Second Sunday after Epiphany Year B
There’s a Christian Mission & Evangelism phrase that goes, “Come and see Jesus.” The Lutheran Church of Australia even produced a Sunday School curriculum with that very title. While this phrase is biblical (John 1:46), we must recognize that there is always a gracious precursor in the calling of any and all disciples, whether it be 2000 years ago or today. What is this gracious precursor? This gracious precursor is the fact that Jesus sees them first. As St Matthew records, ’As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galillee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew…Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John (Mtt. 4:18a, 21a). And Jesus revealed his divinity by telling Nathanael that he saw him while he was still under the fig-tree before Philip called him to "come and see". That's someone only God can do. God, in Christ, has seen you from all eternity. And even though you do not see him in a physical body, Jesus sees you in your loneliness, in your grief, in your misery, in your emptiness, in your worry, in your guilt or shame, and calls you out of the darkness to follow him as the Light of life.
Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Jesus said, ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (John 15:13).
Once upon a time someone had to be raised from the dead to fill a church to overflowing! Now it only takes someone to die to fill it (i.e. at a funeral service). That is a common experience for us in the West where the social gospel has supplanted the true gospel that names sin, as sin, and preaches forgiveness of it, in Christ alone.
The social gospel promised to widen the local congregation’s circle of friends. Instead, it has narrowed it and it is squeezing it into irrelevance.
Without ever giving up on the marginalized and downtrodden in society, for that would be un-Christian, St Paul reminds all friends of Jesus, saying, ‘I remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved … I delivered to you as of the first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.’ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). No law or good work can transform any society. Only the gospel of forgiveness can do such a wonderful thing.
The Epiphany of our Lord
In the beautiful 17th century English Christmas Carol "The First Nowell" we sing:
This star drew nigh to the north-west
o'er Bethlehem it took its rest,
and there it did both stop and stay
right over the place where Jesus lay.
This star did lead the Magi to a certain town, but was it Bethlehem? Jeffrey A. Gibbs, amongst other Biblical scholars I'm sure, suggests otherwise:
The Magi saw a unique star and God somehow reveals its importance to them. But a comparison of verses 7 and 16 of chapter 2 suggests that the star appeared about two years before they arrived in Jerusalem. So assuming the star first appeared when Jesus was born, his birth may have occurred as much as two years before the Magi arrived in Jerusalem. That assumption is also consistent with Matthew's following references to Jesus as a "child" rather than as a baby ... Even though Herod sent the Magi toward Bethlehem (Mt 2:8), "after they had heard the king they went and - look - the star, which they had seen in its rising, began to lead the way for them until it came and stood above where the child was" (2:9), in Nazareth. If the holy family had still been in Bethlehem at that time, the guiding star would have been superfluous ... and that it took the star to lead the Magi to Jesus suggests that he was not in the expected place (pg 148, "Matthew 1:1-11:1" Concordia Commentary, CPH, 2006).
Perhaps then that verse of "The First Nowell" should read:
This star drew nigh to the north-west
o'er Nazareth it took its rest,
and there it did both stop and stay
right over the place where Jesus played.
However factually inaccurate "The First Nowell" at some points might be, we shouldn't right it off nor perhaps even dare change it. "The First Nowell" ends with the words:
Then let us all with one accord
sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
who has made heaven and earth of nought
and with his blood mankind has bought.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell
born is the king of Israel.
This beautiful Christmas carol finishes on the right note, excuse the pun. Christ Jesus came as a baby into the world to live as man on the earth and to die and rise again so that we can sing with one accord praises to the newborn king. That is the climax of our Epiphany story of the "Visit of the Magi." They bowed down and worshipped him. What a privilege it is for us, along with all the Gentile nations to bow down and worship the King of Kings who laid down his life for the whole world! With those Magi we can have great joy at the Epiphany of our Lord.
Not all prayer has been made illegal!
St Paul urges, 'that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness' (1 Tim 2:1-2). It's getting harder to live a peaceful and quiet life. Christianity is being driven out of schools, the unborn are becoming more and more insignificant in the eyes of law makers, and now a law has been passed that criminalizes you if you dare even pray for a church member, or even your own child, who is struggling with who they are as a human being. So now, more than ever, goes out the call to pray for those who are taking away your peace and quiet. According to the law of the land, (i.e. 'Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020' that recently passed and was made law in Victoria, but has national implications) you cannot pray for a certain sector of the community. It's now deemed illegal to do so. The State government has nullified the 'all people' part of St Paul's exhortation. However, there is no law of the land stopping you praying, 'for kings and all those in authority,' that is, for those very people making such novel laws and attempting to take away your peace and quiet. Jesus himself directs you to this cause, saying, 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you' (Lk 6:27-28). It may not restore your peace and quiet this side of the grave, but your good deeds will shine the light of Christ more brightly into an ever darkening world.
