Category: Pentecost

Be a bit player

Romans 8:26-39

When you work with children, and you decide you’re going to put on a ‘play’,  something like that—and you’re getting organized and you ask, “Who wants to be  the Queen?” or “Who wants to be the father?” or “Who wants to be the lion?” or  whatever…there is usually a great rush of hands held high, and a lot of vying  for attention in order to get the key roles!   And we are thankful for the enthusiasm, and applaud the confidence, and even  somewhat dread the day when, as they grow older, they become more and more  self-conscious and inhibited.
Who gets to play the key role?  Adults  work with this idea a lot, too:  in  marriage and family, in the work place, in sporting clubs, and even in our  church community.  We may have mixed  feelings about it—sometimes it’s a great opportunity to serve; sometimes it’s  about control and power; sometimes it’s just plain scary; sometimes it means  recognition and affirmation; sometimes it means risk.  And whether we like the key role or not, we  are often very conscious of it.  “What  about me?” is a question that seems to hang around in our heads a lot, even if  we don’t often give voice to it.
Over the last three Sundays the Gospel readings have focused on a number of  parables.  And, as we’ve been quite  properly taught to do, and as we’ve learned to do, we immediately hear the  parables and think:  “How does this  parable, this story, apply to my life?   How do I fit into this parable?”
Now…that’s all well and good except for one possibility:  when we think about how to apply the parable  to our lives, and how we fit into the concepts of the parable, we run the risk  of giving ourselves the major role in the parable, in the story, in the  situation.
Who gets to play the key role?
Consider today’s Gospel, and these two very  short parables:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it,  he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that  field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is  like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he  went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

My first tendency, in hearing these parables,  is to think I am ‘the man’, or I am ‘the merchant’; therefore,  what do I have to give up in order to get ‘the treasure’, to get ‘the pearl’?  And I have no doubt that Jesus’ parable does  allow me to consider my relationship with God relative to other priorities in  my life.  It allows me think about the  cost of discipleship.  It allows me to consider  the joy in my own life of recognising and celebrating the grace of God which I  have repeatedly discovered as I’ve grown to new understandings through new  experiences of that grace.

And the same is true of the mustard seed,  the yeast, separating fish, separating wheat and weeds, planting good seed in  different kinds of soil—all parables that have got us thinking over the past  few weeks.

But when you take the lead role in a  parable, and the focus is on you, then you expose both strengths and weaknesses,  successes and failures.  And, indeed,  sometimes when you take the lead role you become so focussed on ‘you’ that you can feel quite isolated and alone, as if the whole thing depends on you,  revolves around you, and the whole action is for you to work  out.  And, from my own experience, I know  that sometimes that leaves me thinking I have to be my own judge, my own  saviour, my own comforter, my own encourager, my own guide.

When Jesus tells a parable—when he says  “the kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God” is like—and the two terms are  completely interchangeable; they are not referring to a ‘place’, they are  referring to living in relationship with God—the point is never to get you  thinking so intensely about you and certainly never solely about you.  He wants you to think about God’s kingdom,  about God as king, about God as your king.

God is the key player.

Let me read again from the Romans reading  we heard earlier:  “We know that in all  things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been  called according to his purpose.”  And  Paul follows that up by reminding us:   “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but  gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us  all things?”  And then, to underline and  emphasize:  “I am convinced that neither  death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor  the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all  creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ  Jesus our Lord.”

God is the key player.  There is nothing that can get between God,  with his love, and us.

Yeah, but what about when our faith is  weak, when we don’t keep trying, when we don’t keep trusting and praying and we  don’t even know anymore what to say or what to pray for or….?  Paul reminds us:  “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do  not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us  with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows  the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in  accordance with God’s will.”  When we  can’t, the Spirit steps in and carries out God’s will.

God is the key player.

I push this point because I have a  privileged position of hearing people talk about their faith, their spiritual  struggles, their goals, and their worries about family and friends.  And when we read the Bible, especially when we  are focussing on the life and teaching of Jesus in the New Testament, you and I  have repeatedly put before us teaching of how we should live as God’s children.  And what Jesus teaches is very demanding—so  demanding that more than once in the stories in the Gospel we see people  walking away in despair.  What they do  not do is follow the journey through all the way to the cross.  On the cross we see that every call to trust  and every call to obey is backed up absolutely by the God “who did not spare  his own Son, but gave him up for us all”, the God who is absolutely and  completely “for us”.

And I need to ask people sometimes, as I  ask you today:  Do you think that the God  who gives even his own Son, Jesus, to suffer and die for us—do you think that  he will then let your weakness, your doubt, your failed attempt to obey  completely, or to serve generously, or to witness consistently—do you think  that he will let your personality faults, your illness, your anxiety, your  hesitancy, your impatience, your fear—do you think that he is going to let  something less than perfect in you stop him from carrying out his loving plans  and purposes for you?  If “neither death  nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any  powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation” can “  separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”—if none of  those things can get between God and you, do you really think he will let some  other human weakness or struggle stop him?

And, I’ll add, if our doubts, or our  failings, or our weaknesses were enough to bring down all of his plans, then we  are not saved by his grace, but by our works, our getting it right; not by  faith (trust in God), but by faithfulness on our part.

God is the  key player.

I remember a few years ago on an occasion  when I was so focussed on letting God work things out in my life that when I  read the parable of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price I  suddenly thought, “God found me!  God has  given everything to make me and keep me his own!”

Allow yourself, to be the ‘bit player’ in  God’s great drama, which is your life as his child.  Jesus has died to sin and risen to eternal  life, for you, with you, in you.  The  Spirit takes your needs straight to your loving Father, who has given and  always will give everything for you.   Take joy and comfort and confidence in knowing that God is the key  player in your life.

Amen.

Abba Father!

  She was 28. Tall and dark  haired. She stepped off the airplane and walked along the concourse that  led to the departure lounge. Waiting to meet her for the first time was her  Father. She had called him a week ago, after looking for  him for several months. She had never known him, nor even seen a photograph,  but knowing he was alive, her heart had been crying out to find him, for she  had a deep sense that in some way, until she did, she could never really know  who she herself was. This was the man  from whose body her own body, at least partly, had  come. This was the person whose own DNA had been passed on to her. This man had  fathered her, and yet had never seen her, his own flesh and blood.

They introduced themselves. They both were  tense, their hearts pounding. But they had prepared themselves emotionally for  this meeting. They were going to be mature and adult about this. No public  displays of emotion at the airport. No dramatics. No tears please…

And this plan to keep everything cool and  sensible and free of emotion worked; until this she looked him in the eye and spoke  the one word she had never and could never have spoken to any other man:  Father…

How deep is that bond: parent to child. Though separated by time and thousands of miles, and  in that case, by having never even known one another, there is deep attachment.

Many people, who have been adopted and raised by  parents other than their biological ones find that, at some point in their  lives, they feel the need to find their biological parents. Although they have  never met them, they nevertheless deeply connected to them and this is deeply  felt. It is part of their journey to find out who they are, what their origins  are, where their looks and abilities and nature comes from, in whose footsteps  they are following, where they belong in the world. And so people begin to  search.

And as is so often the case, what happens here  on the human level, with children and parents, happens also at the even deeper spiritual  level of our lives. Part of being human, created by the eternal Father, is that,  whether people realise it or not, they are in many ways constantly searching  for home, constantly looking for the one who has Fathered them. People are trying to connect with their origin and their  identity. Searching…

The famous Christian Theologian and Bishop of  the Early Church,  St Augustine,  lived most of his life deeply feeling this. He felt something fundamental  missing in his life and went searching. He tried everything to satisfy that  search – booze, sexual promiscuity, academic fame and fortune, until finally  one day he sat down under a tree exhausted and empty and cried out to God. He  later wrote one of the oldest and best known prayers of the Christian Church: Lord, you have made us for yourself and we  are restless until we rest in thee.

