Category: After Pentecost

“A different kind of justice”

Romans 11:1, 2a, 29-32, Matthew 15: (10-20) 21-28

I obviously never knew Robin Williams. I did know closely, a young man who after dousing himself and the car in which he sat reach for a packet of matches. A middle aged man on a lonely road, place the bible he was reading on the seat next to him and feel the cold steel of a gun barrel and an elderly gentleman drift off to sleep in the garage of the family home as his lungs were filled with carbon monoxide.

Superannuation, government pensions, unemployment benefits and opportunities in our country, that wether at the top of the tree or near the bottom sees us living a standard of life that others in war torn or famine riddled countries-and in deed our forbearers in this country could only have dreamed off.

In the realm of goods and services even the underprivileged of us are privileged to those of the same in another time or place. Through hard work and a bit of luck we can offer ourselves many of the comforts of life. If only through the same measured thinking we could offer ourselves the comfort of mercy.

Mercy is a rarely heard cry these days and the words from a minister still ring in my ears when after visiting a father suffering in grief from the suicide of his son offered him the “comfort” that his son through his actions had unfortunately cut himself off from the chance of salvation and eternal life.

In our world of cause and effect the cries are not of mercy but of justice, demands for equality and calls for vindication and indeed the opponents of capital punishment rarely base their arguments based on mercy but rather that death for death does not stop those involved in such heinous crimes.

Today, outside church walls rarely is the cry for mercy heard like it was in ancient times when the masses were desperately dependent of the mercy of the few. The times of prophets, patriarchs and apostles was harsh and cruel and human lives were often worth far less than the whims and impulses of the ruling class. Slaves and captives from military conquests; the crippled and handicapped whose hopes for cure or assistance were usually shattered; or the few elderly who survived past the early death of those days all knew the tender thread by which they existed day to day, to which of much was at the mercy of those at the top.

So, when the scriptures use the concept of mercy to describe God-our merciful Father in heaven and to describe the plight and plea for humanity-the “Lord have mercy on us” they do so in a world which understood much better than we of what mercy was about.

Yet while known in those times, mercy was still a rare treat because of the sheer dimensions of the need and like today when we see those dying on distant shores and become overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, so too the privileged of times past with the means to dispense mercy often tended to look the other way.

In today’s readings we begin to understand the mercy for which those of humble means cried out for and to again appreciate God’s mercy toward us and his mercy in a merciless society and world, and understand it in our own plight and in our own pleas.

His mercy toward us that is necessary because of our plight because whether we acknowledge it or not, the natural human tendency is of a pride which both severs human relationships and gets in between us and God.

A problem that Israel suffered when the people of God began to think that they has such an inside track with him that they, the creatures, could dominate the Creator with carefully crafted religious routines to displace simple faith, mercy and loving service by that of mercy in the system itself, and sadly that describes much of the history of the Christian church where God’s people have continued to wrestle with attempts either individually or shared to take the centre stage away from God.

Paul will have none of it and with a sweeping stroke of his pen puts to flight such religious pride with his letter to the Romans and reminds them that no matter how saintly or prestigious a person is or may think they are: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

It is the plight common to us all and only when that condition of need is grasped and understood is a person in a position to appreciate and, by faith, to appropriate mercy because, like it is one thing to know you have a disease, it is another thing to seek help and accept the cure when offered. So too does mercy lie dormant and infective if it is neither wanted nor treasured and so God’s people, when knowing their need, have echoed throughout history the cry of the palmist’s plea, of: “Lord have mercy upon me, according to thy loving kindness.”

Mercy, not justice is the answer to our plight as seen through the wisdom of a photographer who after one of the subjects of his work stormed in and abused him saying “these photo’s don’t do me justice,” quietly replied, “Lady, you don’t need justice, what you need is mercy.”

We can be grateful that God did not deal with us directly in justice but with the intervening love of His Son Jesus Christ who took our place that He, and not we, become the object of the Father’s absolutely fair and impartial judgement upon sin.

In ancient times, those in need would line the streets and as their earthly King passed he would hear their cries of Lord have mercy. A cry for help and a statement to affirm that he, if anyone could dispense the mercy for which they asked. A plea the King often neglected as he passed by.

The same plea asked by those who met our heavenly King who did not come to pass by, but to take with.

The plea raised by ten lepers “who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said ‘Jesus, master, have mercy on us.’”  And in today’s Gospel, the Canaanite women, reduced to despair over her daughter’s illness, cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.”

Blessed are we to see and know of the fulfilment of God’s irrevocable saving plan. His plan as sang of by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist that “Blessed by the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…to perform the mercy promised to our fathers.” And Mary, the girl of tender youth who was informed by the angel that she would be the mother of Christ, replied: “And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.”

Paul, who had come out of a system of legalism as a Pharisee, came to appreciate what that mercy meant and wrote to the Ephesians: “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ because by grace you have been saved.” And Peter, the shamed denier who knew the need for mercy, wrote:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. “

Robin Williams, my three friends, soldiers suffering on a battlefield, the seriously medically afflicted and those fleeing the hurt through the lonely road of addiction, and indeed those amongst us and of us who have not heard an answer to our own cries for peace in this world, we are not to judge in neither earthly struggles  or earthly death. But hear their cries for mercy and not answer in the darkness of the human spirit of which they know all too well, but answer in the Spirit of Christ and bring to sight His mercy before them, that though it  may not be felt by them in this life, it will be known by them in in the next. Amen

“Blood moons and solar eclipses”

Mathew 14:22-33

I remember in 1980 watching a news reporter broadcasting live from the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the United States. It was midday and yet it was pitch dark because of the ash and he went on to say that “the locals here are saying this is the end of the world. And if I didn’t know any better, I would agree with them.”

Is it just me, or right now does it seem that the dangers in the world have seemingly escalated “overnight.”

God’s “time peace” Israel is front page news. The creation of a Muslim state in Iraq. Vladimir Putin, The Ebola virus threat and now even in Australia it would seem the government wants to go “big brother” and monitor all we do through our P.C.s.

