Category: After Easter

John 21:1-19 & Acts 9:1-20

“Dave’s not home”

Those of my era may remember the comedians Cheech and Chong. In one skit they are two doctors and while looking over the waiting room they have a bet on whether one of the seriously ill people waiting will actually make it to his appointment. While they are talking, in the background you can hear the man heaving and stumbling as he gets his place in the queue at number 78 as over the loud speaker you hear them calling number 3.

It’s a satire but I have great respect for doctors, nurses, ambulance and emergency officers, the police and all the others that have to continually, with professionalism and empathy front up to the constant onslaught of circumstances that for the people involved, are “once only” and very emotional and fearful situations.

Once in Adelaide for the country cricket carnival and on our way to an infamous party street we stopped and talked to some ambulance officers having their dinner out the front of the main train station. They were very nice and as we departed one said, and in hindsight knowingly, “we’ll see you later tonight”. And they did as all bar three of us got a free ride to the hospital and I’ll always remember there was no I told you so or irate words of us bringing them into danger-they just did their job and I’ve heard the same about the salvation army people along those streets as they care for the same people night after night.

Often in society and in the Church we like to see, or even expect some positive changes in people when we extend our hand in help.

Well who said so? And for that matter what is positive change. Maybe the change needs to come in us. To have that perseverance and staying power when to us it seems a futile and lost cause. To just do our “job” as Christians and persevere and stay, knowing that God is somehow in that person’s life doing His job.

The same perseverance we suffer under in our own “stuff”. To persevere in our own hardships and disappointments knowing that God’s amongst it. To persevere in the knowledge of our sin, the stuff we detest of ourselves yet continually fall for, but stay clinging to what Christ has told us-that he is amongst it with us-seeing it and knowing it-yet staying firm in his commitment to bring us his grace.

And in these times of enlightenment and self-help, when we have to rely completely on someone else when we have no answer to the situation it can be the gaining of wisdom outside of “self”.

A man was a successful Wall Street analyst until drink drove him into deep depression which led to his mental disintegration. Following an accident which resulted from him being drunk, he decided to deliver himself from the depths into which he had sunk and became a member of an organisation called the “Moral Re-Armament”-an organisation that stresses do-it-yourself redemption. But instead of gaining his freedom through self-help, he sank deeper and deeper into the depths and after a three day drinking binge he ended up in a Manhattan hospital completely shattered. In his moment of complete and utter helplessness he prayed to God for help and said “suddenly, the room lit up in light and he was caught up into a feeling that words cannot describe”. This changed his life and what had been impossible for him to achieve was achieved in him through the power of God. From the depths of his defeat, degradation and despair he was “resurrected” from a living death and made alive. A “resurrection” that would be felt in the lives of millions, as this man Bill Wilson was to go on and be the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

A gift, a miracle-an encounter with God that saved him and countless others.

A gift, a miracle and encounter with God that changed the apostle’s Peter and Pauls lives and the lives of the countless millions others who saw and heard the truth of Christ in the lives of these two men who accepted his offer to leave behind their mistakes and live instead under His grace.

Peter who denied Christ three times and went missing in his time of need and Paul, a leader of those inflicting death and punishment on Christians who when they met the raised Christ came not to just know what he stood for, but what he came for-to set them free of themselves, of their failures, character flaws, and most importantly-of the things that they could not undo themselves-their sin.

These direct encounters, miracles if you like may seem reserved for the few but all who encounter Christ are offered his same life changing power.

A team mate of Shane Warne’s once remarked that no matter how much turbulence and media attention he was getting because of his personal life, when he walked onto the oval he left all his troubles on the ovals picket fence and was free to be the champion he was.

In our lives Christ is the picket fence that surrounds us. In our lives Christ brings the truth that sets us free:

“For I am the Lord, I change not. If you come to me, I will not cast you out. Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heaven burdens and I will give you rest”.

We may not seem to have that moment like the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Peter or Paul, but those same gifts and miracles are hidden in every aspect of our lives. In our joyous moments Christ is there just as he is there guiding us as we walk through the chaos and confusion.

Like Paul, we may have a thorn in our side that we wish wasn’t there, but like Paul we have God’s grace and that is enough because living in that grace, we have the sureness of the resurrection on our last day and the sureness, that now-today we can serve God the Father by leaving our mistakes, burdens and sins from the past with our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The knowledge of our inability and failure to live as we should is the start of wisdom. The knowledge of Christ’s power and love is the emergence of that wisdom. To live in Christ’s forgiveness and his total acceptance of you in every facet of your life is to understand that wisdom.

To give Christ our past and present burdens is to answer his call and whether we answer that call and lay them off to him or not, in his name we are still forgiven and free in this world-that will not change. But his desire is that we join with a man that God said “was after his own heart”, yet a man that fell to adultery and murder.

A man called King David who in his sin truly came to know restoration in the grace of God. That restoration is what Christ craves we know and join with King David in testifying, and giving evidence of in our lives: From Psalm 55: verses16 to 18:

“As for Me, I will call upon God; and the Lord will save me…He shall hear my voice. He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me” (Ps. 55:16-18).

The Lord has blessed you and kept you. The Lord has made His face shine on you and been gracious to you. The Lord has looked upon you with favour and the Lord gives you his peace.

“When it’s more than a game”

John 20:19-31

On several occasions I’ve heard some of the greatest sporting coaches put things back into perspective and mention “that when all is said and done, it’s only a game”. I agree, except on one occasion.

I was fifteen years old visiting my school friends house on a farm and we were playing backyard cricket with his three older brothers when there was a disputed decision. Somehow negotiations degenerated to the point that we found ourselves hiding in the nearby corrugated chicken shed while they were shooting at us with a .22 calibre rifle. Maybe seeing my apprehension of the situation at hand he comforted me by commenting “don’t worry about it, they know where we are and are just shooting around us to scare us. But when they run out of bullets I am going “*&$%”, (well, words to the effect of severely retaliating). Eventually the shooting stopped and instead of further aggression we just somehow resumed playing. I made a point of never disputing another decision.

My friend, and his brothers for that matter did not display a lot, if any fear in life and when his schooling finished he left to do a bit of travelling overseas and didn’t return. For twenty years he worked for six months and backpacked for the other and in the end in having run out of places to visit, with his friends threw a dart at a world map to see where to go. It came up next to a small village in Ethiopia which just happened to be in the middle of a severe famine. So they hired a chopper, got dropped off and said pick us up in two weeks and as money was no good because there was nothing to buy, they spent those two weeks fishing the nearby river with some homemade fishing lines to survive while in the process loosing half their body weight.

