Luke 4:1-13

 

Dear heavenly Father, lead us by your Holy Spirit so that we may remain faithful during our trials and temptations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Lead us not into temptation’.

We know God doesn’t tempt anyone, so when we pray for our Father not to lead us into temptation we’re really asking God to keep us safe from the devil, from our own sinful nature, and from those who are against God.

We’re praying God won’t let them trick us into losing our faith, giving up all hope, and doing other unsavoury things, yet while also praying that even though we are attacked, that in the end, we will win the victory.

Unfortunately we’re tempted often. We’re tempted in ways that are deceptive and attractive. Even though the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, he loves to dress up as a harmless lamb. He doesn’t wear a red suit, have horns and a spiked tail, and carry around a red fork. He dresses up in things that are attractive and desirable. He’s the king of deception and more likely to test and tempt us through things that seem good, right, and reasonable, just as we here he did in todays Gospel reading.

Jesus was hungry! He’s been in the wilderness without food for 40 days. The stones around him would look pretty tempting even after 4 days! Why not just turn them into bread? Surely God wouldn’t want Jesus to go hungry, would he? Don’t we pray ‘Give us today our daily bread’? Well, through a miracle, God may want to give Jesus his daily bread through these stones! Wouldn’t that seem good, right, and reasonable?

We too are often tempted to satisfy our physical desires. We want to gratify our stomachs, our pleasures, our lusts, and our passions and as it seems everyone else is doing it, it can seem a little unfair if we miss out, and just like those famous two people in a garden who were given everything it had-except of all things an apple:  Now I might be getting a bit ahead of myself, but I reckon I could have handled turning down that piece of particular fruit, never mind if the temptation was of the vegetable variety. But what if “the don’t go there” food was a mixture of ingredients that in our modern world we would label a pizza. And that’s the point-we are not tempted by things we don’t want, but things we do want and if it’s not fleshly gratifications, the powers of darkness endeavour to take our eyes of the Lord through the allure power and possessions

Think how much we crave the things of this world. We’re not happy with what we have and always want more. Our TV seems smaller than the one in the shops or in someone else’s house. Our mobile phones don’t look as flashy or sound as good as the person next to us. We want the latest car, the latest gadget, a bigger house; we want the next best thing. More than this, we don’t want to wait. We want glory, power and riches now.

Now I’m not standing up here as a hypocrite, because I fall for a mixture of those worldly things all the time. We probably all have and besides what’s wrong with having these things. Absolutely nothing. The problem is when they become our gods, because when they do, no matter how many things we gather around us, we’re never really satisfied. There’ll always be a new thing we want. We’ll never have enough money. We’ll never be fully satisfied with what we have.

The more we fill our lives with things, the emptier and lonelier we feel, while then being told by the deceiver knowing of how selfish we are, how we’ll never be able to make up for lost times with our families, friends, or with God. Tempt, accuse and tempt the same stuff again through telling us it will then take the pain away from our guilty conscience by doing the same things and all of a sudden, we go from a going to work to buy a beer scenario, to needing the beer to get through work.

We are tempted to put the kart before the horse just like Jesus was by the devil in today’s Gospel.

And Jesus reply, although starving and given a seemingly straight forward and appropriate suggestion given that he hadn’t eaten for forty days certainly had the power to turn the rocks around him into bread, or even Pizza if He wished.

But no, Jesus knew this was not about the devil feeling sorry for Him or caring for Him. This was the devil endeavouring to undermine His Father and the plan He had put in place to save the one’s he cared for and so with even with such a mouth-watering temptation, Jesus quotes a verse from Deuteronomy, saying “Man shall not live by bread alone”.

The context of the verse he quotes is the people of Israel were just about to enter the Promised Land. Before they enter that land, Moses reminds them of God’s law, saying “Remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:2-3)

For the Israelites, their hunger was to teach them the value, importance and necessity of God’s Word. Food will sustain you briefly, but the Word of God will sustain and satisfy you far longer. No one really lives, no matter how much food they have in their belly, without the Word of God. The testing and the hunger were necessary lessons. Jesus submitted himself to this lesson.  He would not be deceived by any desire for instant gratification. The Word of God sustains him.

So will we learn from our temptations and tests? Will we learn to resist the temptation to gratify our fleshly desires right now, or will we learn to wait patiently for what God wants to give us? Through our times of testing, we may learn to be more discerning between what seems good, right, and reasonable, and what really is good and right and reasonable for us.

These temptations are real. They’re real for us, and they were real for Jesus.

Jesus was tempted to abandon the road to suffering and receive the whole world and its inhabitants, but to do so would have meant turning his back on his Father. We are given the same temptations through whatever manner to do the same, to put the kart before the horse, to put things ahead of God.

Things that can be good, but only if subservient to what is truly, good and trustworthy and that is our triune God: God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and the Holy Spirit.

The dark side’s temptations and deceptions are for one purpose. The purpose of taking our eyes off God by manipulating his Word. To take our eyes off Jesus and seeing our self-first.

Not what a great gift and blessing that the Lord has provided me with employment, a roof over our heads and food, clothing family and friends.

Not what a great gift, but turns it to you deserve, it’s your right, if people are in the way cut them down: whatever form it takes is not for the persons care, happiness and a life gained, but the exact opposite.

It’s a “I will tempt with drugs, and once hooked, I’ll tempt to overdose so that they cannot hear the hope and life available to them through the true Word of God.”

So what to do when tempted and with the power of the Holy Spirit hold out. Praise God.

And if you fail, like so many times I do: Then we return to the true Word of God more than ever if that’s possible. Not the Word of God that’s been eroded to maybe’s, if’s and but’s. Not the maybe I’ll be forgiven and saved in Christ version that destroys the truth like a movie director using their creative licence. No we listen to God the Father and the one who lived it Jesus Christ. Jesus who battled and won that even if we do succumb to temptations, by faith, believe God won’t abandon us and doesn’t lead us into temptation. No matter what trials or temptations we face, either in times of abundance or times of scarcity, we can trust in God. He will prove true and faithful to us. We have been set free to put our trust in Jesus who has already walked through many trials and temptations and has proved victorious over them. Through trusting his obedience and victory we are saved. We can trust he’ll give us what we need to endure and persevere in your own times of trouble. We can be certain he will save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Micah 5:2-4

 

If there is one thing we Australians are famous for, it’s chopping down anyone we consider to be getting just a bit too big for their boots. We tend to like everyone to be on a fairly level playing field and we don’t like people blowing their own trumpet or suggesting that they are a little better than someone else.

This “tall poppy syndrome” as it’s known, can be very unfair and even hurtful, but it can also produce some great humour as the following story shows:

An outback cattle station owner travelled to the big smoke for a holiday. Naturally, he drove down in the biggest vehicle he could find – a nice big Ford F250 Dual cab with a big V8 diesel motor and with all the bells and whistles. He was driving through the green dairy country in the hills just outside the city and he had to stop as the local dairy farmer’s cows crossed the road at milking time.

The cattleman called out to the dairy farmer, “How much land you got, mate?”

“Well,” the dairy farmer said, “my land runs all the way down there to those pines near the creek and right up to that line of gums on top of the ridge.”

“You know,” said the cattleman, “I’ve got a station in the outback, and I can get in my ute and drive all day without reaching any of my boundary lines.”

“Is that so?” said the dairy farmer. “I had a ute like that once.”

We don’t mind reminding people that we really are all the same and that no-one is better than anyone else in the overall scheme of things. I reckon that’s a good thing.