Transforming Anxiety into Prayer
‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ (1 Pet 5:7).
‘In seeking to transform anxiety into prayer, it is not simply a matter of talking to God instead of talking to ourselves, for that may simply result in talking anxiously to God. Rather we are challenged to recognize the limitations of our worrying and the possibilities of what trusting prayer can do,’ says Charles Ringma in ‘Seize the Day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’ (Pinon Press, Colorado, 2000).
Praying to God is good. It is commanded. It is relational. But St Peter doesn’t say ‘just talk to God about your concerns and whatever makes you anxious.’ Rather he says, ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’ He uses the word meaning ‘to cast’ or equally ‘to throw.’ When you throw a ball it is no longer in your possession. Someone else must catch it. So St Peter is saying, ‘Throw your anxiety to Jesus.’ The point is not to throw the cause of your anxiety away, in order to get rid of it, but rather to handball your concerns that arise from day-to-day to Jesus. Why? Two reasons. First, because your cares are always His cares. And second, in handballing your concerns to Jesus, you show him that you trust him to do something, in His good time, for your good and the good of those whom you’ve brought to him in prayer.
Where's the Fourfold Compensation!
King David said, "He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity" (2 Sam. 12:6).
King David abused his position of power and authority by taking Bathsheba from her husband. He sinned further by organizing her husband's death on the battlefield. Using a parable, the prophet Nathan confronted King David with his sins. Before he realized Nathan was referring to his own actions, King David brought down an appropriate compensation for such sins (from Exodus 22:1). He said, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity (2 Sam 12:5b-6). A thousand years later lived another man, named Zacchaeus. He came to the same conclusion regarding an appropriate compensation for his own sin of fraud.
Both King David and Zacchaeus are recorded to repent of their sins. Psalm 51 records King David's godly sorrow, while Zacchaeus' actions are the fruit of repentance. "Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount" (Luke 19:8).
The Bible tells us that godly sorrow over sin (2 Cor. 7:10) comprises three parts 1. contrition, 2. belief that Christ Jesus forgives sins, & 3. fruit.
In all the mainstream media reporting on the Church's response to sexual abuse, I have not heard or read that victims have been compensated fourfold. I ask the question - Why not? What's an appropriate punishment for a person or institution guilty of taking away the dignity and the basic human right (of not to be abused) of the little lambs given into their care? I personally don't know how you put a value on that which is priceless? In his own circumstance, King David knew what was required of him - he deserved death and a fourfold compensation payout to his victims! The following statement in brackets may need more investigation, but was this fourfold punishment metered out in King David's own lifetime? - (that King David outlived, 1. the unnamed child with Bathsheba, 2. Amnon, 3. Absalom & 4. Adonijah). He buried for sons – fourfold punishment?
Whatever dollar amount or other way of compensation that is agreed upon, shouldn't the Church then multiply it by a factor of four? Haven't we got Biblical precedents for such action? Why has the church responded in a worldly way? Why can't the Church respond according to her own standards? (2 Sam. 12:6; Luke 19:8). If only the Church believed she was redeemed by the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, then, and only then might she be free (vs. fearful) to confess, to be forgiven, and to bear fruit in accordance with repentance. It's way past time for the Church to respond accordingly to her heinous crimes committed against her precious little lambs and the sheep in her care (Mtt. 3:8)!
Mary of Bethany, Model of Faith – Found at Jesus' Feet.
The student of the Gospels observes the deep devotion of Mary of Bethany to her Lord – being found at the feet of Jesus, again, and again, and again. In the family home, Mary is found, ‘at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said’ (Luke 10:39). And amid the frustrations and distractions of daily domestic life, Jesus said, ‘Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’ (Lk 10:42).
The second time we see her devotion is during the episode of her brother being raised from the dead. We read, ‘… her sister called her aside. ‘The Teacher is here,’ she said, ‘and is asking for you.’ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him…. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ (John 11:28-29,32).