Walking to work at 8.00 in the morning in Coober Pedy back in 1992 I noticed this familiar face amongst some locals drinking beer on the side of the road. It was him and after introductions he mentioned that Australia was the only place he hadn’t really journeyed through-and so here he was. It was great to see him again but I did mention that he “was getting an early start to the day (drinking)” to which he responded “always good to meet the locals and get to know the lay of the land early in the piece”.

That night having tea together he mentioned that having visited his home town they asked him if he wanted to play in the local football teams practice match-to which he declined and said to me “have you seen those country guys, I could have got seriously hurt”. To say I was surprised by his rationale was an understatement and I couldn’t help thinking “what has happened to you over those twenty years”.

The world constantly changes, and so do we. Most often things change without us really paying much attention but sometimes, like when the Berlin wall fell you know right there and then, that things will never be the same again. Defining moments that change the way the world looks and acts and defining moments that change our outlook on life.

You cannot get much more a defining “moment” than those of the apostles we have heard off this morning where the risen Lord presents himself before them while they are in hiding. The same disciples who had deserted him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter who had denied that he ever knew Jesus three times and others who has said they were prepared to give their own life for Jesus-yet fell away in fear. Here before the Lord stand his followers and allies. But his followers and allies who in fear failed to stand up when the time came to stand up. I imagine the saying “you could hear a pin drop” would have been appropriate for such a situation until Jesus “breaks the ice” and says “Peace be with you”. No reprimands, no criticism and no grudge to bear-only his words of reconciliation. His words of peace that heal their guilt heal their mistakes and heal their very being. “Peace be with you”, four words that he did not just say to bring a superficial peace, but words that brought his empowered peace. Christ’s peace that re-built them and changed their lives. The peace they came to finally and truly know that would see them dedicate their lives towards bringing the truth of Christ to the world. The truth of Christ that would cause eight of them to be killed as martyrs, but the truth of Christ that would be heard through the ages. The truth of Christ that we still hear today when in our sin and failings, in our fear and in those moments where we “fail to stand up”- comes to us and we hear the same lifesaving and life changing words of “Peace be with you”.

When Josh was only three or four years old we were having a kick of football and he hurt his hand to the point that he thought it might be broken. After looking at it and announcing that my diagnosis was that it was “only a sprain”, with a little indifference and annoyance he remarked “how would you know?”. After I’d mentioned those I knew of: Collarbone, nose twice, ribs, hands and so forth up to about twelve “Josh replied “O.K. it’s only a sprain.

When Jesus was talking to Thomas he showed him his scars from his crucifixion so that he would believe and know the peace he offered. When we are in despair of life and its hardships. When in despair of ourselves, our failures, the wrongs we do and the guilt they bring, Jesus doesn’t callously say “get over it because it’s only a sprain and I’ve had worse”. Rather it burns to his very core of existence as he sees the love of his life alone, scared and angry. The love of his life that he just wants to accept his outstretched hand and know the peace he wants to give freely.

On the Cross as Jesus was dying for those that despised him, ridiculed him and fell away from him he asked his Father to “Forgive them for they know not what they do”. On the cross Jesus died for the love of his life. You are that love and he pleads that you know it. Jesus Christ died to bring forgiveness and eternal life for those that accept him, the prostitutes, the drunks, the criminal, the rich and the poor. He died for the mighty and the weak.

Jesus died for those he loved that they may know and live under his most assured grace and know his peace amongst the storms of their lives and sins.

Jesus Christ died for the greatest love of his life.

Jesus Christ died for you. Peace be with you.

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17: 6-19.

“It’s a bird, it’s a plane….no it’s a duck”

That saying: “If it quacks like a duck, if it walks like a duck and if it looks like a duck-well it’s probably a duck” comes to mind upon hearing today’s scripture readings.

1st John “We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son… And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is his Son. He who has the Son has life…I write things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you know that you have eternal life”.

These words of John, where did he get them-the inspired Word of God-well yes, the bible is the Word of God but what has Jesus told us in Todays Gospel: Jesus is praying/talking to God the Father and says this of his disciples: “For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They know with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me”.

God testifies salvation and eternal life in the Son. The Son, Jesus, gives this testimony of this eternal life to the disciples, including John-and then John to us-that in believing in Jesus Christ the messiah-we have eternal life.

I would say the ducks have well and truly lined up. Sometimes the cold hard facts are the facts-believing in Jesus-you know with certainty that you have eternal life.

Yes, sometimes against what our mind tells us, the facts are the facts.

A few years ago I went to the Doctor. He asked the usual questions, Date of birth, age-39 (O.K. it was more than a few years ago). And as he was writing them down, he asked again “what did you say your date of birth was?” Again I answered. He then went on to say well if this is your date of birth, that means you’re only 38. As I protested he got out his calculator and showed me on a piece of paper his workings and indeed I was only 38 at which he said anyway “what can I do for you?”.

To which I replied “Well nothing now I feel brilliant, just book me in for the same time next year” and off I went.

Well Jesus tells us, and God by the way, that he is not giving just us another year, but never ending years-eternal life, and they don’t even charge a $22.50 gap fee. What a bargain. It’s a bit like that movie, “I’ll have whatever she’s having.

Knowing this, indeed we are poor helpless sinners-but we don’t need to be poor helpless miserable sinners. This is where Martin Luther was coming from when he used his famous quote “sin boldly”. Was he saying go out and purposely sin to throw it in the Lord’s face, absolutely not. He was talked about when he was, when we are under spiritual attack. When the forces of darkness see us sinning and suggest that because of our sin, we’ve blown it. Luther in saying “sin boldly” was not to test God, but to answer these allegations-to say yes I did sin-there you go I admit it and no doubt I’ll sin again, but that does not and will not change the rock solid promise I have, the promise that we have received from our Lord and saviour so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Romans chapter 8: For you are children of God… You did not receive a spirit that makes you again a slave to fear…The spirit himself testifies that we are God’s children. Now if we are children of God, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Those who are saved are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus”.

At least with a walking, quacking duck there’s some subjectivity. It could be a Red Crested Diving Duck or just a low flying Mallard. But there is no subjectivity, no second guessing the Words of God that we have heard concerning eternal life.

