Immediately, the owner and the mechanic were speaking the same language, they could understand each other. Through the man making the noises the mechanic was able to correctly diagnose and fix the problem with the car.

How many times are our prayers just like that? We know we want to pray, we feel the need to pray, in fact we know Jesus has commanded us to pray, as Matthew records ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak’. Yet when we do, we don’t know what to pray for. We don’t know how to pray and don’t know why we should be praying…as Jesus says ‘the spirit is willing but the body is weak’. We are like the man in front of a mechanic…we stumble over what we ort to pray about; what words we need to use to describe what we need; we wonder what God’s will might be for us.

If this is you, you are not alone. Praying for what we need from God and knowing his will for us in our life is not a natural thing. St Paul acknowledges this when he says ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for.’ Easy conversation with God ended with the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. That was the day we lost our right to speak with God and our ability to know his will for us. Sin blinds us to the truth about ourselves, our needs and condition, and blinds us to the will of God. Sin even blinds us to the fact that without Christ we are dying in our sins and, without him as our mediator between God and us, will be condemned to hell.

Just knowing this fact ought to prompt us to pray, to pray that God would protect us from death without him; to pray for faith and mercy, for forgiveness of sins, yet because we are blinded to our condition and what the future has install for us, and because we don’t know the hour of our death, prayer is the last thing we think of at the beginning of each day.

Take a look at the next few video clips. What do you think these people would have done first thing in the morning if they knew what was going to happen. (play clips). Yes, they would definitely be praying for God’s protection! But what about us? What about you? Your life? Do you know what to pray for? Do you know God’s will for you and for those you pray for? No, of course not. We cannot perfectly know God’s will for us. Our sinful nature now excludes us from true knowledge of God and true knowledge of ourselves and even true knowledge of what we need. Therefore prayer can be daunting, seemingly pointless, and a struggle, like talking to a mechanic when we don’t know how to say what is wrong with our car. Prayer becomes mysterious.

Paul, in this text, helps us to unlock the mystery of prayer; helps us to understand how prayer works. Listen to what he has to say ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.’ Pray is so unnatural, so difficult to do because of our sinful condition that God’s own spirit speaks on our behalf. God’s Spirit works together with us in our prayer, to speak the words we cannot express; to speak the same language as God and to speak according to how God sees our life.

The way Paul sees prayer, us speaking with God, is like the man speaking with the mechanic…no words could express his need, but his groans and noises spoke to the ear of the mechanic; noises that conveyed the right message; conveyed the need and enabled the mechanic to diagnose and fix the car’s problem. In the same way, God’s own Spirit speaks another language to God through our words, as we pray. The Spirit helps us in our weakness; the Spirit intercedes for us with ‘unspoken words’, words that words cannot express. The Spirit has the language of prayer that works in our hearts.

God has given each of us his Spirit in baptism. The Spirit reconnects us with God, enables us to once again converse with God. This is the miracle of baptism; we are born again into God’s family as Paul reminds us ‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour’.

Because we are children of God, because we are born anew, and we have his Spirit, prayer for us, is conversation with God on two levels. We speak and call on him for our every need on one level, and on the other, when we groan because we don’t know what to pray for, God’s Spirit groans in us and speaks to God who searches our hearts and knows what we need for our good and well being.

This is the mystery of prayer and this is the joy of prayer. It is not our hard work that causes God to hear; it is not our fervent pray that he listens to, or our discernment of his will …it is his Spirit. The Spirit intercedes on our behalf. All we need to do is pray, as Jesus calls us to do; pray for what we feel we need or for what others need. Pray for the sick, pray for the poor, pray the Lord’s own prayer, but pray knowing the Spirit of God is speaking at the same time.

This is why we pray that God’s will may be done in each and every prayer, for this then leaves room for the Spirit to speak. If we pray that our will be done, or what we think God’s will is, we shut of the conversation between the Spirit and God; this is why Jesus always prayed ‘your will be done’, and teaches us to do the same in the Lord’s Prayer. Let us be encouraged in the knowledge that the Spirit prays with us, and on our behalf. Let prayer be a joyful part of your day, an easy part, a time you look forward to, like talking to a friend knowing that they understand you’re every need. For you know not what the future is, or what the true will of God is in your life, but you do know that the spirit in your heart has the language of prayer; the language God responds to.

‘A young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having. “Goat,” the little boy replied. “Goat?” replied the startled man of the cloth, “Are you sure about that?” “Yep,” said the youngster. “I heard Dad say to Mum, ‘Today is just as good as any to have the old goat for dinner.’

To put the best spin on the young couple’s actions, perhaps they are taking Jesus’ words from our today’s gospel reading very seriously. In verse 41 of Matthew 10 Jesus says ‘Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.’ They may well have been looking for a reward from the Pastor; some tips on reading the bible, or holy living, or how to stay awake during a sermon.

Or perhaps something far greater. Jesus promise of a reward is intriguing. What sort of reward? When is it given? Is Jesus talking about the reward of heaven and eternal life when we die, or is the reward now?