And what part of Jesus’ body does Mary anoint in preparation for his burial? We read, ‘Mary took about half a litre of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair…’ (Jn 12:3).
Mary heard Jesus teach about the kingdom of God and saw it come into being in the dead being raised. Her Lord gave her the faith to trust, that although he would die at the hands of sinners, having those then bloodied feet nailed to a cross, that he would likewise be raised to the glory of the Father.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: Where is the model of faith found? At the Lord’s feet in devotion! Mary of Bethany, Model of Faith – Found at Jesus' Feet.
A Reality Check!
After a reality check, the so-called Prodigal Son of Luke 15:11-32 returned to his father, rehearsing his speech all the way as he went along, "I'm so sorry; but let me work it off for you... ...Let me work my way back into the family, into your love, into your good books. Allow me to get my status and privileges back through my own efforts" (Lk 15:19).
But before he could finish this rehearsed apology, his father had run out to meet him, had grasped him in the most affectionate of embraces, had ordered the best robe for him, a ring for his finger, new sandals for his feet and the fattened calf to be slaughtered so that the grandest feast could be enjoyed by all. And in his delight, the Father was heard saying, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found" (Lk 15:24).
God, the Father welcomes back the Prodigal as a son, not as a hired-hand. If you have strayed from God, your heavenly Father will not receive you back as anything but cherished sons and daughters. Don’t try to work for what the Father freely offers. Just return to him and let him delight over you; for what was lost is now found.
You complete me.
‘God placed all things under Jesus’ feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way’ (Ephesians 1:22-23).
“It takes billions of people to complete the world but it only takes you to complete me,” wrote a lovesick fiancé to his fiancée. In our sin-sick world, this kind of singular devotion shown towards one other person is to be applauded. But when an eternal truth is distilled from, what many might label as just a “soppy saying,” we may be able to appreciate more the inseparableness of Jesus and his Church.
In Ephesians 1:22-23, St Paul reveals the eternal truth that Jesus completes the Church, as her head, just as the Church completes him, as his body. What makes every Bridegroom, a Bridegroom, is his Bride. Each body needs a head, just as every head needs a body. And every mediator needs a middle place to intercede. In Christ alone, the Church has her fullness, as he is able to fulfil all in all (1 Cor 15:28).
To the Church, Jesus says, “You complete me!” But what is most remarkable is that he says it to, not a faithful Bride, but to an unfaithful one. For she can only respond to Jesus with the same declaration of love, saying, “You complete me!” because he, ‘fills everything in every way,’ as her head, Bridegroom and Mediator. He forgives her iniquities. He washes her clean. He cancels, not the Wedding, but rather the consequences of her adultery. His love is so great that he pursues his unfaithful Bride, always desiring her, and only her. He is ever calling her back to him, always announcing, “You complete me!”
A fresh look at What Comes Naturally.
‘If anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me’ (Mark 8:34).
Jesus’ words cut right against the grain of our instincts! To the natural mind, these words don’t make sense! They didn’t make sense to St Peter when they were first revealed to him either! Ironically, he had just confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, but he didn’t understand that to be the Messiah meant to go to the cross. Instinctively, Peter rebuked him and said, ‘Lord, this shall never happen to you!’ Instinctively, it doesn’t make sense to us either. How can we deny ourselves when our instincts urge us to allow, ‘sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like’ amongst us? (Gal 5:19-21a) How can we take up our cross, when instinctively, we try at all costs to avoid it?
Jesus Christ calls us to, ‘Repent and believe the good news!’ (Mk 1:15) Godly sorrow over our sins and faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins comes only by the grace of God that is revealed in the cross! This is the great mystery of the Christian Faith! For the failure of the cross is where we find the victory of God in Christ Jesus. Ironically, the very thing that threatens to take our life, that is, the cross, will in the end give us a full and true life in God. As St Paul says, ‘What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life’ (Romans 6:1-4).
As we live this new life, ‘by faith, and not by sight,’ (2 Cor 5:7) we are called to deny our instincts a foothold. In other words, we must all become something different from what we are now and act in a different way. St Paul says, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Rom 12:2). Only by God’s grace, revealed in the cross of Jesus, can we become different people and begin to act in ways that cut across the grain of our natural instincts.
A fresh look at the teachers of the law and the Pharisees.
John 8:3-6 ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.’