Right now it would seem that God’s got his hands full keeping a lid on all this stuff and so we’ll just have to leave it with him.

So what of us-where do we stand amongst all this? Put our head in the sand like an Ostrich, go to the pub have a couple of beers and make out everything’s all good or like the family on T.V. the other night, start preparing, or “prepping”  as they say and start stocking, fuel, food and Ammo for the crunch time.

Ironically, both of these “strategies” can seem quite alluring and especially if you combine the substance of the first with the ideals of the second.

With our modern technology the world has become a very small space and it would seem that the caves spoke of in prophecy where we are urged to go and hide in may not cut it any longer.

So what to do?

The saying about “not worrying about things we have no control over” ring true as does Luther when he urges us to “pray and let God worry” because when it comes down to it, apart from prayer what can we offer towards rectifying those situations on foreign shores many miles away.

And so we pray and we pray some more for those beyond the realm of our help and leave our prayers with God as we go about fulfilling his call to us here in our small patch where we do have the ability to make a difference and see Christ in our lives and understand what it all means like Peter came to learn in his moment on the seas of the sea of Galilee as recorded in today’s Gospel lesson.

It’s a lesson and miracle story we know so well. The story of Peter who while he kept his eyes on Jesus was all fine, but when he notices the peril around him his eyes divert and he starts to sink but is saved when the outstretched of Jesus pulls him from the stormy sea. That lesson in itself is enough for us today to know and if that’s the total of what we take away with us for this week then praise be to God.

Does this mean that on Monday my bank loans will have mysteriously disappeared?-no.
Does this mean that tomorrow morning we’ll see Jew and Arab in the Middle East settling their differences for peace?-not likely.

Jesus reached out and saved Peter amongst the storm but the storm didn’t abate. The waves didn’t stop simply because Jesus was there, they stopped only when Jesus put Peter back in the boat, and that boat for us is the Church.

We are in peri less times and things are happening that we have no control and so for them we pray and leave the outcome to God. Seemingly end times events we have no control just like we have no control over earning our way to heaven and in both we trust in our Lord and saviour to hold firm to us as He has promised from today’s reading in Romans where He assures us that “Everyone who calls upon the Lord will be saved”.

World events are God’s care so we will not worry. If you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you desire forgiveness in His name-you are saved and will live with Him in heaven for eternity: so to worry about that is nothing short of a waste of time.

I repeat:  If you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you desire forgiveness in His name-you are saved.

The end times started when Christ defeated the devil on the cross and indeed the apostles believed that He would return for the final time in their lives. He didn’t and who knows where history stands today in that facet. We don’t know and because we don’t: Our call is to work towards what we have some control over in these forecast end times and go back to the future and stand up against the prophesied apostasy within the Christian Church.

The Church is the life boat. The place of safety with Christ at its head and in times of trouble it is the only true place and that is why we must be vigilant against the powers of darkness to weaken the safe haven it is.

Since the garden humans have been tempted to think there’s other ways of doing things than simply taking God at face value and the same temptation is continually put before the Churches. Temptations everywhere-that’s life as to when we fall to it and throw ourselves before God and receive mercy in Christ.

Apostasy is to fall away from the truth and to fall to temptation and receive forgiveness in Christ is not apostasy-quite the opposite.

Apostasy is the Church falling away from the truth as prophesied and that is where we come in and stand firm for those around us who are teetering on the edge of the oblivion with practices that offer not comfort in salvation in Christ alone but in all manner of side shows and unnecessary distractions.

We are not perfect and nor is our Church when seem through a group of fallen people coming together in a building of bricks and mortar.

Yet Christ’s Church is prefect because it is His Church.

Pray we know which is which and preserve the truth of God for the sake of those still fighting against the undertow for the lives of many may depend on it. Amen.

Jesus makes much of our little

Gopel: Matthew 14:13-21

Some 500 years ago in Germany, an 11 year old boy was having organ lessons from his music teacher. One of the things you have to learn how to do when you are playing the organ, especially for church, is improvise – that is take a well known hymn tune and, on the spot, embellish it, fancy it up, work it up into a new piece of music. But this 11 year old boy was finding it hard. “This is hopeless,” he said. “I’ll never be any good at this. I just have not got it in me. I can’t make up music. I just can’t do it.”

His name was Johann Sebastian Bach.

Perhaps not all that many of you are Bach fans, but I guarantee you, almost every one of you would know one of Bach’s tunes, which have been played and recorded and pinched by pop musicians for the last 200 years. Today he is considered one of the great composers. His music has something spiritual about his music, some would say a heavenly, quality to it. This is not surprising since almost all Bach’s music was written for church services. Bach knew that his music was not his own to profit from, but was indeed given to him by God himself, as an instrument of praise. He felt so strongly about this that he made it a custom to write on the bottom of every score from his hand three letters: SDG, standing for Soli Deo Gloria, or in English: “To God alone be glory.”

And so those words he at the age of 11 were in one way quite true weren’t they – “I just have not got it in me. I can’t do it.” No, but God could, through him. God it was who gave Bach his extraordinary gifts. To him be the glory.

How often doesn’t God take what we have – what’s small and unimpressive and imperfect – and perform miracles with it in order to nourish others.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus does just this.
In our church today he is doing just this.
In your life he is doing just this.

Let’s look at Matthew 14 – especially verses 15-19:

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. (NRSV)

These verses are often missed when people read this story, and not many people get the point that Jesus makes here.

First of all, contrary to popular belief, Jesus does not feed the crowd. He tells the disciples to feed the crowd. “What?” they say. “Jesus, what do you mean? We can’t do that. We do not have enough. All we have between us is five loaves and two fish.”

Nowhere near enough –  And what does Jesus reply? “Bring them here to me.” I will take what you have, meagre and inadequate and tiny as it is, and make it a feast, a banquet to feed the hungry. To God alone be the glory.

What little have you got to offer the world or to offer God? What little do we have in our church to offer? Humanly speaking, you and I have very little to offer, far too little to make any difference anyway. Our faith is imperfect. Our leadership skills are imperfect. Our ability to see others’ needs is often poor. Our compassion is not what it could be.

