Epiphany 5
Matthew 5:13-20

Whenever we wish to stress someone’s solid worth and usefulness, we may say of him or her that they’re “the salt of the earth”. I’ve never heard anyone called “the light of the world”, but that’s what Jesus says about everyone who belongs to him and follows him. We are, in fact, “the hope of the world”. That’s how great we are because we belong to the greatest King. We walk through the world as visitors. What a gracious greatness Christ Jesus gives us. To be called “the light of the world” is no mean title. It shows how much our Lord values us and counts on us.

We are amazed that he should exalt us so. And because he exalts us so, there can be no room for any Christian to have an inferiority complex. We are instead filled with immense gratitude and an eager desire to get on with the work our Lord calls us to do. Jesus says this about us to fill us with courage and confidence, because we believe that what we do for him will have results and be effective for all eternity. What a tremendous encouragement it is to know that the good works we do will have an impact on the world, so that the world will have to reckon with us.

Let’s look at what it means that we are “the salt of the earth”. The ancient world felt that there was nothing more useful than salt and light. Salt was seen as indispensable. A bag of salt was reckoned to be as precious as a person’s life. They believed that without salt, human life could not be sustained. The term “salt” is used for that which is permanent, that which lasts, and also to describe a person’s worth and wisdom.  Salt, however, is only of use if it gets out of the salt shaker and loses itself in the soup. Salt gives zest to food, making tasty that which tasted flat and stale.

A pinch of salt is effective out of all proportion to its amount. It has been said that it only takes 5% of active Christians to have an impact on society. Salt’s power lies in being different from its environment. We transform the world by being different from it. Only those who are not like the world can transform it. We are the salt God rubs into the wounds of the world. In the context of verse 12, Jesus is saying, “You are those through whose persecution the earth will be seasoned, purified and preserved.” With such a high role assigned to us, there can be no room for complacency about our calling. Salt is concerned with self-sacrifice, not self-preservation. Our words are to have an impact on the social thinking of our world. As long as we preserve our distinctive character, we will make the world a more palatable place to live. People aren’t impressed by a character a little better than theirs, but by lives directed and inspired by motives and principles that are unmistakably different.

We posses something essential, something non-Christians don’t have, so that we change the tone of daily life. Like salt, we act as a leavening influence in our world. We long to do ordinary things extraordinarily well, so that non-Christians are led to ask, “You’re so different! What makes you tick?” To not laugh at a cruel joke can season the atmosphere of a group. A healing factor enters in when we forgive someone who is difficult to pardon, whose actions seem unpardonable. Those to whom Jesus said these words were ordinary people, just like most of us. Jesus saw people in terms of their potential, in terms of what they could still become. When a person is united to Christ, he or she is no longer an ordinary person. That person no longer feels useless or worthless. When Christ affirms us, we become strong enough to withstand anything, to “take on the world”!

To be called “the light of the world” would have to be the greatest compliment ever paid to us. We’re light of the whole world, not just the light of the Church. Salt works quietly and internally, but light works visibly and externally. Christians stay in the world, touching even its questionable activities, in order to transform them. We don’t remain aloof from society, where we cannot affect it, but we become immersed in its life. Those who have the mind of Christ bring about a pervasive sweetening of life and of all human relationships.

Light is certain to be noticed. Something built on a hill will be seen. Christian character is a positive force for good in the world. Light enters into the darkness to dispel gloom and bring illumination and enlightenment. The darkness can never overcome it. We shine with the radiance that comes from Christ’s presence in our hearts. The radiance of a bride comes from the love she bears in her heart. We are light of the world, both by what we are and by what we do. The word Jesus uses for “good” here means that this is winsome, beautiful and attractive. What we do must not only be good; it must also be attractive. There needs to be a certain winsomeness in Christian goodness. This happens when all we do is done for God’s glory rather than for our own self-promotion.

Light makes growth possible. As light reveals beauty, so, too, we radiate with the joy of our salvation. As light was the first creation of God, so too we are the first fruits of his creation, who seek to brighten up life wherever we are with our acts of practical helpfulness. We cannot therefore hide ourselves in privacy or obscurity under the pretext of modesty. We exert influence just by being in a situation in prayer and love. We can be of good cheer because Christ has overcome the world. To confess Christ is like letting a lion out of a cage. Where we stand up for Jesus, life is refreshed as with a cool evening breeze. The gifts of Jesus are not just for personal enjoyment. We receive them to pass them on to others. Our value and worth is affirmed as we give of ourselves to others. The greatest contribution we will make to the conversion of others will be through the kind of lives we lead. We are more valuable to Christ than we could ever imagine. The glory of belonging to him is infinitely great.

Jesus’ Church here on earth isn’t some insignificant, unimportant organisation. It isn’t just another ingredient in the world, but it is the decisive one, because it is the one organisation that exists also for the sake of its non-members. So, let what God has done for you shine forth. The light itself is more important than the lamp. We let our light shine in this world in gratitude that God so loved this world that He gave us His only Son.

To those who are tempted to feel inferior to the high and mighty of this world, Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” His Kingdom alone abides forever. You are the hope of the world. Hope sees the invisible, experiences the intangible and attempts the impossible. When everything looks hopeless, then hope becomes a virtue.

Dare to be different for Jesus’ sake. He’s counting on you. Go out into the world this week full of confidence and courage, sure of Christ’s blessing on all you do in his name. What a privilege it is to be “salt of the earth”, “light of the world” for your Lord.

Amen.

True happiness

Matthew 5: 3-10

No doubt, some of you have watched Survivor. This immensely popular TV real life game show is watched by millions of people around the world.

Imagine putting 16 people together from different backgrounds – trying to survive together and at the same time competing against one another for individual survival. After each round, the participants meet together to cast their votes to see who will be dismissed from the group. It can be for any number of reasons –
such as I think you’re not pulling your weight,
you cheated by having some kind of contraband,
or you are too old, too selfish, too uncooperative
or simply because I don’t like your face.

The ultimate goal is not to get voted out. And the way to survive is to make sure that there are people on your side – alliances are made – and broken – leaving behind a trail of betrayal and suspicion. This is real life played out in a game show. That’s perhaps the reason why Survivor has been so popular – it brings out the best and worst in people – more often the worst than the best. The winner is not the person who is kind and considerate, but who makes friends, uses them and then turns against them. The winner is not the person who is the better or the nicer but the one who is ruthless and hurtful, who has no feelings for the others.