To rest in him is to find peace in being beloved  children of our heavenly Father. He is our Dad. He has Fathered us, in baptism  – brought us to birth as new people, holy people, through the work of the Holy  Spirit. His bond with us reaches right to our core, our spirit. As Paul says  here in verse 15, when we call out to God: “Abba – Father” (as he wants us to),  his Spirit bears witness with, locks together with and embraces our spirit – and  that bond between our spirit and God’s Holy Spirit is made stronger.

God wants us to know him and love him and relate  to him as our loving Father, because he has made us his own children through  his own son, Jesus, by the power of the Spirit. He wants us to live in that  deep loving bond of his Spirit to ours.

And Paul wants to tell us some important things  about this bond and what it means for our lives, to encourage us and uplift us.

Abba Father

We can cry out to God: Abba,  Father

“Daddy!” One thing I know I share with every other Dad in this church today is  what happens to your heart when your child calls out for you in distress,  “Daddy!” In that cry is that beautiful, deep and unashamed trust of a child for  its father. They cry out without thinking – they flee to the safest place they  know – Dad’s arms. They know you will not turn them away.

And that is what our Father invites us to do –  cry out to him in our pain, or when we are afraid. Ask him for what we need,  speak to him with complete confidence and trust, because we live in that bond  with him.

Joint heirs

If we are children of the Father, then we are also heirs, and – just  think of this if you can – joint heirs with Christ.

God has lifted us up to be Jesus’ brothers and  sisters. That deep bond we share with God the Father, as his Spirit draws us,  is the same bond that Jesus Christ shares with him. Paul is using as his  analogy here the practice of adoption in the Roman world – it was common for  Romans to adopt children and the rules for adoption were that you had to treat  your adopted children just as if they were your natural children – they had to  take your name, and they had to inherit an equal share of the parent’s estate.  They had to truly become your child.

Paul is saying that we have been adopted in the  same way – the Father treats us exactly as he treats Christ. We are made part  of the intimate family circle, drawn into the very heart of God, loved not just like sons and daughters, but as sons and daughters.

And so, along with Jesus, we are heirs to God’s  riches, and his kingdom. As God’s inheritors, we get the great treasures God  has prepared for his children: forgiveness of our sins, a new and eternal life,  and we get to share in God’s glory. We are rich beyond our wildest dreams.

Sharing glory

We share Jesus’ suffering and his glory.

Part of the life we now live as God the Father’s  children, is sharing his son’s cross. There is no crown without the cross. The  English translation at this point almost makes it sound like suffering with  Jesus is a condition of our sharing in His glory – you will inherit Christ’s  glory if you suffer too. The sense of  Paul’s words in the original text here is rather that since we share in  Christ’s suffering, we also will share in his glory.

Suffering in this life is a fact. We have to  live with the reality of the old broken world we still live in: broken  relationships, sickness, pain, trouble and conflict. As Paul says, we groan  along with all creation under the weight of this.

This suffering can seem to us (when it’s us  right in the thick of it) like it is completely filling up our whole world. We  can feel that it’s all-encompassing, blotting out everything else. But, Paul  says, it’s not. The cross leads to Easter morning. This suffering we are  putting up with is leading to a new day – to God’s kingdom being fully realised  and revealed in its glory. And so Paul goes on to say: “I consider that our  present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed  in us.” That glory will be revealed in you too.

I often wonder what would happen in the church  if we really understood who we were – if we could fully grasp the wonderful  things we have been given and the amazing grace of God poured out into and onto  us each day. To God, you are the child for whom he has searched and the one for  whom he gave Christ’s life. You are bonded to him by love so deep that no words  can express it. And so in joy and hope we cry: Abba Father!
This is the word of the Lord.        

Jesus. . . Our Peace

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

The parable of the Sower is one of the gardening parables that Jesus told. I thought that maybe a good way to introduce it would be to share some gardening tips with you.  They’re called “Top Ten Things I Have Learned from Gardening”. As you listen to them, just think about how they relate to your life.

10.We really do “reap what we sow”.  Good seeds bear good fruit.

9. Without rains and storms there is no growth – no fruit is produced.

8. When weeding, be careful! Some of us can’t always tell the difference between a nasty weed and a beautiful flower.

7. Deep roots are a good thing. Without them, we’ll wither and die.

6. Pruning and trimming, as painful as it seems, actually works to our advantage.

5. In gardening, as in life, cheating doesn’t work.  Short-cuts, slipshod efforts, and neglect always show up in the quality of our garden.

4. Like anything worthwhile, beautiful gardens require attention, hard work, and commitment.

3. We can’t rush the harvest. Bearing fruit takes time and patience. Premature fruit is almost always sour.

2. Gardening and growing is a lifetime experience.  We can experience growth and beauty until the day we die.

1. Fertilizer happens!  In fact, nothing much grows without it.

Some food for thought there.  But Jesus has much more for us in his parables than just tips for our lives. He has some food for our souls and good news for our lives.  He sows his word in our hearts.  And when we have this word we can have security and have good reason to believe that life is worthwhile.

So this morning thinkof the seed of his word as being Jesus’ word of peace to us.  Jesus came into the world to personally bringthat peace to us.  The whole purpose of his preaching and teaching, his life, death and resurrectionwas to bring peace to troubled hearts, minds and bodies.

We can picture him as the Sower in the field. The seed that he sows is his Word – the word of peace.  We need that word, because it gives us forgiveness for the past, comfort for the present, and confidence for the future.

The sower sows his seed.  Jesus comes to us and sows his word of peace in our hearts. He says to us today: Peace be with you.  But Satan intervenes and tries to get us to doubt it.

“Peace isn’t for you” he says.  “God doesn’t mean you.  You don’t deserve it.  Your sins are too great.  You’re not the kind of person that can have that peace.  You’ve got to try a bit harder in your life, pray a bit more, do a lot more, help more people.  Maybe someday you’ll be able to have peace.  But not now.  Not the way you are now.  You’ve got to make a lot of changes in your life before you can have peace with God.”

And so the peace of God can be stolen from us, just like seed is snatched up from the hard ground by birds.  Satan can put so many doubts and questions into our minds, and try to make us believe that we’re not worthy of receiving God’s peace. He tries to snatche that word of peace away from us – and when he does, we have no peace.

The sower sows the seed.  Jesus speaks his Word to us.  Peace be with you, he says.  We know we need it and so we take hold of it.  But we don’t always let it penetrate deep down.  We keep God and his Word from taking over our lives completely. We add his peace to our lives but only like the latest coat of paint on an old wall.  It covers, but it’s only superficial.

And when this is the case God’s peace doesn’t take root.  It doesn’t really change us.  It may soothe and pacify us at times, but it never really gets to the heart of the problem – which is the problem of the heart.

It’s like a pat on the back or a supportive smile from someone – good and needed, but not enough to bring real and lasting relief from the problems we face.  It might look okay on the surface, but underneath there’s nothing to support it – there’s no solid foundation.  It’s like seed that falls on rocky ground.  It grows quickly for a start, but when there’s real pressure put on it, it withers, because it has no deep roots.  And when this is the case, there is no peace.

The sower sows the seed.  Jesus speaks his Word to us.  Peace be with you, he says.  We want to have this peace, but we take it and throw it into the pot of our lives together with everything else that we believe is important and significant for us.  And in the process the special quality of peace is diluted and looses its unique flavour.

We want to believe that Christ’s peace is vital for us, but then, lots of other things are important too – like our families, our homes, our jobs, our property, time, promises we make, obligations we have, responsibilities we’ve committed ourselves to.  There’s just so much else in life that we find that can crowd out God’s peace.  We become so engrossed with wishes, wants, and hopes of what we would like to have, that we push God’s Word of peace further and further into the background.

The desire, and the pressure we have on us, to get and to have other things, chokes out God’s peace, just like a plant is choked out when it grows among weeds and thorns.  And when this is the case, there is no peace.