And just look at our hungry world! Look at the people in our own community who are desperate and lost. Look at the generations of kids in our community who do not know Jesus Christ and have not heard the Gospel!

These needs are huge! We can’t cope with all this. We don’t have enough – enough time, enough courage, enough money, enough energy, enough love. “It’s no good!” We say, like Bach, “It’s just not in us. We can’t do it.”

But Jesus has always specialised in doing miracles with our “not enough”. Just as he did with the disciples, he tells us today, “Go and feed them. You do it.” and when we protest that we can’t because we have so little, he says to us, “Bring it here to me.” And in his hands it is multiplied. It is made something much greater and much more beautiful and much more effective.

If we will only give our little to Jesus instead of giving up, he will take what we bring and make something from it to feed and nourish the hungry people around us – people who are hungry not just for food, but friendship, compassion, understanding, care and love.

And so we bring our little offerings: Our skills; our money; our love; our work; our food; our homes; our hospitality; our ears; our hearts.

Never underestimate what you can do in the church or in the community, when it is offered to Jesus. It might be small but God can do miracles and he will do miracles in the lives of other people, if you are prepared to hand over your little to his grace.

God does not ask us to be miracle workers. He only asks us to be obedient. So do not under rate the packet of cereal you put in the breakfast basket, or the vegetables you gave the busy mother next door, or the half hour you spent talking to the visitor over morning tea here at church, or the devotion you gave at that committee meeting, or that Sunday School lesson, or that meal where you hosted others and shared with them, or any other small thing you do for others in Christ’s name. And do not draw back from offering your little because you feel it is not enough or not good enough. Jesus says “Bring them here to me.”

Luther once said: “In his hands these things are mighty and holy works that set the angels singing and bring glory to Almighty God.”

Jesus can change five loaves and two fish into a feast. What we give and do can, and often does, have results and consequences far beyond what we imagine, because God has worked it into a miracle of his love.

To Him alone be the glory. Amen

Stephen Pietsch

“Bambi’s chains”

Romans 8:26-39

A few months ago there was a notable news item about herds of deer on the border of what used to be West Germany and Czechoslovakia. That border marked the line between the Warsaw Pact countries and the NATO alliance of the West. Not long after WW2 a fence was built by the Communists to stop ‘migration’ to the West. The ‘fence’ was actually three fences of high and vicious barbed wire, fully electrified. Armed guards constantly patrolled its entire length. Apparently more than 500 people died along that border as they sought freedom from that oppressive regime.

They were not the only casualties. For century upon century herds of deer had freely roamed the forests of Europe in that area. Once the death-dealing fence was in place the deer quickly learned to avoid it. Deer on the Czech side moved through the eastern forests up to the fence, along it on well worn tracks, and away again. On the German side the herds of deer learned to do the exact same thing. East was east, and west was west, and ne’er the herds did meet.

Now here’s the thing… The herds still don’t meet. It is now 25 years since the wall came down and the fence was removed. In the years since then observers were astonished to see that the deer adhered (!) to the tracks they had learned. Since scientists began micro-chipping the herds only two, both male, are known to have ‘crossed the line’, and one of those returned the same day and never ‘re-offended’. The herds are stuck in their learned patterns of behaviour in spite of the fact that not a single deer alive today was alive when the electric fence was doing its dirty work. As one report had it, ‘The wall is still in their heads!’ No other animals are limited in the same way. (Thanks to Pastor Fred Veerhuis for this article and his insights).

We belong to a church which prides itself on its convictions about Gospel freedom. We love Galatians 5:1. ‘For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.’ (RSV) Most certainly the Gospel bestows the gift of freedom through forgiveness, for Christ’s sake, by grace, through faith. With it comes that delightful and cherished confidence that there is now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Being placed ‘in Christ Jesus’ puts the children of the heavenly Father beyond any accusation that could ever be raised according to law. Nothing, repeat nothing… nothing in all creation, nothing… can ever separate us from the love of God the Father revealed in Jesus Messiah our Lord. Nothing!

And in that revelation, we are free to be the person we want to be, because Christ has set us free.

Nelson Mandela after apartheid was abolished said that the only thing that now remained keeping his people in bondage was the fear of freedom.

For us, born free in our country that may sound a little strange. But what if we think of those things that we are slaves to, regardless of our need not to be.

Excess wealth, status, keeping up with “Jones’” and all manner of things that shape our way of life that don’t necessarily enhance it, but restrict it.

If only I didn’t have to worry about……..imagine the freedom.

The Freedom that two rich, intelligent and wealthy stock brokers strived for.

Not a desire of freedom from their riches or work pressures, but the freedom that they desired so great but could not do either together or alone and so developed Alcoholics Anonymous in which the basic premise is that without help from a higher God, they cannot sustain the battle against alcohol.

We are free in Christ, yet in some ways, still trapped in ourselves.

If Christ was not Christ He might answer for us to have a look at ourselves and get our act together.

Thankfully Christ is Christ and instead of passing opinions of matters He does not understand, does understand and sees that things are not easy for even those that know the truth of the freedom they have in Him.

Michael Jordan, maybe the greatest basketball player in history after hearing people comment on his brilliance remarked that I wonder if they would think the same if they saw the amount of times I miss during my practicing over and over again for hours every day.

In our Jordan moments when we hit the target Christ sees His good and faithful servants at work. The same when He sees His good and faithful servants bowed down lying with an empty bottle on the street asking for forgiveness and begging for an end to the horror.

When Christ walked this earth He did miracles, raising people from the dead, healing lepers and so forth. Absolute miracles that if we were the recipient of one would never give short thrift to.

But for me, the miracle is that, again and again, are the spoken Gospel words that is Jesus Christ who comes to us amongst society and indeed our own opinions of ourselves, that whether at the both at the “top of our game” or at the bottom, comes to us with the exact same words “that nothing, nothing of this world nor in powers seen or unseen that we know little , not our failures to be that person we want and know we should be, not our failure in ourselves and nor our failure in serving Him as we should-nothing because of Christ can ever separate those who know who He is and what He came for can ever be separated from the love of God.