One person who was asked about his view of the show nailed it on the head when he said, “It’s sorry that our society is this way, but the people who are conniving and back-stabbing are the ones who make it. Unlike the movies where the scriptwriter controls the plot and good triumphs over evil. In Survivor, no one controls the plot and how things eventually turn out. It is a sad commentary on the way the world is.”

As we think about what it means to be happy or blessed we might say —
Blessed are those who earn six figures.
Blessed are the famous.
Blessed are those who don’t have anything to worry about.
Blessed are the powerful.
Blessed are those who have the determination and ruthlessness to eliminate everything that hinders the fulfilment of their dreams.

Our view of happiness depends so much on our circumstances and environment. For a young woman true happiness might be to find the right man, to marry and have a family, only later to find herself thinking that true happiness would come if she could divorce her abusive husband.
For teenagers, true happiness is getting their first car, but its not too long before they realises that they would be truly happy if they could have a certain car that was sleeker and faster.

Happiness is a common desire. Yet, so few people seem to have true happiness that we put it in the same category as four-leaf clovers and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – the elusive, the unattainable, the impossible. Happiness is a goal that we all strive for, but when that goal is reached, we realise that there is always something else that would make us truly happy.

I’m sure you can think of things that you would like to see changed in your life so that you can be truly happy. So we go about suitably arranging – and re-arranging – our environment and circumstances – so that we will be happy. On this basis, people have assumed that, if they are unhappy, it is because of this wretched washing machine, this wretched heart, this wretched person I am living with… They believe that they will become happy by changing their lot in some way.

It becomes a never-ending quest. Happiness, we assume, must be fun and laughter and expressing our own personalities (“doing our own thing”) – free from suffering, sorrow and hardship. It’s no wonder that we can’t ever say that we have reached our goal – true happiness. There is nothing wrong with the desire to be happy, there is everything wrong with the way we often go seeking it.

And that’s exactly what Jesus is talking about today in the Sermon on the Mount when he talks about true happiness. He says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
(We would hardly regard ‘the poor in spirit’ as “happy” because they are aware of how much their sinfulness is out of control;
their faith often wavers;
they lack the spiritual resources to cope with the upsets in life and easily become depressed and miserable).

Blessed are those who mourn.
(They are the least likely to be called “happy” because they are upset by the injustices in our world;
they grieve for the starving, the homeless, refugees and those suffering wars;
they are distressed over their own stupidity and sinfulness;
they are sad because of what death has done).

Blessed are the humble,
(those whom world regards as the least likely to be “happy” because they are always busy doing things for others;
they are gentle in their dealings with others, refusing to do anything for their own personal gain at the expense of others;
they don’t push themselves forward and are satisfied helping others.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
(These people can hardly be called “happy” because of their deep sense of what is right; they are passionate about justice for the underdog and won’t rest until something is done.
They are unhappy about the treatment of refugees, unnecessary logging, the treatment of prisoners.
They are also those who are” unhappy” with their own lives and want to live more as God intended.)

Blessed are the persecuted. (Being persecuted can hardly be called a “happy” experience. Persecution is an unhappy event when you are suffering because you are a peacemaker, or because you have shown mercy and compassion on someone whom everyone else thinks doesn’t deserve it, or because you are pure in heart – you know what is the right thing to do but no one else sees it that way.)

Can you see that Jesus’ definition of what it means to be blessed doesn’t depend on us and what is happening around us? The “happy” sayings of Jesus – the Beatitudes – present us with a whole new idea of what it means to be happy. True happiness has to do with knowing God, belonging to God’s Kingdom, being a part of God’s family. You might say that this is hardly a popular view, especially when worldly happiness depends so much on money, a house, the right car, and being free from sickness, death and anything that upsets our “happiness”. But Jesus was one for making true statements. True happiness is to be found in God. The fact is that we don’t find happiness by seeking happiness. We find God, and discover a deep level of happiness.

Or perhaps it is better said that God finds us.
In the middle of all the difficulties we have living out our Christian faith in our daily lives;
when we are sad and upset;
when we are despondent and depressed;
when others reject us and ridicule us for our faith or for sticking up for what we believe is right;
when we are trying to show mercy and love or bring about peace and we are told to butt out;
God meets us, he strengthens us, he comforts, he helps us endure, he gives us the courage to move on.

A woman was the victim of abuse as a child. She understood what had happened – she didn’t like it – she had been angry but God had helped her through her anger and now she prayed for her father. She also helped her brother to come to terms with what had happened and to rebuild his relationship with his father. She had suffered a great deal and yet she would say that she was blessed. The inner and outer scars will always be there, but she was happy because God was with her. He had helped her though it all and now God was using her to be a peacemaker.

George Matheson was a great preacher and hymn writer who lost his sight at an early age. He thought of his blindness as his thorn in the flesh, as his personal cross. For several years, he prayed that his sight would be restored. Like most of us, I suppose, he believed that personal happiness would come to him only after the handicap was gone. But then, one day God sent him a new insight: The creative use of his handicap could actually become his personal means of achieving happiness!

So, Matheson went on to write: “My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn. I have thanked you for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I have never thought of the cross itself as a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross. Teach me the value of my thorn.”

George Matheson had found God’s kind of happiness – the kind of happiness that is not only a future hope, but also a reality in the here and now.

That’s the kind of happiness that enabled the apostle Paul to write to the Philippians from his gaol cell, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (4:4).

That’s the secret of true happiness!
You may be suffering a great deal from sickness;
you may be persecuted for doing what you consider the right thing;
you may be upset about your own sinfulness or the weakness of your faith;
you may even be upset by those who have failed to show love toward you;
whatever the case, you can still “happy” in the knowledge that you are one of God’s precious children, that he sent his Son to die for you, and that when all is said and done, there is a place for you in heaven where there will be no more unhappiness.

This is the kind of “blessedness” or “happiness” that no circumstance or person can take away from us.
Amen.

I will make you fishers of people.Sermon: 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.
Reading: Matthew 4:12-23

 

Jesus chose fishermen. Why? Any idea?

I don’t know, but as I have worked and meditated on this reading I have wondered if it was to make the point that it’s not what you know – your education or qualifications or abilities – that makes you an effective fisher of people, but who you know – in this case, the who being Jesus.

With this well known phrase from Matthew’s Gospel – “I will make you fishers of men” – we often grab first those distinctive words “fishers of men” as the key. But that is not the first thing Jesus calls these men to do. He says first of all, “Follow me”. It is through this following, this apprenticeship, that these men become fishers of people. They become Jesus’ disciples, his students.