The sower sows the seed.  Jesus speaks his Word to us.  Peace be with you, he says.  He continues to sow it in our hearts, because he knows we need it.  He doesn’t give up on us.  He comes again and again.  We need this peace if we want to be able to survive in this world, and to have any confidence about living and dying.

Our faith isn’t always as strong as it could or should be, but we can still have peace.  We can have it because Jesus was planted for us into the tomb.  He got to the very bottom, the very core, of the problem of our sin and weeded it out, roots and all.  Now we have a solid foundation on which to build our lives, because he’s provided it for us.  We’re planted securely in him who is Lord over life and death, who’s won the victory over sin, Satan and hell for us.  Because of him there is peace.

In him we have a sure hope and confidence both for the present and the future, because he’s put to death the power of the weeds and the thorns in this world.  And when we live and grow in him, we can be sure that we won’t be choked out by them.  He guarantees and preserves our growth, because we belong to him.  He is our peace.

This peace doesn’t take away all the concerns and worries and temptations that we have.  In fact there may be times when the conflict in our lives is even increased because of our belief in Jesus.  But having Jesus as our Saviour enables us to face our problems and to be confident that we have the strength to cope with them and battle against them.

This peace enables us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and share his peace with others.  It enables us to share whatever we have with those in need.  It enables us to follow him, even to death.  It enables us to call to him constantly in prayer, and to know that God will not and cannot abandon us.

He puts us at peace with him even in a world full of strife.  He comes to us and stays with us.  He says “Don’t be afraid, I am with you always”.

Jesus is our peace, and he gives us peace. He’s overcome sin, Satan and death, and has risen from the grave to live within us forever.  And because of his presence within us, we have the assurance that we’re acceptable to him, and we can go forward confidently in our day to day living, giving a vital witness to others of the peace that we have in him. Peace be with you.  Amen.

Pastor Mark

Romans 7:18
I know that good does not live in me-that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do goodis in me , I am not able to do it.

Back in the dim dark past during my secondary schooling the only team sport for boys was football – Aussie rules to be precise. I enjoyed watching football but couldn’t play myself. I did give it a go but replacing my glasses was getting too expensive. Reluctantly the headmaster allowed us to form a basketball team. One of the guys knew something about basketball but the rest of us didn’t have a clue. We went to the local basketball stadium to watch a game and get a bit of an idea how it was played. We didn’t have a coach at the beginning, however, one the boys had played before and became our coach (sort of).

We didn’t have proper goals to practice goal shooting, we knew barely anything about the rules and techniques of the game, but the team was all fired up, and with new uniforms were ready to whip all opposition.

Our first game was against one of the oldest and biggest schools in Adelaide, Pulteney Grammar. The score was easy to remember – Pulteney Grammar 66, Immanuel College 6. We had loads of enthusiasm and good intentions, but that wasn’t enough to score goals. When the sports results were read out after Monday morning chapel you could see the headmaster cringe when he heard the basketball scores.

Can this be said about the way we live our Christian lives?

We have loads of good intentions, excellent plans and even enthusiasm but somehow never get around to carrying out those good intentions?

As we read our Bibles and hear God speaking to us at worship we learn what God’s love has done for us through Jesus. We hear how Jesus has made us his new people through the forgiveness of our sin and how we have been adopted as his own dear children and made members of his family. The Bible tells us that faith in Jesus is a very practical thing and should affect our everyday lives. Listen to Paul, “You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. … Forgive one another …. To all these qualities add love … Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. … Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col 3:12-15).

Paul is describing a new lifestyle. He is telling us that Christ in our lives makes a big difference to everything we say and do, to the attitudes and values that we have. Christ in our lives gives us a whole new perspective on how we can serve others and work together with our fellow members in the church.

But still in spite of all of this, I know I have to confess, and I suppose I’m not alone in this, that too often there is a gap between what we know we ought to do, and what we actually do as followers of Jesus.

Perhaps most of us live our Christianity like poor old Grandma Schultz hanging out the washing. She goes to the laundry to fetch the pegs, notices a mouse, and runs inside to find a trap. She sees a grimy spot on the kitchen floor, rummages through the cupboard for a cleaning rag, and comes across an old letter from cousin Hilda who lives in the Barossa Valley. She reads it and finds a recipe for streusel kuchen. She goes to the kitchen and seeing the jam boiling over on the stove, opens the window and sees Grandpa in the garden. She remembers that she needs some tomatoes for lunch …… somehow the washing just never seems to get hung out! Grandma Schultz had good intentions but she was a busy person but never got around to doing anything properly. She was always sidetracked by something that seemed to be more urgent.

Likewise, when we hear the Scriptures and are encouraged to let our light shine and make a difference in the lives of the people around us we happily say “Amen” and resolve to let our faith really shine. There are things we want to change in our lives – get rid of some old habits and attitudes. We want to be more considerate, and helpful and co-operative, to be more open, to be less critical, to be more tolerant of others with different opinions, to be more patient. We want to let our Christian faith show by being more understanding toward our husband or wife, being around more for our kids. We really want to try our hardest to get on with that person who really gets under our skin. We want to worship more regularly, pray more often, be more helpful, and contribute to the congregation more regularly.

Maybe after hearing a sermon or attending a Bible study we make ourselves a promise that from now on things are going to be different. But too often all of our good intentions remain just good intentions. Somehow it’s all much harder than we thought and it’s much easier to fall back into our old pattern of doing things.

The Apostle Paul struggled with this, “I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it” (Rom 7.18). Paul here says that he knows what he should do; he knows what God wants him to do; he knows that he has been brought close to God and made holy through Christ’s suffering and death but he keeps on doing what he knows he is not supposed to be doing. I think we can all relate to that.

In the gospel reading today we hear Jesus say to us, “Come to me”. What could be clearer that that – straight from the mouth of Jesus himself. When life is getting too much to handle and you feel the weight of trouble, sickness, and worry falling heavily on your shoulders, Jesus says, “Come to me”.

It’s like he wants to give us a good shake and bring us to our sense as he says “Come to me” because he knows that we are not able to keep our heads above water in our sea of trouble. He reminds us that we don’t have to carry all this alone. He is there to help us. “Trust me, rely on me, believe me when I say to you, ‘Come to me’”. But do we take this invitation seriously? Most times that invitation becomes real only after we have sunk into depression and made ourselves sick with worry.

God tells us through the scriptures to let love rule our lives. “Put on love” we are told, and yes, that’s a good idea we say. But no sooner have we stated our intention to do just this than some low flying temptation comes our way and we end up doing exactly the opposite.

We are a lot like Grandma Schultz, dithering here and there, with every good intention but never getting around to doing what we had originally intended. Sin is very real in our lives. We are tempted to make our religion something separate from our everyday world, and we leave our faith in Christ at home when we go to work, or we forget we are members of God’s family when we are out on the sport’s field or having a great time with mates and friends. We know what we ought to do and we might have every good intention, but the circumstances influence us to do otherwise.

Have I told you about the bloke nicknamed “gunner”? I was intrigued by his nickname and thought he must have got the name “gunner” because he had been in the military. Anyway, one day I asked one of his mates why this bloke had the nickname “gunner”. He laughed as he explained, “Don’t get me wrong now, Gunner’s a great bloke, but as long as I’ve known him he’s always gonna do this and gonna do that, but never gets around to it”.

The apostle Paul is admitting that he is a good candidate for the nickname “gonna”. In fact, we are all “gonnas”. We can know all about Jesus and what our faith means for our everyday life and one day we’re “gonna” get around to making a few changes in our lives. One day we’re gonna get around to caring for the needy neighbour. One day we’re gonna do something about spending more time with the family. One day we’re gonna do more for the church, be more regular in our church attendance. But the truth of the matter is that somehow we never get around to it. We have every good intention, but we never do anything about it. To put it bluntly, our faith is good in theory but putting it into practice is quite another thing. It seems we can never change!