In Jesus, eternal life is your inheritance. That cleared up, where to from here. Well don’t ask me, I don’t even know how old I am (or should I say young). So let’s ask Jesus? Today’s Gospel.

“I have given them your word..They are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world…As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world”.

In the world but not off the world. That seventy million dollar lottery two weeks ago, three winners. Do you think they are at home now worrying that the price of petrol is up four cents a litre? Eternal life in the bank-what’s to worry about?

Kerry Packer was in a casino in the United States and he seen this rather loud guy who everyone was gushing over and asked him, “You must be important, who are you?” to which he boasted “I’m worth fifty million dollars” to which Kerry replied “I’ll toss you for it”.

Eternal life, it’s in the bank and we carry it with us now-during our lives. But do we boast of it, shove it in other people’s faces. No, because as Saint Paul said, “we do not boast of ourselves. We boast only of the Lord”.

In the world but not of the world, how does this look. Are we to hide ourselves away in a monastery? To withdraw from society in prayer and meditation? This would sadly seem a reduced version of the faith that Jesus died to bring to this world. Of course there is need of prayer, meditation and quiet times when we shut the door to the world to be alone with God, absolutely-but we are still to be in the world.

So how does this look? Look in the mirror, that’s how it looks. Sometimes life is the six inches in front of our face. Christianity does not release us from our problems, it offers us a way to solve our problems or even live with them ala’ Paul when he asked God to “take away his thorn in the flesh”, only to be told “My grace is enough”.

Christianity does not offer us a life in which troubles are escaped and evaded; it offers us a life in which we can face our troubles.

However much it may be true that Christians, you and me are not to be of the world, it still remains true that it is within the world that we live out our lives as Christians.

Because of Christ, we don’t live of the world, likewise we live in the world because of the will of Christ. His will that all people may come to know him.

Our world, where we live in the six inches in front of our face. Living in our sin, amongst others sinners. Yet living with forgiven sin-in the freedom of knowing where it all ends, in eternal life. This freedom that lets us have a crack at befriending our neighbour across the road. The freedom that allows us to be ourselves, that allows us to live in our lives as they are under the sure and joyful knowledge-that, that face in the mirror belongs to a forgiven sinner, and that, that face in the mirror belongs to a person who living in the grace of God, and trusting in God, can go about their normal business-living in this world and truly trust and believe that even through us and our seemingly small or error ridiculed attempts of serving our Lord that others may come to see and know his peace-We can live joyously and just have a crack without the need to see any results-Because he has told us “That His Will, will be done”. Amen.

John 15:9-17

“In the part of town where you hit a red light you don’t stop”

What could be more appropriate on Mother’s Day than today’s Gospel. Jesus talking of his love for us and our love for each other.

Yesterday morning at 9.30am, after having this Gospel message churning through me all week, I had the sermon all organised in my head and basically just had to get it on paper.

Then, on her baptismal anniversary Cathy put on a CD of love songs, and the first song I heard was Joshua Kadison singing “Beautiful in my eyes”.

A song that brings back a rush of memories and I knew that the sermon I had mentally prepared will have to wait for another day.

Beautiful in my eyes:

“The world will turn and the seasons will change, and the lessons we will learn will be beautiful and strange. We’ll have our fell of tears. Our share of sight. My only prayer is that you realise, (that) you’ll always be beautiful in my eyes.”

A mother’s love.

Early one morning I was walking down the street in North Adelaide to withdraw my last $20 from the ATM when near I saw a lady badly shaking and another body lying on the footpath and I immediately thought not today, not today I just cannot afford it. But as I got drew near, she didn’t ask me for money, but quite the opposite she was aware of people’s judgements-like mine. So as she leant against the wall and her arm stopped shaking I saw a young lady, well dressed talking to her son dressed in his school uniform, tired and lying on the footpath while they waited for the bus.While I withdrew my money I heard their conversation and it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

This mother with a handicap talking to her tired son lying on the pavement in his school cloths and their love for each other, no judgement of each other- Just love.

A mother’s love.

Five or so years ago, my mum left a note on the wallet of a wayward sinner who had been called to study the Word of God at the Lutheran Seminary.

It’s a little worn now but I know the words well enough: “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling”.

Two weeks later, on the 11^th of January 1996, two weeks before the start of my studies I heard the song I have mentioned.

It was the first song I heard after receiving a phone call from my dad.

“Steve, it’s over” and the hysterical screaming of my mother in the back ground haunts me to this day.

Four years later, my mum buried her husband next to her son and today my mum will be sitting on her own in a little cemetery in the Adelaide hills, weeping by the headstones of two people taken tragically before their time.

Jesus has told us: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love… and this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”

What have you just heard, law or Gospel?

“I command you, to love one another as I have loved you” and let’s not forget, that includes that “we are to love our enemies”.

I hear law, sure maybe on the odd moment of love happens-but as a person: this commandment has shown the darkness of my heart.

Today a wayward sinner stands up the front and is talking to you, fellow sinners about love.

What a joke. To do so it may help if I had a little bit of credibility in the subject

We hear law, the law that we can never fully adhere to, that crushes us- and that’s the way it must be because then we can hear the blessed gospel of our Lord and Saviour.

The subject of love.

We have all the credibility in the world because we do know love.

Not our imperfect love outwards, but the perfect love we receive.

Our credibility is in knowing our shortfalls, but receiving Christ’s love all the same.

Abiding in that love, when things don’t seem so, but clinging to it-knowing that in Christ, we are given mercy-

knowing that before God, because of Christ’s love and action of dying for us-that when we pray in Jesus name to the Father- he sees us clothed in the righteousness of his son-sinless.

Yes, we can truly in full credibility talk of love.

“Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to the cross we cling”.

Even that wonderful outlook is a result of Jesus ‘action. Yes we cling to Jesus,

but only because he clings to us.

Our love is the same as our spiritual condition. Saint and sinner. Yes we are sinners, but in Christ are saints-warts and all.

Can we love each other like Jesus loves?

Absolutely not,

but in Jesus no matter how small a portion of love we can offer-he uses it in HIS love.

Late one night I was travelling home after leading a bible study. As I drove past mecca, being the small suburban Alberton oval-the home of the Port Adelaide Football club all was good in the world as I reflected how well the study went and how some 100 plus people have had their ashes spread on this oval that has seen so much joy.

As I turned the corner onto a large thorough-fare I was later to be reminded of Bruce Springsteen where he sings “in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don’t stop”.

Well I did stop and the next minute the door opened and someone jumped into my car screaming “drive, drive”. Well what do you do? You drive.