Those who know Christ and what He came for are saved.

Romans 10:9-13

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

For there is no distinction between Jew or Greek-For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

No distinctions: Be it those in the concrete mountains of wall street or those wallowing in rags under a bridge in Dubbo/Gilgandra and should either have been freed of their invisible jail cells or not-everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Acts 13:38-39

Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

In our lives here, our freedom within can feel both the journey and the destination. But in Christ-His journey to death on the cross was our arrival at our destiny of life in His resurrection because though we can be free today, the greater miracle is that Jesus the Christ got behind the real wall of the law, undermined it by his life of suffering glory, dismantled the accuser’s strongholds by delivering forgiveness through his own death, drove a stake through the dominating heart of the spirit of death by his resurrection, and proceeded to lead the redeemed through those shattered walls into the kingdom of his Father.

We are free today as we are, as we will be when our bodies are renewed on the last day.

And in that, we go with the peace that is not of us, but with the peace of Christ for we know, that should we lie in green pastures beside still waters, or walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we know He is with us, following us in goodness and mercy wherever our journey leads us-that nothing shall ever separate us from His promise that we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. His house, and our house. Amen.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43: Psalm 139

I want my life to be lived with you
There’s a way everybody say’s
To do each and every little thing
But what does it bring
If I ain’t got you,

You don’t know what it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you

The words from a Bee Gees song that has the effect of being at the same time both of heartbreak and of triumphant.

And words that could be from Christ himself as a reminder to the to the church and words to each of us today reminding us that no matter how much we try, we will never truly understand a love that is untarnished by sin that is the love of Christ.

Religion has a lot to answer for.

We see in the Middle East what seems to be Muslim Brother against Muslim brother. Murder and bloodshed in the name of religion.

At the completion of the first Christian Crusade” in the middle ages, a chaplain and historian present wrote of the events immediately following the capture of Jerusalem.

“Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (the more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted … in the temple and the porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies.”

And here, if our land of freedom-in our land flowing with milk and honey we hear of the religious leaders, Pastors and those of their flocks who have not welcomed the confused and anxious teenager carrying baby, but discarded her by way of judgment and lecture. And the church that welcomes back those lost to them, maybe that same girl with a smile, but really a smile that could be seen as a smirk as she notices the side way looks between the good and faithful.

The dictionary defines theology as “the systematic study of the existence and nature of the divine and its relationship to and influence upon other beings”, and in our own church theological discussions have been present since the reformation and hopefully will be to the end of time.

Theology-the study of the Word in history, and indeed both in our own times allows for us to hear the truth of God no matter what the winds of society otherwise suggest. The word that says yes, that thing is still a sin, and the word that says no, that no matter your condition that the present society has now labelled as unforgivable, no, that though others forgive you not- no sin is too great to separate those from the love of God who have turned to Christ.

Religion, the Church at times, some Pastors moments, you and me all have things to answer for. Retaliation of those of not the same beliefs and the judgment of others that doesn’t lift them from the shallows but pushes them into the depths. We all have something.

When young, a family stopped attending church for the very reasons I have mentioned and at the age of twelve, a boy in that family-unbeknown to anyone to this day for weeks struggled with what seemed a call to leave his mother and father and live with his still actively worshipping grandfather. The pull was immense and it seemed clearly a line in the sand had been drawn between following Christ or following self.

For the next 15 years his relationship or pull towards the Lord became dim only to be replaced with all manner of worldly ways.

A moment, and moments following that needed answering for-but was not sought for nor considered.

So Christ answered himself not in judgment and damnation, but through a seemingly chance encounter that would see him enter a church against his wishes only to be re-awakened and brought to tears that finally, he was home.

The apostle Paul through the knowledge of his own situation has told us that “But by His doing are you in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boast, boast (only) in the Lord”.

I have walked in many directions not made of the Lord, and yet even in the most wayward it was He who opened up a door. Opened door after door that in my unknowing state would see me stumble unawares to a place he prepared that once again I would come to weep in the knowledge of a love so great.

We all deserve to answer to God for our wayward ways, but as we could not, God sent us His son to answer for us.

I want my life to be lived with you
There’s a way everybody say
To do each and every little thing
But what does it bring
If I ain’t got you,

You don’t know what it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you.

God answered our inability to save ourselves by sending us His Son.

Jesus Christ who though we turn from Him, does not turn from us.

The parable of the sower: “The servants said to him, do you want us to gather up the weeds. But he said to them, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.”

Christ here gives voice to our theology, to His churches and to us. A sin is a sin and so it will be till the end of time. But though we see sins in others and in ourselves-we are not to judge prematurely by assuming we can tell the difference between the weeds and the wheat for that is not the realm of us, but of God. The realm of our God who separates the two not of what we discern, but in knowing of those who come before him with empty hands clinging to forgiveness and life eternal through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

We may have doubts of ourselves from past, present or future that cause us to pray in anxiety or even distress as to our fate on our last day. Pray yes, but fear not for we have a God, God the Father that knows you.

Our God that is aware of our sins and of our times of bodily and spiritual weaknesses. But a God that has not forsaken us, or closed his eyes and ears to us but comes to us in the midst of our storms with the assurance that: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

We all have family and friends not of the visible church which may give us reason to pray. And pray we should, but not in fear but in comfort that God, our God is not a God far off, but God our Father who is near and hear these Words from today’s Psalm 139 for them, and as they most assuredly are for you.

^{“”                 1Â} You have searched us, Lord,
and you know us.
^2 You know when we sit and when we rise;
you perceive our thoughts from afar.
^3 You discern our going out and our lying down;
you are familiar with all our ways.
^4 Before a word is on our tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
^5 You hem us in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon us.
^6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for us,
too lofty for us to attain.

^7 Where can we go from your Spirit?
Where can we flee from your presence?
^8 If we go up to the heavens, you are there;
if we make our bed in the depths, you are there.
^9 If we rise on the wings of the dawn,
if we settle on the far side of the sea,
^10 even there your hand will guide us,
and your right hand will hold us fast….    and lead us in the way everlasting life. Amen.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Prior to today’s Gospel lesson Jesus had told His disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few” and here in this parable He gives encouragement that they continue to faithfully sow the seed. To continue to sow the seed though some goes to waste and though it would seem they are reaping little success.