Paul expresses his frustration when he says, “I don’t do the good I want to do; instead I do the evil that I don’t want to do. … What an unhappy man I am”. But he doesn’t remain locked in this feeling of helplessness. He thanks God for Jesus who is able to forgive even someone who knows what he ought to do, has every good intention, but doesn’t follow this through. Jesus is good news for everyone. He died because of our distractions. He died a bloody, brutal death to free us from the curse of our sin. He died for saying that one day we’re gonna get around to being a better follower of Jesus. We have a new hope. We don’t need to be afraid of every inadequacy, every doubt, every threat of failure. We are forgiven.

In Christ there is a new beginning. There is a change. In Christ we can break out of the old mould where we replace God’s will simply with good intentions that never amount to anything. With Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit our faith becomes more than something theoretical. It becomes an integral part of our lives. The living Christ becomes a powerful force in changing our attitudes towards other people and how we see our role in the life of the church. The living Christ fills every part of our lives and when burdens and troubles preoccupy our minds and lives, our theology tells us that we have a God who loves and cares for us. This is not just an interesting theological fact; it is the living truth for our lives.

Luther talks about faith in this way: Faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good…. Without any coercion a person is willing and desirous to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything for the love of God and to his glory…. Faith is not simply knowing about Jesus and saying that one day we’re gonna be more active in our Christianity. Our faith is very practical everyday thing. You learn to be caring and concerned about people. You serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. You are patient in times of trouble, praying at all times. You do everything possible to live in peace with everyone. You are willing to do whatever you can to support the mission of God’s church. You gladly do these things and more because your faith in Jesus has become a busy active, living thing, giving an effective living witness to the world.

No doubt there will be times when all these become good intentions that are never fulfilled and we express our disappointment as Paul did. “I know what I ought to do, but I don’t do it”. We join Paul in expressing our thanks to God for the forgiveness we have through our Lord Jesus Christ. He forgives and renews us and sends us out from here today to live our faith as we go about our daily tasks. Amen.

People have problems with God commanding Abraham to
sacrifice his only son and the willingness of Abraham to carry it out.

Scholars have debated this story;
Bible study groups have puzzled over
it;
some have dismissed it as a fictional story that foreshadows the
heavenly Father’s sacrifice of his own Son;
some have placed the story in
the too hard basket refusing to believe that God would ask anyone to do such a
thing.
Others have marvelled at Abraham’s trust in God.

Our feelings complicate things. We are horrified as Abraham
sets on his trek – Isaac beside him, wood on Isaac’s back, the pot of hot coals,
and a knife in his belt, and Isaac’s innocent question about the whereabouts of
the sacrifice.
We hold our breath as Abraham ties up his son, places him on
the wood on the altar and raises a knife to kill Isaac – or would it be better
to say Abraham is about to “murder a child”.
Then there is our sense of
relief when, at the last moment, God intervenes and stops Abraham from
completing what appears to be a senseless slaughter of his only son.

Questions rage in our minds.
What kind of God would ask
a father to sacrifice his son?
What kind of father was Abraham who was happy
to comply?
Should he really be held up as a model of faith for us
all?
This can hardly be held up as an example of child protection. If Abraham
tried this kind of stunt today he would quickly find himself labelled a monster
and locked up for a very long time.

Let’s take a closer look at this story. Firstly we need to
note how much Abraham loved his son Isaac! That boy was a true miracle baby. It
was physically impossible for a couple nudging 100 years old to bear a child.
Sarah even laughed when she was told she would become a mother. Two old gray
haired people becoming parents – that sounded just too ridiculous, too
impossible. But with God, nothing is impossible. Isaac was born – truly a gift
of God’s grace.

God had told Abraham that this boy, resting in his arms,
meant that God was keeping his promise that a great nation would come from his
descendants and that through this child would come great blessings for all
nations. We get some idea of how special Isaac was to Abraham when the writer of
this Genesis story very carefully retells God’s words emphasising that Isaac was
the delight of this old man. God called Isaac, “your
son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.”

But then came the blow! One night God came to Abraham with
an important request. “Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love. Go
to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains I will tell you about.” I can’t begin to imagine what emotions
must have surged through Abraham’s heart.

I don’t know how you would respond to a command like this,
but I know I wouldn’t have reacted as Abraham did. My reaction would be more
like, “Are you kidding, God! I’ve waited 100 years for this boy! There’s no way
I’m going to do this!”

But that’s not how Abraham responded. Incredibly we are told
he got up the next morning and saddled his donkey. He chopped the wood, got the
pot of hot coals ready, took two servants and his son, and set out for the place
where God had told him to go. Could we say at this point that he loved his son,
but he loved his heavenly Father more?

After a three-day journey they arrived at Mount Moriah.
Abraham told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go
over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

Did you catch what Abraham said? “The boy and I will go
over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.“ He
fully intended to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, but he had that remarkable faith
that believed that somehow, and he didn’t know how this would happen, both of
them would return. As Abraham and Isaac are walking, Isaac notices something is
missing. They have the fire and the wood but where is the sacrifice. Notice what
Abraham says. “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my
son.”

And that’s exactly what happened. God did provide. As he
raised his knife to kill Isaac the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham.

“Don’t hurt the boy or do anything to him. Now that I know that you have
obedient reverence for God, because you have not kept back your only son from
him.” Abraham sees a ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his
son. He names the place “The Lord
Provides.”

“The Lord provides.” This is a common theme in the Bible.
Throughout the pages of Scripture, God is portrayed as the One who sees and
cares for all of our needs.
We hear about how the very hairs on our head are
numbered.
We hear of his concern and notices when one insignificant sparrow
falls to the ground.
We hear about Daniel who is delivered from the mouths
of lions.
Gideon and the remnant of his army are rescued from their enemies.

The Israelites are saved from the Egyptians when a path is made through the
sea. And so we could go and on. The Bible is a book about how God loves and
provides for his people.

From time to time we hear how someone has questioned God and
why he hasn’t done something when things aren’t going the way they believe they
ought and they face extreme difficulties and challenges. The pain, confusion,
upset, depression, bewilderment lead many to ask, “Where are you God when I need
you the most”. The absence of God and his seeming failure to provide for their
needs has been a constant cry throughout the ages. Just take a look at the book
of Psalms, and you will hear the same questions being asked.

Is God personally involved with our lives?
We know God
is love but why don’t we see more evidence of this in our lives and in our
world?
We’ve asked God for his help and apparently he hasn’t heard us. The
same old problems just keep on plaguing us.
God is all knowing and must know
what our needs are but why won’t he actually do something to meet our needs?

We may debate and argue till the cows come home about the
God who gives Abraham a son and a promise about grandchildren and great
grandchildren, and then asks that he kill his only son and burn him on a
sacrificial altar.
We could go on for hours about how a loving God would
never ask Abraham to give up Isaac – even as a test.
We can discuss the
reason God had to test Abraham in such a cruel and heartless way.
But the
fundamental fact remains – Abraham trusted God and believed that he would
provide and he did. The Lord provided. I can hear Abraham say to Isaac when he
saw the ram caught in the bush, “See that Isaac! I told you the Lord would
provide a lamb for the burnt offering.”

God will provide. So often we act and speak as if we had to
provide. We talk as if everything depended on us. We feel that we need to have
everything under control, every angle covered. Be hardheaded. Take no risks. The
Lord helps those who help themselves, and so forth. If we wait for i-s to be
dotted and the t-s crossed before we did anything then we wouldn’t get around to
doing too much at all.

When God told Noah to build a boat – not just any boat but
one of massive proportions – do we hear of Noah wanting to know all the whys and
wherefores before he started building? This was a huge undertaking no doubt
costly in terms of the money required to buy materials, tradesmen to build such
a boat, his reputation, not to mention that according to the weather forecast
there was no rain in sight. We are simply told that Noah did as God had said.