You may expect a devotion like this to highlight the woman caught in adultery, but she happens to be quite incidental to this text. For the reader is told that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees were using the occasion to try and trap Jesus in his response. So they, and not the woman are the primary candidates for your attention.
The account continues: ‘When they kept on questioning him, [Jesus] straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there’ (Jn 8:7-9).
Notice how the older men are the first to leave. Why do the older men feel the effect of Jesus’ response first? Do we see in them what went on inside Job? In his consternations Job said to God, ‘For you write down bitter things against me and make me reap the sins of my youth’ (Job 13:26). Job looks back to his days of his youth, and while we may not be able to exactly equate his situation with John 8, the link is that the older men in John 8 are the first to acknowledge that they are not without sin. Therefore, Jesus’ response humbles them one by one: eldest to youngest.
To borrow Bible Commentator Matthew Henry’s thoughts, “…when God writes ‘bitter things against you’, His intention is not to condemn you, but rather to make you take ownership of your moral failings and have you remember the seriousness of your sin, but all in order to bring you to repentance and faith in His Son.” In doing so, Jesus will transform your mind in the manner of his instruction to the woman: ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ (Jn 8:11).
A fresh look at the widow’s mite.
Luke 21:1-4: ‘As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’
Generosity is to be lauded, but this sad account is not demonstrating generous giving. It is not a parable from which a truth is being hidden to the world, yet revealed to those with ears to hear. Nor is a positive command or principle being elucidated. Rather, it’s a straight forward account of corruption and extortion being conducted by the very people God chose and the institution he established to look after the poor, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner in the land. The prophet Zechariah said, ‘Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other’ (Zech 7:10). And Moses said, ‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow’ (Deut 27:19).
Luke 21:1-4 is to be heard in the context of Jesus’ lament over what had become of his chosen people. He said, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing’ (Lk 13:34). And it is to be heard in the context of the previous chapter, where we hear Jesus’ indictment against the Establishment. He said, ‘They devour widows’ houses… These men will be punished most severely’ (Lk 20:47).
So as Jesus looks up and sees the very person, that the Temple and religion was to protect and support, hand over ‘all she had to live on,’ He is certainly not applauding the situation, but rather considering the whole event as deplorable. The widow hands over, ‘all she had to live on’ and seals her fate: she will return home and die. No Temple authority stopped her. None were willing to right the wrong. And the judgment ensures! For as if in His very next breath, Jesus says, ‘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’ (Lk 21:6).
The Church at Prayer
St Paul writes, ‘I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
“The devil fears a roof of thatch beneath which the church is at prayer more than he does a splendid church in which many masses are celebrated” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
In his ‘Seize the Day’ devotion book, Charles Ringma writes, “When a church is at prayer much can happen, but this can only take place when the church’s prayer has to do with an earnest seeking of God’s will. Little happens when it seeks God’s blessing only for itself. However, transformative prayer occurs when the congregation moves from the struggle of inner concerns to the quietude of surrender to God and the kind of activism that commits them to do what God asks of them.”
I AM Your National Security
‘Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation’ (Isaiah 12:2).
The 2016-17 Australian Defence Force budget is $3,240,000,000. The 2016-17 Immigration and Border Protection Budget is $6,861,790,000. That’s a large expenditure! I make no comment as to the validity of this expenditure, but rather make the point that is costs a lot to purchase protection. It costs a lot to feel safe. But do you feel safe? Will the expenditure of $10,101,790,000 this financial year make you feel any safer than last year? I wonder what Australians need to spend to make themselves feel truly safe? We are about to spend $10 billion. If we are still not feeling safe by the end of the financial year, I wonder will $50 billion achieve a satisfactory level of safety? I wonder how much it will really cost us so that we can all sleep in peace and live in safety?
In his days of wisdom King Solomon said, ‘whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm’ (Proverbs 1:33). But I wonder what his Combined National Defence & Border Protection Budget was? Decades prior, when the citizens of Israel were desperate to have a king to rule over them like the other nations had a king to rule over them, Samuel said this, ‘This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: he will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plough his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves’ (1 Samuel 8:10-17). Cost a bit didn’t it! And subsequently Israel’s history proved that it cost a great deal to usurp the Lord their God as their King in favour of an earthly king! The Israelites were never truly safe after they abandoned their Ruler and King! King David got close to providing them with true safety, but this only lasted a couple of generations. The united nations of Israel and Judah had a period of safety only because David walked in obedience to the Lord and kept his decrees and commands (1 Kings 3:14). Most other kings did not follow in David’s footsteps!