Like those disciples past, we too are asked to sow the seed because in us has the seed, the Word of God landed on fertile land. The fertile land that Jesus talks of in the joining verses between today’s Gospel were He tells us that “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Blessed are we to know Christ the Saviour who has come to us. The Saviour who the prophets and righteous of past were foretold of but did not know. And Christ the Saviour who has come to us as He did some 2,000 years ago to those in Jerusalem as a thirty three year old only to be misunderstood and judged in His ways that He be killed on a cross in the name of religion as a fraud and blasphemer.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who brought the truth of His forgiveness to the chosen race of God-the Israelites. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who brought His truth of forgiveness to their enemies the Samaritans. To their captors the Romans. To adulterers, thieves, prostitutes, the judged and the forgotten.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God. The long  awaited Messiah who having arrived brought a message so radical in its nature, that the nature of those present refused Him and tried to destroy the freedom He brought by placing both on a cross.

Yet in the seemingly victory of Sin and the defeat of Christ, those blessed of fertile ground have come to know that on that harrowing Cross was not the defeat of Christ and what he stood for.  But the victory of Christ and the deliverance of freedom from eternal death in sin, to eternal life in Christ in spite of sin.

This Thursday just gone some of us attended Wilf’s funeral in Gilgandra we heard these words from his Eulogy:

“Born in 1919 and at the start of his earthly journey he was declared a sickly baby and Doctors were sure he wouldn’t survive, but he proved them wrong”, (and went on to live a full and fruitful life).

Having arrived here only a few years ago, I have only known Wilf at the end of his earthly journey in which was in sickness as much as it started and far from proving things wrong, to me he proved things right because in Wilf, though aging and frail was a man of upbeat hope no matter the situation and I will never forget our only theological discussion when after a sermon on saved in faith in Christ alone up and against what the world and both we throw at ourselves remarked, that “I too believe that in Christ and in Christ alone are we saved.”

I do not know the details of Wilf’s life, like I don’t know all of yours or even some of my own that my mind has chosen to blot out. Yet though I do not know the details, I know the substance and for us all it is of the same manner.

For we all live in this complicated world where life is experienced through the painful tension between love and hate, joy and sorrow, justice and injustice, good and evil, hope and meaninglessness, life and death, the present and the future.

And amid all of this, we live a double life as Paul writes in Romans 8:18-23.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because to him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth….and we too grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons and daughters in the redemption of our bodies”

Creation itself, our home planet scarred, battered used and abused awaits the day when it will be replenished in the splendour it once was and was to remain. Our planet, our earthly planet that we have used and abused-yet it still endures to flourish to maintain that we have shelter, food and life.

Creation itself, those created in God’s own image-we ourselves, scarred, battered used and abused await the day when we too will be replenished to the splendour we once where in the garden of Eden and where we could have remained had not we fell to sin.

Oh to be in that day when cliffs are covered again in soil and clover and we walk without aging bodies free of pain and tears alongside those we love who have gone before us and those that we too will one day leave behind.

This is not our worldly hope, but our Hope in Christ which is not a maybe, but a certainty. A day that awaits us as certain as Christ himself and should we march, stride, walk and crawl toward that day is of no consequence because the words the apostle Paul told the Ephesians he tells us, that:

“God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. “

You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand. His workmanship that has brought “Blessing to your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear. For truly He says to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

But we have heard it, the final Word of God to us regarding our salvation and that of Jesus Christ. And though we may crawl with the weight of sin and hurt on our back, we can march bold and upright towards our heavenly reality because of Christ’s sure promise to us.

And though in doubt of our self-worth and fear of rejection we desire to retreat from those to who He places before us who have rejected Him or yet to know Him, as one we can march together with Christ and stand firm in the faith that the Word of God does not return empty.

Because in you I see the Word was not empty for the seed of His Word continues to grow in you, and will continue to do so until we not just trust in, but see, feel and touch the Glory that is to be fully revealed to us on our last day and see that these present days are not worth of compare.

You here today need no longer need search for forgiveness and salvation in a future time because it is yours today because in trust in Christ alone and in faith that He died on the cross for your sin the heavens have been opened so that you will most assuredly enter and reside with all in Christ.

The deal was done for the world on a lonely hill in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and the deal was done for you the moment you understood that as you are, rich or poor, young or old, of good cheer or downtrodden, that no matter your sins and mistakes of past and just so your sins and mistakes that await you in the remainder of your earthly journey, that in faith in Christ the door to heaven is now closed to you. Closed not to keep you out, but to keep you in: because neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And In our mortal bodies though we still walk this earth, we March together with Christ and the Word of God to those to which Christ came for. We march as one to let those held captive to sin. To those on the streets, to adulterers, thieves, prostitutes, the forgotten and bring His truth to them as we do to the worldly elite.

We march to them as we are and meet them as they are, for we are blessed people who know both the way of the world’s deceptions and lies, and the way of Christ’s faithfulness, love and acceptance.

God gave us the gift of Jesus and eternal life. And Jesus has given us as a gift to those at whose door he still knocks, that when they open it-they too will enter and see the door close behind. Not to keep them out, but keep them in as they too see, feel and touch in faith the Glory of God in this life of hardships and struggles, while they too await His full revelation on their last day which is not of compare. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

“I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin’ there.
I said, “Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town”.
I said, “Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin’ on it”.
He said, “Have a seat”, and I sat down,
“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town”
I said, “I think it is”
He said “I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag”

The opening lyrics to Johnny Cash’s song a “Ragged old Flag”.

A song of patriotism as seen through this flag of stars and stripes that has been present throughout the many wars and difficulties experienced by the United States of America, and after metaphorically listing the many hits it’s taken finishes with:

“She’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin,
But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

Great lyrics. Poetry. Words that if I was an American would let me raise my head when the storms of the world and life intend otherwise.

