Category: After Pentecost

Sermon: John 2:13-22

“Fair Crack of the whip”

 

Have you ever been part of breaking the protocols or rules of the day? That’s a bit of a silly question because we are Australians and that’s part of our DNA.
But what if breaking these protocols, or these ways of doing things need changing? When you are the few against the majority it can be very difficult, if not downright dangerous.
In the American civil war, a complex war but essentially characterized about North Vs. South. The North that did not have slavery against the South that did. The General of the south Robert E. Lee was attending church. Upon getting up from his pew to take Holy Communion, he noticed that a slave who had started to get up, noticed him and sat back down. On his way past him, he put his hand on his shoulder and said “come up with me, before God we are all equal”.
That may not sound that daunting until we reflect that segregation based on the color of a person’s skin was still a problem for President John F Kennedy in the 60’s.
These two men took enormous risks, both politically and physically-because they challenged and broke the rules of the day.In our Gospel today, we see Jesus breaking a cultural, religious and social way of doing things in his times.
Last week I mentioned a quote from the movie Jerry Maguire. This week another one from it comes to mind (I have actually watched more than one movie in my life). Jerry is working for this organization and in a moment of “inspiration”, writes a memo to the bosses and every employee stating everything that’s wrong in their workplace.
The next day, everyone’s slapping his back saying ÿer Jerry, great stuff”, then as he walks off they say to each other “gone by Friday”.
Jesus in his words and actions in today’s Gospel puts it all on the line. Seen later when the authorities use these actions and words against him in his trial to be sentenced to crucifixion.
Starting at verse 13: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables”.
Jesus is brandishing a whip. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when the guards come to arrest Jesus, Peter cuts off one of their ears with a sword to protect Jesus, in which Jesus tells him “to put his sword away”.But here, Jesus has the whip out-he is not a happy man, (and) to our ears, animals, doves and money changers-it seems a bit of a rabble-so it seems fair enough that Jesus has taken exception to all this-apart for one small matter-celebrating the Passover is, as recorded in Leviticus, as per God’s command.
Leviticus 23:4 “These are the feasts of the Lord, holy celebrations which you shall proclaim..On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover…and you shall bring offerings..”
To understand why the Passover is such a big deal to the Jews, Jesus and indeed God himself we need to know the background. To do so we go back to the book of Exodus. God has enlisted Moses to be the middle man- to bring about the release of the Israelites who are captives-slaves in Egypt.
In short, Moses’ request for their release is declined by the Pharaoh. Then, in an effort to have the Pharaoh change his mind-God brings plaques upon the Egyptians. Our modern equivalent would be like our trade sanctions against rebel countries that won’t toe the line. Firstly the rivers are turned to blood, so that it cannot be drank and the fish die. Then the place is overrun with frogs, then lice, flies, the livestock die, everyone gets painful boils, huge hail stones that kill everything not under cover, locusts and then pitch darkness for three days.
But after these nine plaques, the Pharaoh remains resolute. So God unleashes His piece of résistance. God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites that on the first month of the year on the tenth day, each household shall take an unblemished lamb and keep it until the fourteenth day, then they will kill and eat all of it with unleavened bread and put its blood on the doorposts of their houses. Because that night: and let’s hear it from God himself: Exodus chapter 12, verse 12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both person and beast; and against all the God’s of Egypt I will execute judgment. Now the blood on your door frames shall be a sign. And when I see the blood, I will Passover you; and the plague shall not be on you”. God continues, “This day shall be to you a memorial: and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance”. As God had predicted, after a tragedy of these proportions for the Egyptians-every family losing their firstborn-including the Pharaoh-the Israelites were not just released-the Pharaoh drove them out-enough was enough-no more.The Israelites were released-free, and as commanded by God-every year in the temple the Passover was commemorated. That’s why it was such a big deal. So important that from all over Israel the people would journey to the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifice’s like in the initial Passover.Again, we have to understand the times; Israel in comparison to Australia is a small country, but not small when your Landcruiser is a donkey or just your two feet. Just getting to Jerusalem was a huge feat, or at least their feet probably were time they got there. So, they didn’t bring their animal sacrifices with them, they bought them when they got there.
What of the money changers? Again we must consider the times. These people from different locations traded in different currencies. So they would go to the money changers and exchange their currencies for the local currency, so they could purchase their sacrifices.  Just like if we went to England, we trade our Aussie Dollars for pounds.
So there’s a 101 of the Passover history, and the goings on all seem to make sense. Yet Jesus brings out the whip.
In Australian, when we get told off for what we think is not wrong-we may use the term “fair crack of the whip”. But we see, indeed literally-it was a fair crack of the whip. Because upon Jesus entering the house of God, not outside it, but in it he sees a market place. People not just undertaking commercial enterprises-which is bad enough, but also profiteering-ripping off people who come to worship. He sees people and their actions getting in the way of true devotional worship-getting in the way between God and His people.
Fast forward two thousand years-to today’s times. As yet, thankfully I have never attended a church full of sheep, goats or doves about to be sacrificed.
Thankfully because they are no longer needed. Our unblemished lamb of sacrifice is Jesus himself. Jesus is our Passover. In Jesus-our sins are passed over and we are free of them-released from their captivity.We don’t come to church to bring-we come to church to receive. We don’t take to worship, we take from worship.There’s a lovely article in this month’s Lutheran, and I quote:
“One morning I was all hot and bothered because the old people at the church had trampled all over my brilliant idea. Why are they so boring? Why aren’t they passionate about their faith? I railed at Miss Perry. Why don’t they ever do anything? Why do they think that being a Christian is just warming a pew on Sunday mornings? Ever so quietly, Miss Perry said, Linda, are you sure you will still be warming a pew when you’re their age? By then you’ll have experienced much heartache and disappointment, with people and with God. Are you sure you’ll be as strong in your faith then as you are now”. Miss Perry has nailed it. Not because she told this young girl that enthusiasm is not good, because she didn’t. Of course we should always look at ways to connect with each other and the people around us. Always look at ways that might help bring and strengthen people’s, and our relationship with God. It’s an absolute yes to that.But she has nailed two things-One: How our lives can be tough-it’s not just all smooth sailing, and our faith will be tested, and Two: to get through these times with our faith and trust in God intact can be quite a miracle. The miracle’s we receive in worship. Hearing the Word of God, absolution and forgiveness, Baptism and Holy Communion. Word and Sacrament is where God gives his life strengthening miracles to us.
Word and Sacrament-To the world, what these bring seem ridiculous. Even parts of the Christian church ridicule the truth by questioning and denying scripture and its teachings and promises. These assaults on the Word of God and divine worship are from the same brush that Jesus encountered at the Passover. As I said, the church must always look at ways of connecting, of connecting so people will come to know God. But the Church must also stand up for the truth. Stand for something or stand for nothing at all.
In the book of Revelations we are given an account of seven churches-their positives and their negatives, except for the one titled the lukewarm church. Chapter 3, verse 15: Ï know of your works, that are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth”. Harsh words. Lukewarm, could this be like receiving the grace of God, his gifts we receive in worship in a “maybe they’ll help” manner.
In worship we hear and receive the Gospel. In Word and Sacrament we are given strength to believe, to be given faith and for our faith to be strengthened. Faith like that of General Robert E Lee, essentially fighting for slavery and a slave-that both approached our Lord and Savior as equals. Equals that deserve crumbs yet receive a banquet.
Today, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has forgiven your sins and strengthened your faith. It’s a gift and a miracle beyond our understanding. In Christ alone, we are saved.
Martin Luther was prepared to die for that belief, Jesus Christ died for it to be truth. And we live because it is the truth. Amen.