For the sake of a reward, most of us tolerate many things, or receive into our house, people we don’t normally like to invite; like a tottery great Aunt for the sake of remaining in her will! We are brought up from a young age to be polite and courteous to those who can give us something, even if we can’t stand them; Just sit there…and smile and wave, all in the hope of some reward. Jesus is emphasising that we are rewarded, somehow, when we welcome or are welcomed into each others homes and lives; when Christians continue to meet together.

However, to welcome a fellow believer, to continue to meet together, does not entitle us to a reward. The reward Jesus is speaking of is not something we earn, a repayment after we have worked, like a pay back. His “Reward,” is not something deserved either, like an “award. And Jesus’ “Reward” is not a bribe, a carrot to entice us into having pastor around for lunch! Though, I won’t mind if you think that! No, Jesus means the reward is in the act of welcoming and being welcomed by fellow believers; the reward flows out of believers meeting together.

The reward is Christ himself, present with you. Jesus says ‘He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.’ And in another place he says ‘where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them’. Hidden within Christian gatherings is Christ himself, present for us in the words and actions of fellow believers. Jesus promises to be with us…wow what a reward. Remember years ago when our parents used to set the dinner table and make a setting for Jesus? This is a good practice to remind us that Jesus is truly present as our reward when we meet together.

No wonder the writer of Hebrews says ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’ We meet together now, because Christ is truly present now, through his living and Spirit filled word, to bless us, guide us and protect us from falling into sin and trouble. This is a very practical and tangible reward, Christ being with us to give us his gifts of forgiveness and to lead us in our daily life.

Yet, has the Christian church lost sight of this wonderful reward? Michael Foss, Luther pastor and writer of such books as ‘Power Surge’ and ‘Real faith for real life’ made this comment ‘Christianity was the religion of the 20th century, Buddhism is the religion of the 21st . Why? Because Buddhism is about the now, its about practical religion; about getting results and pay offs; its about a real experience of god.’ Why has Christianity lost its appeal?

Perhaps for too long Christianity has proclaimed itself out of relevance as being so heavenly focused, it has no earthly good! Perhaps for too long we have been preaching a ‘future’ rewards theology; focused on heaven, on eternal life and how we are to long to be with Jesus in heaven, at the expense of what Christianity means in our life now

It is true of course that the goal of Christ’s death and resurrection was –‘to bring many sons to glory’; to win the victory over sin and death and give us eternal life. But have we lifted our eyes so high, that we fail to see Jesus in the person next to us; do we yearn for Jesus in heaven so dearly, that we miss his yearning for us in the friendship of a fellow believer? I remember a number of years ago I was walking past a beachside carnival, when a little girl come racing past me, her eyes focused only on the jumping castle. She had broken from her mother’s grip and was running to reach her goal, the jumping castle. But with her eyes focused only on the goal, and not on where she was going, she soon tripped and fell; she had lost sight of where she was because she was focused on where she wanted to be.

For the sake of our heavenly reward, have we as Christians, as Lutherans in Gilgandra, let go of the Father’s grip and lost sight of where we are, because we are so focused on where we want to be? Are we so heavenly focused, that we have tripped over our reward to make Christ real in our lives and real in the lives of those around us now? If we have, we have lost sight of the gospel…Christ with us, for us and in us. Christ, after making atonement for our sins, ascended into heave so that he may be with us in our daily lives, as he promised, ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

This is our reward now; Christ with us as we meet together and welcome each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us keep our eyes focused on the gospel, the good news, that Jesus came to save sinners and dwell among them; that’s us, and that now. Praise the Lord.

Brooke and Joshua, you have been baptised, you have the Spirit, and Christ lives in you. God has been with you and cared for you and nurtured you from your birth till now, and will continue to do so. But today is special, today you stand before God, and among Christian friends and confess to us and the world; that you believe. That you believe God the Father created you, that his Son Jesus redeemed you, and has given you his spirit, the Spirit that made you his child.

In confessing this, and in promising your allegiance to him and in promising to follow Jesus, remember to regularly meet together with other believers, to receive your reward; Christ and his benefits. Brooke, your Confirmation text is Proverbs 3:5-6. This passage will remind you to trust in the Lord with all your heart and, as you continue to meet together and welcome believers, your reward is God will make your paths straight; your reward is Christ guiding your life and judgements as your read and study his words to you. Joshua, your confirmation text is Colossians 2:6-7.

This passage will remind you that you have received Christ, and to continue to welcome and be welcomed by believers, since you live in him. Your reward is that you will be strengthened in faith and be overflowing in thankfulness.

Brooke and Joshua, take a look at the baptismal font in which you became a child of God. Take a look and say, ‘yes, Christ died for me, I am his child, I am today committing to being welcomed into the church fellowship of Gilgandra as a follower of Jesus.’

Members, family and friends of Brooke and Joshua, as we have heard, when we welcome a believer because they are one of Christ’s followers, you are receiving Christ himself, let us encourage each other to welcome Brooke and Joshua into our worship, into our friendship so that each and every one of us will continue to receive our reward, Christ with us and for us’. Amen