We all have our song to sing where we have hung tough against the odds. Racing towards what awaits to assist in a road accident, when in our whole self we would rather race from.

To hold firm and drop off your young child at their first day of child care or school even though your heart is breaking because of their anxious state and pleading of being elsewhere.

To see those we love in pain and sit with them in their last hours, and see your mother weeping at their grave.

We’ve all been there and we’ll be there again, where again we’ll feel those words as like Elvis Presley, that

“You know Lord I’ve been in a prison
For something that I never done
It’s been one hill after another
I’ve climbed them all one by one

But this time, Lord you gave me a mountain
A mountain you know I may never climb
It isn’t just a hill any longer
You gave me a mountain this time”

Like our physical pain thresholds differ, so to do our emotional pain thresholds differ and for some a hill may be a mountain and for others a mountain a hill and though we may through sheer personal gut wrenching perseverance and determination climb that hill, sometimes we are given a mountain that we cannot climb.

Those words of Johnny Cash: that,

“She’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied an’ refused,
She’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin’ thin,
Given our personal mountain this could be us. Like in our Western world so could it be our Church, the Christian churches. Yet us in the Church, and the Church in us. Yet us in Christ, and Christ in us we follow on:

But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.”

A home is not made from bricks and mortar, but from love united and pain shared.

So too is the church not of earthly structure, but of Christ received.

Christ received on our week day hills and mountains. Christ uniting Him-self to us in His love, and Christ uniting Him-self to us in our hurts.

Come what may, be we threadbare and wearin thin, Jesus Christ our Saviour 2,000 years ago was nailed to a cross that whether we be young or old we can lift our heads and see the risen Christ with us today.

With us today walking next us over our hills and carrying us up our mountains.

With us today reaching out His nailed pierced hands that though ours may be young and strong, or old and wrinkled, ours will never need be pierced for he has taken our sin on himself.

Each of us has our own song to sing, and be it of joy or sorrow-it is a song we should sing from the top of those mountains we have scaled-because on those mountains past we have come to know the Lord. To know our Lord and what He has done for us and see clearly:

“On a hill far away an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
And we love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So we’ll cherish …….and we will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

That old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for us;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

On that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty we see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me and you.

To the old rugged cross we will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call us some day to our home far away,
Where His glory forever we’ll share. Amen.

Think of a person you know, an everyday type of person; a person to whom you look as a role model.

This person is someone that you may have had dealings with,
but then again maybe they’re not.

They might be someone you have read about, or seen on television. They might be one of your parents, or grandparents.

This person might be a friend or someone with whom you’d like to be friends.

Perhaps they are someone with confidence, or wealth, a healthy lifestyle, successful in whatever they do, or they seem to be at peace with themselves.

Whoever this person might be, you see them as one who has it all together.
They are lords of their lives, it seems. You see them as masters of their domain.

We don’t use the language of lords much these days, when speaking of everyday people.

We no longer use the term to honour those whom we respect, and we don’t use it as a name for the rulers of our country, or for landholders, as they still do in other parts of the world.

Nor do we have a great cause to ponder the function of masters and slaves.

We might hear the word master when talking about someone skilled at the top of their trade, or when master is used as a definition of a principal, such as a master bedroom or a master builder.

When we uphold these role models as masters of their domains, or as lords of their lives;

we receive a terrible blow when these people begin to fade and struggle with life,

or when their domain comes crashing down around their ears.

When death comes to those we love and look up to, it usually hits hard.

Or when the person we have upheld as such a good example, is not who they first appeared,

the let down can leave us feeling deflated.

A harder shock for us all is when we find life harder and harder to master.

Our bodies and our wills seem to enslave us.

We find that we can’t do what we know we should be doing. Or perhaps we shudder when we find out someone else looks up to us.

Disgusted, perhaps you think, “If only they knew what I’m really like!”

We humans are very good at making ourselves slaves,

belittling ourselves, and burdening ourselves or others by our misconceived ideas as to who and what is worthy of lordship.

When we make these types of judgement, the very elements of life we uphold as being necessary, become the very things killing us and driving us to despair.

The best example of this is at funerals.

While hearing the deceased person eulogised, thoughts can arise that either crush you or confuse you.

As you listen you might wish you were as good as the person who has passed on, but go away crushed and downhearted.

Or you might wonder if you are at the right funeral, thinking to yourself, “Hang on, this person wasn’t as good as what they are being made out to be!”

And so we arrive at the reality of life.

This reality is revealed for every person at their death. Unfortunately though, it’s too late for the revelation to do anything, once we die.

However, for Christians, we who believe in, hold onto, and remain in our baptism, the reality is daily revealed why we die but also who is really worthy of being eulogised in our death, and in our being raised to eternal life.

Therefore, we find that baptism and funerals are inseparably joined.

And in the inseparability is the need for us to remain with Jesus Christ given at baptism, who is faithfully walking with us every day of our lives, and willing us to trust him for salvation even in our last breath of earthly life.

Death, and our need for baptismal living, reveals that no person can be lord of their lives, and that any mastery of one’s domain is temporary at best.

In fact we hear from Saint Paul that in our original condition we can only master one thing — that is sin leading to death.

We hear in Romans 5:19-21… For just as through the disobedience of the one man (that is Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus Christ) the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul then goes on to speak of our struggle against sin and the reality in which we live as believing baptised children of God.
He says… 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11)

No longer do we have to eulogise or uphold the things that end in death;

rather we can give all glory to Jesus Christ whose life we have received in baptism.

In other words we uphold and remain in the only thing that ends in life, our baptism into Jesus’ death.

In baptism we no longer have a master standing over us, enslaving us.

But we now have a Saviour who faithfully stands and has mastered sin and death in us.

In the gospel we hear,

“A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. (Matthew 10:24-25a)

We have already seen that Jesus is not our master in the religious sense.

We are not bound again as slaves doing works for righteousness.

But Jesus is our role model, the only worthy role model.

We look to Jesus’ baptism as our example as we hear John the Baptist declare,

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

Jesus was baptised with water and the Holy Spirit came,

we too are baptised with water and the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit came.