 

Luke 13:10-17

I’d like to begin to day by asking you to take a moment to look around you, I want you to look carefully at the people who are sitting around you. Do any of them look hungry; do any look thirsty, tired, lonely, unwell, incapacitated, or burdened in some way? OK now let’s focus our attention back here again. It can be difficult to see some of those things with a simple glance. If you noticed something and had the ability would you do something to fix them up right here and right now? Would you wait until after the service, or one day during the week or maybe the following week? It’s hard to say what we would do in any given situation unless we are actually presented with it.

Jesus was presented with a situation in our text; the woman appeared and had a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. He knew what to do, he called her over, he had the power to set her free from her ailment and he did. The time was right, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” and he acted.

The people who were watching weren’t so sure about what he had done though. The law states that we are to “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.”

Here was Jesus, teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath and then disobeying the direct command of God by healing a woman – their interpretation of doing work on the Sabbath! The leader of the synagogue was indignant and was telling the crowd what Jesus had done wrong. But Jesus answered straight back calling him and those who were supporting him hypocrites and explaining that they would all allow their donkeys to be lead off to have a drink of water on Sabbath. So it stands to reason that it should be OK to do the right thing by this woman regardless of what day it is, and even more so that it is appropriate that she be set free from her bondage on the Sabbath day.

Jesus didn’t want the woman to suffer for another day longer, after all she had been suffering for eighteen years already, and he wanted her to be healed, set free, right then and there. He set aside tradition and law and did what needed to be done for her.

Everyone there rejoiced at what Jesus had done, it was wonderful, his opponents had been put to shame and the woman had been set free. Shouldn’t that be what happens on our Sabbath?

Let’s take a moment to think about our own Sabbath day. We celebrate it on a Sunday because that is the day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead, when he won the victory over death for our sake. How do your Sundays look? Do you do any work? Are you carrying any burdens, are you hungry, thirsty, tired, lonely or unwell? What would it take to fix them? Do you come to worship to be healed? Is this time on Sunday set aside for building you up and healing you or do you do it out of obligation or a sense of duty? Is it about setting aside time to worship God and give him thanks for all that he has done for you? Is Sunday a time of rejoicing for you or a day of burdens?

Sunday (your Sabbath) should be a time when Jesus sets you free. He wants you to come to him, just like the woman in today’s reading did and receive healing. He wants to take away your burdens and set you free from their bondage. He wants you to be joyful in all of the wonderful things he is doing for you.

You may be asking yourself “How are we set free through worship?” We begin our service with a confession and absolution, here we come before God, just like the woman did and tell God what ails us? The pastor asks the questions to prompt you to think about the things that are going on in your life that are dragging you down, that are crippling you. It may be that the situation you are in is making you angry at God, that is something to confess to him, seek his forgiveness and be set free from its bondage. There are people in our congregation who are unable to move around freely because of physical conditions, there are those who are unwell. Some of you are having financial difficulties or are tied to mortgages and loans that make you feel like there is a big weight hanging on your shoulders. There are work situations that are making life unbearable, some are contemplating their transition into retirement. There are loads of ways that Satan gets his grip on us to drag us down and lay blame on God. Our time of confession is perfect to name those things in your heart and give them over to God for his forgiveness.

The next step in our service is to hear the forgiveness spoken to you, As a called and ordained servant of the Word, I announce the grace of God to all of you. On behalf of my Lord Jesus Christ and by his command, I forgive the sins of all of you who repent and believe. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Go in peace. This peace comes from having your sins forgiven, from being set free from your burdens.

Then we are fed by God’s Word and after that we are fed with the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. This is a physical and spiritual gift from God to us, to build us up and to heal us. He feeds us because we need it. Without it we will shrivel up and die. This is spiritual food that gives us new life, each and every time we receive it. It is for our good that we come and receive it. Each time that we do we are healed on the Sabbath by Jesus.

Jesus was a bit of a rebel, he ate with tax collectors and sinners, he conversed with prostitutes and did work on the Sabbath. Each time he did it was for a purpose, to set people free from the bondage of sin and the devil. He has given us the Sabbath for our healing, to serve us and for us to give him thanks and worship him. He wants us to come and be fed and healed, he rejoices when we do and wants us to rejoice with him!

Don’t let Satan stop you being fed by Jesus and his Word and Sacraments, don’t let him stop others being fed. Jesus has power over all things, he has the power to save us from the grip of Satan, he has the power to heal us and forgive us. He wants to be in a relationship with us, where we come to him to be healed and fed because we are in need. He calls us to come and worship him. All we have to do is come, enjoy our time of Sabbath rest, and be prepared to go out into the world and shine his light in it.

Amen

 

“Though we may Bolt, His Aim is endurance”

Jeremiah 23:23-29, Hebrews 11:29-12:2,
Luke 12: 49-56

Grace, Peace and Hope to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and may the words of my lips and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord-Amen.

Some years ago a football club known for its party culture yet yearning for success enticed a legendary coach out of retirement. He accepted but by the third game was sacked and I still remember the president of the club saying (from how I remember it) “We had too, because while we knew that he would bring some hard truths to the club, to see some players in tears because of it was too much”, and I remember thinking no wonder they are unsuccessful, and still to this day they are looking for that elusive championship.

The truth can hurt, but so too can be not listening to it.

Early in my banking career I was invited to dinner with senior staff and valued customers and when one of them arrived late he was greeted by all at the table rising to greet him, except for me. Later in the evening he publicly and embarrassingly tore strips off me for not greeting him with the same respect that the others had shown him. Fair enough and it was a very good lesson for me that I’ve never forgotten. The problem was though, that what he didn’t realise was that the reason I didn’t stand and greet him like the others was because I considered myself inferior to him and to the other guests, and so thought it was not my place not to bother him by extending out my hand because why would he want to acknowledge anyone as lowly as me.

When I think of him and his public degrading of me a certain word comes to mind that is best not said here, but the point is that even though his manner of teaching was appalling and really about himself more than me, he did teach me a valuable lesson.

In our lives sometimes the saying “it’s not what you say but how you say it” is appropriate, as too is sometimes the reverse in that “it’s what you say, and not how you say it”. As Christians adhering to the belief that God has revealed His eternal truths to us in His inspired, inerrant word, the Bible, and that it alone is the basis of Christian faith (2 Timothy 3:15-17, John 17:17) and the source of all inspiration and teaching, I would suggest ours is “that it’s both what we say and how we say it” and after hearing todays scripture readings I find myself today and daily needing to pray with fervour our opening prayer and request that “the words of my lips and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord”.

The Lords words today I would suggest are a bit of a wakeup call to me and maybe all of us. Firstly in Jeremiah God condemns the spiritual leaders for misleading people, that by not warning them of the impending judgement it has allowed people to slide into idolatry and immorality. Then, todays Gospel text smells of fire and warfare as Jesus in knowing of the opposition he would encounter offers no sugar coating to the apostles in preparing them for their own struggles and the crosses they will bear in following him. Finally, in the epistle which is always designed to bring light to how the gospel looks in our lives we hear of what’s been called “the roll call of the saints” that went before us and what they endured. Some tortured, mocked and flogged. Stoned to death, sawn in two and killed by the sword. Destitute, afflicted, mistreated and living in dens and caves. A chilling reminder of the past and with reports of an average of 150,000 + Christians martyrs each and every year still to this day, it is a chilling reminder to us today that gives light to Pauls words of encouragement for our lives “to run with endurance the race that is set before us”.