Even with a large combined Defence & Border Protection Budget, Israel and then Judah were invaded and overrun by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Why didn’t the large Budget expenditure keep them safe? It was because they had abandoned him who was their true National Security! God’s history of salvation proved that a Defence & Border Protection Budget wasn’t necessary when his people trusted that God alone was their strength and shied (Ps 115:9-11).
Am I saying that Australia can scrap its Defence Force and Border Protection Agency? Well I am certainly not saying that would be a good idea while Australians continue to abandon the Lord God as King of kings and Lord of lords!
Rising up to the challenge of ARRIVALS
‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ (Deuteronomy 27:14)
In 1982, American band “Survivor” released the number-1 hit single “Eye of the Tiger.” It spent 6 weeks at number 1. The first half of the chorus goes:
It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival…
In the context of your Christian call by the Lord your God to promote and provide justice for refugees, I want to hijack Survivors’ hit and change the chorus to:
It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of ARRIVALS…
It even sounds the same when you sing it. Small change = Big difference. This one change, changes everything.
What can you do, and what can we do collectively to promote and provide sanctuary for those who have been displaced (for whatever reason) from their homelands? We are called to do something! And that something is to serve the stranger with the love, mercy and justice of God. The same that has been shown to you in Christ Jesus: you who were once “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). You can change everything in the life of a refugee. God warns us that withholding justice will bring a curse. But ‘Rising up to the challenge of ARRIVALS’ in faith and love will bring blessing. And let us all say, “Amen.”
A Greater Power
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent in the Garden of Eden and fell for it. Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, was tempted in the desert, yet did not fall for it.
The fact is that the devil tempts you. But my question for you is “Who is it in you that the devil tempts?” There are only two choices. Is it your old nature, called the old Adam, who is tempted to sin? Or it is the new Adam, called Jesus Christ, who is tempted to sin?
To these questions Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his posthumous Book “Temptation”: ‘Either the Adam in me is tempted – in which case I fall. Or the Christ is me is tempted – in which case Satan is bound to fall.’
Through faith in him, Jesus Christ dwells in you. You have been given the power of God to make Satan fall. You have a greater power at your disposal than has Satan. As James said, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Fear of the Concrete Command
“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
Have you ever heard a sermon that seriously denounces the accumulation and trust in wealth or possessions? Thank God for that preacher if you have! If you haven’t, I’m not surprised. I’m the first to admit that pastors and teachers of God’s word (including me) have trivialised Jesus’ words to that rich young man of Luke chapter 18.
If Jesus had of said, “Get out of the room!” I would sinfully dilute his command to mean, “Stay where you are, but cultivate an inward detachment to the room.”
We love to spiritualize things, and we are good at reducing something that is specific to something that is vague. We are equally good at making the disturbing words of Scripture seem reasonable and making a concrete command into an indefinable attitude. Thus we sinfully interpret the command from Jesus to forsake something concrete (i.e. wealth and possessions) to a kind of “mind over matter” detachment to things we are called to leave behind. In taking this approach we will never offend anyone, but we will never change anyone either – least of all ourselves.
The Lord Will Provide
In the moment of catastrophe, loss and devastation or even in a simple change of plans, we naturally cry out, “All is lost!” But faith looks past the present and into the future. In Genesis chapter 22 Abraham’s present looked grave – his son was about to die by his own hand. But Abraham obeyed God trusting that something greater must be on the horizon.
We are told that, “On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (Gen. 22:4-5). Despite his present circumstance, Abraham trusted that both he and Isaac would return. Abraham looked past the present and into the future. Abraham trusted that the Lord would himself provide the sacrificial lamb. “Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided” (Gen. 22:13-14).
Faith looks past the present and into the future. ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (Jn. 1:29) has been provided by God himself in the sacrifice of his One and Only and beloved Son Jesus Christ. In your moment of catastrophe, loss and devastation or even in a simple change of plans, do not cry out, “All is lost!” Rather, in faith look past the present to the place where The Lord Will Provide.
Jesus taught us to pray: ‘… And lead us not into temptation’ (Lk 11:4b).