Obedience and trust in God go hand in hand. You see,
sometimes we just have to say, “I don’t really know how this is going to turn
out, but I believe that God knows what he is doing and I trust his love for
me.”
We can be scared stiff by the personal problems that we are facing, our
financial struggles.
We can be worried about the decline in the number of
people attending worship worldwide.
We don’t know why there is such a lack
of commitment by so many people to God, his Church, and what God wants to do
through his church for the people of this community.
We can be overwhelmed by
the myriad of challenges the Lord places before us because we don’t have
resources to do what God is asking.
Our heads can swim at all the
possibilities that God has placed before this congregation that we wonder if we
will ever be able to rise to the occasion and faithfully carry out God’s
plans.

God will provide. Are we ready to say that, in full trust?
God may not meet all of our requests right now. He may not give us the people we
need to carry out certain plans right now. A certain kind of ministry may have
to be left unfulfilled until God supplies us with the right people to be able to
move forward. But God will provide. He will provide a way for his plans to be
carried out. There is little point in God giving us so many opportunities to
minister to others and leaving us high and dry to work it all out by ourselves.
By the way, this isn’t an invitation to laziness or doing nothing saying, “Let’s
not do anything until the Lord provides.” Rather an invitation to trust and be
open to the way God provides especially through us.

The God whom we serve is faithful and true. This Old
Testament event reminds us of our heavenly Father who was prepared to sacrifice
his only Son. God did not spare his own Son. Since God went to this extreme for
us, doesn’t it follow that it is not beyond God’s will and power to do extreme
things through us and for us?

The real test of love is in the sacrifice that love is
willing to make. God’s love went to the limit. He might have argued “Why should
I? They aren’t worth it.” He might have reasoned, “Why bother? They will reject
it anyway.”

Like Abraham, he took his Son – his only Son whom he loved
more dearly than Abraham could ever love Isaac – and put him on the wooden altar
shaped into a cross. His love for us compelled him to give the best he had. Love
made a Father sacrifice his Son. Don’t be surprised if love, especially love for
God, will cause you to do extreme things, to make sacrifices that you would not
have otherwise made.

What we need to see clearly is that God is working out his
purpose in our lives. What is important is his plan for us. The good news is not
that we have a wonderful plan for our lives and our church and God will help us
to accomplish it; but that God has a wonderful plan for our lives and our
church and yes he will provide a way for us to accomplish it. He knows what we
need, where we need it, and when we need it. “The Lord provides.”
Amen.

Disciple. Mathew 28:16-20

On Wednesday  night last week my son Matt and I went to an Ice Hockey linesman’s course.  The instructor asked if anyone could explain  the off-side rule.  No one wanted to risk  it; it was too complicated to explain in a short sentence, so we all sat there  with confused expressions on our faces, hoping someone else would have to  answer for us.  Most of us have been  playing the game for a number of years and see off-sides called all the time in  games, some even abuse the referee or linesmen for getting it wrong, yet when  it came to the crunch we weren’t confident enough to state the rule.

There are lots of  technical words that we use in the church perhaps without ever really unpacking  what they mean, or maybe we just think we know what they mean.  I reckon if I asked someone to explain the  term disciple to me it could be a struggle too.   Is anyone game to give it a go?

The Oxford  Dictionary lists two possibilities 1) a personal follower of  Jesus during his life, esp. one of the twelve Apostles or 2)  a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosophy.  The Free Dictionary online adds another  variation, One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of  another.

Given those  definitions, do you think that you are a disciple?  We can all rule out the first definition  given by the Oxford,  none of us were around during Jesus’ life.   We can probably manage to fit ourselves under the second version though,  we follow or are students at least of Jesus, through God’s Word, but what about  the last definition, can you say that you embrace and assist in spreading the  teachings of Jesus.  My guess is that on  the last one there are a few of us who might struggle a little.

Some might say  that’s the role of the ordained clergy and paid church workers to go out and  spread the teachings of Jesus.  That’d be  a bit of a cop out though wouldn’t it?   You see Jesus said go and make disciples of ALL nations.  Not just the Israelites, or the Romans or the  Greeks, ALL nations.  The way I read that  is that there’s a bit of a domino principle going on.  The disciples that were there with Jesus were  to go out, with the authority given to them by Jesus, to make disciples of all  nations, that is, to replicate themselves.   That’s what they were after all wasn’t it, disciples?  Go out and make some more of yourselves!  Then what will happen, those new ones will  also be commanded to obey everything that Jesus has commanded, can you see a  pattern developing here?

But how do you go  about ‘making a disciple’?  You can’t go  to the supermarket or hardware store and get a ready to make kit; it’s a bit  harder and a little more obscure than that isn’t it?

Perhaps by taking  a look at the six marks of discipleship suggested by Dr Michael Foss we might  find some answers to the how question as we look at what being a disciple  entails.  You might remember my sermon a  couple of weeks back about prayer, which is the first mark of being a disciple,  maintaining a conversation with our Lord.   The second is to spend time each week in worship, celebrating the  presence of God through Word and Sacrament in communion with fellow  believers.  Number three is reading the  Bible.  What better way is there to know  more about God and learn from him unless you read his Word that was written for  you than to read it for yourself?

The next  suggested mark of discipleship is serving in and beyond your congregation, that  is, living a life that reflects the joy and hope that you have through your  Lord and Saviour, and responding by serving others in love.  Then comes nurturing relationships with  others, having people that are important to you that care for you and that you  care for in response.  The final mark is  giving in response to God’s love of what he has first given you to support the  work of the church and other charitable organisations.

Now I’m not  saying that God is going to measure you on these things and judge you on how  well you do.  These are merely suggested  ways of living a life in response to God’s love for you, reflecting the way  that Jesus lived and allowing God into your life beyond the hour or so on a  Sunday that you might spend in a worship service.

You might also ask  why would you want to be a disciple, what’s in it for me?  It’s fairly common to want to know the answer  to the ‘what’s in it for me question’ these days isn’t it?

Let’s think about  it for a minute, our world is a difficult place to live in.  There is fear, oppression, inflation, natural  disasters, illness, interest rates are increasing, more people are defaulting  on their mortgages, and rental prices are at a record high.  Life’s tough isn’t it?  People need hope and joy in their lives,  where do you think that might come from?

Some people will  try to find it in alcohol or drugs, through sport, relationships with others or  maybe material possessions.  But you and  I know that there is something or someone better don’t we?  In our Lord and saviour Jesus we have hope,  for an eternal life, but more than that, he has promised to be with us to the  end of the age.  Unlike many people we  might have come across during our lives, he won’t reject us or double-cross us,  he has promised to love us and be with us, no matter what’s going on in our  lives.
By living as his  disciples we help him be a part of our lives, we read and hear his Word, we  receive his gifts to us through the sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, we  hear his forgiveness spoken to us through our pastor or fellow Christians, we  talk to God on a regular basis and live a life in response to all of that, with  him present with us.

So what is a  disciple?  You are, when you go home  tonight and look in a mirror, that is a disciple, you’ve bothered to come here  today and hear God’s word, pray to him and receive the Sacrament.  How do we make other disciples, by showing  God’s love to others and praying for his help to share his Word through our  lives and relationships with others, wherever that may be.  We teach and baptise and walk their journey  with them, just like others have walked the journey with us and all the while  Jesus has promised to be with us too.
Amen

WHEN GOD SPEAKS

Text: Acts 2:5-8
There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world. When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?

When travelling in non-English speaking countries, signs that have obviously been literally translated into English for visitors can be often confusing and amusing. Here are a couple of examples.

From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo, “When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigour”.

On the office of a doctor in Rome, “Specialist in women and other diseases”.

In a Greek tailor shop, “Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation”.

Making a good intelligible translation from one language to another is hard work and can be very difficulty but for the disciples on the Day of Pentecost there was no problem at all. Normally the disciples with their thick Galilean accents would have had difficulty speaking to those gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world of that time. The language barrier can be quite a difficult one to deal with. This was brought home to us when we visited the parents-in-law of our son. We arrived on their doorstep in a small village in France – we didn’t speak French and they didn’t speak English. It was hard work communicating using hand signs and thumbing through a dictionary. What a difference it made when their son arrived who could speak both French and English.