When the dust had settled and as I looked across at this young lady, she apologised and told me that while working the streets she had become fearful with a customer and had to flee and now wished to go home and asked if I could give her a lift.

What can you do, so I turned around and drove her home.

On the way she talked openly about herself, how her mum was home looking after her darling son, and of her dreams for him and herself.

But while she was doing this, all I could think about was that my car was running on empty and there was a high probability that I would be stuck in this neck of the woods in the middle of the night with no money and no way to contact anyone.

Still thinking this, we arrived at her house she looked me in the eyes and said “God Bless You”.

A pastoral student gives a lady a lift home-not out of love, but because there was no option. To a lady that is using the only asset she has available to give her child a chance of his dreams-and only one of the two see’s Christ in this. Yes Jesus uses our imperfect love.

The bible tells us that people have been visited by angels without being aware.

I was visited by an angel, not one without sin and not one with wings. But an angel none the less, because those three words at that time: “God Bless You” touched me as if they were said by Christ himself.

Mothers, fathers you and me-Sinners yet saints in Christ. Imperfect in love, yet perfect in Christ.

Mothers-angels no, but in Christ-yes angels-but without the wings.

The song I mentioned: “Beautiful in my eyes”, while it brings back a flood of memories, I also hear it differently.

I am going to play it and I ask you think of it as I always have, of our love towards each other-but also, when you listen to the words-think of it as Jesus saying these words to your children and loved ones, to all the families that will visit cemeteries today, to people judged by society but not by Jesus and to young mothers plying their dangerous trade on dark streets, and to you.

The song: Beautiful in my eyes by Joshua Kadison is played.

Amen. 

John 15:1-8

“Eat your greens, they’re good for you”

For the past week and a half I have come to know the local vet quite well. Our little puppy Koby contracted the “parvo” virus. A virus that is fatal without serious attention. Koby was in the animal hospital on a drip for four days and since coming home, we still have had to ring them, basically daily for advice, or take him down for injections. That know that saying when others are ill “I know how you feel” is easily reeled off the tongue and often not totally true, but ironically Koby and  me do   have a common distinction, that of both having being treated by a vet. Kobe, as mentioned and myself back in 1992. It was the morning of the football Grand final, and two nights before I had pulled my hamstring and was hobbling. The coach had given me right up to near the start to see if I good play. The two of us referred to the club trainer and the prognosis was not good. But our club trainer was no ordinary trainer; he also trained horses and offered me one of his horse tablets. I played and we won and lived to tell the tail and all was good in the world: except he had told me there would be no side effects, which I assume didn’t include the tongue lashing I received later from my fiancée and mother.

In many things we reminisce of the good old days, but medical treatments are not one of them.  Medically, compared to centuries past, we truly do live in a blessed time. It is amazing of what can be done to us to keep our bodies physically functioning.

Yet, emotionally it can be a different matter. When physically ill we go and receive medication from the doctor (or in some cases the vet). Emotionally, sometimes we can tend to try and self-medicate to get rid of the pain. Anything, for a few moments of peace away from the pain and will do. George Best was a brilliant soccer player, yet searching for peace as seen in his words describing his journey of life, when he said: “Most of my money I spent on grog, women and gambling, and the rest I just wasted”.

We can self-medicate but in the end, the medication itself can become the problem. There is but one sure source of spiritual medication and unlike the others, it’s free and we don’t take it, we receive it. Every facet of our spiritual life with God is dependent on Jesus.

John chapter 15, verse 5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in them bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”.

Now I don’t know about you but as soon as I read the words “good works” and bearing fruit” I get a little edgy.  Indeed I can relate to the Prophet Isaiah’s words that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”.

Sure some days we might spring out of bed, feeling full of the Holy Spirit, hearing the Word, full of love and good deeds: feeling like a Christian “should feel.” (and)These truly are blessed moments, just like the other just as blessed moments-Lord blessed moments that is, when we may feel at the other end of the scale.

Those vegetable moments when we know that reading and hearing God’s Word is good for us, but it doesn’t seem to taste as good or be so mouth-watering. When instead of being cheerful in Christ we are bored or worrying about the mortgage payments.  When we cannot live up to that “real”

Christian life ethic.  Where it’s a bit vague to us. Where we feel a bit like Prince Charles, who when asked on his engagement to Lady Dianna if he was ‘in love’ answered “Whatever ‘in love’ means”. In these moments we might not feel as we’re much of a blessing to others or ourselves. But the Lord is still blessing us.

But what is a “real” Christian anyway. Good works-producing fruit: certainly yes, these are good things that we should always endeavour to act on, just like non-Christians do.

Let’s go back to those previous verses: Firstly Isaiah, Now I reckon there’s a fair chance he was a “real” man of God:

“all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”. Two key words here, “righteous acts”. Not good deeds but righteous acts and there is a big difference. Good deeds are done in honour of our Lord towards his people, but they are not saving acts. Righteousness is to be right by God. Good deeds do not bring us righteousness, only Christ makes us right before God.

John 15: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in them bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”.

There we go again, “good fruit”. But let’s look a little closer. Jesus is the vine, the source of nourishment, the one that feeds us, the branches, not the other way round, not even a little each way-no all the feeding comes outwards.

“Whoever abides in me and I in them bears much fruit”. While this sounds a little like the old ‘what comes first, the chicken or the egg’ scenario, it is far from it. “Abide in me and I in them”, seriously, I can’t even force myself to really accept rugby league never mind abiding in the Lord.

No, the key, the Gospel is Jesus: Jesus abiding in us. Jesus does all the work, in Jesus we are brought to faith and only in Jesus is there fruit.

This is so freeing, a release from thoughts of inadequacies spiritually and indeed of our lives. In Jesus we cannot go wrong. One day full of zest, the next tired, one person a novice pastor the other a brain surgeon in a city hospital-Jesus uses people, times and places to serve others and that they might even become  Christians. ‘Real’ Christians that although they  in themselves fail in deeds and thoughts, in Christ are they nourished, forgiven, saved and given life.

Real Christians like you.

In the movie Breaker Morant, Breaker an Australian soldier in the Boer war, has returning from his controversial court martialling and is asked by his colleagues how he went and sternly replied “Shot at dawn”.

While our bodies are attached by old age and illness, our spirit is strengthened, renewed and protected by the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Martin Luther during the reformation was often attacked by the powers of darkness that would ask “Who do you think you are and you’re just a sinner: to which he would reply-yes, but I am a forgiven sinner who is a baptised child of God.