And they do need to learn. Fishing requires patience and skill and commitment. Catching souls for Christ is like this too – we need to learn our skills and do our homework and build up our experience. We need to know Jesus and His Word and be able to express it. You can’t share what you don’t have yourself.

We all need to be students of the Bible. We need to grow in our relationship with Christ. These disciples after all had to spend three years with Jesus as their rabbi, their teacher. They needed to be taught and shown. They had to exercise the discipline of listening. They asked questions. Their values and ideas were challenged. And this is what Jesus calls us into as well.

Jesus says: I will make you. It has to do directly with what Jesus does with us – how he forms us as his fishermen.

But, you know, there’s another side to this too; a balancing truth. The fisherman has no ultimate control over the success of his fishing expedition. If you have ever fished much, you know that highly expert and experienced fishermen still can, and often do, come home with little to show for their efforts. The fisherman has to do his best, and then cast out his nets or bait his hook in faith – trusting to providence, not even knowing if the fish are there or if they are biting.

Fishers of people cast out their nets in faith too. Ultimately it will be Jesus who makes us fishers of people – in the sense also that it is he who brings the people to us, just as he brought the fish into Peter’s net in the story in Luke 5. It is Jesus who gives us the people and the right things to say and do to help them in their faith journey. It is Jesus who provides the catch.

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” These words apply not only to the disciples whom he calls here by the lakeside. It is clear from elsewhere in Scripture that these words also apply more broadly to all Jesus’ followers – pastors, lay people or whatever. These words apply to us, to you.

So are you fishing for people? This is where many of us feel that we fall down, or that we could never be involved in evangelism or outreach – the very mention of those words scares people to death.

Well, let me tell you something. Maybe you are fishing for souls without even realising it.

You don’t’ have to go door knocking or preaching in Flinders Street station. You may not have to even leave your home or go looking for the fish. They may be swimming right past your eyes already, and already you are reaching out to them.

I know many of our members witness to their children or their grandchildren, in a host of big and small ways. You are fishing for their souls.

Those of you who volunteer for the community meal are reaching out and serving in the name of Christ – those people who come know who we are, and why we do it. Our service to them is a living active statement of Christ’s love.

In Mary’s circle, the message of God’s grace in Christ is lived out and spoken about to all kinds of women from inside and outside the Knox church community.

Those of you who pray for others that they might come to faith or be renewed in their faith are fishers of souls.

And maybe there are some other untapped possibilities too – friendships where you can share your faith in small but powerful ways. I know a person who is a Christian today because when she was going through a really tough time somebody said to her at one point, “I am praying for you”. That was the hook.

It is interesting that the Christian who said those words was fishing in faith – they didn’t know what would happen, but they trusted in Jesus. And what does Jesus say? “I will make you fishers of people.” He will honour our faith in him, and do what he says, and send his Holy Spirit to work, even through us.

There are many ways and means and opportunities to fish for souls. And these words of Jesus remind us to make the most of them, to recognize that he has sent us with a purpose, on a mission – yes, each one of us individually and together as the church.

He calls us to continue being his students – learning, listening and growing in his truth and love – that we might get better at it. And these words assure us that it isn’t us who have to somehow save others. Jesus himself will provide the catch. “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
Amen.

Epiphany 2 – John 1:35-42 “Rock Solid – Solid Rock.
Stone and rock; rocks and stones – are they good or are they bad? Are they useful or are they a hindrance? What comes into your mind when you hear of stones and rocks?

Today we focus on the rock, because this is the name Jesus gave to Simon. The name Cephas and Peter are the Aramaic and Greek variants of the word — rock. Hence many times in the bible we hear about the disciple Simon Peter — Simon the Rock.

It’s unusual that we should focus on Simon Peter in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany concerns itself more with the revelation of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, as Jesus the Christ, Son of the Father from eternity. However, we hear in the Gospel, while Jesus is being named the Lamb of God, Rabbi, and the Messiah (or the Christ), he names Simon — Peter — the rock.

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:35-42)

So why does Jesus rename Simon — Peter. Why does he call this man — rock? And what is a rock anyway? Is a rock or a stone a good or bad thing?

Some might say rocks and stones are bad things, especially if one’s brother or sister or enemy is throwing stones or rocks at them. But then again, stones and rocks might be your best friend if you need to scare a ferocious animal.

If ascending a hill on foot or in a vehicle, stones and rocks can prove to be hazardous regardless of their size. Large rocks can make the climb impossible; small stone can act like marbles making the hill a slippery slope to scale. But once at the top if one slips back down, rocks and large stones, might be the very thing that stops the deathly descent to the bottom.

So if we see Simon Peter as the rock, designated by Jesus Christ, we might see him as a hazardous hindrance, or alternatively, a heavenly help. And in the bible Peter definitely fills the bill as both a help and a hazard in the ministry of the Gospel. So too stones and rocks prove to be objects causing one to stumble or fear, but also represent stability and strength as we hear God’s Word.

The bible is full of references to stones and rocks. In Genesis, Jacob used a stone as a crude pillow when he slept and saw the ladder descending from heaven at Bethel. Then in Revelation we hear of heaven in all its perfection, full of precious stones, such as jasper, sapphire, emerald, and topaz — to name a few.

In the Gospels we also hear of many different uses of stones. And Jesus makes many references to stones and rocks too. One that must be mentioned, because it sits with the Gospel reading, is from Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says again to Simon Peter, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

So what kind of rock was Peter? The church regards him as the leading Apostle; he is the foundation stone on which Christ places the church. Yet Peter acted more like a stone that crumbles and disintegrates under pressure. Perhaps he is more akin to what Jesus said in the parable of the sower, “A farmer went out to sow his seed… Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” (Matthew 13:3b, 5, 6)

And Jesus’ explanation follows, “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” (Matthew 13:20-21)

Jesus’ description of rocky ground goes a long way in giving us a picture of Peter the night the roster crowed three times. Peter is the disciple who confessed to his Christ that he would never fall away, but stumbled at the moment he was asked if he was an associate of Jesus.

So on what kind of foundation was Jesus to build his church? It must have looked pretty dismal with Peter weeping bitterly having just disowned his Lord, who was on death row. It seemed that all was lost, the crucifixion being the stumbling block, the tomb in the rock and the large stone over its entrance an impassable foolish end to Simon being the rock, and the man from Nazareth being the Saviour — let alone the Son of God.

But where failure and faithlessness seem to have won out, it’s precisely here where the victory of all victories exists — hidden.