The amazing thing on Pentecost day is that the disciples didn’t need dictionaries or people to translate to find the best way to say something in a foreign language. We are told, “All of them heard the believers talking in their own languages. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, “These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?” (Acts 2:7,8).There are 3 words that describe what happened that first Pentecost Day. Heard, saw and spoke.
Firstly, those present heard a sound – they heard what sounded like a mighty rushing wind.
Secondly, they saw – they saw what appeared to be tongues of fire which spread our across the crowd and touched each person there.
And thirdly, after hearing and seeing, they spoke. They preached. They testified to the great good that God was doing among them. Jesus had said that he would send to them his Holy Spirit who would be their helper and stay with them forever.

The crowd out in the street scoffed saying, “They’re drunk!” The mob couldn’t imagine that God Almighty would use ignorant and unlearned people from the backwater of Galilee to speak the languages of those present with such skill and precision. In spite of the mockery, Peter gets up and speaks about Jesus. His sermon is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles. It’s not all that long. And yet three thousand people heard and believed and were baptised that day. The account of the Pentecost coming of the Holy Spirit concludes with the reaction of those believers. They continued to learn from the apostles, took part in fellowship meals, shared their belongings with those less fortunate, prayed together, and praised God (Acts 2:42-47).

There is a dynamic here, a powerful movement that is at the heart of the Bible’s story about who God is, who we are and what we are doing here.
The first thing we notice is how God reaches down and speaks to us. Our God is a relentlessly, unceasingly self-communicative God. There is something about God that loves to speak us, reveal his heart to us, and demonstrates a determination to get through to us with words that
express his untiring love for us,
his sacrifice for us in his son Jesus,
his dedication to rescuing us from our sinful ways,
his commitment to making sure that all people hear about the free gift of forgiveness that he offers to everyone.
Our God is one who just wants to speak to us.

A sure sign that two people are in love is that they long to be with one another. More than that, they way to talk with one another – the telephone, email, whatever – hours upon hours of talking. The talk is so important because our speech is our primary way of expressing ourselves, of sharing ourselves, giving to and receiving from others.

Every time we gather here for worship, we gather under the promise that God will speak to us. This is an important aspect of our worship services. The large part of our worship is listening to what God is saying to us.
His word of reassurance of the forgiveness of our sins,
his Word to us from the Scriptures,
his Word to us through the sermon,
his Word to us through Baptism and Holy Communion,
his Word of blessing as we leave here and face whatever the week ahead will bring.

God spoke to those gathered at the first Pentecost and he speaks to us again and again at the weekly celebration of Pentecost here at worship. We hear him speaking to us and being filled with his Spirit. What God says to us places us under the power of the Holy Spirit.

That leads me to ask then, what difference does God’s Word and his Spirit make in our lives? What are the characteristics of people under the power of the Spirit?

Spirit-filled people are people who know God’s love, they know they’re not perfect, but they know they have forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And they are able to pass that forgiveness to those who sin against them. Spirit-filled people know they have God’s power to help them and he will remain faithful and always love and care for them.

Spirit-filled people are growing people. They are continually growing in their faith, from the time of their Baptism to this day. They seek out every opportunity to discover Christ, and what it means to be children of God. They can’t get enough of hearing God speak to them.

Spirit-filled people are changed people. Through God’s Word and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit wants to bring a change into our lives. He wants to come into our lives to bring light into our darkness; to turn our death into life; to change our lives from sin-filled to Spirit-filled. Every day Spirit-filled people try to live in their baptism. Daily they listen as the Holy Spirit reminds them, woos them, and persuades them through the Word of God. When the Word of God is heard the Holy Spirit draws us closer to God, brings us to repentance, to an assurance of the love of God for us and turns our lives around. He changes our direction!

Spirit-filled people have a new language. I don’t mean they go around speaking pious sounding words all day or use the name of Jesus in every other sentence. What I mean, Spirit-filled people speak words that heal and restore and make people happy and build people up instead of tearing them down. They speak a good word to our world, the good news about a crucified and risen Saviour.

Spirit-filled people are moved to love those around them. They are given a new outlook on the problems and the needs of other people and are happy to help and care for others. Spirit-filled people reflect the love of God into the lives of the people around them. This is how Paul described Spirit-filled people and how he saw the Spirit active in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.Spirit-filled people want to share what Jesus means to them. The news about Jesus is too good not tell. This is something we can do on our local scene, as we go about our work, or talk to our neighbour over the back fence, let’s not be afraid to let people know that Jesus is someone special to you.

Spirit-filled people are concerned about the concerns of God.
Is God concerned about the way we are destroying our world? Spirit-filled people are!
Does God care for the starving, the dying, the homeless, the sick? Spirit-filled people are!
Is God concerned about those who don’t know of his love? Spirit-filled people are!

Spirit-filled people are praying people. Paul encourages us, “Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray for all God’s people” (Eph 6:18). It is the Spirit who gives us a child’s confidence to go to our heavenly Father in prayer. It is the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness … and intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” It is the Spirit who enables us to pray the most unlikely prayers in the face of suffering, on the battlefield, here in worship and at the kitchen table. Spirit-filled people “take everything to God in prayer.”Spirit-filled people are worshipping people. In Philippians we read, “We worship God by means of his Spirit…(3:3). We have been saved by Jesus our Saviour and daily we experience the blessings of the Holy Spirit as he leads us to change the direction of our lives and assures us of the love and forgiveness of God. Spirit-filled people join with fellow Spirit-filled people of the body of Christ to give thanks and praise to the God who has done to so much for them.

Spirit-filled people are praising people. There is nothing more that we could ask of God. We haven’t done anything to deserve it but he has given us everything.

As you have listened to God’s Word to you about the Spirit-filled life, I’m sure your response is much the same as mine.
God has spoken but I haven’t been listening.
God has been giving me directions but I have chosen to ignore them.
God has kept on speaking, speaking and speaking to me about his love and his plan for my life and I still I don’t get it.

The longest word in the English language is “pneumono-ultra-microscopic-silico-volcano-coniosis,” which describes a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of volcanic matter or a similar fine dust. An even longer word, nearly 100 letters long, was used by James Joyce in his book ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ (1939). He created it to describe a thunderclap at the beginning of the story: (not even going to try to say it) bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuvarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk.”

The words that God speaks to us are much simpler than that. “You are my child. I have sent you my Son and given you my Spirit that you may believe and have eternal life”.
Amen.

Luke 19_11-27 A king’s treasury

I had to go to the dentist the other day.  I hate going to the dentist for a number of reasons, but one reason sticks out more than any others.  All your hidden sins of eating sugary foods when no one was looking, and then not cleaning your teeth, are all revealed in the moment when the dentist opens you moth and takes a look!  There I am, sitting in the waiting room, waiting.  Waiting for my time of reckoning when the dentist will see what I have been hiding from the world.  And while I’m waiting, I see a plaque on the wall (no pun intended) that caught my attention; it read “You don’t have to clean every tooth, just the ones you want to keep!”  As if I wasn’t feeling guilty enough!  These dentists sure know how to lay it on.

You don’t have to clean every tooth, just the ones you want to keep!  How true is that!  No one can force you to stop eating bad foods, no one can stop you from being lazy and make you clean your teeth, its just that if you don’t, well, you will lose what was given to you.

Jesus intends to give a similar message in telling the parable of the minas; a parable about a great noble man who has many subjects and who is going away to become king.  Before he leaves however, he entrusts 10 slaves, each with a mina, to do business until he returns.  The time of reckoning comes, when the noble man returns now as king.  He demands an accounting of each salve’s mina, asking what they have done to increase the gift they were given by him.  Like a dentist asking you to open your mouth, and demanding a look, the slaves had to open their wallets so the king could take a look.