In our day to day lives, in our families, our home and work. When we rise in the morning or rest at night, whether we feel very saintly or not is not the issue.  Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once concluded it’s not what we feel, but what we think. I would go a little further, it’s not what we feel or think it’s what we know.  In the strength of Breaker Morant when your backs against the wall and in sureness off Martin Luther you can proclaim it’s not what others think of me, it’s not even what I think of myself-it’s what the Lord has done for me, what he has told me:

These Words of the Lord be with you:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not onto your own understanding” Prov. 3:5

“For when you call upon God, the Lord will save you. He has heard your voice and delivered your soul in peace from the battle that was against you” Ps. 55:16-18

“For the Lord your God holds your right hand, saying fear not, I am helping you” Isa. 41:13

“Fear not, for the Lord your God goes with you and he will not fail you nor forsake you” Deut. 31:6, 8

“Your faith has come from hearing the Word of God” Rom. 10:17

“(and) being justified by faith, you have peace with God through Jesus Christ” Rom. 5:1

“(and) I give you eternal life, and you shall never perish and no one will pluck you out of my hand” Jn. 10:28

Yes, the Lord is with you. Amen.

: Psalm 23, John 10:11-18

“Show me the money”

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23, the best known and best loved of all the psalms. It gives us two graphic pictures of God’s intimate relationship with one of His people. The first the here and now: our shepherd Christ and his sheep. The second the host and his guest: when we will dwell in the fathers house with its many mansions of which Jesus spoke, where in John 14 He said He was going to prepare a place for His own.

Psalm 23, beautiful words of encouragement.

Martin Luther described it as “A psalm of thanks in which Christian hearts praise and thanks God for teaching them and keeping them on the right way, comforting and protecting them in every danger through His holy Word.”

And in our gospel we heard the words of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who assures us that his sheep know his voice and follow him, and he leads them that they might have life, and have it abundantly.

When I was six years old we moved to a new town to live and I became good friends with my neighbour. We were the same age, in the same class at school and particularly in our teenage years we travelled together through many joys, heartaches and dangers. In my early twenties I was moved away in my job. Sometime after, a year maybe, I cannot remember any more my dad rang: “Steve, I’m very sorry but your best friend has taken his life”. My friend had driven his car into the garage, covered the inside with enough petrol that it blew down the side of the house.

His family. How they must still carry those scars with them, as we all carry scars of pain and hurt.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”. There have been times when those words were a little foreign to me, in fact down right confusing.

All I wanted was to Caption the Australian Cricket team, Play football for Port Adelaide, drive a Lotus and live on the beachfront-seriously it that too much to ask. It seems it was.

Truth is I did not want those things (except for the Port Adelaide bit)-but you get my point. Being what do we really consider as goodness and mercy. Similar, it can be difficult for us to tell the voice of the true and good shepherd from the voice that comes to steal and destroy.

The thief that says the only version of abundant life is that it be living in worldly abundance.

Goodness and mercy, our shepherd: the problem isn’t that they are not there; it’s that sometimes we don’t see them-they may be hidden behind our expectations, even hidden in our painful experiences.

We think of the thief on the cross and are given much hope and peace when we hear that this man was saved at the last minute after leading what we assume was a pretty ungodly life. It’s a marvellous picture of Jesus love. But the truth is Jesus love and forgiveness was there all along. It would have been very difficult for the people of Israel not to have heard of Jesus and his message, including this thief. The miracle is not that that Jesus gave forgiveness to this thief; the miracle is that he came to see it, accept it.

My friend, he lived a very pained life, but in the months prior to his death-amongst all his troubles he came to see Jesus. I know this because he used to ring me, preach to me and encourage me to follow the Lord. Somehow in those last months, he saw clearly his saviour the Lord Jesus-A miracle.

Yes, Goodness and mercy, Jesus, followed him all the days of his life.

Last week we heard where Jesus carried the physical scars from his crucifixion before the disciples, to heal their scars of doubt-to bring them the truth of what he has done, to bring them hope in that though they will suffer persecution as he did, that though they will suffer the scars of life-they carry with them hope and the sureness that Jesus travels with them.

That Goodness and mercy travels with them.

That was a promise given to the disciples, and given to us. And given to Riley today in his baptism. What a wonderful comfort for Lloyd, Sonja and Riley. It is a promise that is liberating for we see looking back how through our lives our Lord was there, even in the times when it seemed otherwise. It is liberating because we go forward knowing it to be true-to live, to be alive, to see the beauty and gift of friends, loved ones, to be ourselves, to love others as they are-to really live come what may because we know

The Lord is our shepherd, we shall lack nothing. He makes us lie down in green pastures, he leads us beside quiet waters, and he restores our soul. He guides us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for you are with us; your rod and staff they comfort us. You prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. You anoint our heads with oil; our cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Yes he does, and yes we will. Amen. 

Luke 24: 36b-48

“The fog”

In 1991 the world held its breath. In response to the Iraqi war machine, led by Saddam Husain attacking their neighbor Kuwait, a flotilla of war ships of all the allied nations sailed towards the Middle East.

I remember walking down Rundle Mall, and on a giant TV screen was a countdown clock that showed that the allied forces would reach their destination in 23 hours and 49 minutes. A doomsday clock. This was the Cuban missile crisis of my time.

History shows that the allied forces led by General Norman Schwarzkopf were successful in repelling the Iraqi forces and restoring Kuwait’s sovereignty.

Returning to a hero’s welcome in his native homeland in the United States, the General was asked if there were times in the heat of the battle when he was unsure of what to do.

His answer was honest and forthright: “Yes, and in those instances I referred to article fourteen of the Pentagon leadership manual” and went on to explain one of those situations.

His declaration struck me, but the more I thought about the more it, the more it made sense as I remembered the term “The fog of War”.

A term that encaptures how in the ills of warfare things become confusing. Right from wrong, who’s doing what, indeed what the fight is about can become cloudy.

That he took this manual, this blue print with him into battle then made sense. It was a blue print that in his time of need, would give him clear vision, get him back to basics, and enable him to take that step back to re-access and check that he is still on the right path. A blue print put together from the knowledge of those that went before him, those involved in great victories at the cost of great sacrifice.