But at the same time, we still like to try to gain the upper hand over others. We can spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep people in their place – usually below us – especially if we have been a bit stirred up or angered by someone’s words or behaviour.

• The boss lets us have it when he hasn’t bothered to hear our side of what really went on.
• The kids try something on and we overreact by putting them in their place – maybe even unfairly.
• A friend lets some confidential information circulate and we repay in kind.

We have a bit of trouble as Christians understanding God’s perspective on who we are, what’s important, what’s our place, what is of big importance in the Christian life and what is of small importance.

Sometimes we hold the exact opposite point of view to God. What we value as being big and small, important and unimportant, highly valued and of no great value seems to be a lot different to what he regards as important, big, small, valued and so on.

Today’s first reading really brings out how differently God sees us in his overall plan of bringing all things to their fulfilment. God chooses what seems small to us to accomplish big things through us.

The prophet Micah proclaims the birth of a new ruler for God’s people and the whole world: he will come from Bethlehem Ephrathah. Now Ephrathah is in the general vicinity of Bethlehem. Ephrathah was originally a small Judahite clan. So, this locality or suburb of Bethlehem was small and of no great importance or power in terms of politics, military status, arts and culture or great in by any other measure we might put on towns and suburbs. It certainly was no Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Paris or London.

Bethlehem is now almost a suburb of Jerusalem. It is only about 8kms from the centre of Jerusalem. So, here we have this little location with a name derived from the local family that have lived there for generations within a suburb of Bethlehem, which is hugely overshadowed by the big smoke next door. We are talking small, small town. We are talking no outward importance as far as society sees things.

But of course, we know that God has a different understanding and approach to what is important and unimportant; what is big and what is small. We know that by God’s promise to the prophet Samuel, a long time before the prophet Micah ever spoke and a long time before anything big happened in small Bethlehem, God made a choice about this little place. He told his prophet Samuel to go to this little town and find a king. From this little place and this little family among all the big and powerful families of the country, God had chosen a new king to replace Saul.

Samuel obeyed the Lord and went to Bethlehem to the family of Jesse. Jesse made his 10 sons walk past  Samuel so Samuel could find the one that the Lord had chosen to be King of the whole nation. There was one of Jesse’s sons missing that day. He was out in the paddock keeping the sheep. Samuel didn’t find God’s anointed king among the 10 big brothers. But when the youngest came in hot and sweaty from being out with the sheep all day, he was anointed to be king of Israel. His name was David and all of this happened in little Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16). Bethlehem became the birth-place of the King!

God chooses what seems small to accomplish his big things.

David became the greatest King, not in wealth, power or world status – his son Solomon really reached those pinnacles. David became King and was a “man after God’s own heart”. He sinned greatly but repented often and he put his trust in the Lord for his life. He wrote about it all in the psalms.

When those heady days of power and prestige ran out for the people of Israel, Bethlehem and indeed the whole nation of Israel were again nothing as far as the world was concerned. But again in the darkest days of God’s people, God chooses to do something big with something so small. He speaks another promise about little Bethlehem and this time God goes further than he did the first time he made a promise concerning Bethlehem.

Through Micah, God announces that there will come another King one day. He will be the ultimate King because he does not have his origins in a mere human family. He comes from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2).

He will be the one that the Lord spoke of way back in King David’s rule. God said through another of his prophets, the prophet Nathan, that one day there would be a king over Israel who will rule forever. God said to David that through this new king, not only God’s people would be blessed, but the whole world would be blessed because this new king – this new Messiah –  would rule over every power and nation.

All this from a little place of no particular importance to anyone!

God chooses what seems small to accomplish big things.

We will celebrate the coming of this extraordinarily BIG king who comes in a very normal, small way in a few days time. This ultimate Power and Life of the universe from ancient days has come into the world in the same way that we human, limited, finite, fragile people all came into the world. God keeps his promises for 1000 years and turns up in a way that is everything opposite to what we might want him to be.

Our God always has been on about doing his big things in and through small things and small people. Think of Moses – a reluctant leader. Think of the prophets; Elijah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah – all lived in weakness and powerlessness. Think of David – chosen so young. Think of Elizabeth and Mary – an elderly woman and a young girl who would be called “theotokos” (the bearer of God) by Christians for all generations!

Think of yourself. Where did you come from? What claim to God’s promises did you have? Why should he have chosen you to be a co-ruler with Christ in the world, for that is what you are in baptism? By what right of your own do sit at the Lord’s Table where you receive his love and grace and forgiveness in these ordinary looking but supernatural realities?

God chooses weak people, sinning people, blind people: all the “wrong” people to be with him. Praise the Lord!  Because of his “upside down” ways we have life and a future in his big work of gathering all the other big and small people into his family.

Because of this, our future as God’s community in this little corner of the earth is secure. God has not stopped working with clay vessels. He remains the shepherd who stands, protects and feeds us with his love, grace, peace and power; as he speaks his Word and gives us his own body and blood that was born in Bethlehem, crucified in Jerusalem and raised to glory.

Like the people of Micah’s day, we are to wait for his coming. Like a pregnant woman, we wait for the coming of our king – just like Elizabeth and Mary had to wait for their two children of promise.

But as they waited together, they and the children in their wombs leapt for joy at the good news God promised. “I am here and I am coming again and there will be lasting peace in your lives and in my world”.

We wait in the struggle with joy at the news we have heard and upon which we pin our lives, and we pray – Come soon, Lord Jesus, come soon.

Amen.

Philippians 4:4-7

 

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always!

Rejoice in the Lord always, even though you’re having a really bad day.

Rejoice in the Lord, even when you’re in pain, when you’re suffering, or when you’re sick.

Rejoice in the Lord always, even when you’re getting old and frail.”

“Be reasonable to everyone, even though family and friends attack you, criticise you and abandon you. Be gentle with all people, even though they are not gentle with you and backstab you. Be gentle with people even though they lie to your face.”

“Don’t be anxious, even though you probably haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet. Don’t be anxious about your crops and the lack of rain, or your limited finances, your wayward children, your selfish spouse, or your destructive community. Don’t be overly concerned about anything, even though you worry what the future might bring.”

“Be joyful, be reasonable with others, and don’t be anxious.”

Well, some people can live like this, but some of us find it hard to be always joyful, to be gentle at all times, and not worry about so many things.

In fact, even when things go right, we sometimes find it hard to rejoice. We struggle to be gentle or reasonable at home, let alone to others in our community. We worry about the smallest things that seem to blow out of all proportion in our minds.

Was Paul one of these annoying people that seem to always be happy, gentle and have no worries about anything? Is he expecting us to change our nature and be like him?

Sure, Paul was writing this letter from prison; sure he had been whipped and beaten to within an inch of his life; sure he was criticised by many people, including synagogue leaders; and sure he had close friends and family abandon him in times of need, but we all have problems of our own!

He may have been able to keep his chin up and keep smiling in all circumstances, but we can’t!

Why is it that we struggle with these things? Is there something wrong with Paul’s expectations, or is there something wrong with us?

Part of the problem is that we’re often focused on ourselves. We think we’re only truly happy when we get what we want. We can only be gentle with those who are first gentle with us. We’re only free of worries if everything goes our own way. Our sin makes us selfish and self-serving.

Our sinfulness blinds us so that we don’t see the blessings God gives us, even in the times of trouble and suffering. Perhaps we want revenge against people who treat us badly, instead of practicing peacemaking through forgiveness and gentleness. Maybe we don’t trust God will help us in our times of need and we figure it’s all up to us, so therefore we worry about how WE can fix things.