To those who had used the mina given to them to make more, the king entrusts them with even more, doubling their use of the kingdom’s wealth, but to the one who did nothing, even the gift was taken away and given to those who had been given more.  As Jesus says “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.”  Like the plaque on the wall of the dentist waiting room that read ‘You don’t have to clean every tooth, just the ones you want to keep!’  You don’t have to use every gift of the king, just the ones you want to keep!

There are two themes to the parable that are running consecutively.  The first and primarily theme is, that the noble man goes away and becomes king, and secondly, that he gives gifts to be used and returns to call for an account from his servants.  Jesus tells the parable as he is entering Jerusalem to be betrayed by Judas, crucified, and buried.  He tells the parable to all who had gathered, because he can see that they were planning to make him king now, through an insurrection.  Yes, Jesus fitted the criteria, he was of noble birth, in the family linage of King David, but as Jesus said to Pilate just days later “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

In the parable, Jesus is picturing himself as a noble man who is to be crowned king, and his kingdom which is heaven, is the faraway place that he must go to and then return.  St Paul, in Philippians chapter 2 speaks of Jesus’ kingdom and how it is not of this world ‘For [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,’ and how Jesus is king above all other kings, ‘God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,’ 

This is the context from which we can begin to understand and apply the parable to our life.  We need to know that Jesus has been crowned with glory and all authority has been given over to him.  He has been crowned king through his going away; his travel to the far away land; through his birth as a man, his death for our sins, and his resurrection for our justification.  And now his kingdom reigns in grace and forgiveness.   We gladly hear and believe this, not so we can lord it over others, demanding submission and surrender to Jesus, demanding that Jesus rules as king in our hearts through new laws and commands, as though Moses didn’t quite get the 10 commandments right. 

No, we need to know that Jesus’ kingship is good news, the gospel, because as King, Jesus now gives us his kingdom, so we can rule together with him in grace and forgiveness, love and servant hood, as St Paul in Romans 14:17 says “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  We need to know this so that we are not disciples of Jesus like the third slave who said “I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.”

What the final slave said was true, God is to be feared, as the prophet Nahum declares “The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it.  Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.”  His wrath and anger against our sins has already been poured out upon his Son Jesus; the prophet Nahum calls out “who can endure God’s fierce anger”…Jesus did.  His death was a result of God’s anger; the sun was blacked because of his anger; the earth quaked and the Temple stones shattered before him, because of his anger.  But what shattered the devil and shook hell was the final word of good news from the cross “it is finished.”

God’s anger has been dished out.  The kingdom of his Son now reigns in peace, as Jesus said after his resurrection ‘peace be with you.’  Jesus now bespeaks to us the gifts of his kingdom, which is his righteousness.  We are declared righteous, spoken righteous, or given righteousness as a gift through the proclamation of the gospel and through the receiving of baptism and Holy Communion, and we take hold of this by faith, trusting God at his word.  God’s word and sacraments, our righteousness and even faith, are the gifts of Jesus’ kingdom, or the mina given to each servant, as Jesus alluded to in the parable.  St Paul says this very thing in 2 Corinthians 5:21 21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In Australian’s iconic movie ‘The Castle”, Darryl Kerrigan, played by Michael Caton, is a proud dad.  Every time he is given a gift by his children, he says… “This is going straight to the pool room.”  In other words, the gift is too good to be used, it might get damaged, or lost; its best left only for display.  The gifts of Jesus are not to be treated in the same way, as Jesus explains in the parable; “he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.” 

The gifts of the kingdom, God’s word, the sacraments, forgiveness, mercy and peace are to be put to work.  They are not dust collecting relics to be on display in some archaic Cathedral.  Nor is our righteousness in Christ to be hidden away, like a mina in a handkerchief, for fear that God will be angry with us if we mix with the wrong crowd, or dare to do what Jesus did ‘eat and drink with sinners.

 God is reckless with his gifts.  “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”  And in the parable of the vineyard workers, the owner replies to complaints about his generosity by saying “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”  We are called to be salt and light of the earth; gift givers, slaves to righteousness, as Paul encourages us “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”  This is what Jesus means in the parable by asking his slaves to put the gift of the mina to work.  The gift is God’s to give, and the gift is what does the work, we are simply asked to put it to work.  So when Christ returns, we too will hear our king say to us “Well done, my good servant!‘ 

Amen

Luke 21_5-19 I got a plan

Begin by showing a video clip (or slides) of people who said “I got a plan”

Just because we got a plan, doesn’t mean we will get the results we expected.  It is said that “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”  And yes, that is true in many ways.  However, as you saw on the power point, our plans often come undone by unexpected results! In fact the opposite of what we expected can happen, and when they do, we think all is lost.

The disciples were marvelling at the great Temple in Jerusalem.  They would have been impressed by how each giant stone was intricately placed, one upon another, layer upon layer, just as planned.  Each stone a testimony to the detail that went into its planning and how all this great work was all dedicated to God.  Things were also going to plan for the disciples.  Their plan to leave everything and follow Jesus, were going well.  They were becoming well known, Jesus was having an impact upon the established religious orders, and many others were dedicating their lives to Jesus as their Messiah.  Surely, you do your best and God will do the rest.

God did indeed do the rest, but God does not stick to our plan.  In fact, he does it all.  The Temple which the disciples admired so greatly, saying how it was all dedicated to God, was destroyed only a few years later, as Jesus foretold “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”  The disciple’s plans for Jesus also soon tumbled.  When Peter witnessed Jesus being whipped and beaten, his plan “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”, fell in a heap, denying knowing him three times.  And the rest of the disciples ran in fear of their lives from the garden of Gethsemane. 

Their plans backfired and came to nothing, because Jesus had other plans.  In the middle of everything falling apart, they must have been wondering what could come of all this; where is God in all this; how could God be working to plan through their crucified and dying Lord?  We now know and believe, and have the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the very words of those disciples who endured their plans being destroyed, as Jesus hung on the cross, that God, through the cross and suffering of his Son Jesus, was indeed working according to plan.  In the midst of their confusion, the prophetic words of Isaiah were being fulfilled “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

In the very midst of our unravelling plans and hopes, God works wonders, and not only that, he also thrusts us into his plan of salvation, as Jesus did for the criminal in the midst of his failed plans “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

God’s plan and vision to redeem the world of sin, death and the devil was originally cast in the midst of Adam and Eve’s toppled plan to be like God.  It was right in the middle of their hopelessness and confusion, that God thrust Adam and Eve into his plan and said to the devil “the child of the woman will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  God’s plan of salvation was recast when Joseph’s brother’s plan to kill him by selling him as a salve toppled.  God, through Joseph explains, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”    

We like Adam and Eve, like Joseph’s brothers, and like the disciples, all have plans for our life and plans for others; plans for the way we think God can and should work in our life and in the life of others.  How often have your plans worked out just as you anticipated, and prayed for?  Whose walk with the Lord has workout exactly as you thought the day of your confirmation?  What about the plans you had or still have for your children…have they grown up and made the choices and lived the lives just as you wanted?  What about you own life, would you say “yep!  Just as I planned.”  

And the plans we have for our church.  We could almost say, “what haven’t we planned and tried?” Surely God wants to work through our ministry and bring about his purposes of salvation through our plans and visions.  Yet right at this point, I together with you, am thinking “We had a plan Lord, why is it seem like it is toppling, why has it changed?”  

Wouldn’t things work out better if only God stuck to our plans?

This is the problem we have with God…he seems to say one thing and do another.  To us, he is a God of paradoxes, of contradictions.  God says one thing in Jeremiah 29: 11 “I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Yet many who heard that message died in exile, never to see a future.  And even today this promise is spoken to Christians being persecuted, tortured and even killed for their faith in Jesus…yet where is their hope and future?  Stephen was chosen by God to be a herald to the good news of Jesus, that he died and rose again to pay for the sins of the world, yet he was only days into his ministry when some men stoned him to death during his maiden speech.

(Video if works) Martin Luther King, after a famous speech about his plan for equality between blacks and whites, was assassinated the next day.  Many black people in America at that time would have been calling to God, asking “why…how can this be, we had plans.”  Yet, look what has happened, look what God has achieved in the midst of death and toppled plans.   