Paul speaking of the saints and how they endured said that in God “they were made strong out of (their) weaknesses. As Christians we are not to live our lives searching to be martyrs or mistreated, but in living and adhering to the Lord’s revealed eternal truths in His inspired and inerrant words of both Law and Gospel, should those situations arise we face them in Christ.

“Ultra-marathon runner Tony Rafferty said that during his run across Australia:

“He learned the significance of sub-goals. After struggling to complete 1500 miles, I realised I still had 2000 miles ahead of me. At this stage I was tired, sore, dejected and feeling sorry for myself. The task looked impossible. During this stage of depression I changed my thinking. I decided to run about 60 to 80 miles every day and try and repeat it as often as possible to see how far I could go. As soon as I made this decision my attitude changed. I started to feel confident and enthusiastic. I was confident that I could cover this distance each day. My mind was directed away from the huge distances ahead of me and it was focussed on my daily assignments. Because of this I was able to complete the run”.

So too could it be said of our endurance race. Most certainly in Christ the outcome is assured and the result decided. That of forgiveness and eternal life in faith in Christ alone. Yes in Christ that is assured, yet though we know what lies at the end we still have many hills yet to cross and only in keeping our eyes on Christ can we make that “60 or so miles per day”.

That 60 or so miles a day where “it is both what we say and how we say it”. That 60 or so miles a day that though not looking to suffer and be mistreated, are prepared to face such retaliation should our caring and loving words of the Lord to the world and our neighbours be turned back on us with hostility.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said that “he came to fulfil the law”, and we thank God for Him because most certainly we cannot fulfil its requirements ourselves. Yet he also said “he did not come to abolish the law”, “because the law is good” and without us knowing the law and our outright inability to uphold it, we don’t truly know and understand the Gospel of saved in faith in Christ alone. The Word of God is both Law and Gospel. The law that kills and condemns and the Gospel that saves. Harsh opponents yet working in unison to bring people to their knees that they be raised in joy and hope both today and on the last day, and that we may not understand why some of His words should be so, seen through Christ we do understand the one who wrote them and trust in Him on our personal journey that he has put before us and endure and delight in and with Christ as he brings before us those in whom we must serve with His Words that He has told us. His word of truth that:

“does not return empty but accomplishes that of His purpose (Isaiah 55:11) and in knowing that the “Lord stands at their door and knocks and that if they hear his voice and open the door, he will enter (Rev. 3:20)” –our wish is that they may hear as we have heard and receive as we have received and know through Jesus Christ the peace of God which most surely passes all human understanding.

So in the sure knowledge of being raised on our last day: Grace, peace and hope to you from God our Father and our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ as you travel on your earthly journey hearing His saving words for yourself and bringing them before those he places before us that they too may open their doors to a waiting saviour. Amen.

 

“Moments of clarity”

Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Luke 12:32-40

The other Tuesday, while helping pack up after the breakfast at the primary school and looking out the window at the kids playing I was filled with a sense of both joy and sorrow. Joy in that they seemed so happy talking and playing together. Yet a little sadness knowing that sooner or later they will know of the sheer gut wrenching trials of life. Some more than others, but all will face that day when life seems unfair and confusing.

A physiologist told me that in murder suicide situations, often the parent involved resorts to such a tragedy because through their own pain, they actually think they are saving their loved from suffering the same unbearable hurt. Jesus knows life can be hard and so no wonder his greatest burning desire is that people allow him to walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death.

Last week Janet gave me an article written by the son of a Vietnam veteran and how the emptiness and hurt played out in his life. Drinking to forget and taking out your anger on others. Conscripted randomly simply by his birth date into the tragedy of a war not of his making. A tragedy not for his two year tour, but for the remainder of his life and his son said that sometimes when drinking his father would quote a saying he brought back with him from Vietnam:

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for I am the evilest son of a bitch in the valley”.

So sad, and so frightening that given a different time and situation, that there bar the grace of God those words could have been emblazoned in our lives.

When I was sixteen, my friend and I while in Adelaide for work experience, each night would catch the last bus home from Hindley Street. On the last night at about midnight we were beaten up by a group of 15 to 20 youths of the same age. My friend particularly was in a bad way and though he was a kind and good hearted person when we got home he was in a fit of rage and though I talked and begged him not to, he said with or without me he was driving back to find them. Worried for him I felt I had no choice so I drove him around the streets of Adelaide where I didn’t think they would be and talking him down that he may decide against using the loaded rifle he had in his hands and it scares me of what would have happened and where we would be if we came upon them.

Sometimes we have no choice and when we do, take the wrong one and as I looked out at those kids playing in the school hard and knowing of what they will face I asked myself how could we ever think that our God does anything other than grieve with the grieving and cry with the crying. Our God that will do anything that we trust in His Son Jesus Christ to finally know true peace when we meet him on our last day.

Looking out that window I asked of myself, that though we may fall to great depths in the valley of our lives, how could we ever doubt verse 32 in today’s gospel that “it is God the father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”.

Looking out that window all I could see was youthful happiness, yet I felt sadness for what may come. A moment of clarity seeing Jesus on that same walk to his own death and now with us on our walk. Jesus having felt the pain for himself and now relieving it through us and I asked myself, how we can ever, ever doubt that we are saved only in faith in Christ alone and not of ourselves.

Looking out that window I saw the children, the Vietnam veteran and myself, and though I or you may fall on our walk through the valley, we can fear no evil, for it is his good pleasure that he walks with us with goodness and mercy on our way home when the last piece of the jigsaw be put in place and see that it is in the shape of a cross.

All three readings today are about trusting in God, both now and in His sure promise at the end, and in looking back over our journey we see that as Jesus journey did not end on the cross, but in his being raised so that he may walk with us.

Looking back to the cross we too see ourselves being raised on our last day, and if we look back on our lives so far, sometimes we have that moment of clarity and see it was him who led us this way instead of that way.

I have no idea why I’m up the front talking to you instead of the other way round and the only thing I can think is what my Vicar Father said to me “that God seems to make a habit of not picking people from the top shelf”. I have no idea why I’m here but looking back on how it would have only needed one outcome to be different from how things played out, and though being a poor excuse for a pastor, I can only assume this is what I’m meant to do.

If you look back over your lives you to will see a measure of Joy and happiness and a measure of hurt, pain and anger, some of which will still make no sense. But even before the last piece of the puzzle is placed on your last day, if you look closely enough you will see Christ in them with you. Urging you this way instead of that way. Guiding you, weeping with you when you weep and carrying you in need, that you be here today knowing that you are a loved and saved child of God the father.

In Romans Paul has told us that “the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory of that which will be revealed to us” on our last day. What a day it will be for when we meet again with those past, and what a day it will be for the Lord when he can finally give us the full measure of His kingdom.

That day will surely come like the silence after a storm and though today we know not all the answers, we are known by him. Though we may not always see him, we are seen by him for he has told us:

That “God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble”. As every word of God is pure and is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Because the Lord is faithful and keeps you from evil. For he most certainly restores your soul and leads you in the paths of righteousness, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.

All ye faithful rejoice, for in God we trust, for he most certainly rejoices in being faithful to us. Amen.

 

 

 

“Gifted to gift”

Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-11

For the past two weeks we have been talking about priorities. Firstly were Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened to him instead of busying herself with other good, but less important things. Then with prayer were God invites us to ask him for our needs, and though we may not receive things exactly as we ask, we will receive according to His desire to give us what is good for us and others in His will that we remain in, and others join us in His eternal kingdom.