God tempts no one. We pray in this part of the Lord’s Prayer that God would guard and keep us (Ps 91:1-2) so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
There is a difference between ‘tempt’ and ‘test.’ God tests us with the expectation that we will be drawn into a closer relationship with him. Read John 6:5-6, James 1:2-3, Gen 22:1-19 & Matt 15:21-28.
The devil, the unbelieving world and our sinful nature tempts us into unbelief and finally despair, shame and vice. Read Mark 14:38 & James 1:13-14.
So in the Lord’s Prayer we ask for the strength that we inherently lack. Read Luke 22:31-32, Rom 13:14, 1 Cor 10:12-13 7 Eph 6:11, 17. God is always the stronger one in the battle. His is the final victory. By grace, through faith, we share in his victory, now and into all eternity.
The beauty and power of the truth.
Truth is both beautiful and powerful. Lies are conversely ugly, deceitful, and ultimately disempowering. The Bible is full of beauty and power, both as a whole and in all its individual parts. Here are just three examples of such beauty and power coming together so that we may know the truth and be set free.
‘Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ (Mark 9:24)
‘Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.’ (John 12:27)
‘Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.’ (Romans 14:4)
These examples are quite unrelated except for the fact that the one who makes the comment corrects themselves mid-sentence. They do so in order that the whole truth of the matter at hand is revealed.
In Mark 9:24, we hear a beautiful confession in Jesus’ ability to do all things. But no sooner as the confession leaves the father’s lips does he correct himself in the whole truth of the matter. He needs Jesus alone to supply faith to believe the truth that Jesus, as God, really can do all things.
And as a real human being who is experiencing the heartache of rejection, betrayal and abandonment by his disciples, Jesus prays for a divine rescue from the situation. But in the very same breath, and spoken as true God, the truth of his whole mission is stated, ‘No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.’
In Romans 14:4 Paul highlights a servant’s full dependence upon their master in all matters. Therefore Paul must add that, if God is your Master, you will stand and not fall, for God is your security in all things.
Your stone of help.
‘Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’’ (1 Samuel 7:12)
One way to summarise the landmark occasions in the first chapters of 1 Samuel is the “5 R’s.” 1. The Routing, 2. Result, 3. Repentance, 4 Revival & 5. Remembrance.
What did the Israelites do when they came to their senses – when they recognised there error and reason for repeated defeat?
‘…all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. …the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only’…On that day they fasted and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord’… They said to Samuel, ‘Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us…’ (1 Sam 7:2b-7).
To summarize again: we have, Repentance, Faith, Prayer, the pleasing aroma of the sacrificial lamb… ‘and the Lord answered’ (1 Sam 7:9). The enemy who once overcame, was overcome!’
Maybe you are waiting for victory to come your way? Maybe the Lord is waiting on you to come to Him? Come to him as you are, that’s for sure, but come to Him on His terms, with a godly sorrow, for ‘Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death’ [2 Cor 7:10] (i.e. worldly sorrow = sorry I got caught doing the wrong thing). Then your joy at forgiveness, restoration and healing will be the monument of remembrance; your Ebenezer; your stone of help!
Pray for everyone!
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV).
St Paul urges the young pastor Timothy to make sure that every kind of prayer is made for all people, including those in authority. We do well to remember that in light of our participation in the recent elections. We are to give thanks to God for the civil peace we experience here in Australia. We are also to pray for peace to come to those parts of the world currently engaged in civil war or experiencing other turmoils.
Whether it be at home during the week or in church, through Jesus Christ, Christians are to bring not only the church's needs but also the whole world's needs before our Heavenly Father. I suggest you consider those people who you come into contact each day and pray for their needs as well as your own. Think about the needs of your immediate and extended family members, your peers, your employer, your employees, the Queen, the Prime Minister, other members of the elected government and those who serve in opposition, school teachers and principals, doctors, nurses and all health care professionals, your church minister, the police, the SES and CFA volunteers. This is not an exhaustive list of those who we are to pray for; I'm sure you can think of others...
Pray according to the promise that God, through Jesus Christ, will hear your prayers and shape our common lives according to the hope that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
Never request to be like a hired man!
In the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), the younger son works out a confession of sin that he plans to say to his father when he gets home. He had squandered his wealth in wild living and hit rock bottom. Upon his return home he wanted to say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men."