What can possibly help us get out of our gloomy outlooks, our selfish dealings with others, and our fretful lives?

Paul gives us a hint: we can always rejoice, be gentle, and not be anxious, because the Lord is near.

Because the Lord is near, we can rejoice even in the worst circumstances. Because the Lord is near, we can be gentle even with our enemies. Because the Lord is near, we have no need to be anxious.

It’s like we have been running a marathon. Our bodies ache and our minds have been telling us to give up for ages. Our vision has been blurred so that all we see is the few steps in front of us. But despite our aches and pains, we know the finish line is just up ahead. Where we come in the race doesn’t matter, but we’re filled with joy to know the race is almost finished. Relief and rescue is in sight.

But it’s more than that.

This isn’t just the relief from knowing the end is in sight, but that our Saviour and rescuer is near. Sure the end is coming, that time when the Lord will come again to judge the living and the dead, but we also know Jesus promises to always be near us.

He’s the one who’s been jogging alongside us the whole marathon, going through the same temptations, and the same pain. He’s the one who picks us up when we fall. He’s the one who bore the abuse against us, and took the worst scars. He’s the one who heals our wounds. When we’ve mistakenly gone down the wrong path, he’s followed us and called us to turn around and join the race again. When we’ve felt like giving up, he’s the one who encouraged us with his words and his refreshing provisions. He’s the one who constantly reminded us to keep calling on him and telling him our needs, to let him shoulder our pain, our frustrations, our sicknesses and our worries.

When we’re overly concerned about our problems, about people around us, or about our situation in life, he encourages us to take our needs to him in prayer. If we keep all our problems and worries to ourselves, they grow and multiply and threaten to take all the joy out of our lives. In this sense, worry is like a virus that takes away all our reasons to rejoice. The antidote for worry and anxiousness is prayer.

We can’t ‘think’ our worries away through wishful or positive thinking, but when we bring them before God in prayer, he gives us his peace. Notice it’s HIS peace he gives us, which is far better than any calmness we could ever achieve by our own reasoning.

Then, as our worries are taken away and God grants us his peace, joy can start growing in our life again. Our focus has been shifted away from our own troubles and problems so that we may look to Jesus Christ. Then we have reason for joy and thankfulness because of what God has done for us through Jesus.

Outward circumstances do not and should not determine the condition of our hearts. Even when everything around us is dark and gloomy, we can be joyful within.

We can be joyful because of our oneness with Christ. Even when we feel alone and isolated, we can rejoice in our unity with our Triune God.

We can be joyful because of our forgiveness through Christ. Sure other people may still not forgive us, they may still hold a grudge against us, and they may still continue to attack us, but as we stand in front of God, our conscience is clear through the forgiveness of our sins.

We can be joyful because of the nearness of Christ himself. He never abandons us or attacks us. He supplies all our needs. He lifts us up when we’ve fallen. He gives us the strength to endure our times of trial and suffering, and he even heals us. He answers our prayers for ourselves, the ones we love, and our petitions for the needs of the world. Christ gives us his peace.

Then, like a sentry, the peace from God will guard our hearts. It’s like we’ve a company of peace soldiers or angels surrounding us whose sole purpose is to protect and guard us.

As we confront all the temptations and trials of this life, we can be sure Jesus is near, which brings us joy. Through the peace and forgiveness from Christ, we can be gentle with all people, including our enemies. Through prayer, all our anxiousness is taken away and thankfulness joins with our reasons for joy.

For the foundation of our joy, is the nearness of Jesus Christ.

The foundation of our gentle dealing with all people, no matter how they treat us, is Jesus Christ.

The foundation of our freedom from anxiety, is prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

The foundation of peace is Jesus Christ…

Amen.

Luke 3:1-6

 

John – out in the desert – was in the great tradition of the Hebrew prophets. And here, we see him aware that the time was upon Him to fulfil the destiny given to him right from his conception when still in his mother’s womb, he first encountered a baby to be called Jesus being carried within his Aunt Mary’s womb.

So, in responding to a calling from God he came in from the wilderness and began to preach a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Luke names a list of rulers who probably wouldn’t have been happy with this scruffy looking prophet from the desert coming to the people and trying to put things right, especially if they thought that the one who was coming would take over their leadership from them.

Yet he came proclaiming boldly, “to prepare the way of the Lord; to make his paths straight”, this is the message of the prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist is here to put it into practice.  Times are about to change people, hear ye, hear ye!  The mountains are about to move, the whole landscape will change, crooked will become straight and rough will become smooth.  But most importantly, all flesh will see the salvation of God.

Bold statements that saw the people distracted with superficial things come out from Jerusalem to see him. They were intrigued by this strange phenomenon of a wild man preaching repentance. They were fascinated by surface level things like his camel hair suit, wild hair-do and homemade leather belt and his fiery and passionate message of challenge. They wanted to interview him and then tell all their friends about their remarkable experience. “Who are you?” they asked. His answer was short and to the point: “I am not the Christ.” “Are you Elijah?” “No!” “Then who are you?” they persisted and though they had their doubts about who he was, his message to their ears was clear: Repent.

Repent at Christmas? Isn’t that the message of Lent, when we hear of all that torture, blood and suffering of this Jesus to whom John was a sign? But not at Christmas! Christmas is nice. Christmas is about a cute little baby and carols and presents and food and shopping!

Yes, repent approaching Christmas. John calls us to approach Christmas with honesty and openness to the Word of God. He calls us to repent our way to a merry Christmas.

Advent means “coming” and it requires a thoughtful and reflective approach to the coming of God into our humanity; with all our muck, sin and death. We prepare for Christmas by repenting. Repenting for John is more than having a change of heart or a feeling of regret. It is more than a New Year’s Eve resolution. Repentance is a turning away from ourselves, and in simple trust and faith in God’s grace, turning back to him.

Advent marks the start of a new church year, and it is customary at the start of any year to reflect on the past, look at the present and contemplate the future. We find ourselves reflecting on what God has been up to and what he will do in the future. In tough times when we feel a bit alone, it is pretty easy to start to worry about our future and feel as though we have to make everything happen by ourselves, without God!  Then there is always all those things we see and hear on TV these days – so much fear and terror. So many tragedies, so much suffering.

But into this comes this fiery witness – John. He calls us away from our worries and puts our life into perspective – God’s perspective. He displays God’s passion to have us back with him. John shows God’s deep concern for us and points us sinners to the medicine for our disease – the antidote to our worry, the security for our future – Jesus.

Each of us is invited to come to Jesus one-on-one. John says prepare for the advent – the coming – of Jesus. We can’t rely on our pedigree as a dyed-in-the-wool Lutheran or an extra special member of this parish. There is no room for pleading ignorance concerning God’s call to come clean with him and repent. No, there is only room in our hearts for the grace of Jesus –that’s what it’s all about.

For us Christians, there is a lifetime of living that comes from this grace that fills our hearts. We are called by the Lord through John to reflect on what we do with the Lord’s grace and love.

Consider the following….

• If you have food in the fridge, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of people in the world.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet/purse and spare change in a jar somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are doing better than the 1 million who will not survive the week.
• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, loneliness of imprisonment, agony of torture or pangs of starving, you are ahead of 500 million people.
• If you can attend a Christian church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people.

Sobering facts that see us hearing the voice of John more as the God fearing Jews coming out from the Holy temples of Jerusalem than the wondering “un-godly, unknowing” gentiles

So, is it time for us to do a similar thing. To hear his message from the wilderness and repent, I think so. Just as it is also the time that we take his message with us into the wilderness knowing of the need to call the world to repentance and make the way straight for the coming of the kingdom of God?