In our Gospel today, Jesus’ gives us our blueprint for life as a Christian.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the unblemished lamb. The sinless one who gave himself so that we may have life. Our greatest victory, coming at the cost of his great sacrifice. The divine Son of God, yet born of flesh and blood. Who felt pain and hunger, was tempted, ridiculed and beaten.

Jesus knows the periless journey we are on, because he was walked it.

In our Gospel Jesus is talking to his disciples, not supermen but normal people. People that Jesus knew in their Christian walk would be subjected to all the perils of the world, its trappings and seductiveness, and he gives them, gives us our blueprint for living life as a Christian.

A blueprint that seems foolishness to those without faith, but to those with the gift of faith, know it to be true. It is both reassuring and logical, and indeed Jesus backs up his statements with logic. Jesus appears to the disciples who are wondering in “their fog” of confusion, fear and doubts to confirm his resurrection saying “Peace be with you”.

But they are startled and unsure. So what just Jesus do, he proves it’s him. “See my hands and feet, that it is myself. Touch me and see” and to offer final evidence for their benefit of his risen body, eats food.

Yes it’s him. (and) yet again, Jesus confirms what he has been saying from the start, that now they may fully understand. “These are the words that I spoke with you while I was with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. It is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in his name to all nations. You are the witness of these things”

There’s our blueprint. Christ has come and he has brought forgiveness. He has brought forgiveness to you. Believe it, live in that Grace-Joyously as a witness to it. Jesus came to the disciples when they were in fear, confused, still wondering in the fog. Jesus came to us-still comes to us and lifts the fog so that we can see.

We only need rely on and trust in God alone, in faith we know this. This is a basic tenet of our faith and if I was explaining Christianity to one of my enquiring friends, this would be in the mix early in the discussion.

Through the eyes of faith this seems straightforward. So straightforward that we may even wonder why Jesus needs to remind us this. But Jesus clearly puts this in our Christian life blueprint because he knows the perils we face.

He gives us this truth and assurance so that we can return to it when things start to blur, when right from wrong and the direction of our lives start to get foggy. He gives us these truths in love for those times when we don’t heed his opening words “Peace be with you”.

Jesus knows the dangers we face, whether it be the anxiousness of the poor, or in the possessions of the rich: The dangers that are placed before us that we take our eye off Christ-in his peace.

The trappings of today’s world, are our apple in the Garden of Eden or our golden calf threatening to keep us from the promised land.

The devil tempts:

That looks nice, you deserve it, because you have worked so hard, it is your right to have these things, because you mastered your own destiny. It will bring you happiness. He tempts with the hope that these things will compete with God for our allegiance.

That they may become our God and destroy our relationship with the Father. It is a cunning trick. Every day we are constantly bombarded by the culture of our day and its advertisements to rely on ourselves.

The world seduces our eyes to goals that will advance our lives, we are taught incessantly to give ourselves to the pursuit of mammon. To the pursuit of success so that we can live our lives happily and free of anxiety.

But the more things we have, the more we want, and the more we fear their loss, We don’t find peace but anxiousness and worry. If we get caught up in this, it is like boarding a train that get’s faster and faster until it’s a runaway heading towards a cliff where the bridge is out.

It is a periless road to nowhere that can be hard to get off. Things start to blur, right from wrong, the direction and meaning life become foggy.

We need to ask ourselves, are we only serving God the Father, or we unwittingly sharing him with other things. Things that creep up to become idols and threaten to displace God altogether.

This is why Jesus has given us this blue print, so we can return to it when the fog of our world and its consumerism blur our Christian lives.

When worldly things becomes part of our core fabric, become part of us to the point where we can understand James Blunt when he sings “How I wish I could surrender my soul and shed these cloths that have become my skin”

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also”

Where are our hearts, yours and mine? Are our priorities out of whack? Do we serve God alone, the only God that gives life, or share him idols, money, addictions and ego’s that promise much but threaten spiritual destruction?

Where are we at?

This same question could be asked of the church. We hear people arguing “The church is not relevant to today’s society, it must change”

Not relevant, have a look at our society-I cannot think of a time where the church could be more relevant because I cannot think of a time were Christ’s undiluted promises and teachings could be more required. The fog is descending. In our world the lines are getting blurred. What is right and wrong? Is it what God says or society says?

Yes, Jesus knew our path would be periless and so he gave us this blue print to refer to. A blue print that is like looking into a mirror that shows us if we’ve been seduced and tricked into serving things other than God.

When the port Adelaide football Club joined the AFL, I remember watching the footy show, and having looked at their team, a team that on paper did not impress Sam Newman to the point that he remarked

“I honestly don’t think they will win a game”.

But six weeks later, Essendon great Tim Watson wrote that I don’t care who you barrack for, you cannot but admire these players.

What they lack in, they make up for with passion, commitment and bravery. Yet the next year, comparatively was a shocker and I said to my friend, I reckon someone’s told them how good they are

and I think they believed it. Because, they seemed to have stopped doing what had actually been behind their success, their passion, commitment and bravery and started relying on their skills. They got ahead of themselves.

Like Christians can get ahead of themselves, and become more reliant on themselves, and less on God.

So how does one get off this train to nowhere?

On our own we cannot. Just as the Holy Spirit brought us the gift of faith to our hearts and minds, so too does the Holy Spirit bring us the desire to live as a child of God, to turn our hearts and minds towards our Father and to rely on His promises and of the salvation given to us in Jesus.

The Lord does not offer grace like a salesman who says take this offer now or miss out because I won’t be offering it again this price. The Lord offers grace upon grace. Like to the fearing disciples, he meets us where we are at and brings us his love and gifts when we need them most yet deserve them least.

He turns our heart, gives us faith to understand that God can, and will supply not just our spiritual needs, but also our physical needs. We need not worry of these things. Gives us faith that knows God does and will provide us with food, clothing, shelter and life. With peace.

The same faith that is nurtured and brought spiritual food from the body and blood of our Saviour in Holy Communion.

Faith that accepts to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

Faith that gives us shelter in the Word of God, in Jesus and his Church.

Faith that knows we are given life in Baptism.

Faith that’s believes and clings to Christ’s words in Romans: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one”.

Jesus has appeared to us carrying the visible marks of his crucifixion. Marks that show his victory of life over death that the wounds of our hearts might be healed.

That we will be his witness. Amen.

John 20:19-31

“Shades of Grey”

The bible: the good news, the Word of God. The bestselling book of all time. Wikipedia estimates that somewhere between 2.5 billion to 6 billion copies have been sold and continuing to sell 25 million per year.