The younger son returned home, but never got to say exactly what he had planned. He never got to say, "make me like one of your hired men." That conditional phrase is never said because the father cuts him off in mid embrace, as it were. The hug, the best robe, the ring, the sandals and the fattened calf and the celebrations change his plans.
Jesus teaches that there are no conditions when it comes to forgiveness and reconciliation with God the Father. Forgiveness is free, in fact totally free and requires nothing on your part - no works, so that you may not boast, as St Paul adds in Ephesians 2:8-9.
If the younger son had been permitted to become like a hired man, then:
this would get him back in with his family, even though he was not yet fully restored as a son;
he would be able to make money and begin to pay back the debt he owes his father in squandering his share of the inheritance;
he wouldn't have to live off his elder brother's inheritance, but would be making his own way;
and he would maintain a certain amount of freedom that would give him a certain amount of dignity and status with respect to his father and brother.
The unconditional confession of sin, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son," names who you have sinned against and its consequences. But always remember what the father did even before the unconditional confession was made, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." You just have to celebrate and be glad about a Father like that!
“GOD IS TREATING YOU AS CHILDREN”
(Hebrews 12:7b NCV)
We may think that hardships in life can be put down to bad luck, or up to fate or chance. We may think that it is “karma” (what goes around comes around) or punishment for doing something wrong. But the truth is that many difficulties come to you because God loves you, cares for you, and “disciplines you for your good” (Hebrews 12:10b NIV). Yes! Struggles are to be regarded as a blessing because they are given by God to draw you into a closer relationship with him—just as a loving parent draws their child closer to them through play.
God at times plays with his children, like a loving parent plays with their little child. But from the child's point of view it can appear far different - as bad luck, fate or punishment. God plays with his children to discipline and strengthen their faith just as a godly parent takes from their child a toy with which they love, not that they should flee from their parent or turn away from them in disgust or anger, but that they should rather be incited to embrace their parent all the more and ask them, saying, “Daddy, give back what you have taken away!” Then the parent is delighted with this test, and the child, when they receive back the toy, loves their Mum or Dad all the more.
God’s anger at your sins has been fully satisfied in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Your heavenly Father never treats you in an evil way and he does not cause your suffering in order to make you pay for your failures.
However, your Heavenly Father does allow you to suffer “trials of many kinds” (James 1:2 NIV) and “light and momentary troubles” (2 Cor. 4:17 NIV). Whenever you experience minor suffering, such as a headache or a tough day at work, do not reject such things as irrelevant. Whenever you face major troubles, such as poverty, life-long illness, death, or persecution because you are a Christian, do not make the mistake of thinking that God is angry with you. Instead, think of a loving parent playing with their child and rejoice that he likewise “disciplines you for your good” (Hebrews 12:10b NIV).
THE LORD GOD MADE GARMENTS OF SKIN FOR ADAM AND HIS WIFE AND CLOTHED THEM (Genesis 3:21)
If you are wondering whether God is truly merciful or not, then I suggest you look at your shirt and pants or dress or skirt and top. One of your most immediate and tangible gifts of mercy from God is the clothing you are now wearing. Clothes are the proud emblem that connects us to God.
Your clothes enable you to remember two things. Firstly, they remind you that you share in the loss of the glory of nakedness, that is, your complete, open, and honest trust in God; "the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings (Genesis 3:7). Secondly, your clothes remind you that even though you have lost your complete, open, and honest trust in God, that God is merciful, for "the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21).
When God gave clothing to Adam and Eve he had to sacrifice an animal to do so. This first shedding of blood in the Bible points you toward God's ultimate shedding of Jesus' blood in his death on the cross. When you get dressed, remember that God "has clothed [you] with the garments of salvation" and "wrapped [you] with a robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10). And remember, "For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27). Every time you dress, take that opportunity to remember that God is merciful.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A KING WHO PREPARED A WEDDING BANQUET FOR HIS SON (Matthew 22:2)
When the king in Jesus' parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) came to look at his dinner guests, he saw one who was not dressed in the proper wedding attire. "Friend," the king said, "how did you come in here without wedding clothes?" The man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
These words of warning have the power to move us immediately to try, in vain, to prepare ourselves for the wedding banquet in heaven, by sewing together our own garment of righteousness. In so doing, we hope, in some way, to do what we think necessary to please God and make us acceptable to him. But the prophet Isaiah says even our best efforts "are like filthy rags" (64:6).