Many would say that we now live in a post-Christian society, that our society has become more secular than Christian or in some parts of the world other faiths have taken precedent.  Perhaps the world view right now is not so different from the time of John the Baptist, with everyone looking out for themselves and building their own kingdoms, trying to take what is someone else’s for their own benefit.

We could also say in some ways that the those of us who would call ourselves a part of the kingdom of God, the church, aren’t that different to the rest of society.  We are distracted by the need to get ahead, to have all the right ‘toys’ in our houses, garages and driveways, we work too hard to have time to play, we focus on our own needs instead of the needs of others and building the kingdom of God is fairly low on the agenda for a fair majority of us.  So yes, John’s message is for us too, and especially during this Advent season as we journey along the path to Christmas.

And maybe as we go, we can share our hope, our vision and our faith with those around us by becoming quiet and caring prophets as we through our actions make the path just that little bit smoother for others to see the salvation of God as well.

Amen.

Post message reflection partly based on the writings of Duke Ellington

Imagine weaving your way through an ancient crowded marketplace. Pots are clanging, merchants are squabbling and a donkeys are braying as they wait to be unloaded. Your sandals scrape on cobblestone. Someone carrying an arm load of palm branches brushes quickly past you, knocking you to the ground. “Sorry!” he shouts without looking back. “I’ve got to be there when he comes!” You rise and taste the blood on your upper lip. Oth­ers are scurrying by—some with little children in their arms, some hand in hand with their lovers, one with no hand at all. A man with a withered leg hobbles up and pauses to catch his breath. “Why is everyone in such a hurry?” you ask. “It’s the healer!” he grins through three crooked teeth. “He’s coming this way.” You decide to follow. A dozen ornately clad religious teachers push briskly past. One seems excited. The others appear annoyed. “He is a great rabbi!” brags the one. “We’ll see about that!” scowl the others. You approach the gate and the crowd begins to cheer. They lift their palm branches high, like a thousand fans for a pharaoh. “Hosanna!” they shout as a wave of excitement fills the air. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven! Glory in the highest heaven!” You strain to see what is happening, looking for a warhorse, a chariot or a god. What are they waiting for? Whom are they cheering? A king? A healer? A general? And then you see him—the man on a donkey. Crowds are parting to let him pass—this strange and welcomed visitor. Not a king. Not a general. No person of prestige or power. A simple man on a donkey, with power to rivet the crowds. The religious teach­ers march up and order him to silence the masses. You press closer and see Him looking at the broken, hungry, oppressed and lost people, and then from His heavy eyes you see a single tear drop and wonder of such a man being honored so greatly, yet so greatly honors those before Him.  . (Pause) In a moment, you are transported to the streets of your town. Crowds are scurrying. Tinsel is glittering. A tiny speaker is blaring, “Here comes Santa Claus,” above a plastic Christmas tree. You look up, half expecting to see the man on the donkey, but all that greets your sight is a mass of anxious people, a blur of bustling crowds. Credit cards flash. Tills ring. Bright wrapping paper is bound with bows but no one is speaking—no one. They all seem in such a hurry, but no one says a word. So silent about the king whose name alone bears witness to the approaching holly day. Holy day. Holiday. There is nothing said about the healer, the teacher, the king—no praises, no whispers, no words.

Then suddenly you hear those words mentioned by the veterans on that one day of the year when they once again march united, and come to understand the power and hope of those words said for their fallen comrades through the trust of what awaited them because of the one man who defeated death that life become eternal:

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

As we celebrate Advent-the coming of our Lord Jesus, we again see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Son of God look toward the broken, hungry, oppressed and lost people. And look toward us and ask that we bring before Him our needs and the needs of our world. Bring before Him our fears, and the fears of the people that all will see and know the hope that is He. Amen

Jeremiah 33: 14-18, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Luke 21:25-36

This Friday just gone, Australian Cricket has done another world first. A day/night test match with a pink ball. And this Friday just gone was also a year to the day that Australian cricketer Philip Hughes was lost to this world from a cricket ball to the back of his head.

Friday three days ago was an emotional day for those test cricketers on Adelaide oval. The dawn of a new era, and the memory of one past in the shape of a man that had seemingly touched them all. A man, a test cricketer who the current caption at the time Ricky Ponting remarks to fondly of when he was batting alongside this young Phillip Hughes in only his second test and having seen the “new guy” getting a truly hostile welcome from the mighty South African fast bowlers-and being the caption and in trying to support him through this testing time and asking him how’s he going, was proud to be told by this young man short in stature but who played tall while under fire with smile beaming “that this is test cricket, this is what’s it all about, this is what I’ve been waiting for and I love it.”

Rarefied air like that of 747 aeroplane pilot fighting in a crippled plane with hundreds of souls on board. Rarefied air like soldiers in war and those fighting our dry and dusty lands bushfires who do “their job” for other’s lives by putting their own at risk, and rarefied air  like that of a lady who recently on her death bed whispered the last words that her Pastor would hear from her: “see you on the other side.”

The rarefied air of today’s scripture pointing to a time like no other: “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again.

A time that will see “..On earth distress of nations in perplexity and bewilderment…people fainting fearfully at what is happening….the powers of heaven shaken” and the powers of darkness stalking the earth to wreak havoc on the horrors of our inhumanity, our wars, crimes against our brothers and sisters and the never ending desire to rebuild our towers of Babylon and exalt ourselves as God.

A time Matthew 24 tells us that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ! Â’ or, ‘There he is! Â’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.”

A time of when the powers of darkness will play their last card as spoken by the prophet Daniel who warns that “when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not, (let him that reads understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains.

A time where Christians find themselves standing on the brink of desolation when everything goes wrong and all their foundations crumble. When every light goes out and all their cute clichés of piety have exploded and they find themselves sitting in the dark. A time I fear that I separate from my family and not run to the mountains, but have the courage to stay and attest to the true one and only saviour Jesus Christ.

Pray such testing times like that of Abraham with his Son Isaac on the alter, or that of Christians huddling before a lion set to devour them, not be the times that wait us.

The time when the world will ask with scorn of “Where is your God now and who is this Son of man of that you talk?” A question both then and now of things seemingly out of control that would deceive even the elect if had we not have been guided by Christ to the truth of his life.  The truth that our human minds cannot fully grasp but know in faith.

The truth that He is the Son of God. That Jesus Christ, no less than the Son of God who took on our flesh and bones and blood and nerves.  The Son of God who He himself has been through His tribulation and suffered in the dark in the Garden of Gethsemane with his own bloody sweat on his forehead as the rancid vapor of the guilt of the entire world burned upon His Holy soul.

The Son of God who journey to Jerusalem to be delivered to the hands of men who on the cross with His mission near completion cries to His Father “why have you forsaken me” when the sins of the world, the sins of those past, the sins of us and those of the future which like a searing sword tore through the flesh and heart of the one man who was without sin. The one man without sin, yet the one man forsaken for that moment by God the Father to accomplish our redemption, atoned for all our guilt, purchased our forgiveness, crushed the juggernaut of death and brought life and immortality to light.

Jesus Christ the Son of Man who walked through His tribulation so great that only the Son of God could have achieved it. And Jesus Christ the Son of Man with a love so great that only He, the Son of God could suffer it again through the lives of the very ones He came.