Paul tells the church at Corinth, a church failing in the weaknesses of heresy, dissention, disorder, and sexual chaos, that God will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

Furthermore in Isaiah 49 we hear, “This is what the LORD says — the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel — to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:7)

So in Jesus Christ — in his weakness and death and in his resurrection and life — we find the true rock foundation of our faith and Peter’s faith too. Despite our weak and faithless nature, God’s faithfulness is real and victorious, through Christ at the Cross, and the Holy Spirit faithfully putting the cross and the Rock of our salvation back in front of us. And we see it by faith — trusting God’s faithfulness to us.

Therefore, Jesus tells us, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)

Added to this we know Jesus also said of himself, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes? He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:42, 44)

Peter is the rock on which Christ built the church. Incidentally the name Simon or Simeon is derived from a Hebrew word meaning to hear or announce. We know Simon Peter was the hearing rock and was the rock that announced what he had witnessed. But it’s only because of God’s faithfulness to Peter that allowed Peter to hear, be built up in Jesus’ blood and righteousness, and to proclaim God’s faithfulness in Christ Jesus.

This is also God’s will for us too. We like Peter, flounder and fight against faithlessness and failures. And so our hope, our hearing and our witness to others, is built and stands on nothing less, than on Christ the Solid Rock. Amen.

Epiphany 1   Matthew 3: 13-17

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets, he was a law man. His life was one of calling the Jews to repentance but also pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah. Just as his fellow Israelites had dwelt in the wilderness, wandering with Moses for forty years, he too dwelt in the wilderness, and just as the Israelites of Moses day looked forward to a kingdom in the land of milk and honey, John and the Jews looked forward to the arrival of the Messiah and his kingdom.Like the desert wilderness, living under the law is not pleasant. God’s word tells us that the Israelites failed in keeping the law, and therefore, couldn’t stand before the holiness of God. When God made the first covenant with the Israelites, giving them the Ten Commandments at Sinai through Moses, they failed to keep the law. He had freed them from four hundred years of oppression by cleansing them of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, but they grumbled against God, doubted him and worshiped other gods. So God left them in the wilderness for forty years.Israel’s sin against God didn’t stop there either. Joshua led God’s people into the land of milk and honey through the Jordan River, passing from death to life, and still the Israelites turned their backs on God and the holiness he offered through the law. They chose instead to mix with the local pagan Canaanite and Philistine nations prostituting themselves with the gods of their heathen wives. God even gave them great judges like Gideon, Samson, and Samuel, kings like David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who led them in the ways of the Lord. And he gave the Israelites prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all of whom called God’s people to repentance and looked forward to a messiah king – a saviour. But the people of God placed their faith in other things rather than the holiness that God was offering through obedience to the law. So God withdrew his presence, the Israelites and Judeans were cut off from their land and they were exiled at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. And God was quiet—deathly quiet—, for four hundred years there wasn’t a word from neither a prophet nor a messenger of God.  Once again God’s people were under oppression from other nations and they lost their land. They were in the wilderness again, but this wilderness was much worse than the Sinai wilderness in which they wandered with God for forty years. Like Egypt, this was another four hundred year wilderness without his word. Some fourteen hundred years after Joshua had crossed the Jordan, John the Baptist baptised the children of Israel in the very same river. And as he washed them of their sins with a baptism of repentance he proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was near (Matt 3:2) and there was One coming whose sandals he was not fit to carry (Matt 3: 11).

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17)Matthew tells us in the gospel for today, ‘then Jesus came’. His coming changed everything forever. He came to the Jordan, the same place through which Joshua led the people of Israel after wandering in the Sinai wilderness for forty years. Jesus came to save all people from their sins, his name, Jesus, literally means – he will save. And it’s also no accident that the names Joshua and Jesus are the same name but just the Hebrew and the Greek variants.These men both came to the Jordan for life changing events. So we can’t let the significance of this location pass us by. The Jordan River is important; it’s the boundary over which the Israelites passed from a deadly wilderness environment into Canaan, the land of milk and honey. It’s the same waters which brought healing to Naaman, the same river through which Elijah passed before being taken into heaven, the same river carrying precious water, bringing life to the people and the land of Israel. This was the river where John the Baptist baptised the Jews for the forgiveness of their sins, the very sins God called them to turn away from through the observance of the law. And this was also the river where Jesus was baptised into his ministry of saving humanity.So as John the Baptist stood by the Jordan he knew who it was coming toward him. He also knew Jesus was far more powerful than he. He was aware that for him to baptise the One who could truly bring all people into the kingdom of heaven, the eternal land of milk and honey, just didn’t seem right. So he said, “Jesus I need to be baptised by you, and you come to me.” John baptised simply for repentance, Jesus didn’t need to repent, rather the one who needed to repent in Jesus’ presence was John. He needed the Holy Son of God to baptise him into the kingdom of heaven, to cleanse him from sin so he could stand holy before God the Father Almighty.John knew who he had baptised and everyone else present soon found out too. God had been silent for four hundred years, the doors of heaven were closed it might have seemed. But at that moment heaven was opened and God spoke to all saying “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” After four hundred years God the Father spoke, and sent the Holy Spirit down on Jesus. The Triune God has been speaking ever since. He does so through his written word by the power of the Holy Spirit as a result of his Apostles, who witnessed Jesus’ death, and resurrection from death, and whom he commanded to proclaim what they saw.Jesus came from the perfection of paradise, was born into his creation, was circumcised as a Jew under the old covenant, and was baptised in the Jordan into the wilderness of humanity’s sin, your sin and my sin, the sins of Israel and the sins of all people revealed by the law. In a very public way John consented to baptise Jesus so that righteousness for every person might be made complete in him. We live under righteousness because of he who was baptised into his public ministry, tempted by the devil, and tested by all around him. He did this and never placed a foot wrong. Then he took all our wrongdoings to the cross and buried them in hell, from which he rose victorious over death. He came from heaven and gives us heaven; he came into our wilderness and is taking us from our troubled wilderness wanderings. He gives us his holiness and has taken our sinful lives on himself in the waters of baptism.Nevertheless, we still live in chaotic times. Waves of sin continue to ripple through our lives wreaking havoc and seeking to separate us from our Heavenly Father and his Kingdom. However, the chaotic world in which we live constantly shows us why we need assurance and hope in Christ through the tranquil waters of holy baptism and his life giving word. So God the Father continues to give us his Holy Spirit. And in his written word, the Spirit always guides us to the gift of God’s Son whom he sent to take our hand and lead us through the wilderness of this life and into the paradise of eternity. Amen

What kind of home?      John 1:1-18

We spent a lot of time getting our homes in order in the lead up to Christmas, didn’t we? Especially if we were having guests or family over for Christmas, we may have spent hours cleaning, decorating, cooking, and reorganizing. We want our homes to be welcoming places for those who visit us.