In Jesus' day, the one giving a wedding banquet provided free wedding garments for the invited guests. In the same way, God not only invites you to come to the wedding banquet, but he also offers you the free wedding attire you shall wear (Isaiah 61:10). This free clothing is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ which you shall wear to cover all your inadequacies. "For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27).
Marking Time.
There are many ways to mark the passage of time. E.g. Musicians use 'Time Signatures.' Historians use 'Eras & Epochs.' Nations have their 'Dynasties.' Genealogists mark time by the significant events of 'Births, Marriages and Deaths.' Farmers mark time by the 'Seasons.' There might even be a wall or board in your home that marked the passage of time with your children's increasing height measurements! Your 2020 Calendar is a daily means to mark-off time. Thinking of eternal things, "How do you mark time?" St Luke teaches you to mark time by the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Have you noticed that St Luke "keeps time" for only 23 out of his 24 chapters! After the penultimate time marker 'of the Sabbath' (Lk. 23:54, 56), all further time-marks relate back to the passage that begins anew with the words, 'On the first day of the week...' (24:1). Upon the dawn of this new day, everything that held eternal significance was changed forever. Time continued, but it was to continue in a new way for those who came to believe in the resurrection of Jesus! After the resurrection, Luke only employs transitional phrases that mark the continuation of this "new time of forevermore" (see 24:13, 36 & 51). He records time in a new way, because 'The first day of the week...' is the first unending day of the New Creation. Just like the seventh day in the Book of Genesis has only a morning and no evening (Gen 1:31b), so too does Easter Sunday only have a beginning, that is, its own genesis.
So there is "no time like the present" for witnessing to the risen Christ and for living the new life Jesus brings to the times we live in. So how will you mark time from now on? St Luke teaches you to mark time by the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Rebirthing.
Have you just bought a car? Did you do the right checks to make sure that it is original and hasn't been "re-birthed?"
A wonderful Easter comfort is the verse from 2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" This verse speaks volumes of love that God has shown to you through his Son Jesus. God has reconciled you to himself through the death and resurrection of his Son. God shows no anger or displeasure towards you because you have been fully reconciled through the blood of Jesus. St Paul reminds you that you are a new creation! You need to be reminded that Jesus Christ has made you a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
There's nothing quite like a new car. It gleams in the sun. The water beads on its polished surface. You open the door and smell that distinctive new car smell. That's how God sees all who have faith in the new life promise of Jesus. No longer does God see you as a wreck of a car: damaged and dented by shame and guilt. In baptism God took a wreck and restored it to brand new condition.
Like a thief steals a car in order to remove its build plate and file away the engine number then sells it with a new identity, in a similar way, God receives you as you are, removes your original identity as a sinner and gives you a new build plate and then numbers you amongst the redeemed. But God doesn't get rid of you for profit, He keeps you as His own. (Yes! God is into rebirthing, not cars, but people!).
The promises God made to you at your baptism are what you can cling to when you feel or act "wrecked-out or written-off." You can rely on God's promises. God is faithful; his mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-24).
"Tip me over, pour me out."
North American pastor and prolific author, Eugene Peterson, makes a profound but simple comment. In his "The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction" 1989, he writes, "A bucket, no matter what wonderful things it contains, is of no use for the next task at hand until it is emptied."
Paradoxically, a bucket is at its fullest when it is being poured out. In Philippians chapter 2, St Paul says, Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death -
even death on a cross.
Christ is Christ at his fullest when he is pouring out the Father's love for you. Therefore, because Christ is in you through the gift of faith and baptism, Christ in you is Christ in you when you are being poured out. Christ comes to fill you with the Father's love and care so that Christ in you, may be poured out; so that, "a bucket that is being emptied becomes useful for the next task at hand."
In his own ministry, St Paul says that God in Christ was pouring this untimely born apostle out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of the people's faith. In the service of God, St Paul's very being, (his body, his substance, his prayers and his activities (2 Cor. 9:12-15)) was a liquid offering that was being poured out in service to his fellow Christians and to the people of the world. St Paul says that this pouring out that God did to him, and through him, made him glad and able to rejoice with those whom he loved and served (Philippians 2:17).
"Tip them over, pour it out!" is the outcry of the displaced, the disadvantaged, the homeless, the destitute, the alcohol and drug addicted, the persecuted and all the hurting people of the world. As a vessel of Christ you can let God tip you over so that his love for you is shown through you to others.