Our Tribulation in which He walks in front, alongside and behind that we fall not to the snares of the evil one, but be guided from fear to faith for when the time will be, and in fact already is: when everyone will speak against the faith and when all the evidence will screams at us, “So where is your God now?”

Christ with us for the time that will, and in fact is already is: when fear will grip those of the earth by their throats to choke off all these “myths” about a God who steers the course of history to its goal.

The time that will be, and in fact already is where the elect will not fall to such traps. The time now where those of the faith-you and I when asked by our own fears and when asked by the world of “where is your God know” can respond not with what may appear but which what is.

To know in faith and in the rock solid truth of scripture that the Son of man has never lost control and never will. That God is today right where He was when Jesus took his cross, right where He was when his apostles went to death for him and right where he was when the martyrs joined their voices in a hymn of praise before the Emperor and the bloodthirsty jeering crowds as the lions roared. And right where He is now, right by your side here today, just as where He will be when you are welcomed to your heavenly home. 

A professional Golfer after practicing hour upon hour was asked if all that training can improve his already near perfect game. A question to which he replied: “I don’t train to get better, but train that when I approach the ball lying in the woods that I know without question that I will make the shot.”

The end times started when Christ won our battle on the cross and the end times will finish when all will see Him coming again in the clouds and like that golfer we need not consume ourselves with distractions other than what is at hand, for we have been brought to the faith in the truth. We the elect have not been deceived by the turbulence of a world in rough times but remain in His green pastures.  His green pastures that see us not in fear or a world desolate to us in the faith. But His green pastures known to us that see this as a time like no other. A time to not doubt but to lift our eyes and see Christ.  A time not to give in and let the world go its merry way to self-destruction while we idle away time. A time not to be give up and cry I’m beaten and surrender to the world with all its passions and distractions. 

No, this is our time. A time that gives us reason to not give up, but to give out. To give out with all we are and all we have of what the grace of God has made of us and given us-to speak the joy we know in Him who is the Lord of all, to call those the Lord places before us that they not fear of what may will be, or is already hear, but be called to the faith of Jesus Christ that trusted His life to that of The Father, that they may have faith in Him.

When each of us came to faith we are told the angels and heavens erupted in joyous song. A moment that for each of us did our Savior on the cross know,” that’s what’s it’s all about” and while we may not have to face devouring lions, bushfires,  the gun of an enemy or the ferocity of a 150 kilometer an hour  leather missile in the guise of a cricket ball-in Christ we do know what it’s all about and with Christ by our side we see those people and situations He places before us, and in knowing what awaits us in our heavenly home, know that the person or the moment we are given before us, that we after a life of being pruned, brought to faith and given the knowledge of salvation and peace-know that it could be the moment that may been waiting for us all our lives that will see the heavens again erupt for that one person’s eyes being  opened and given faith in our, and their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

You have been blessed, and these are blessed times for blessed are you who come in the name of the Lord. Pray it be so for all.  Amen.    

“The gift of Christmas presence”

Luke 1:26-28

When I was young, on Christmas Eve we would open our presents from Father Christmas and on Christmas day all our families would gather together at a home of one of our relatives in the most central location. It was great fun playing back yard cricket against our cousins and their mum’s and dad’s. I enjoyed all of the day except when it was time for the communal opening of our presents from our mum’s and dad’s. I always wished we could have stopped at just getting the big fella’s presents the night before, not because I wouldn’t have minded a few more, but because in the communal session, I could always see how my mum and dad seemed not embarrassed, but more sought of as second class parents because of the inferior type of present that they could provide compared to the other’s given. I didn’t care, but they seemed to and I always felt sad for them and just wished we didn’t have that part of the day.

Those times in our early days often follow us around later in our lives where we try and compensate in the other way and if we look at it from the two ends of the scale: The children of a poor family who may grow up and try to shower their own kid’s with presents, and the children of a rich family who may grow up with the in-built longing to not so much shower their children with presents but to be present in their lives.  Or, we just mutate to another form of the same which I only know too well where instead of feeling sorry for my mum and dad in their thoughts of not having the ability to furnish me with great gifts like the others around them, to know feeling like them on a daily basis when I line up my pathetic and spiritually poor bank account of self and service towards our Lord and Saviour. Guilt and wallowing in self-regarding shame or guilt and wallowing in self-hiding pride.  Shame diffused through the bottom of a glass or shame diffused and hidden through the striving for wealth, respect and position.

 I’ve had a crack at most of them but each of us have our default position when the dark clouds of self-worth hit amongst the certainty of our desire to run from it in the way that is only known to each of us, only to find that when we get there-that there it still awaits bigger and stronger, asking for not less but for more of the same as we increase the self-medication of moving closer to the park bench and empty bottles or closer to the leather padded Lear jet seat traversing the world in might and prestige.

Ironically, neither of these book ends of society are either wrong or necessarily better or worse than the others. I’ve met CEO’s who truly understand that the position they hold is of great importance not to themselves, but to the thousands of families that rely on them doing their job well so that the company remains strong and that their employees remain secure. Just as I’ve met a man who didn’t drink, seemed clean and well-spoken and who chose the freedom of sleeping on a bus stop bench happy with either the balmy nights and storm clouds or the clear nights and sparkling stars as his blanket. Both were great people and because they “got what is was all about” neither ridiculed or judged other peoples place in the world.

Our upbringing and our experiences can shape our sense of who we are and how we see things and it is often enlightening to see that come out in the answers people give in one of my favourite shows “Family Feud” and this week, one contestant when asked what is made of straw and in replying “a bed” was rewarded with four points and laughter from the audience, at which hearing, the smiling compare of the show Grant replied “come on Australia, it’s one of the best stories ever told.”

Maybe it was a throw-away line or his statement of faith, but either way it struck me that on a show where to win you need high point scoring answers, we were given an answer of little point value and use towards the prize on offer.

Similar on New Year’s Eve 2000 in the back ground on the T.V. was the countdown to voting on the greatest Australian song in history and upon reaching number one, a well-known Aussie Band said “oh that’s easy because it doesn’t matter where we play in the world there will always some drunk Australian ask that we play Cold Chisel’s Khe Sahn.

I agree and it has great heartfelt and real lyrics about a soldier returning from Vietnam and his struggles to fit back into society and one verse summarises it well by saying:

“And I’ve travelled round the world from year to year
And each one found me aimless, one more year the worse for wear
And I’ve been back to South East Asia
But the answer sure ain’t there
But I’m drifting north, to check things out again.”

In writing this, I just noticed the word count and realized how long winded my introduction has been without any “God talk”. I’m sorry for that but so can be our searching for answers and contentment on this earth.

It is such a wonderful thing to see Jordana being baptised today into the arms of Jesus at the age of six weeks old and hearing His promise now imbedded into her very self that “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved.” What a great promise to receive and though Jordana does not understand it now, just as I did not fully understand when I was baptised as a twenty nine year old, she to like myself will see that the Lord does not make that statement lightly and in fact is prepared to go into the lowest pit or above the highest mountain to show himself that we may come to believe in Him.

The same Saviour sent to earth to be born to a humble girl called Mary who through becoming pregnant out of wedlock would have been the target of ridicule, rumour and out right disgust, trusted the message from the angel Gabriel that she was chosen to be not the mother of grace, but the daughter of the grace given to her and the world through the long promised Messiah and Saviour that she carried in her womb.

The same Mary who over the next 30 years would see here baby boy grow into a man and then be brutally tortured before being hung from a cross amongst criminals. A moment where the Blessed Mary may not have felt so blessed.