Today we have the trifecta as Jesus brings up the topic of money and earthly possessions and as with how Jesus lessons to Martha and Mary and with how prayer played out, we see that earthly riches are not wrong in themselves but need to be kept in check as we are told to “Set our minds on things above, and not on earthly things”.

In 1978 Dr. Ron Sider wrote a much loved and sometimes despised book concerning the rich Christians, churches and governments of western nations and I suppose in summary you could say part of the book covered his view of the token effort in sacrificial giving to the poor and needy of the world. He made some very good points; as did a supporter of his book who went on to add this:

“Is it just Western Christians that are neglecting the poor today? No. I live in the Philippines which doesn’t have a very large percentage of Christians, but the population is probably 5 to 10 percent Christian. Even though these Christians live in the midst of poverty- it is my estimation that believers here are just as lackadaisical about caring for the poor as Western Christians are. This goes to show that the problem does not lie in wealth. Wealth is not evil. The problem lies in a lack of solid Bible teaching and a lack of compassion that comes from spiritual immaturity. Do you want to be a charitable Christian that models compassion and generosity? It won’t start with your checkbook, but it will start in your relationship with God that can only develop through the Word of God.”

It won’t start with your checkbook, but it will start in your relationship with God. Very perceptive because if we turn to the Bible we can see that many of God’s key people were in fact wealthy.

In Genesis Abraham was said to be “very rich in livestock, silver and gold”. Similar, Isaac we are told like his father “became a rich man and his wealth continued to grow”, and in 2nd Chronicles we are told that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah was a good king who did not worship the images of Baal and obeyed the commands of the Lord. And that the Lord blessed him and all the people loved and respected him so much that they brought him gifts. In fact they gave him so much that he became very rich.

Very rich people, yet God’s people just like the many, many of God’s people in the scriptures of very meagre earthly wealth. As that person I quoted eluded to: the poor can idol worship possessions as much as the wealthiest person and the wealthiest person can worship God as much as the poorest as best said from 1st Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Note it’s not as many misquote as simply money being the problem, but the love of money that leads to what comes next in the verse: “(for) some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s”.

There’s the issue. Forget just money and possessions but add in status, a good reputation, sport, addictions and whatever else that gets you through the night-if it takes your eyes of Christ or gets in the way of your relationship with God it has become your idol and that’s the danger for as George Lorimer a well-known publicist wrote: “It’s good to have money and the things money can buy. (But) it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven’t lost the things money can’t buy”.

Well said, but understated as in living in our society of we, myself, I and its consumerism we must not just occasionally, but be diligent and vigilant in ensuring that our gifts and possessions don’t come to possess us rather than the giver and bringers of all things good: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Rich or poor, CEO or bottom of the rung and whether we do this or that is not the issue as it comes back to our relationship with God and His word, and that can look differently through different people.

Near being ordained my vicar father asked me if I would be wearing a clerical collar in ministry. After I said, and naively in a way that I wouldn’t be because of connotations of status he went on to say that he didn’t think I would but then added: “When I left the Sem. I didn’t wear one because of the same rationale as you. But my friend did occasionally and in later years he said that he always wore it because over that time after having been abused and spat on when he wore it publicly-he saw it as a lack of courage and trust in the Lord should he relinquish its use”.

Two different perceptions, but neither right nor wrong because both done not for themselves but in their personal relationship with God.

Our relationship with God that Paul talks of in today’s epistle where he says to “Set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on earth”. Here Paul is not despising the things of the earth but emphasising that this fallen world should not be our focus in our relationship with God through Christ. Verse 4: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. That eternal life which we now possess through baptism will be fully experienced in heaven and that through Christ we are participants in God’s glory no wonder Paul exhorts us to put off our old self of sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire and covertness, which is idolatry. And no wonder he says in the verse that follows todays reading to put on as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience and bearing with one another.

So how are you going with that? If you’re like me you may say not so well because this side of heaven we are and always will be works in progress. Yet when we came to faith, even if we didn’t know realise it, but because of his blood and the healing through his sacrifice our lives have been changed, as through His will Jesus has come to us that we might have a new better and fuller life. Because of Jesus substitution of his death for ours God brushes aside our old nature and recycles us into something usable and new in a way. No longer do we need to wonder in the dark-stumbling, groping and unsure because Jesus has brightened the path of our lives, and because of him we are restored. Our journey in Christ that is given imagery to in this story I read:

“A number of years ago the world watched three grey whales icebound off Alaska. They took turns coming up and grasping for breath at a small, lonely hole in the ice. The only way they could survive was to get to open sea five miles away. A seemingly impossible journey. But volunteers took chain saws and began cutting a line of breathing holes through the six inch ice and for eight days they encouraged the whales from one hole to the next. One of the whales died, but the other two lived when a Russian icebreaker arrived and finished opening a path to the sea.

Did the whales understand that when the chain saws started to rip into the ice that they were saved? When they heard the sound of the ice breakers propellers, did they know they would soon be free? Did they understand through it all that their rescuers had a master plan which would lead them to safety? We assume no to these questions and that all they could do through it all was to take one day at a time, going from one opening to the next, trusting that someone would help them”.

Great imagery of our journey with Christ, but even more so of his with us, as that is what it means to be alive in a living Lord. We cannot understand God’s plan, but as living Christians, renewed and empowered by the Spirit, we can trust him and we can follow him and the path that he gives us.

Six years ago I was giving a devotion at a school to some grade six students about serving God in our lives. And at the end, a boy who I had heard spoken of by a leading identity as an AFL football player of the future put up his hand and asked some questions. And it became apparent to me that he was thinking that to serve God he might “have to run off to the ministry” or something.

That was not what I meant so we talked of how he can serve God in his life, maybe even as an elite sportsperson should that come to fruition. And that this week I read that he is being tipped to go in the top ten, maybe as even as low as the first picked in next year’s draft, should he trust in and openly process to his faith in Christ while in the national spotlight what a great witness to God he will be. And should he be drafted to Port Adelaide Power, I know my work will have been done (only joking).

But one day the stadiums will be empty for him as they will be for us, and we will see that there is only Christ who remains, and as Rich, poor, CEO, elite footballer or not, as in today’s epistle we are to put of the old self and put on the new self for now “There is not Greek nor Jew, uncircumcised nor circumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free; but Christ is all, and in all”.

We are to put on as God’s chosen ones the virtues: of compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Yet these are not chores or ours to accomplish, but are gifts provided by God to live in our lives.

For in Christ alone through faith have we been saved, and saved in faith he has told us:

From 1st Peter 4:10 that “as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

And that from John 9:4, after the disciples asked Jesus whether the man before them with a physical impairment was caused by his sin were told, no “it was not that this man sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (and) We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; (for) night is coming when no one can work”.

On our journeys of sadness and our journeys of happiness, whether they be of much or of little earthly reward is of no consequence because we are all saved in Christ alone. All as one, yet all with different gifts from God, given to us not to accomplish for ourselves, but for him in the knowledge that through Christ we are participants in God’s glory here on this earth as we offer ourselves and our lives to him to use as he wishes. To keep our minds set on things that are above allows us not to serve the things of our world, but to serve his people. For as you are: rich or poor, CEO or not, God has given you the gift of Christ, and in your lives rich or poor, CEO or not, God has given you as a gift to the world, and to God be the glory. Amen.

 

 

Luke 11:1-13

When last Christmas I gave Cathy a handbag made by the designer label Guess, it reminded me of a quote attributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger who mentioned that “I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt with Guess on it. So I said (asking quizzingly) thyroid problem?”