One book made up from a collection of 66 individual books that are studied and revered and are misinterpreted and despised. A book that is many things to many people.

A book of stories: My non-Christian friend, staying at a motel on a business trip some twenty five years ago. Remarked that being bored and with no company started reading the Gideon’s placed bible, and said “man that has got some good stories” Absolutely-each of them are potential Steven Spielberg blockbusters.

A book of History: Absolutely. The people, the times and places have been recorded and proven by archaeological and historical research.

A book of ethics: Even prominent, although balanced atheists will attest to the benefit of these teachings and instructions within society.

The book of a man named Jesus. An Adelaide radio identity remarked that while she does not have faith, she admires and respects Jesus, what he did and what he stood for. Stood up to the authorities, befriended the needy, led by example, was courageous-a good bloke that died because of his beliefs. Yep.

A book of power, that when manipulated or taken out of context has been be used as an excuse for ethics cleansing and countless atrocities.

A book of unity for those in Christ, yet a book that can see a group of theologians discuss a particular meaning for days, weeks, months or years. In which we can understand when we read the third to last paragraph in which we are told: Revelations 22, verse 18: “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to things, God will add to them the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away their part from the Book of life, from the holy city, and from things which are written in this book”.

Yes, this can be a heavy book. Never mind that Jesus had this habit of talking in riddles-parables.

His words of unchanging truths, yet adapt to our changes in circumstances-trials, tribulations, joys and sorrows. Words that talk to us: Words that convict us, so that we can be set free.

Yes, this is a book to read, re-read and read some more.

Yet this is a book that talks of the beauty of having the faith of a child. Mark Chapter 10 verse 14 “Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them: for to such belongs the kingdom of faith”.

The bible, like life can be confusing. I shared the supervision of about 60 people with another person. One of us saw everything in black and white, and the other in various shades of grey. One was if they do that and they’re sacked, one was but why did they do it and plus, we all stuff up at times.

The word of the Lord, some may stand on a soap box and holler to the ridiculing passer byers that they are dead in sin-doomed. Another may stand up and give the impression that God so loves us that sin does not matter. Although if I had to, I would say the second statement: except that sin does matter-that is why Christ died-because sin does matter.

This book, the Word of God is a book of genius. It covers all bases; it strives in every way, wriggling through every nook and cranny of our hearts and minds to bring us the truth.

And that truth: I mentioned once before that Luther said if you only read one Gospel, read John. Why? Because the book of John brings our call to Christianity, the call and mission for the church and the gospel in the most explicit and understandable ways.

And he also said, that John is the sum of the bible, or like a miniature bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”.

Today’s Gospel scripture which most commentators write is the summary and conclusion of the book of John, which by extension is the summary of the whole bible, the whole Gospel message.

(and) what is that truth, the summary, conclusion or final Word. For a moment, hear and accept these words, the Words of God, said directly to each of you as individual’s: -verses 30 and 31: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are written in this book; but these are written that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”.

That’s it: So I ask you: In reference to John 3:16 and John 20:31, do you believe that God gave us His Son to bring us forgiveness? and Do you believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God?

If yes, let me tell me you, no, actually let God tell you His reply “That believing, You have life in His Name”.

End of story-Amen.

 

Living lovingly in a world of hate

Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter,
Bible reading: John 17.

I love you sweetheart… you are so beautiful… I can’t wait to be back with you… I’ve nearly finished the assignment here… I’ve been telling everybody how wonderful you are … It’ll be so good not to have to be parted… to hold each other… not to let go… to dance together as close as possible… I love you so much… I love you too.

  It’s kind of embarrassing to walk in on a telephone conversation between lovers. That’s like what we’re doing here in John chapter 17. Jesus is speaking to his Father, whom he left to come to earth to be with us and love us and give his life for us, but now he is about to return to the Father he loves.

He speaks of the work he has completed. He speaks of the love the Father and Son share. He speaks of glorifying one another, that is doing what pleases each other, and therefore puts the other in the best light. Jesus only did what honoured his loving Father. He’s had to suffer for that. He will have to die for that. But you do that for the person you love the most. Jesus suffers and dies and shows how much God loves us all. Jesus knows his Father will honour him again in heaven.

It’s kind of embarrassing walking in on somebody praying to the God they know and love, like we see here. This prayer shows us a lot about the deeply loving relationship between Jesus and the Father. God is love, and here we see this amazing love of God as it beats eternally between the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As we see Jesus praying we see the eternal dance of love in action. Here we see the Trinity working together bringing honour to one another by reaching out to give eternal life to people.

Don’t be embarrassed to walk in on Jesus praying. Watch him and learn from him. Listen to him as he prays in the Garden before his death, before his resurrection and Ascension to his loving Father. Learn all you can about this unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Learn all you can about this divine love. Listen to every word Jesus speaks through his entire ministry for he says: whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. Watch everything Jesus does for he says: whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

Why is it so important to listen to Jesus praying to his Father and speaking his word, and watch him doing his Father’s work? Because Jesus says the way the Father, Son and Spirit live in love and harmony is the way we are to live. His prayer for us is: that they may be one, as we are one. Jesus wants us to eavesdrop on his relationship with the Father, so we can learn how to relate to one another.

There are two pitfalls here. The first is that we think unity is something we have to do by trying harder to love one another, or being ecumenical. Unity is a gift God gives us when we are joined to Christ in Baptism. In baptism we are united with Christ in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. That is God’s gift of love to us. We can’t always see it, but because God gives it to us by grace in Christ, we believe it is so. Whoever has the Son, has life.

The second pitfall is that we think we have to maintain this unity by our own efforts – try harder to love people even though you really can’t stand them. Jesus’ prayer points us to the work of the Father for us.

Sixteen times in this chapter Jesus prays the words so that. That means he is speaking about outcomes, results he desires to see in us. Each time Jesus says what he or the Father will do so that the good results will flow into our lives. Listen to his prayer:

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

This is another way of praying that we will all know and love God so much, and be so thankful to him for all he has done for us in Jesus, that we will always go to him in prayer, and find strength to love one another, even at times when we are under attack.

The wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and they follow him, and no one can snatch them out of his hand.

As spokes of a wheel are attached to the axle, so we are attached to Jesus Christ and the Father, and through that we are kept safe and loved in a world of hatred.

All pastors of the District have attended the Ambassadors of Reconciliation conference these past weeks. There we have seen how the wolf leads to disunity in the church and breaks relationships and scatters Christians and destroys the church. We Christians are all sinners and like our first parents fall out with one another.