What kind of home welcomed the Son of God? What kind of dwelling place did he find? Well, you know the story well. There was no room for him at the inn, so his first home was in a stable. Not long after that Herod want to annihilate him, so he and his parents made Egypt their home. Upon return, his home became Nazareth, and there he lived for the next thirty years. Then, when his public ministry began, he was a guest in all kinds of homes. He dined with religious elite and with the prominent Pharisees of the day. But he also entered the homes of sinners and outcasts, like Zacchaeus. He visited the homes of those who were sick and those who had already died, like Jairus’ daughter whom he raised to life. In the many homes where he was a guest, there were those who loved him dearly and welcomed him. But there were also those who plotted his death – indeed, he would soon make his home in the grave; he would become a guest in the tomb.

But the gospel for today speaks of another home that Christ entered. In 1:14 the evangelist John tells us: ‘The Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us’. ‘The Word’ here refers to Christ, God’s Son. And what is meant by ‘flesh’? Flesh stands for everything we are: our bodies, our souls, and our minds; but also our weakness, our mortality and our sin. And that’s where Christ has made his home. He has made his home in our flesh. The Son of God has become a resident in all that we humans are.

What kind of welcome did he receive to this home? Not a warm one, John tells us: ‘though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him’. He stands at the front door of his own home, his own children answer the door, and yet they tell him: We don’t know who you are – good bye’.

What kind of welcome does he receive in your home? Do you always feel at ease with Jesus at your kitchen table, or in the back seat of your car? Is he welcome in the conversations you share and the thoughts you think? Do you invite him to join in the gossip? Is your home, is your flesh, a fitting place for Christ?

Well let’s face it, often it isn’t. But that’s just the point! Christ was born in Bethlehem for no other reason that he could live in your life. The Word became flesh so that you can welcome him every day. Christ is always a guest in the home of sinners. He won’t politely ask to leave when we become embarrassingly entangled in sin. He doesn’t mutter excuses about needing to be elsewhere when our good Christian front falls to pieces. As long as you’re willing, he’ll stay. For the Word became flesh – and he still is.

But as long as he stays, your home will also change. And that’s because as well as entering your home, he also brings gifts. Not a box of toys or bowl of tossed salad, but something much better. Listen again to our verse: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’. He comes with Christmas hampers full of grace and full of truth.

By his grace he accepts the state of our home – but with his truth he repairs and restores it. By grace he redeems us from the sins of our flesh – with his truth he renews us to serve him. His grace puts up with our ignorance and silliness – his truth enlightens our minds with the knowledge of God. By grace he dwells with sinners, and by his truth he sets us free from sin. This is the guest who enters our homes: the One who became flesh and dwelt among us.

And this is also what Christmas is all about. For these days will soon pass through Epiphany and then on to Lent and Easter and Pentecost. The baby in the manger will grow, he will suffer, he will die, he will rise and take his place in his eternal home, at the Father’s right hand. And there, brothers and sisters in Christ, he prepares a home for us. Not in fallen flesh, but in the new creation. For the one who wrote: ‘the Word became flesh’ also recorded Jesus’ promise: ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms…and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’.

May the Son of God, who prepares a home for us, dwell in our homes today and always. Amen.

Luke 5:1-11 God’s word…dare to believe

(Begin by rolling a dice)  “The dice is cast and the number…has been rolled.’  There is nothing that can be done to change the fact that the number…has been rolled.  Call it fate, call it destiny, call it predestined, call it (number); once the die has been cast, nothing can change the reality of what is before us.

A group of despondent fishermen sat on the shore cleaning their nets near a crowd with Jesus, perhaps listening to him speak, perhaps not.  Fate was such that they had caught nothing, even though they had fished all night.  Reality stared them in the face as they folded their empty nets and left their empty boats…there were no fish:  no fish to take to market, not fish to take to the family, no fish to show for their hard work.  Nothing could change this fact.  For them, the die had been cast and it didn’t go their way…perhaps tomorrow night…perhaps not.

Jesus, standing near by, was teaching the word of God to the crowd gathered around him.  Teaching that the kingdom of God is at hand, announcing that the time of God’s favour is now, and that the Son of man, the Messiah, as foretold in the scriptures, is now dwelling among them and they are to turn and believe this word of God.  Seeing the fishing boats resting on the shore, with no fish, together with a group of despondent fishermen, Jesus takes this as an opportunity to challenge the people; to demonstrate his word by his actions.

Casting off, just a short distance from the land, Jesus gave the fishermen and those in earshot on the shore, a challenge, a duel if you like, between his word and destiny.  The dice had been cast last night and the result was clear for all to see…no fish.  Jesus, the word of God in flesh, the same very word that created the fish saying: “Let the water teem with living creatures’, now commands Simon to ‘let down the nets for a catch.’  Jesus is challenging Simon, and those who heard the word of God, to have faith that his word has the power and authority to change destiny; to change the role of the dice; to do the very thing it says…catch fish.

Jesus’ command to Simon is a challenge of faith.  In other words, ‘do you believe I can do this, or don’t you?  Do you believe that my promise to ‘bring life to the full’ has the power to save from your destiny of death?  Do you believe that the word of God I have been speaking is true?

Simon responds ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.’

Let’s freeze time for a moment, and reflect on what is happening.  Simon’s questioning of Jesus’ word, is another way of saying ‘did God really say.’  We last heard these words come from the devil’s mouth in the Garden of Eden.  The serpent tricked Adam and Eve into sinning and eating the forbidden fruit, by questioning God’s word saying, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?‘

The essence of sin, that brought death, is not that Adam and Eve did the wrong thing by eating the fruit.  The essence of our sinfulness, is not that we do the wrong things; not that you or I hurt, harbor anger, gossip, lie, cheat or are selfish.  Sin is unbelief.  Sin is to believe that ‘God is a liar and cannot do what he says.’ Sin is to attribute truth to us and falsehood to God; to think we are reliable and God is unreliable. The results of Adam and Eve’s decision are plain for all to see, death reigns…just as God said it would.  The die is cast – death is our destiny and we can do nothing to change it.