A stumbling block in prayer life can be that we know that God the Father doesn’t need to guess how we feel or what we need because he already knows it, and in using the words of Martin Luther “I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide” we may agree and add, so why pray?

Likewise, have you ever wondered how unusual it was that in the Garden of Eden with its grand population of two, that after their fall to sin and while hiding among the trees that the all-powerful and all-knowing God the Fathers actions as recorded in Genesis 3:9 are: “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”.

A strange question asked by God and a logical question of prayer we may ask. A question from the all-knowing and a question from the un-knowing that are answered for us only in the revelation of Christ who has taken us from hiding in the bushes alongside Adam in sin, to standing before the Father in his righteousness. The revelation of Christ that has torn the curtain of the temple in two that now we talk to the Father not through fellow sinners, but through Christ himself.

To deny or doubt prayer is to doubt the Holy Scriptures and the redemptive powers of Christ himself. His redemptive powers born to us through his cross and resurrection that we be baptised into his family and have access to the Father himself who Jesus has told us today will hear our prayers and that they will not be in vain.

Access to the Father. Whether under a gum tree in central Australia or in a Cathedral in Rome. Whether on death row about to receive worldly justice or the Bishop holding court to the audience of a thousand, prayers are said and prayers are heard by the Lord himself. Through Christ’s atoning work on the cross he has fixed the fracture between sinners and God that we now have the privilege to complain, to beg, to ask and to thank the Lord himself as though he stands before in His compassionate, knowing and loving presence and with His welcoming hands out asking we draw near. Prayer is a great privilege and when in prayer we are souring in rare air indeed.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

The Words of our Lord and Saviour himself and under the premise that we either believe him fully or not at all-his words here on prayer must be so.

So what of seemingly unanswered prayer?

I believe the answer was supplied to me from one of our own here today who commented that the Lords response to prayer is either yes, or yes but not yet, or no-because I have something much better in mind.

No because I have something better in mind. Wise words because could it be that the problem may not be us asking for an egg and getting a scorpion, but that unknowingly we are actuallyasking for the scorpion in the first place.

Is it wrong to ask for this and that? I don’t think so. I don’t think God will take offence that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a new shiny red Lotus that goes zero to one hundred in 4.6 seconds with a top speed of 233 KM per hour. Would he mind if I had one, probably not but he might mind that should I get one, more than likely my last few demerit points might vanish along with my ability to travel in a parish that calls for travel.

As with Martha and Mary last week, prayer is about priorities-the Lord’s priorities that through the struggle of seemingly unanswered prayer become our own like seen by Paul that though his repeated prayer that the “thorn in his side may be taken away” was declined, was given so much more in hearing the confirming words of the Saviour that “My grace is sufficient for thee”. For as Christ prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane that the cup of the cross might pass from him if it were his Father’s will, the cross became his lot and his glorious resurrection turned it all into the greatest of triumphs. So too today may a Christian have such a huge problem that they may keep knocking in prayer on God’s door until their knuckles are raw knowing that he will answer in his time and in his incomparable way, and far from asking for an egg and getting a scorpion, and though we may unknowingly ask for a scorpion, He will provide the egg all the same for we know that if God is for us, then who can succeed against us as neither hardship or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword, nor death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A hymn says it well, that: “Although we tarry long, He never comes too late” and Martin Luther, a man of deep prayer testified that:

“All who call upon God earnestly and in true faith will surely be heard and receive according to their petition; though perhaps not at the very hour and time, nor in the measure of their petition, nor exactly what they pray for, yet they will receive something much better, greater, and more glorious.”

Yes, God loves us too much to give us everything at the snap of our fingers because great character grows out of great wrestling in prayer, as we persistently and sometimes agonisingly shape our prayers towards His will.

In Genesis Abraham struggled with God in repeated requests that the city of Sodom might be spared from destruction and Jacob even with an angel of God. Tough times but in their struggles both Abraham and Jacob came to know God better and this is the supreme answer to prayer-fellowship with God.

Yet ironically, the by-product of prayer is greater than his answer to our petition as ultimately that closer life with God minimises the problem, as in His peace and strength we can handle it more with and under His grace.

So Lord, you can still throw that my red Lotus my way if you wish, but if not I’ll go with it for like the thief on the cross, I see that worldly things as such are of no consequence. That like the thief on the cross we see that the miracle is not that you forgive us of our sins, but the miracle that we came to ask you for what you so wanted to give.

Recently I saw a “Far side” carton in the paper that tickled my fancy where a horse is sitting in a chair with his mouth wide open, and the dentist while looking the other way says “before we start, I firstly need to know if you’re a gift horse”.

God, seem through Him giving us his one and only Son, gives us no such need to doubt is Words.

So Lord, though your ways can confuse us we know that your gifts are free, eternal and that you hold steadfast to them. You have told us, that “when we pray and ask for something, that we are to believe that we have received it, and in that-we will be given for whatever we ask”. So we bring before you now in silent prayer those things on our hearts and minds trusting boldly, that whether it be in our time or your time, or should you answer in the ways of our fractured wisdom or your perfect wisdom- we know that it shall be done for us according to your good and perfect will. Let us pray.

Personal prayer

Amen. It is so.

 

“Retail Christianity”

Luke 10: 38-42

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” One sentence of 21 words that defines the love of God the Father and the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A string of words that once understood, describe the most wonderful truth that any person on this earth will ever hear. The glorious truth of Christ being raised from the dead, that we too will be raised on our last day. The truth that when it comes is like a glorious sunrise. A new day and a new start.

Yet the majesty of that morning comes at a price. The price that the Father and Jesus suffered in the darkness of our sins as Jesus was ridiculed, beaten and hung on the cross, that the Son may rise for us. And the price, hurt and agony of the lostness in our lives that we had to feel and suffer to see the truth of our Saviour and understand those words of John 3:16 for ourselves.

The words and truth of the Gospel in a nutshell that we’ve somehow come to understand-and as we should, we thank the Lord in worship and in our lives in response to what he has done for us. The Gospel we know, and the Gospel we come to further understand from today’s account of Jesus meeting with Martha and Mary. A story that seems so simple that one may have wondered why it even gets a mention. Yet ironically I would suggest a story that maybe as much a challenge to us and the Churches as maybe any in the bible. A story of hearing him first without first screening his words with our own prejudices or what we think needs to be done.

Jesus the Lord himself and others visit the household of Martha, Mary and Lazarus-and all I see is Martha busy preparing meals of thanks and Mary doing nothing. For me, I once saw Martha’s response as right and Mary’s as not so, and yet who does Jesus see as acting the most appropriate-Mary. And in that, we see the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Gospel that asks nothing other than we listen to him and hear him alone and know the truth, and to trust in it. The Gospel that is so foreign to the humanity of Christians and Churches of all denominations that it makes us easy targets for the powers of darkness who wish to misconstrue the truth of Christ. To make us raise our arms in celebration and sing of our great faith and our love for him. Of how we will climb mountains for him. Of what we will do. Of we, we, we to make us believe that worship is all about thanking and serving the Lord instead of the main truth, that it’s about coming to receive his gifts: of hearing His sacred Word, Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the alter.

The story of Martha and Mary is a story about getting things in the right order in our lives and a story about getting things right about Christ, and both those things are explained clearly to us in last week’s Gospel where Jesus appointed the seventy-two workers to go into the community in outreach and upon returning they are full of joy saying ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name’. And Jesus response, (yes), I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven”.