Jesus endured a baptism of fire ending in death at the cross, and we too will face many fiery trials in this life ending in death.

This is the cross we all must bear. But, like our teacher, we will be raised to life, because this teacher now lives in us.

His death has mastered our sin and our death. Sin and death have no power. They now are dying slaves of Christ; serving him in us so we might have life with him forever. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are Lord of lords, and you are master of all dominions, powers, and authorities,

and yet you live in us and daily win the battle of sin and death in us.

Thank you precious Lord Jesus, not only do we abide in you, but you faithfully abide in us. Amen.

“Minimum Chips”

Isaiah 65:17-25, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Luke 21:5-19

In the book of Genesis chapter 9, after the waters of the great flood had subsided we are told that “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. Yet only two chapters later we read that humankind has does just the opposite and have migrated back together as a united and single speaking community with the resolve to build a city with a tower “whose top may reach into the heavens so that they make a name for themselves lest they be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

God justifiably is less than impressed and with concern of the limitless self-interested and sinful pride of such a situation intervenes and confuses their languages making it impossible for effective communication within their society and in line with “birds of a feather flock together”, so too of those of the same tongue who formed groups and disbursed over the face of all the earth leaving behind a half built tower known to us Babel, coming from the Hebrew verb Balal which means “to confuse”.

Given that historians have dated these events at around the year 2,000 Before Christ it is some time later that we hear of the confusion of the apostles minds as while they are admiring the great temple of God with its dazzling white stones and shimmering gold finishes Jesus instructs them that “the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another as all will be thrown down” to which did come about in the year 70 A.D. by way of the Roman army offensive against Jerusalem.

Fast forward another 2,000 odd years and we see nothing has changed as we the inhabitants of God’s world still look to find security and happiness in earthly structures, be they be big bank accounts and possessions, big promotions, big superannuation or the like as it would seem that even in the gathering of the faithful in a so called “Mega Church” that big is better, and if we could get a few more each Sunday what a blessing that would be and the more the better to hear the Word of God and receive his gifts. Yet Jesus also talks of how he works with the small:

-That where 2 or 3 are gathered he is present and of the benefits of having a faith the size of a mustard seed, and that a pastor and theologian once said to me that instead of one great congregation of a thousand members, he would prefer four congregations of two hundred and fifty seems to make some sense.

Don’t get me wrong, whether in numbers large or small any coming together of those to worship and receive from The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are being blessed and should we have the capacity in our earthly lives to fund a big holiday or my favorite, a big screen T.V. go for it. Yet the irony is that should the holiday be planned only around seeing as many countries and sights as possible-you see a lot but don’t get to understand much.

Similar with my fondness of big screen T.V.s in that its size has only managed me to see the same movie but at a further distance away underscores the problem of big, like where we may have a throng of “friends” that we communicate with through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, yet should the house catch fire the one who may come and help is neighbor that we live next to but were too busy to introduce ourselves.

There is a saying that ultimate power becomes ultimate corruption and while the gifts of our modern age are just that, gifts, it does give rise to scenarios like in my lounge sitting where I now sit afar from the contents of what is being displayed due the size of the object, the T.V. screen itself. So to with the smoke and mirrors of our age that we can become at a distance to the real substance of our lives-Jesus Christ, and then when our towers of Babel built on the changing sands of time come crashing down, so too would we if not for our neighbor who though we looked past, was waiting patiently to tame the flames with His waters of Baptism and love that we not only survive amongst the rubble, but rebuilt our temple not on sand, but on His unbreakable gifts to us. Our neigbour Jesus who we held at a distance  but comes to us and takes us in as His family, that in Him  we not perish, but flourish in the certainty of His life giving forgiveness and promise of eternal life.

To be sustained in His promise and forgiveness and endure in times of trouble and destruction, as those told of in today’s gospel.

To endure knowing in His promise and forgiveness as we await our last day and unite with those who have gone before as told to us in the “New heaven and new earth” as described today’s Old Testament reading where “the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like an ox and there will be no longer any hurt or destruction”.

And to live now in His promise and forgiveness heeding His Word of the epistle reading that having been saved in faith by Christ and free from the ways of the world, we are free to serve him by being in the world but not of the world.

In his song Me and Bobby McGee Kris Kristofferson penned the famous lyric of “Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose”, and having been saved Christ we have nothing that can be lost as we come to know John the Baptist words for ourselves and join with him in rejoicing that “therefore now this joy of ours in now complete, He must become greater and we must become less” for no longer do we need to ask like those in captivity in Babylon “how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” but trust in where He has placed us in our lives and trust that through the Lord that “the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts will be acceptable in His sight” as we make our way towards our grand and eternal reunion. And though we often fail and fall and doubt our abilities, we know that Jesus is with us and works in the small as well as the great for He has told us “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”.

The sure grace of our Lord that gives us the freedom from self-interest to become less, that He become more and the sure grace of our Lord that gives us freedom amongst the turbulence of our lives because in the sure promise of Christ that your sins are forgiven in faith in Him alone, and that you may have known His love right from the start or been born with a restless yearning heart is of no consequence because now His Words are your words-That Christ Died for you, and you are saved, and being saved you are free to serve him in the big and the seemingly small.

Christ died for you may seem like four small words, but in realising that it is me and you individually and collectively those words transform like four words said to me by a five year old child who while sitting next to me on a plane flight from Adelaide to Brisbane and noting that I was not a comfortable flyer, after teasing me for about ten minutes about wings and all sorts of parts of the plane either falling off or being damaged remarked “but you’re not meant to be scared, because you’re the dad”.

“Because you’re the dad”. Four small words struck me with the awakening of the silliness of my worry that not only changed my fear of flying but somehow, even though we still struck regular turbulence brought me the freedom to actually enjoy the ride.

“Christ died for you” and you are saved. Saved from not needing to aspire to riches, yet saved from them controlling you if they do come your way. Saved from needing fame or to be top of the rung, yet if achieved is given as a gift to serve both the Lord and those he places before you, be it in earthly needs, spiritual needs or both.