But Jesus is proclaiming a new word.  The word the fishermen and the crowds around Jesus heard; a word that promises life; a word of good news that proclaims ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’;  Jesus is the word of God, that challenges, defies and transforms our destiny from death, into a promise of life.  God’s word in flesh, Jesus, died to pay our dept to sin, so that we didn’t have to.  Yes, the die has been cast, and death is our destiny, but we can dare to believe God’s promise is true.

(play video: Indiana Jones and the last crusade)

Indiana Jones, standing on the edge of a cliff, in faith steps out into the chasm, because the book tells him so, and he receives what is promised.  Simon, on the boat with Jesus, net in hand, knowing the fact that there are no fish, casts his net…because, ‘Jesus said so’ and he receives what is promised.  Luke records, ‘When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.’

Jesus was true to his word, fish where caught where there were none.  He did this to demonstrate to us his faithfulness.  He did this to demonstrate that he is the ‘way, the truth and the life’ where there is none.  Yet he did something even greater than to demonstrate that we can dare believe on him; that we can dare to cast our net of hope upon him and step out in faith, because he said so and receive what is promised…life after death.  Romans 5:8 ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

Sin is unbelief.  Righteousness is to believe.   St Paul says ‘the righteous will live by faith.’  Jesus calls us to faith in him so that we might receive his gift of life eternal.  He also calls us and challenges us to proclaim his faithfulness to the world; to dare others to believe on him also; to come and follow him.

You have the word of God, you have already believed and so received…go in peace, Jesus says ‘your faith has made your well.’     Amen

Luke 4: 21-30 hidden love

I brought some beautiful roses along with me.  Here, I will hand them out to you to hold while I give the sermon.  The rose…beautiful, colourful and fragrant, what does the beautiful flower remind you of?  Love;

Commitment;

Hope;

Future;

Life.

Yet, as those who are holding the rose stem would attest, on the same branch as the rose blossoms, there are sharp thorns.  What do the thorns remind you of?

Pain;

Danger;

Warning;

Suffering;

Death;

(holding and pointing to either rose or thorns) How could God allow this to be?  How could God create such beauty together with such ugliness?  Two complete opposites co-existing together, like love amid pain; commitment in danger; hope in the midst of suffering; life in the middle of death: beauty and ugliness together make up the whole that make up the rose.

As we live our lives and go through the ups and downs of hopes raised and hopes dashed; experience the joys of new life and the sorrows of death, God can seem to us to be a rose flower one moment and the next a thorn in our side.  One moment God seems to pour out his love upon us, blessing us with health, hope and certainty, the next moment, it is as if we have just grabbed the stem of a rose bush and have been pierced by the thorns; trouble, fear and suffering is all we experience.

We experience the same opposites co-existing together in our Christian life. One moment we seem to be full of faith, trusting in the certainty that we are God’s baptised child, secure in his love, living in his grace and forgiveness; we praise him and give him glory.  The next moment we are gripped with uncertainty, doubt and fear because we cannot break free from an oppressive sin we know God is anger about.  We lose our faith because we fear his justice and retribution for our wrong doing.  Our praise for God quickly turns to grumbling.  One moment we love him, the next we hate him.  In fact, such is our experience of God, it seems easier to hate God than to love him.

Our experience of God as either a rose or a thorn is not new, the people of Jesus time, those who were touched by the presence of Jesus, who listened to his message of salvation and followed him around, constantly struggled to come to terms with his apparent contradictive nature.  One moment he was to be praised for his message of hope, his miracles of healing, and his call to life, as shown after Jesus raised a widow’s son, ‘all were filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.’

Then suddenly, it seemed as if he turned 180 degrees and was out to bring pain on these very same people who were praising him.  Like a thorn on a rose, he stung their lives with words of warnings, and actions that brought danger, suffering and even death.  This sudden apparent turn about by Jesus made the hearts and mouths of those who once praised him, to curse him.   Once, confused after Jesus criticised the religious people around him, they turned against him saying “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us.’  They had ears, but they didn’t understand; had eyes but they couldn’t see, as Jesus often warned.

Jesus was in his home town, teaching in the synagogue, the people who came to see and hear him, ‘all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.’  Knowing Jesus personally, and hearing of the miracles he had performed in Capernaum, they gladly praised him, especially after he read the prophecy of Isaiah and declared ‘today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.‘  Jesus was their rose flower, someone who brought life, hope and a future.  He was their chosen one to set them free with the Lord’s favour.  Then the next moment the crowds were furious with him.  As Luke records ‘They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.’ Jesus had told them the Gentiles were the recipients of God’s grace because of their unbelief.

It is very easy for many us to continue to have a similar ‘love/hate’ relationship with God throughout our whole life.  It is very easy to remain in a constant wave pattern of love or hate depending on how we experience God; a constant flipping from hearing to not hearing. God is a rose to us today, but a thorn to us tomorrow because of what happens to us.  Erasmus, a theologian during Luther’s time, saddened by his sinful state said ‘[God seems] to delight in the torments of poor wretches and to be a fitter object for hate than for love.’  (Bondage of the will: 54-55)  He knew God is love, yet he often experienced the sting of God’s anger against sin.

Why is this?  Is it because God is bi-polo and loves us one minute and hates us the next?  Or is it that our love for God is dependant on the good or bad things that happen in our lives?  Or is it our sinful nature that causes us to hear but not perceive, as Jesus warns “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’? If only we could know this mysterious God and stop our oscillating!

Thank God we don’t have to search the mysteries of God, because it is impossible for us to know God in his hiddeness and sovereignty  apart from Christ, as St Paul writes in Romans 11 ‘How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? ‘.  It is impossible for us to explain and interpret why God in his majesty does what he does.  The good news is that Jesus entered into our life as the light of God to show us the heart of God; to demonstrate that he does truly love us, as St John writes ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.’  Apart from Jesus, we will continue to remain oscillating between faith and unbelief.  Christ, his life, death on the cross for our sin and resurrection for our justification, grounds our faith and brings certainty.

Jesus says ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’  This simply means that like a child we listen to, and receive God for who he is in Christ Jesus, and not attempt to explore his mysterious ways apart from Christ.  St Paul also encourages us not to hate God when he seems to attack us, but to look to Christ in times of confusion saying ‘in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’

Our joy, our hope, our future, our life, especially in the midst of fear, suffering, sin and death, is the rose of God, Jesus Christ and him crucified for you.  Trust yourself to Christ; be humble enough to receive as God’s guarantee the word which God speaks to you in Christ, and trust yourself to Christ on the basis of that word however dreadful God may appear to you at times.