A long time Pastor once asked me what it is like in the real world when the troubles come. The death of those close, the stuffing up and being stuffed up and at times feeling alone and helpless. My answer was the same as then as it is now-not a lot: because in my chasing and searching both outside of Christ and with Christ I’ve felt the wraths and the joys of what life in both worlds can bring. Times of being blessed by the unlikeliest of people and situation in the front bar of a hotel and times like that of the blessed Mary where we stand confused at the foot of suffering.

I bought a new CD this week where a song’s chorus goes “I don’t know where I’m running but I know how to run, cos running’s the thing I’ve always done” which reminded me of a little boy I knew used to know who would be woken in the middle of the night and told to run to safety through the paddocks to the neighbor’s house and today if you meet this man and look closely you will sometimes still see that little boy still trying to run from himself and though each step seems aimless and another the worse for wear, Jesus Christ run’s with him. Not to ridicule, lector or place demands. But to guide, lift up and ask that he know the truth that is Jesus Christ himself who has been with him the whole way asking and pleading over and over again that we head to His cry in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 to “come unto me, all who that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

When my son was three years I went to him under the cloud of anguish and “asked that he forgive me for not being the Father I wished I could be”. To which he replied “what do you mean dad, you’re a great dad” and today just as we see a little child called Jordana before us, so do the three to be admired most, The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost see today your inner self and though to others and indeed to yourself you have hidden it away’, to them you need not because as you come before God the Father with Jesus Christ His Son and your Saviour by your side He sees not crimes of an enemy to be punished, but the anguish of a child needing to be covered cover with His love. His love that knows your journey. His love that has wept with you in the times of distress and cherished the moments with you when freed from them.

This Christmas we may or may not get the presents we would like but we can be assured that the greatest story ever told is not a fable or about some fictional scenario designed for bring out a false sought of hope in this world, but the story of truth arriving on this earth some 2,000 years ago given to little Jordana today and for her years ahead. A promise not from our actions but from His given to us on a cross in Israel 2,000 years ago where He gave up His earthly life that in ours we need not search or run no longer, but be still and rejoice that though the road may have been long and arduous, it has and will lead you home. Praise be to God. Amen.

In today’s Gospel, we see this wild looking character John the Baptist announcing the arrival of the long-time promised Messiah as recorded right through scripture.

The Old Testament was a time of prophets and promise. It was a time of waiting, or anticipation-and then it happened. God sent “his one and only Son” and the New Testament is the time of celebrating the promise fulfilled.

The Advent season focuses on the coming of that Messiah as we are invited to enter into the Old Testament experience of yearning and hoping and waiting.

Just like our children wait in expectation before they are allowed to finally open the presents sitting under the Christmas tree, so are we invited during these weeks of Advent to enter that spirit of painful expectation spiritually and if we can sense the pain and frustration of the Old Testament people, we can better rejoice at the fulfilment when the angels finally announce that “today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord.”

To feel the pain of the wait and finally the Joy just as in our lives sometimes all we have is the promise as said in well-known form that “Faith is only faith when you have nothing else to hold onto to.”

Yet the Old Testament prophets did not know what to expect. They knew it would be a righteous Branch sprung from the stump of David’s house as recorded in Jeremiah where “The days are coming declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel.

But the Prophets did not know that the Messiah would be God himself.

They had no concept of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and so they couldn’t possibly anticipate that the Second person of the Trinity would be born as one of them with the Father sending his “One and only Son.”

We know from their writings that He would exercise kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, but how could they possibly know of the righteousness that Jesus would bring of forgiveness of sins won on a cross for they were anticipating that the Saviour would be for justice and righteousness for their nation rather than for all people and for all eternity.

Them and us, sometimes all we have in life is the promise, and we just wait. We wait and God surprises.

Problem is it’s hard to wait and we can feel it from the palmist and from ourselves as they and us cry: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord hear my voice. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his Word I put my hope (Ps. 130:1,5).

Sometimes all we have in life is the promise and it can hurt.

Times in our lives when all we had was the promise.

Times when you were in the depths and cried to the Lord, and all you could do was wait.

Painful times that you may remember as you recall the loneliness, the frustration, the anger, the doubt and maybe then the guilt of having such feelings. The how can God love me like this with my accusations and mistrust.

Maybe you are feeling that way today as we approach Christmas because while it is a time of celebrating Jesus arrival, it is also a season that can bring to the surface all the frustrations and losses and fears of life.

For many people, these weeks before Christmas are the most painful days of the year and can’t wait for it to be over.

Many people wear a mask of “good cheer”, but inside feel only pain and hurt and frustration. Outside it’s yes: Merry Christmas and Oh yes, the singing and the bells are wonderful. But inside it’s “I don’t have the perfect life like everybody else has.

I can act it, but I’ll never have it and as I don’t want to spoil it for you, I won’t tell you how I’m really feeling and this can go on for year after year. Will the pain ever end? Will Christmas ever pass?

Christmas is one of, if not the time of greatest depression, loneliness, and suicide in our society.

Sometimes all we have in life is promise and hope, and we wait. But the promise and hope that comes from God himself. And he is a God who fulfils his promises and that is what we celebrate at Christmas and daily in our lives that from Galatians, “When the time had fully come, God sent His son, born of a women.”

All this was happening in the fullness of God’s time just as there is the fullness of time in your life.

Think Back. Remember those times of pain and frustration and doubt?

Remember how your good Lord saw you through them. Most likely he didn’t lead you out as you anticipated, but he did lead you out-“in the fullness of time,” when it was right and when you were ready.

Our heavenly Father did it in Jesus and He did it to you in your life and he’s still doing it now. That’s the story of our life in God. It’s a life of Trust. It’s a turning over of our fears and worries and burdens. It’s a freedom of knowing he’s in charge, a confidence that he will act. Our whole Christian life is waiting on Him. Trusting him in His love, His will and His goodness.

In Christ you are saved and forgiven today because you know Him and He knows you. You are blessed.

Yet there are those around us that behind the mask if we looked, we would see the hurting.

The one’s we go to and hold their hand in God’s name and help to hang on and wait. To tell them the Christmas truth: That God kept his promise from the Old Testament and sent His Son.

Because to them and to you, God keeps his promises to all who wait on him and in the fullness of time, in the most unexpected ways, he stills sends his Son to us-to restore, to build and to lavish us with his love. Thanks be to God. Amen.

“No more or less about it”

1^st Corinthians 1:3-9

Mahammad Ali is well known as an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the sport’s history and a noted activist for racial justice. He was also dyslexic and had trouble reading long words and in 1975 before 2,000 Harvard graduates gave a speech referencing the advantages they had been given in education up and against the same that he had not been given and urged them to use that knowledge to change the world for the better.

Seemingly polar opposites in upbringing and opportunity and at the end someone from the crowd yelled, “give us a poem” to which he replied and gestured: “Me, we.”

Sometimes more is less, and less is more and in my first reading of today scripture from 1^st Corinthians 1:3-9, I was not overwhelmed as to any great theological insight from the Apostle Paul.

How wrong I was.

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and tells the story of an 18th-centuryAfrican, captured as an adolescent and sold into Slavery in the United States of America and follows his life and the hardships and injustices he and others like him suffered and to which this book went onto be considered one of the most important U.S. works of the twentieth century.

That author, Alex Haley went onto say:

Never read a Jonah Lehrer book, peeped a James Frey lie, or knowingly bookmarked a Jayson Blair article. While fraud soaks the roots of some great literature, the truth is always better, even if or when it shakes our realities.