Similar Paul says “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’”. Getting things in the right order is Christ first, during and at the end of our lives. We know that and the Churches know that, because that is the Gospel of the Lord that we read in the bible, the Word of God. Saved in the faith which we played no part in gaining, saved in faith in Jesus Christ alone is the Launchpad for everything we do in our lives and that’s why we must hear it over and over. Like Mary we must sit at the feet of Christ before we busy ourselves, because without Christ as our only compass we will get lost amongst the distractions of the world in which Daniel talks of in “the last days”: “For many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”. This knowledge is not God Knowledge, but worldly knowledge and worldly learning. It is knowledge that is not based on the Word and wisdom of God but on our words and wisdoms.

Our words and wisdoms that not only are no help in knowing God’s will, but more than likely will lead us away from His will. Look at us today and what we can do in space travel and medicine. These things are amazing and the brain matter to bring these into play is a gift from God. We’ve been given the ability by God to be able to cure and extend peoples worldly lives in ways that were not long ago unfathomable, yet the world seems to be advocating that it’s also right and good if we choose these gifts to enable responsible death. It wasn’t long ago we looked on in wonder as we made it to the moon. But now there are “war” satellites and the cry of finding another planet to rape and pillage for its resources or even habitat instead of simply following God’s ways and living within our means here.

We live in a world where we take responsibility and boast of our triumphs yet blame or sue someone else for our failures. In living in God’s world and listening to ourselves and not him we see that we are still living in the Garden with the fallen Adam and Eve and with the builders constructing the tower of Babylon. We of the world are drug addicts intoxicated with me, myself I and unless we acknowledge our illness and turn back towards God and listen to Him we will continue to run to and fro looking for that unobtainable fulfilment in possessions, self-righteousness through works and retail Christianity. To turn back to God and sit at His feet alongside Mary and hear His Word and not ours or the worlds. To serve the creator and not the created is not part of the remedy to our addiction, it’s the only and full remedy for like a women can’t be half pregnant nor a person be half alcoholic-a person cannot half trust God.

We the Church live in the world under God’s word and not that of our own. We are either not saved in Christ alone or we are. God’s ways are either all wrong or all correct and we either fully trust him or we don’t, and unbelievably, our all-powerful God gives us the option to deny him. To deny him and believe we can partly save ourselves. To deny Him and only take those of His words that society and we want to hear into our lives is to suffer in this world by having to “win”, to live running anxiously to and fro. looking for answers but finding none that last, living with regrets and unanswered pain, and living with that emptiness that our ways cannot fill. Or we can heed His Word and His way of our salvation in faith in Jesus Christ alone. His Word and His way that allows us to respond to the world in our daily lives as those who rejoice that their names have been written in heaven. To rejoice in not having to do things for our Lord, but boast in Him when we do. To rejoice that given forgiveness,we can forgive others, and boast in him when we do. To rejoice that we can truly live each day under his grace, and boast in him when we do. To rejoice when like Mary we see his ways are the only ways and not those of the world. To rejoice when we see the need to sit at his feet alone. And to boast of him, when he alone teaches us how to stand. Amen.

 

“Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave”

Luke 10: 25-37

For some reason on Wednesday morning I woke up thinking how odd and different it is in today’s society that we still call washing machines, washing machines (or at least I still do). Sought of like if we had stuck with calling aeroplanes “flying machines” like the wright brothers back in 1903. Or instead of being the world champion boxer, maybe the world champion puncher.

Some times it’s good to just strip things back to core truths just as Jesus does in his dialogue with the lawyer in the story of the Good Samaritan. The lawyer who is well versed in the law of God yet he feels the need to justify himself as in his heart of hearts he seems to realise the impossibility of fulfilling the commandments that he has just cited, of: “Loving the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself”. So he seeks to limit God’s uncompromising demands diverting the discussion by asking “who is my neighbour”. A question designed to lead to argument about who is and who isn’t and criteria to be established and guidelines written. A ploy like we hear so often today to take the focus away from what we should do, to why we won’t do it.

Jesus will have no part of it and uses the Good Samaritan story to turn the question around and makes no attempt to decide whether the victim was properly a geographical neighbour. Rather he asks the lawyer which of the three men was neighbour to the beaten and robbed traveller to expose what the true meaning of love thy neighbour is-that the issue at hand is neighbourly love rather than the identification of who are the neighbours.

Neighbourly love that for us is basically actions and not necessarily based on our feelings. Yes the Good Samaritan is said to have felt compassion for the wounded traveller and acted with kindness and mercy. The kindness and mercy that for all we know the two that passed may have felt but did not act on-be it that they were late and were rushing to get to the synagogue where they were expected to play a part of, or that, and understandably they looked the other way in fear wondering if the robbers were still around in this notably dangerous road well known for travellers being ambushed. And seen through those eyes it’s hard to throw stones at the two that passed by when we think of the times we have all felt the same fear in our own cars when passing a hitch hiker as night is about to fall upon them. Never mind that if we link it up even closer to the Good Samaritan story, that the hurt man is a Jew, this would be like now in our time, an Israelite putting it all on the line for an Arab, or vice versa, on a dangerous section of the border between their two countries.

As always, upon a first reading it’s easy to have a crack at the Pharisees and the like in Jesus parables and stories, until we put his words into our own lives and see our own greed, selfishness and lack of courage. Never mind that Jesus has told us to act in love like the good Samaritan to our enemies and to those we find hard too like.

So what price do place on our Christian integrity? Is it fear of persecution and retribution or unfortunately, even much, much less.

Walking home with a friend of mine at about 1 am in a large regional town after a birthday party I noticed a young man trying to push his broken down car from the middle of an intersection and after my urging my friend helped me start to push the car out the way. And push and make progress we did, until I heard the guy we were helping, for some reason start abusing us. So that was it, stuff you I thought, stopped pushing, grabbed my friend and walked around to the front of his car and pushed it back to where we’d started from.

Fortunately this was before my saintly ways of today (joking).

Would I do that again? I would certainly hope not but the point is that if we act on how we see fairness or what someone’s “just deserts” are instead of how Christ sees things, even if trying to do the right thing our “stuff” ultimately gets in the way.

So which of the characters are you in the story. The one’s that walked the other way or the Good Samaritan that really did put it all on the line. That you are neither may surprise. Yes we are all probably a bit of both at times-but the one we were and are is the wounded traveller.

There we lie, ambushed by our own and others sin bleeding in the gutter unable to help ourselves. Nowhere to go and on the verb of our death Christ came and lifted us up. Carries us before His Father and asks that we be restored at the price of his own life.

The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of Christ. Christ who didn’t act according to his own consequences but according to ours-that only in his actions can we be saved.

A man asked Jesus a question regarding his understanding of the ways of God and of salvation and was told of the ways of Christ. The ways of Christ that once understood allowed Jesus to say “you go and do likewise”.

The question of God, ourselves and others, that should in our confusion we too are led to ask of, he answers with a clarity that cannot be misunderstood or manipulated:

Romans Chapter 10, beginning verse 9: “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 ‘Éveryone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew or 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’”.

Though undeserved, the Lord has come to us and provided for us physically and spiritually. Come and lifted us up in body and soul that we have the faith to call on his name and be saved.

Pray that we to have heard his call to “go and do likewise”. To see our neighbours without distinction, and “to love them as he has loved us”, that they too will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Amen.

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Ian Molly Meldrum remarked that when he met Elvis Presley, his presence in the room was overwhelming and you could feel “that thing” or “that feeling” that you cannot describe, and I’ve read of similar reports from people meeting Bill Clinton.