Faith trusts that just like roses are always found among thorns, God’s love will always be found even in the midst of sin and despair.  Luther once said ‘If I could by any means understand how this same God, who makes such a show of wrath and unrighteousness, and yet be merciful and just, there would be no need for faith.  But as it is, the impossibility of understanding makes room for faith…Now, the highest degree of faith is to believe that he is merciful, though he saves so few and damns so many.’

 In those times when  crowds around you become furious at God, and seek to condemn and reject you because of him, take hold of Christ and together with him, walk right through the crowd untouched; trusting he is God’s love amid pain; commitment in danger; hope in the midst of suffering; life in the middle of death: beauty and ugliness that come together in Christ is that which makes up the whole of faith, that which makes up the whole of life with our rose, Jesus Christ.  Amen

And the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen

1 Corinthians 12_12-31 what matters most
Who remembers learning how to walk?  No one I know remembers purposely planning to take their first step and walking.  Walking is something natural. It just happens.  Almost invariably, at the appropriate time in our development, we learn to walk.  Our body learns to work as one.  Each muscle, bone, ligament and limb work together with all our senses to begin to go forward; to walk; to be one body in motion and with purpose.  No part of our body is any more important than the other.  All parts of our body, see and unseen, work together to walk.  Otherwise walking unassisted would be impossible.  Each step we take is really a God given miracle of the unity of our body.

When Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 and onto the moon, he said these famous words (who can quote them?) ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ That special moment in history, when man first walked on the moon, was not Neil Armstrong’s individual achievement, it was humanity’s achievement as a whole that got him there.  It was a corporate body of people from all around the world who worked together as one that enabled history to be made; one step by one man, but it was the many steps of many men and women working together, as a body does, that enabled Neil Armstrong to make that one small step.

Two types of bodies working together to achieve, flourish and overcome, to step-out and to walk; Firstly, our own body working as one, the other, many bodies working corporally as one; both working together in harmony and unity; both walking together.  This is how it is to be in the church.  St Paul, frustrated with disunity, individualism, jealousy, division, boasting over spiritual gifts and prideful remarks between the members of the Corinthian church, wrote ‘The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body– whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free– and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.’

You and I as individual baptized people of God, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, actually make up the body of Christ, the church.  Two types of bodies, our own and then every Christian, make up the other body, the corporate body of Christ, the church, of whom he is the head.  Have you ever thought about this, the miracle of our walking as one body with Christ?  You did not have a say in your birth and you did not plan to walk, it all came about without your doing from the day you were born.

The miracle is that we became members of Christ’s body and walk with him in the same way, by no decision, effort or special talents of our own, but through the grace of God given to us at our new birth in baptism, as Jesus said in John 15:16 “you did not choose me, but I chose you.’  You, purely by virtue of your baptism were born again into a new body that is the body of Christ, our church here.  And it is in your new body that you now walk, together as one body in Christ.

When fishing on Yalata beach (yes I did catch the great big Snapper), with nothing but miles of beach, sand dunes and sea with no vegetation, you loose perspective of distance. I found this out very dramatically.  After casting my bait into the sea and putting by rod into its holder, I walked away to look for a place to camp for the night.  I happened to turn around and saw my fishing rod being pulled into the sea!  Thinking of nothing else but the possibility loosing the big fish that must have been on the end of my disappearing rod, I ran to grab the rod before it was pulled into the sea.  Well, I ran and ran, yet I didn’t seem to be getting any closer.  The distance was further than I thought.  Each step was agonizingly small compared to the distance I needed to travel.

However, I was so concerned about my own steps, that I forgot that my brother was just a few short steps from my disappearing rod.  I could have called out to him.  I could have trusted that his small step, though insignificant compared to my great steps, would have had an instant impact.  Instead I raced alone and risked loosing everything.

How do you view yourself as a member of Christ’s body and your walk with Christ?  Perhaps you are tempted to do what I did on the beach and try to run it alone.  In our passion to see results, see ‘fish’ caught for Jesus, we concentrate on what we are doing; on how our walk is making all the difference and when things get tough, we run that bit harder, not trusting or just forgetting that our brother or sister in Christ is just a step away from achieving the goal for us and together with us; forgetting that we were all given the one Spirit to drink, we are all one in Christ…walking together in one purpose.  Are you someone who is prepared to risk everything, even your own health, risking burn out and lose of faith all because you feel then need to run alone?

Unfortunately, there is a misguided emphasis in the body of Christ that promotes the belief  that what matters most is our ‘personal relationship with Jesus’.  Its unfortunate because it fosters members of the body of Christ to become individuals and personal walkers with Christ.  The emphasis on the Christian individual that ‘you can make a difference’ is not what Christ intended for his body the church.

St Paul uses the analogy of the human body to show how ludicrous it is when individuals try to walk alone in the body of Christ, ‘If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?… As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.’

Perhaps living in this individualistic Christian environment you feel your small steps in Christ make no difference, that your Christian walk will make little or no contribution to the church.  Perhaps you feel jealous of others because God has given them greater and more important gifts.  ‘They can do far better, so why should I try’, you may think.  What if my brother, standing next to my fishing rod, that was hurtling into the sea, and knowing I was struggling to get to it, thought ‘what would my couple of little steps do?’  Let’s not lose sight of who we are.  You are a new creation, re-born into the body of Christ through baptism.  You belong to Christ and you are a vital and important part of his body, the church.  Not because of what you do, or who you are, but because of who’s you are and to whom you belong.

Let me quote Paul from the message bible ‘The old labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free – are no longer useful.  We need something larger, more comprehensive.  I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less.  A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge.  Its all the different – but – similar parts arranged and functioning together.  If Foot said ‘I’m not elegant like hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to the body,’ would that make it so?  If Ear said ‘I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,’ would you want to remove it from the body?’

Knowing that we are all valuable members of Christ and his body, and not just individuals walking alone, when we step out in mission or ministry, perhaps we could paraphrase Neil Armstrong’s famous words ‘One small step for me, one giant leap for Christ’s church!’  Then, what would matter most, is not what I say and do as an individual, but what the body as a whole is achieving as we walk together in Christ.  What would matter most is not what I proclaim, but what the church as a whole proclaims and is founded upon, Christ and him crucified and our new creation as people of God through baptism.

So when you feel persecuted or unworthy, or don’t know your place in the body, or are suffering on account of body of Christ, remember you are a member of the church, who together with share your pain.  What matters most however, is that Christ is the head and thus when we hurt he hurts with us.