1^st Corinthians 1:3-9: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge. God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Those words from Paul are placed directly before he addresses some serious issues within the congregation of the Corinthians such as divisions in the church, members exerting their foolish human wisdom over others together with the occurrence of sexual immorality, idolatry, pride, abuse of the Lord’s Supper and even doubts as to authenticity of the bodily resurrection of those in Christ.

Big ticket items and Paul seems to address these issues in what we would call the sandwich effect with something less important said both before and after the meat of the message. Like on a talent show where the judge would start with “Your hair looks nice”, then ultimately the meat “that the problem is you can’t sing” and then concluding with something positive to take away with such as: “have you tried juggling?”

Paul is doing no such thing in his address to the Corinthians and in those opening seemingly fluffy opening statements he is offering the meat of the truth in which only then, can anything else ever be addressed.

Less is more:

John 3:16 “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.”

Less is more:

Luke 23: 42-43: (Then the thief on the cross) said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. (and) Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

In the English language we have words like know and no that we can tell apart by how they are spelt and in their context: “I know what you mean” or “Cathy can I have some money, No to cannot.”

Less is more and so today, I am not intending to shake any realities but confirm them for you by simply letting Paul tell you of the truth that he was chosen by Christ to do. Verse by verse as it was given to him and in the unadulterated form, meaning and not subjective, but actual meaning with all its dots and dashes as written in the Greek language that would be translated no differently by an unbelieving scholar, to that of a believing one.

^{Verse 3Â} Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is concise, sweet Gospel that sets up this text to in which every verse does Paul make mention to Jesus with each repetition bringing out another nuance of the pairing of both grace and peace together as one. Being the source of our salvation is always and only in the grace of God in Christ which then and only then do we have the peace of God in Christ. Paul here to you makes an implicit reference to Christ’s divine nature in that the grace you have received, is from the unmerited kindness of God which caused him to elect you in eternity, call you by the Gospel, redeem you and preserve you in the faith.

^{Verse 4Â} I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

Paul lists grace as the first and essential gift, to which many gifts have been added. Over your life, this grace has been preached to you and by that grace, you have believed the message. By grace you have been kept in the faith and equipped for the life of faith, and Paul here, is giving you his upmost confidence that God will preserve you and this congregation in spite of your weaknesses.

^{Verse 5Â} For in him you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.

Enriched in every way. Not enriched by yourself nor in your own right, but enriched in Christ. Not enriched as others who speak eloquently but without knowledge and therefore blessing. Not being blessed with the knowledge, but do not speak either because are not able to or do not care. But enriched in Christ, you are equipped with both the knowledge of Him and the will to speak of in your testimony.

^{Verse 6Â} God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.

Your testimony of which Christ is both object and author, and in this word play gives imagery of Christ as a strong root or a secure anchor to which your testimony concerning Christ has taken firm hold.

^{Verse 7Â} Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

This statement and its contrast to charismatic teaching is striking and emphatically in the highest order, that no Christian congregation is lacking any spiritual gift, together with emphasizing, that one true mark of your Christian faith to you individually and our whole congregation collectively, is that of waiting expectantly and not dreading the Second coming and of been given the spiritual gift of equipping you for that wait.

^{Verse 8Â} He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You here today, just as you have come to faith in Christ, so too He will root and anchor you securely to the end, and having been given the gift of perseverance, you will stand before God the Father not sinless in this world, but blameless and not liable to either charge or accusation because of the grace you have given through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ his Son for you.

^{Verse 9Â} God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the original Greek, faithful is the first word in the sentence, making it especially emphatic and giving unending assurance that God keeps his promises and is faithful to the end as seem in the bond between Jesus Christ and you. A bond from eternity, brought to pass in our time that will forever last in eternity.

There you have it and if you believe that the word of God, the bible is his true and inspired word. you can have no debate as to truth of Christ and the riches he has showered on you.

And if not, your debate is not with me, Paul or a Greek language translation expert but with God himself.

I know that was more like a bible study and a bit long winded, but bear in mind that these are the first two text books I received when studying to understand the word of God when training to be a pastor. 869 pages of biblical commentary on the words alone in the 50 chapters in the book of Genesis, and as much as I would like to get that started, I think we’ve all had enough for today because though there are those that seek to fraudulently soak the root of the Gospel with false or fanciful misinterpretations or outright lies, the truth is always better.  And that truth is Christ who stands unseen before you today when you come to the alter in Holy Communion. Unseen by you, but not by His Father and ours-God the Father.

God the Father who promised us a Saviour, and delivered. God the Father who has promised to all those that believe in His Son to have eternal life, and delivered. Delivered not tomorrow, but today, because his promise is to you from eternity, brought to pass in your time, too forever last in eternity.

Today, not I, but the Lord has spoken and pray that we all have ears to hear, minds to remember and hearts to be uplifted that when we see our sins before us and the rocky road ahead, we hear His sweet voice come to us and see our path cleared and our soul restored and know truly that in these days before, that He is with us. Just as in that day to come, when truly, we will be with Him in paradise.” Amen.

“The way, the truth and the life” 

MATTHEW 2:18-25

 

It astounds and shocks me that some of the Christian faith, some even with high title struggle with, and even deny the virgin birth because if there is one thing that perplexes me in the Gospel, the Virgin birth is not it and concur with Martin Luther when he stated:

“The miracle of Christ as Virgin born is a trifle for the mighty God. That God becomes a man is an even greater miracle and that Mary and Joseph find the angel’s messages to them credible is even more amazing.” Likewise for us: “The hardest point for us, is not to Believe he is a Virgin’s Son and God himself, but to believe that he came for us”.

That He came to bring forgiveness in Himself to thieves, murderers, drunks, prostitutes, drug addicts, for wall street bankers, soldiers, politicians, farmers, bankers and you: I do not find hard to believe. What I find hardest point to believe is that I’m in that list. Not hard to believe the sin side, but hard to believe the grace side.

But I do, as should you because it is does not matter who you are, what you have done or what you think of yourself, it is who He is, what He has done for us and what He thinks of us”.

Those in prison on death row, those working the streets and us here attending worship are united in sin and deserving righteous judgement, yet in turning our lives towards God in repentance and asking for and trusting in Christ, we are also united in His death for our Sins and united in eternal life in His resurrection.

In an Australian made movie about Football the coach gives a great Grand final three quarter time address where he talks of a mother being attached by a strong man looking to hurt her baby and asks his players to imagine the scene and see this lady, reach into that inner strength and find a way to protect her child no matter what the cost.

That intangible inner strength that comes through an unexpected situation where without time to access the situation and think through things, you respond and find a way you never thought possible. Those moments happen and we hear of them in soldiers, police officers, those fighting fires and in everyday people thrown into a situation abounding in peril.

That inner strength that comes when there is no time to think, and may not have come if there was time to think.

Time if we had available that may lead us to not looking for a way in, but a way out.

Truth is, though we would like to think we would do this or that, the truth is that given a situation of danger we will never know whether we would fight or flee as too when placed in a situation requiring our charity and service to others that although we hope we would, we may not as we way up if we can afford the money or the time, or even if they deserve it as we offer some excuse to flee.

Point is that like a recovering alcoholic can never be sure of total abstinence, nor can we be sure of anything that we will or won’t do or of what will and won’t happen.

So to with the Gospel if we look at what we have or haven’t done or of a sin with a hold on us or one we’ve beaten because in forgiveness and salvation before God the Father, only in the acceptance of and trust in Christ must we stand and accept the way He found for us.