Yet on several occasions I’ve heard a well-respected sports writer and commentator note that often when meeting notable athletes for the first time, that he initially felt let down by their normalness, or even seemingly inadequacies. Supermen and women in their fields of brilliance, yet out of them were no different from the rest of us.

Be it initially being inspired or let down when meeting people, ultimately we are either confronted or comforted by their normalness. Like we as Christians are confronted by our all-powerful God the Father and his law. Yet comforted by His normalness. His self-imposed normalness seen through Jesus Christ who purposely goes beneath himself, belittles himself to walk and talk with us. To walk amongst sinners. To walk amongst the flawed. To walk amongst the unintended normalness of our sin to bring us his gospel.

When Jesus came on the scene his ways and teachings made no sense to most of those of the day waiting for a warrior type of saviour. Just as today his simple and unpretentious ways are so difficult to understand that many have sought refuge in the seemingly more spectacular. Crystals, contacting spirits, public healings or the necessity of speaking in tongues and so forth. Things seemingly spectacular yet flawed. Things seemingly bringing meaning to those searching, yet just adding to the uncertainty. Things bought into to find peace, yet just bringing empty noise and confusion.

Confusion because they are our ways and not those of the Lord. Our ways that would see us earn our salvation through good works and self-righteousness. Or our ways that would see us beyond salvation through our sin, wrong ways and wasted lives. Two views at opposite ends of the spectrum yet that both join together in their errors and foolishness of how we would do it, or think it should be up and against the truth of Jesus Christ and what he has done.

His truth and peace which Philippians 4:7 tells us “is beyond our human understanding”.

His truths and peace which come differently to how we may imagine, yet come all the same like seen through Naaman’s experience in the reading from 2nd Kings.

Naaman was a national hero, the commander of a successful army. As a fighting man he was admired for his strength and power, and feared by his opponents. But he had been laid low by the skin disease leprosy. Naaman is now a picture of pity. He’ll try anything to get better, but every known cure he tries fails. What a blow to such a mighty man. He is now weak and helpless.

In contrast there is a slave girl who was captured in a war raid on Israel. She works as a maid for Naaman’s wife. This unknown slave from Israel shares her faith in God’s power. She announces that her God could heal Naaman through the prophet Elisha, who lived in her home land of Samaria. It is the simple faith and witness of this girl that changes everything that follows.

Naaman’s wife tells her husband about Elisha the prophet. Naaman is so desperate to be cured he tells the King about this foreign prophet who lives in the land of their enemies. The King sends Naaman off to the King of Israel, loaded with treasures. It shows us the value the King placed on Naaman. The King was rich and would give any amount of gold to have Naaman strong and healthy again. The future of his kingdom depends on Naaman leading the army.

Naaman passes on a letter from his own king to the King of Israel, an old enemy! It read, “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” When he reads the letter the King gets upset. He smells treachery and fear some sort of trap. We read in verse 7:

‘When the King of Israel read it, he tore his clothes in dismay and said: “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can kill or give life? He is only trying to find an excuse to invade us again.”’

Here is a king who knows his limitations and doesn’t like to pretend he is a god, in an age when many kings claimed to be gods. ‘Am I God, that I can kill and give life?’ he asks. Kings had great power. Kings could sentence a person to death. It was accepted as part of the power of a ruler. But only God could give life to a person condemned to die by contracting an incurable disease.

This King can see himself being set up for something treacherous. How delighted and thrilled he must have been to receive a letter from Elisha, the prophet, with the offer to take on the job himself! Elisha writes: ‘Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.’ Elisha will save the nation’s pride! Then we read, ‘So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited outside the door of Elisha’s house.’

This foreign commander, a great hero in his day, waits to see what the great prophet of God can do! And Naaman is ready to pay a fortune to experience it. Something great is about to happen. He will see God at work.

Elisha sends out a mere servant with a message telling Naaman what to do: just a servant and not Elisha the great prophet himself! We read in verse 10:

‘But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of leprosy.”’

It is like arranging an appointment to see the top specialist in Australia, and when one gets there the specialist doesn’t even come out to see you, but sends a mere messenger out to tell you to go and wash in a river seven times. Naaman is furious. He is deeply disappointed and feels insulted. Naaman feels he has come all this way for nothing, except to being insulted by Elisha sending out a messenger, when he expected to see God’s awesome power at work in a great prophet.

‘So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.’

Thankfully some officers talk some sense into him and suggest, ‘Sir, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured.’

Verse 14 simply says, ‘So Naaman went down to the Rive Jordan and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his flesh became as healthy as a young child’s, and he was healed.’and Naaman goes back to his home country and worships the living God there.

The Lord might have come differently to how Naaman imagined and “beyond his human understanding”, but he did come and it is a great story to open our eyes to see that even though we may look for peace and salvation in this or that or over there, he still comes to us today in Word and Sacrament to heal us of our affliction of sin by taking the wages of our sin on himself. To be raised on a cross in our sin, that we be resurrected with him in his Holy righteousness. A great story to see how God can work in our lives but an even better story of the Gospel. Naaman, a powerful and respected man yet from the wrong side of the tracks from God’s people the Israelites. Yet through a slave girl that whether directly or indirectly he was responsible for incarcerating tells him of the Lord and with nowhere else to go and with no other options gives it a crack. Through my eyes, hardly the resume of someone deserving the Lord, but thankfully for all the Naamans of this world, for me and you-the Lord sees things differently to how we may.

At the beginning of this message I spoke of people with great gifts, yet underneath it inadequate and failed. Seemingly conflicted but in reality just normal people like you and me. Normal people like you and me condemned by the law of God, yet acquitted by His Gospel in Jesus Christ who came and continues to come amongst that confliction to bring the peace of God that surpasses our understanding.

The confliction of the truth we know of ourselves against the truth of Christ in our lives is our daily walk. A walk that Johnny Cash knew well. A man that broke most of the rules. Yet a man that when at his lowest came to know a loving and forgiving Christ through his suffering friend and wife to be June Carter.

A man brought the truth of God through Christ, yet shown to him through the unspectacular and to a lesser or greater extent that is also our walk. A walk written off by Johnny’s good friend Waylon Jennings:

“I’ve spent a lifetime looking for you

Single bars and good time lovers, never true

Playing a fools game, hoping to win

Telling those sweet lies and losing again.

I was looking for love in all the wrong places

Looking for love in too many faces

Searching your eyes, looking for traces

Of what.. I’m dreaming of…

Hoping’ to find a friend and a lover

God bless the day I discover

Another heart, looking’ for love

When I was alone then, no love in sight

And I did everything I could to get me through the night

Don’t know where it started or where it might end

I turn to a stranger, just like a friend

You came a ‘knocking at my heart’s door..

You’re everything I’ve been looking for..

Now that I found a friend and a lover

God bless the day I discover(ed)

You, you, looking’ for love”.

And there we see the truth. We may look for peace on the mountain top or through the bottom of a glass. We may look for meaning in what we do or in the earthly treasures we can accumulate and we may even look for salvation in our actions and our steadfastness to our Saviour. Yet while “we were looking for love in all the wrong places”, you came amongst them looking for us, and God bless the day we heard you say to us:

“In all your affliction I was afflicted. In my love and in my pity I have redeemed you…and carried you all the days of the past. I the Lord hold your right hand saying do not fear for I help you. So be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid for I the Lord your God go with you and I will not fail you nor forsake you. I have given you a measure of faith, and your faith should not stand in the wisdom of yourself, but in the power of God. For I did not come to condemn you but to save you and whoever calls upon me shall be saved.”