Let me conclude with Luther’s encouraging words in his commentary on Galatians ‘…the church suffers on Christ’s account, as Christ himself testifies when he says in Acts 9:4: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?  Saul had not done any violence to Christ, but only to his church.  But whoever touches this, touches the apple of his eye (Zech. 2:8).  The head is more sensitive and responsive in its feeling than the other parts of the body, as experiences teaches.  When the small toe or some other tiny part of the body is hurt, the face immediately shows that it feels this; the nose contracts, the eyes flash, etc.  In the same way Christ, our head, makes our afflictions his own, so that when we, who are his body, suffer, he is affected as though the evils were his own.’

6th Sunday after epiphany 1 Corinthians 9:24-27  An athlete of Christ

In order to compete and be competitive, an athlete trains hard for his goal and sheds off anything that may hinder his chances of wining the prize.

What sort of athlete would have a diet like this? (fast food pac
kets, coke and beer).  Would these be a hindrance?  Would this diet help to win the prize?  Would an elite athlete wear this? (a heavy jacket, hold a suitcase and then a blindfold)?  Would he know where he is going in a race?  Would he be able to compete competitively carrying a sports bag?  No, all of these things need to be removed as part, of an athlete’s strict training.  Everything is seen as a loss in comparison to the final prize and crown of victory.

Being in Athens and Corinth, it is more than likely St Paul enjoyed sport and even attended sporting events in his free time.  He would have seen how hard athletes trained.  Living in Greece, he would have witnessed firsthand the determination of an athlete to finish the race.  He may have applauded with the crowds as they saw the joy on the faces of those who won the crown of victory.  Historical records found in the excavations of ancient Corinth show that around the exact dates of Paul’s mission work in Corinth, the Isthmian Games were held.

This prestigious event, second only to the Olympics in Athens, was run in Corinth every two years.  Ancient records show athletic events included racing, wrestling, jumping, boxing, hurling the javelin, and throwing the discus.  Paul, having lived in Corinth for many years, would have seen the athletes training in the streets; running, throwing and practicing for their events.  It was required by decree that all athletes devote 10 months to strict training.

As we know, this sort of dedication to winning requires an athlete with determination and commitment.  It meant that a competitor would voluntarily renounce not only unhealthy habits, like junk food, drinking and smoking, but also give up many things that are fine, like holidays or parties, in order to focus totally on the goal.

Perhaps St Paul wrote part of his Corinthian letter sitting in the stadium watching athletes striving for the crown of victory.  Perhaps he was sitting there thinking, why is it an athlete trains, strives and competes so hard to win a temporary crown made only of olive leaves, yet his converts in the new church of Jesus, the believers in the way, showed little sign of this enthusiasm; showed no real commitment to studying God’s word or striving for the sake of the gospel.

Perhaps Paul just finished watching a running race when he wrote, ‘members of the church in Corinth, Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.’

Paul had preached the good news of Christ crucified as he writes ‘For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’  It is in this good news that the believers in the new church in Corinth were awarded salvation and eternal life as a crown of victory.  This good news of salvation, a free gift from God, should have spur them on to holy living; to striving and renouncing things that would hinder them from winning the prize, like an athlete would do.  But Paul found very little of this.  The freedom of the gospel was for many, freedom to do nothing!

Martin Luther found this same problem in his new church of the reformation, in a sermon preached on 9th March 1522, he made these scathing remarks ‘We must have love and through love we must do to one another as God has done to us through faith.  For without love faith is nothing…And here dear friends, have you not grievously failed?  I see no signs of love among you, and I observe very well that you have not been grateful to God for his rich gifts and treasures.

I notice that you have a great deal to say of the doctrine of faith and love which is preached to you, and this is no wonder; an ass can almost intone the lessons…Dear friends, the kingdom of God, and we are the kingdom, does not consist in talk or words, but in activity, in deeds, in works and exercises.  God does not want hearers and repeaters of words, but followers and doers and this occurs in faith through love.’

Certainly perhaps, we are not in the same league as those in Wittenberg, or even Corinth.  I do indeed see that everyone here is thankful to God for the gift of salvation and do indeed love and live lives worthy of the gospel.  Yet Paul’s words, like a coach speaking to his players at half time, can spur us on to greater appreciation for the crown of eternal life and a renewed determination to train our bodies, our minds and our spirits in the word of God.  Paul encourages us not to ‘run our race like an athlete running aimlessly or fight like a boxer hitting the air.’  Rather, we are to be like great athletes, making our bodies slaves to Christ so that we do not miss out on the prize’.

The prize, the crown of victory is the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life because of Jesus death for our sins on the cross.  You have already been crowned with this victory when Jesus declared you forgiven; justified you or put you in a right relationship with God in and through you baptism.

Just like Naaman, by the power of God’s word and the washing of water, he was cleansed from leprosy, in the washing of baptism, you have been cleansed from sin and given new life, as written in Titus 3 ‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.’

Yet, as we know, this crown is only received fully, in death.  We are still running our race, still enduring hardships and disappointments like any athlete running a race.  However, God has not left us alone in this event, in his compassion he has graciously given as all the training equipment needed for our faith, so we don’t lose the race and the crown of victory.

We train our bodies by reading God’s word and as we do, his Spirit makes us holy and cleanses us of sin.  The Spirit in the word trains our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, so we can recognise the sins that are hindering our race for the prize and leads us to put off the devil and all his works and ways.

Our training as Athletes for Christ consists in eating the right spiritual foods, and that too, has be provided by God himself.  Jesus body and blood are given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  His body is truly present in the bread and wine to strengthen our faith for the race.  Jesus said ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

We don’t need to run our race aimlessly, like a blindfolded runner.  We know where to go to receive refreshment and renewal for our tired souls.  We know where to go for strength to love and serve even our enemies; we go straight to the power of God’s word and sacraments, just like an athlete goes straight for the Gaidorade.

We don’t box the air like a shadow boxer, not knowing how to defeat our opponent, we know the target, the devil and we know how to knock him out cold, for one little word of Jesus can fell him.  Yes, an athlete of Jesus trains and remains in the word of God, for it is in this power that the victory will be won, as in the final verse of ‘A mighty fortress is our God’

‘The word shall stand despite all foes-No thanks they for it merit- For God is with us, and bestows his gifts and Holy Spirit.  And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife: Though these all be gone, yet have our foes not won; the kingdom ours remaineth.’

Amen