“Christ died for you” that you are saved and though you may have been born with a restless yearning heart, no longer do you need to search, because He has found you with His love he held from the start-and His love that He won’t let part that through you as you are-whether in the big or the small, in the pro-active or re-active, in the known or unknown, that in trusting in Him alone that the Words of our lips and actions from our hearts will be heard and give light to a better way of living to those still in the captivity of earthly entrapments, sin and self. The Words of our lips and actions from our heart that gives light not to human towers, but to His cross. The Words of our lips and actions from our heart that gives light not to ourselves, but to Him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. .

That was where the message ended. Then as chance would have it, not long after and waiting at the fish and chip shop to pick up our order. A lady and her young son came in and counted up their coins to purchase minimum chips. If they’d come up short I think I would have had enough left to fix it up, but in hindsight with the view to not insult their sense of self-worth I should have offered them the piece of fish we had ordered by suggesting that I got the order wrong and so didn’t need it and if they wanted it, better them than me throwing it away. The point is that it reminded me of why I actually became a pastor. Being that having seen and sometimes trying to help the poor and homeless, it always upset me knowing that they would still be hungry the next day then realised for them what I had come to know. That hope amongst the adversity, that survival amongst the pain and the strength to carry on when the load is heavy is through having to come to know the love of Jesus, and we as Christians having been given the means and the faith, that no much how little or how great is a gift to us that the strength of His gospel and love is made perfect in their weaknesses, as it is with ours. Amen.

“Brothers and sisters in arms-Christs”

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-17

 

As the church year draws to a close, the readings begin to reflect themes of eschatology, that is, the ‘last things’ and in our reading today from 2nd Thessalonians it would appear that some of the congregation at Thessalonica had come to understand from reading a fake letter, as if from Paul, that the ‘day of the Lord’ had already begun and not just initiated. Paul seeing how unsettling this teaching could be, and fearing a lasting disturbance, he reminds them that before the second coming of Christ occurs the antichrist-here termed the man of lawlessness- must appear in the church. This figure, empowered by Satan, would lead a widespread rebellion against the truth of Christ before the end comes. He is doomed, though, for destruction by Christ when he comes. To add further to the importance of not being swept away, Paul stresses their need to stand firm in line with the truth they had been taught.

A parallel text is that spoken of by Jesus himself in Matthew Chapter 24: “(Then) if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ Or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

In short whether regionally or globally, teachings that do not adhere to the Holy scriptures as recorded are to be rejected and should someone arise in outback New South Wales or in the Holy seats of Rome or Jerusalem and announce them to be God or a Saviour, unless Jesus has returned on the clouds of the sky seen by all, they are to be rejected as charlatans, no matter how persuasive their words, actions, signs and wonders may be.

Sobering stuff that Jesus has told us beforehand that should we be still walking this earth at that time, that we be not deceived in this final display of trickery that Martin Luther makes note: “Paul is not speaking about heathen kings, but about someone ruling in the Church. (As) God’s temple is not the description for a pile of stones, but the whole community of Christians described as one in which the Anti-Christ is to reign proclaiming himself to be God.

These are biblical lessons that we don’t talk of much these days which is fine because our lives lived under the grace of God are not to be concerned with past errors or anxieties of what awaits tomorrow, but lived in the here and now. Yet while we joyously live in the here and now in the sure knowledge of being saved in faith in Christ alone, today and on our last day, the Lord gives us these lessons so that we are prepared not only for the last great deception, but also for current time attacks on the Word of God and his people because to be forewarned is to be forearmed in opposition to being unaware and deceived.

The truth is that the end times started when Jesus won our battle on the cross. And knowing that to be the case, the powers of darkness have been “going down swinging” by attacking what they know to be true, the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The “unworldly” gospel of Jesus Christ which tells us that in him, and in faith in him alone are we saved. Not through good works are we saved and not through our failings and sin are we condemned. But faith in Jesus and what he has done for us are we lifted up.

As Christians blessed with faith we know this and sometimes wonder how others could not. Truth is Christ’s promise is counter-cultural and I remember a noted theologian once saying:

“That when you are in small struggling parish, do not be despondent but joyous that the few there believe because in the world we live in, it’s a miracle that any one believes”.

That miracle is faith. Faith not from our own desire or planning, but brought to us from outside of ourselves by the Holy Spirit while we didn’t know it, yet reverberating through every facet of our soul, body and life to be the most precious thing that we cling. Faith that when we approach God the Father, nothing in our hands do we bring, but in faith in the cross do we cling. And standing there beneath the cross we come to see the truth of God the Father. Not a vindictive God, but our God of mercy known through the comforting words of truth from Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Peace with God, not through ourselves but in knowing the truth of Christ, and accepting his righteousness for ourselves. His righteousness from Isaiah 32:17: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever”.

The Word of God tells us the truth, and the Holy Spirit brings us the faith to believe it and our lives are changed forever to know the peace and assurance that lets us hold firm and fear not when the foundations of society are being shaken around us. The peace and assurance to stand firm in patient endurance and as a strong witness to the unchanging truth of God amongst the changing and challenging times as described in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Peace and assurance given to us in Christ to not fall to what may seem, but to stand in and for what truth is. His truth that we are told in Romans 10:9-17 will not disappoint:

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame or disappointed.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

The Word of God is powerful and the fictional movie makes interesting point of such where a post-apocalyptic dictator has his Hench men try and track down the last remaining bible on earth so that he use its words of power for himself and create his own kingdom.

It is fiction but the power of God’s Word is not and a respected pastor once told me that it is the truth about the truth recorded in Isaiah 55:11 that allows him to continue in his vocation:

“So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

The Word of God through its hearing brings the miracle of faith to us through the Holy Spirit. That is a powerful Word. The Word that we ourselves must stand in and know its peace and assurance, and the Word that when attacked we must stand up for that others be not led astray.

The Word that gives us the power of humility should others be not. The Word that gives us the power to forgive those who forgive us not and the Word that gives us the strength and assurance to carry on in our vocations dwelling in peace and happiness knowing that in faith in Christ you are forgiven and saved today, and will be on your last day:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 838-39)

Amen.