Where do we go when relationships break down? Too often we turn on one another in anger, and we turn to a lawyer for help. The result most often is that relationships are severed, the people of God are hamstrung, the church of God is ridiculed by the world, and its witness to Jesus is torpedoed. Is this the way of God, revealed in Jesus’ prayer?

Jesus rather calls us to turn to God in prayer, and in the strength of God, to turn to one another in love and forgiveness. Jesus had done no sin, yet he allowed himself to be led to the cross to die for our sins, so that we might be forgiven and reconciled to God and to one another. This is the Triune love that the Spirit of God pours into our hearts, so that we love one another, live in unity, and bring glory to God. This is the truth that Jesus dedicated himself to for our sake so that we may be dedicated or sanctified in truth.

There’s a final so that. Jesus prays for his church to be united in love like God:

So that the world may believe that you have sent me… so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… As the Father has sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Can you see the pattern God has in his love for the world?

God so loved the world he sent his only Son to love the world and die for its sins on the cross, so all who believe in him will have eternal life.

Then God takes all who believe in him and are saved and united in love to go into the world and live this new life of love, in the midst of all the broken relationships and hatred and litigation and apathy… so that world may see, and know and believe that through Jesus Christ there is a way to be saved, and in the church there is a new community of love and forgiveness, and there is a heavenly home, where we can all be with God and see his glory forever.

Don’t be embarrassed to see and hear the Triune God at love. Let God love you into loving, so that the world may see and know and believe, and God be glorified. Amen.

Acts 17:22-31 The Unknown God???

{22) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. {23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. {24} “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. {25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. {26} From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. {27} God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. {28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ {29} “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill. {30} In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. {31} For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

     Today we have many people acknowledging AN UNKNOWN GOD. Most people will say they believe in God; but they do not really know him; who he is or what he is like; or take him all that seriously. This god is someone out there who has set the world in motion and then left it to run by itself; and is a god who will receive them all into heaven when their time is up here on earth.

Sadly we also have many today who claim that there is no God. They have hardened their hearts to such an extent, that their egotism will not allow even their conscience to remind them of the reality of the God who is there. They seek their meaning for existence in the goodness of humanity, but are all left in wonderment and despair.

However, just as in Athens of Paul’s day, so also we today have many objects of worship, but to the people who worship them, they have little connection to the true God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On Friday there was great reverence and crowds of people, all remembering the heroics of great men; and seeking to gain strength and courage for our nation from this. This is good, up to a point. We need to be thankful for those who lived and died for their nation. All Australians look up to and see many things as being that which will give us what we need for this life and beyond. However, all these form of reverence and idealism that do not have their basis in the One true God, are a problem and will leave us short of what we really need.

On top of that we have people religiously following Allah, Buda and many other similar gods and new age thinking. The thinking is that here is the one who should be worshipped. However, they are not the true and only God: The one who is the Lord of heaven and earth. So we cannot accept them as being on the same path to heaven, or tolerate them as a real expression of Christianity. They are religious, but worshippers of God Almighty himself.

Sadly, too often, even within Christian circles there are many people who are religious; but who do not know God. They know all kinds of facts about him, but they do not know him. Others believe and speak of a god and worship him, without understanding and accepting Jesus Christ as the Son of God who came and died on the cross for our salvation. Others acknowledge God; but they make no attempt to listen to or heed what he has to say. Others think that the only way they will be acceptable to him, is to live up to a certain standard of “Christian life”

Here in the face of all of this religious thinking, the true God, through Paul, is proclaiming very clearly who he is. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. In other words he is the one and only true God that can be found anywhere. He is the Almighty God who is supreme over all. There are no other Gods besides him. He alone then is the one who is to be worshipped and glorified. He alone is the one who is to be looked up to and followed. Every other object of worship is a worthless idol and a distraction from what is right and true and in the end will prove disastrous.

This Lord of heaven and earth we are reminded here is not a God who is limited to churches, statues, books or anything else at all. As much as he is there in all of those things, he is much more and beyond anything that we could possibly make him to be. He is not a God who conforms to our limitations and thinking. He does not even need us to serve him. He is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph 4:6) He is as we learnt in our confirmation lessons; omni almost everything; unlimited by time, space, and in power, knowledge and understanding. His greatness is way beyond human understanding.

Yet as we heard in our Gospel reading today; he chooses to live with you and will be in you. (John 14:17) That is all who believe, trust and desire to live in him. Jesus goes on to say; I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:18-20) This great God has chosen to dwell with and in us human beings; his creation. Isn’t that something amazing!

Particularly when we remember that we are not the centre of the world. The world does not revolve around us; but the Almighty God is the centre of it all. He himself gives all men [all people] life and breath and everything else. And not just gives us life, but he determined the times set for us and the exact places where we should live. God did this so that all people would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Even though he the Supreme Being he is at work in our lives and is close to us.

Even though we have sinned and chosen to go our own way, he allows troubles and hardships to be a part of our lives so that we would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. He does not erase us from the face of the earth because of our selfish egotism, but works through all the mistakes we make and difficulties that are imposed on us by a sinful world. He is constantly seeking to draw us to himself; trying to make us aware that we need him and the forgiveness and salvation that Jesus won for us through his life, death and resurrection.

Through Jesus and his death on the cross and our connection to him and his death and resurrection, through our baptism we are assured that we are now God’s children. His Spirit now lives in us and goes with us as we live out our life day by day. We are God’s offspring.

Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill. Since he has done all of this for us and continues to live with us and in us, now we surely will treat him with much respect. We will trust him and take him seriously. He will mean much more to us than our money, material things and technology. We will not treat him as a possession or as one who should do what we want him to do.
Surely we will look up to him; wanting to live in a close personal relationship with him; wanting to be where he wants us to be and to do what he wants us to do. What is important to him will be important to us. He will be our Lord and our God.

Here let us not forget those other words that he spoke also. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. So we are reminded that he does look closely at who we are and what we think, say and do. His Son Jesus, who came into our world and died on the cross for us, will also come and judge us all on that last day. He knows if we have taken him seriously or not. He knows what we believe and whether we trust him and all that he has done for us. Take note; he knows and he judges.

So take heart; here we are reminded again that our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is for real. He is the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth. He is the only true God and he seeks to be not far from each one of us. He loves us, forgives us and made us his very own. Believe him. Trust in him; and take him seriously. For to him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.