May the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

 

Text: Luke 9:57-57

As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.” He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But that man said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.” Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” Someone else said, “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.” Jesus said to him, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”

At the crossroads.

I have read that an athlete has a training schedule of 20 hours a week in the pool and 3 hours a week in the gymnasium. That is his minimum amount of training per week. For one to have any chance against the world’s best one needs to have one focus, to make sacrifices, record there priorities and be single-minded, determined and committed to being the best in the world. Without that determination and perseverance they would soon tire of the routine and there ability to be the best would soon fade.

This is the extent to which people are prepared to go in pursuit of the glory of winning a contest of human strength and agility. It’s tough trying to be the best in the world – but if you want an Olympic medal then that’s the way it has to be.

Today gospel reading is also tough. In a nutshell Jesus is saying that if you want to be a disciple, if you want to respond to Jesus call to “follow” then be ready for some tough decisions and demanding actions.

A man comes up to Jesus and says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” That’s quite a promise. No matter where Jesus went he was prepared to be there right beside him. The answer that Jesus gave must have flawed not only the enthusiastic man but also those who had been quite impressed with this man eagerness to be a follower. Jesus throws a wet blanket on the enthusiasm of that first would-be disciple when he says: “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.” And that is right, we never hear of Jesus being “at home” during his ministry, or “going home” after a heavy day of miracles and teaching. He is always on the move, helping people in their needs, finding little rest, going from this place to the next.

Jesus tells the man who is dead keen on following Jesus that being a disciple is more important than personal security and comfort. It is true a basic human need is having a place to live – a place where we find support from those we love, where we find refuge and help, a place of security and safety where we can rest and relax and be ourselves. Jesus isn’t denying the fact that we all need a place to call home. He is pointing out that being a follower is not comfortable and easy. In fact, if we find discipleship cosy and easy then there is sure to be something wrong with our commitment and obedience. A part of the difficulty in following Jesus is this – there is nothing more important than following..

When Peter, James and John left the security of their jobs as fishermen and the comfort of their homes to follow Jesus, they risked everything to follow him,they took him at his word,they took the leap of faith and trusted Jesus to care for them as they followed him. Later they committed themselves to Jesus and went throughout the world preaching the good news of forgiveness, spending a good deal of time not in warm homes but in dark and damp dungeons. At the time Jesus called them, they had no idea of what was ahead of them. Their future, their security and their home was in the hands of the one who called them.

Like the athlete, the disciple must be ready to make personal sacrifices. It may mean giving up what we regard as comfortable and cosy in our lives or in the church in order to show the love of Christ and to proclaim the kingdom of God. To carry out the work of Christ, we are most likely to be challenged to do something that we have never done before,help people we have never considered helping in the past, tell about the love of Jesus to people whom we have always been afraid to tell, talk to someone even though we don’t have a clue who they are or what we will talk about, risk our reputation by sticking up for what is right or befriending someone whom everyone else think is a loser.The call to follow Jesus means take a risk, to step out boldly for the sake of the love of Jesus.

The second would-be disciple responds to the call of Jesus with: “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.” This request seems reasonable enough. This man has a sense of human responsibility. And not only that, he knows what the law requires of him – he is to care for his aging father and to see that he is given a proper funeral. Even the high priest was allowed to interrupt his duties to carry out his duties to his family.

Again Jesus is saying that to follow him is the most important priority that we have. The world’s athletes right now are focussed on only one thing – that is winning a medal – preferably a gold medal. Jesus told this would-be disciple “Let those who have no interest in following me bury the dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” Jesus is telling this person that nothing on earth, no matter how sacred, must be allowed to stand between him and the person he calls to follow. Don’t put off following Jesus, being obedient to his call to serve him until another day. Don’t we use excuses like
“I’ll do more when I’m retired and have more time”,

“when the kids are off my hands”,

“when things slow down at work”,

“when I have a bit more spare time”,

“when we’ve paid off the house”.

Jesus is calling us now to obedience. Who knows, there may not be a tomorrow for us. He’s calling us to do the work he has given us as the church and members of the church right now. Discipleship is a matter of getting your priorities right.
There is no place for conflicting loyalties when we travel with Christ! This is what Jesus told the third would-be disciple who said: “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say goodbye to my family.” This third would-be disciple is making terms – “I will follow, but first….”

It’s a bit like Ian Thorpe saying to his coach, “Yes, I’ll be there at practice but let me first eat these 6 cream buns and the delicious chocolate cake that my mum made for me. Then I have a TV appearance to make and then model my designer swimwear. But be sure I am coming.” I’m sure his coach would not be impressed by this kind of commitment.
Jesus isn’t interested in half-hearted or undecided or conditional discipleship. Jesus is only interested in an unconditional acceptance of his call. It’s important to see that Jesus isn’t saying that we should neglect our families, spouses, or work and use our devotion to church activities as a substitute for being at home with our families. What Jesus is implying is that when you follow me as first priority then you will be a better father, mother, grandparent, son or daughter, or employee.

Ian Thorpe must have given priority to his training and follow his coach’s instructions with dedication and perseverance if he wants to win gold medals. But even more important than winning gold medals is the call to follow Jesus. When we are called to “follow” then we must be careful of our priorities.

It’s worth noting that the true conflict we face when called to follow Jesus is not a conflict between what we love and what we ought to hate. Rather the conflict that arises is between what we love. Giving priority to those things we love over against what we hate – that’s easy. What is tough about following Jesus is giving Jesus priority over the things and people we love.

When thinking about our discipleship and reordering our priorities, putting first things first, it is tempting for us to draw up a list of priorities with discipleship being the most important among a whole lot of other important priorities. But that is not what Jesus is saying here at all. The call to follow Jesus is the priority over all other priorities.

When discipleship is the only priority, when it is the only and the most important thing in our lives, then all the other things will fall into their right places. It is wonderfully true, that when we make the radical leap of faith and commit ourselves to a life of following Jesus, and I really mean, responding to his single-minded and unswerving love for us with a discipleship that is single minded and unswerving, then all the other important things in our lives find their right places.

At this point I wonder if you feel the same as I do when talking about this whole matter of following Jesus and giving that our first priority.

Do you get an uncomfortable feeling when Jesus is so straight to the point, so blunt, and talks about total and complete unconditional loyalty to him?

Do you squirm a bit when you hear Jesus talking about following because the question that inevitably follows is–

“how well have I followed Jesus?”

I have heard his call, what has been my response?

How often have I offered all kinds of excuses, rather than obediently following my master when he calls “follow me”?

Our sinful nature gets in the way of truly following Jesus with all our heart, soul and mind. It is just for those times when we get our priorities all mixed up and upside down that Jesus died on the cross. Daily we need to go to Jesus in repentance and own up to our failure when we offer so many excuses and put the most important things last. Daily we need to experience the cleansing that Jesus gives through forgiveness and reconciliation. Daily we need a fresh realisation of the never-ending love that Jesus has for us.

And as we are forgiven we are again called to “follow him” and offer the commitment and dedication that comes as a response to all that Jesus has done for us.

If an athlete can make personal sacrifices, reorder his priorities, and commit himself completely to winning a medal at the Olympics, then surely we can do the same as we run for a much greater prize – eternal life.

May we respond to his calling with confidence because of his faithfulness to help us in the tasks he calls us to carry out whether they be big or small, spectacular or mundane. He can use us in all kinds of ways to call others to follow Jesus. He has given his Spirit to work in and through those who answer his call to follow.

© Pastor Vince Gerhardy