To find that inner strength He gave us of faith, that like Joseph and Mary being told of the uncomparable, we too trusting in the Lord can dispel ridicule and judgements from self and others and have the inner strength of faith to give in to ourselves and listen to Him who gave Himself.

The human race was bound in sin and death, but God the Father found a way out for us by giving His own Son Jesus. Jesus who in the garden of Gethsemane asked His Father is there another way.

There was not then and there is not now for Jesus Christ the saviour is the only way, the truth and the life.

In that scene from that Aussie footy movie the coach talks of a mother being attached by a strong man looking to hurt her baby and asks them imagine the scene and see this lady, reach into that inner strength and find a way to protect her child no matter what the cost.

A fictitious speech designed to instil in them the minds of warriors that they “go to war” on the playing field.

God the Father seeing His child under attack reached into himself and found a way. God the Father seeing His child under attack. Seeing you and me, His children under the attack of sin reached in and gave himself, His only beloved Son that we not need the minds of warriors, but minds of those knowing peace.

God found a way out for us and that is why we celebrate Christmas.

There is a saying: Cheap grace. Cheap grace said by those who use it towards Christians who seem to take the grace they have received in Christ too lightly.

Maybe that is so. As so can be it in apposition when we see the greatness of our sins blurring and diminishing that grace.

God found a way for us and that is why we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate the birth of a small boy who would grow to be hung on a cross and killed so that when we see the mountain of wrongs we have done see a Father, our Father saving His child, saving you no matter what the cost.

We celebrate Christmas because when we are at the end of our tether with nothing left to give, we see what He gave us.

Jesus walked this earth on His way in compassion healing, helping and loving those in need that came before Him, as too are we on our way to those that the Lord sends before us.

Jesus on His way taught and lifted up the despondent in the truth that no sin is too great for forgiveness in Him.

We on our way are lifted up because we see a Father give His little boy to be lifted up on a cross.

God found a way to save His child, to save you and that way was not cheap and that is why we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate because we see that in Christ no sin is too great, no failure too huge and no amount of misgivings we have of self to vast before The Father for those who trust in Christ His Son, our Saviour.

We live by grace. A grace so costly that how could we, how dare we doubt it as we see God the Father looking at you and me in Sin and finding a way for us. His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who walked like a lamb to the slaughter that we know the love of The Father and the way the truth and the life that is Jesus himself, and that is why we celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate today because we know the costly truth. That today because of Christ your sins are forgiven and in trust in Christ alone you are saved and given eternal life.

A gift to us at a cost so great that we not ask how could even we be forgiven, but a gift so great that we ask how could we be not?
Amen.

“The gift of giving”

Isaiah 35:1-10

A friend of mine took his son and daughter in their early teenager years with him on a camping holiday into the desert. Actually he dragged them with him. No internet, mobile phone coverage, hair dryers or hot showers. Yet on their return some six weeks later, they couldn’t wait for the next trip “outback”.

A silent hot and dusty arid land of treeless plains where nothing runs into nothing.  Yet a land that seems to transform and to where you end up seeing and sensing an unimaginable beauty in the nothing.

It doesn’t change; it changes you as to those who come to know and spend time in Christ where things that were once adversity become gain, where weakness becomes strength and setbacks enhance.

In today’s Old Testament reading the people of Israel are in exile and enslaved in Babylon and in their despair we can hear the words from Psalm 137 and the song “By the rivers of Babylon” where they cry:

“For there they carried us away to captivity requiring of us a song; now how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land, and yes we wept when we remembered Zion”.

Words of a time past, yet words we too we carry in our heart and mutter from our lips when we too are under the captivity of the adversity, weakness and set back from those moments and times in our lives when we are brought to our knees and weep in despair.

I was once told of a statue of Christ in Germany where unless you are on your knees you cannot see Jesus’ face clearly. As was the case with the Israelites in exile when they heard the good news of God through the prophet Isaiah, and as too us from Christ himself where in Him “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them”.

Like rain in a parched desert and in the waters of Baptism, Christ restores our arid hearts and lives with His bottomless well of love and in our adversity we see His freeing hand and strength and are renewed like in the promise from Isaiah where “everlasting joy is upon our heads as we have now obtained gladness and joy and all sorrow and sighing has fled away”.

Sounds wonderful, yet reminds me of when talking to one of my friends and after he proudly stated that he and his wife had never had an argument made me wonder which one of us wasn’t normal.

One of the Pope Paul’s (I think) once said that after having been told of a problem said to himself, “goodness, I better tell the pope about this”, only to respond “hang on I am the pope”.

So too can it be as Christians living in our world fractured by sin where even though we know the truth of Christ and the gladness and joy that He has brought us, we can still-no, we still do struggle to live it.

Not unlike now as we await the celebration of the greatest gift we and the world have received in the Birth of Jesus Christ. A time of great joy. Yet a time for non-Christians and indeed Christians alike that can magnify the loneliness of the outcasts of society as they see families and friends gather as to for those grieving the loss of loved ones.

That people have said why can’t every day be like Christmas may depend on which side of that ledger you sit.

The thing is every day is Christmas because in belief and trust in Christ everlasting joy is upon your heads and you  have obtained gladness and joy because in faith in Him alone, you are forgiven and most certainly will be re-united with those in Christ that have gone before where sorrow and sighing will be no more.

That is what Christ came for and that you know who He is and what He has done for you is the fulfilment of His great sacrifice.

In faith in Christ alone, your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life-that’s the deal. Yet while that is signed and sealed we still live in our world and our own lives disturbed by sin and so we live like a child who sees their name of a gift under the Christmas tree.

The gift has already been given and it’s already theirs, yet they must still wait and go about daily life until the day arrives when the gift is fulfilled in its entirety.

So to with your gift of eternal life in Christ under the heavenly Christmas tree where a place for you has already been prepared and awaits you. In trust in Christ, the gift of eternal life has already been given and is already yours. You can see it, yet its total fulfilment is still to come and so like a child waiting for the actual day, we live our daily lives in the season of Christmas.

Christmas day is the fulfilment as is meeting our Saviour on our last day. But until then, we live everyday in the Christmas season where we have that sure hope, but we also have the sure reality of our lives of mixed emotions.

Mixed emotions of hurt that can crush and happiness that lift up. Failures that can lead to despair and achievements that may threaten unrighteous pride. Yet living in the Christmas season everyday and keeping our eye on Christ and His promise of what awaits, we see that in the hurt we can look forward to the fulfilment of His promise, as like in the moments that threaten to puff us up with pride we are brought back to the reality of just how slight it is in relation to what awaits.

People think being a Christian is about rules and they would be right if we didn’t already have our gift of eternal life under the heavenly Christmas tree. But the unseen reality is that the gift is there with your name on it and when you see that, the “rules” to be humble and help and serve others in our lives don’t become a chore but a gift.

You have been forgiven in Christ and most surely your room in heaven awaits you and in knowing that truth, you can live everyday not having to, but wanting to. Not crippled in our sin, but uplifted in forgiveness. Christmas is about the gift of Christ as is every day and while you may not be able to open your present just yet, it most certainly is yours and that is what brings endurance in hardship and life and joy in the big and the small of our lives.

Paul said to run the good race and indeed if you run your race knowing of the truth of what awaits you, though there are hills and gullies before you and though you fall and your legs grow weary need not concern you because when in either the gullies and on the hills you can rejoice in seeing Christ come to you in others, and rejoice that in either being battered and bruised or fresh and unscathed that in Christ, you as you are have been saved, and that you as you are-can live in the joy of being a gift to others. Amen.