In today’s gospel reading Jesus reveals how God’s plan to prosper us, and to bring hope to others through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is often enacted in the midst of our failed and toppling plans.  The disciples are planning for glory, admiring the Temple, however, Jesus warns them saying “the time will come when not one stone will be left on another.”  God’s salvation comes through another way and the cross of Jesus shows this, when he made satisfaction for the sins of the world, then rose in glory on the third day. 

It is often in and through our own suffering and the toppling down of our selfish plans and desires that God brings change, hope and salvation to us, and others we never even imagined.  It is in the breaking down of our plans that God’s plan is enacted and we are thrust into his plan of salvation, as witnessed throughout the bible.   Jonah had a plan.  There was no way he was going to call the Ninevites to repentance.  Even when he was cast over board in the storm, did you know that Jonah’s admission that God was to blame for all the trouble, the sailors then repented and believed?  “At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.”

The gospel speaks most clearly into our lives and to the lives of others when we are embroiled in the unexpected.  Have you thought about this?  John the Baptist got it, when his disciples complained that everyone was suddenly going over to Jesus, John said “He must become greater; I must become less.” 

The writer of Hebrews says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  And there is no better time to have faith than when we do not see how our plans can work, when we do not see how God could be at work; there is no better time to expect God‘s plan of salvation to be working in and through our lives, than in the midst of our own tumbling down plans.  For right in the midst of what we think is a disaster and an end, God thrusts us into his plan, giving us, as Jesus promises, the words to say at this time  “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”  Jesus says he will give us his words, when our own have failed; that he will give us his wisdom when our own wisdom has failed.

He has a plan when our plans fail.

Amen

Luke 18_9-14 Polishing or being renewed.

Who loves shiny chrome?  I went to the “Show and shine” car show here in Dubbo yesterday, and yes, there was plenty of chrome on display.  Here are two ornaments that used to look shiny and bright, but are now tarnished. 
Their appeal and beauty have faded as the metal beneath the chrome breaks down due to the effects of rust.  It is simply dying from the inside out.  Being the precious objects they are, we want to save don’t we?  There are two options we have.  Firstly, we could polish the outer chrome like this (polish), there!  To everyone this now looks great.  I can even see my face beaming in the Holden badge!  But is polishing the outside chrome really the solution?  What is going on underneath?  Yes, the metal is still being eaten away by the rust.  It looks good, but underneath, it is rotten.

The other option is to strip off the chrome, rub back the metal, so that all the rust is taken out (rub the metal back to reveal the new metal).  This is a more difficult solution, its messy, it looks like we are wrecking the ornament, but it is the best option.  We are removing the source of the rot, and we can then resurface the metal and it will last a lifetime. 

Luke writes, Jesus observed people “were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.”  We are not told by Luke where Jesus saw such displays, but going by his parable, he most likely witnessed it within the context of worship.  Jesus must have observed how some, when gathered together for worship, treated this time in the presence of God, as an opportunity to show and shine; to parade their polished religious lives for all to see and admire; to show and shine before God and others, just how morally good religion has made them.  Jesus is angered by such polished behaviour, particularly in the temple, for it is his Father’s house, and as Jesus said a little later, while overturning the tables of the money changers, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ ” 

He begins a spiritual cleansing of his temple by telling a parable about a polished Pharisee praying in the temple for all to see.  Note the amount of references to himself “God, I thank you that I am not like other men– robbers, evildoers, adulterers– or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”  Yes, he was a super shiny, sleek religious man, so much so, he could see himself reflected in everything he did.

Then Jesus turns the parable away from the bright and shiny, to a dull looking man, a tax collector, a sinner, whose life was far from polished, in fact you could say it was very religiously rusty.  “The tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  Yet, Jesus concludes that this man went away from God’s presence forgiven, while the Pharisee, even though he led a good life, went away unforgiven.

Both men desired to be accepted by God, but only one man, the rusty sinner, went away forgiven; Why?  Why was Abel’s offering to God accepted, yet Cain’s wasn’t?  Why was Peter forgiven for denying Jesus, but Judas wasn’t?  Is God at fault for this abnormality, or does God simply arbitrarily predestine some to eternal damnation and others to eternal life?  No, the problem is not with God, it is with us.  Jesus tells this parable to show that being religiously nice and shiny, well-polished on the outside does not cover the rot that is going on in the inside; it is the rot that needs to be dealt with, and that can only happen by God’s doing.   

The problem lies with us because we confuse law and gospel.  We make the law into something that can save us and the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, into something we must do.  Jesus’ depiction of the Pharisee praying about his polished obedience to God’s commandments, as something that would earn him favour before God, is a good example of how we wrongly use God’s commandments.  He uses the commandments, particularly “you shall not steal, you shall not murder” and the sixth commandment “you shall not commit adultery”, to polish himself up, to make himself look squeaky clean before God and other worshippers. Like me polishing the outside of this ornament, it looks good, but underneath is where the problem really lies; it is the rusting metal causing the tarnish. 

We are the same, we can look good by polishing ourselves with keeping the commandments, doing good and holy things, but underneath, our sinful nature taints all we do; everything, we do apart from Christ, God still sees as sinful, as King David declares “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  And as Jesus says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”  Simply using the commandments to polish up on our morals, thinking our religious life merits God’s approval, only exacerbates our problem, only causes our sin to rage all the more under the guise of good deeds.

Had the Pharisee used the commandments as a tool to reveal the rot of sin underneath, like the tax collector obviously did, then he would have joined him, beating his breast, pleading ‘‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  He would have known that underneath his polished life was a robber, an evil doer and an adulterer.  Had he have been humbled by the law, like the tax collector, he would have realised he was really the robber.  What was he robbing?  By boasting in his own glory, he was robbing God of all the glory that is due to him!

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows us the right way to use the commandment, not to polish our works, but to reveal sin.  Jesus applies the commandments in such a way that none of us could ever keep them. “”You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Luther called the unachievable demands of God, the proper use of the law, or the spiritual use and taught that rather than making us shining Christians, the law always accuses us.  Applying the commandments to ourselves in this way, is the right way, because it cuts back our glossy exterior to reveal the rot inside; it causes us to cry out, as we do in the liturgy “Lord have mercy.”  We should feel more sinful than ever before, and that’s good!  Luther in his commentary on Galatians writes “But you say ‘How can I be holy when I have sin and am aware of it?’  “That you feel and acknowledge sin – this is good.  Thank God, and do not despair.  It is one step toward health when a sick man admits and confesses his disease.”  “But how will I be liberated from sin?”  Run to Christ, the Physician, who heals the contrite heart and saves sinners.”

The tax collector, beating his chest, ashamed of his sin, is the one who went home justified that day.  He placed all hope on Christ who said “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  He knew that only the gospel of Jesus can save, the law has no place and no part in the justification of sinners before God.  He knew that faith alone in Christ alone saves.  The good news is that we now are in the right place.  That Christ is hear, bidding us to come to him, to place our faith in these little words “your sins are forgiven.”  No more is needed for salvation, if there was, it would not be the gospel, but the law.

The right distinction between law and gospel is of utmost importance for the comfort of our soul; to have the assurance of salvation and the certainty that we will be welcomed into heaven when we die.  Yet to understand and to remember the right use of the commandments and the gospel is as easy as remembering the distinction between polishing and stripping.  To polish ourselves with keeping the commandment, is only to cover up sin, and that is the wrong use, just as it is wrong to polish a rusting hubcap.  To strip ourselves of all pride, by letting the commandments accuse us to reveal our sinful nature, is the right way; just as it is right to strip back a rusting cap to reveal the bare metal.

When this is done, then the ointment that cures the rust can be added.  In the same way, once the law has done its work on us, Jesus pours on the healing ointment of the gospel, which cures us of the guilt of our sin.   Jesus beckons you to hear and believe the ointment of his word, that heals, forgives and restores “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”