Advent

Sermon for Advent 1, 30.11.2025

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Matthew 24:36-39:

Jesus said, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

Watch!

Just like the disciples who couldn't sit in silence, nor desired to be left hanging on that cliff-hanger of a statement, 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down,' I bet that you also have at least two questions in mind, that you want answered, when you hear today's Gospel Reading!

One of the questions will be a straightforward theological one, that being, "We don't know, the angels don't know, but did Jesus really not know the day appointed for his Return? As true God, don't we confess Him omniscient, that is, all knowing?" This is one of those excellent "Ask the Pastor" Bible Study questions. The other question would be a very practical question, "What does it mean "to watch," "to be on guard," "to be alert," 'to keep awake?"

Let's answer the first question first so that we can understand Jesus saying, ‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.’

First, I will give you a formal theological answer, that being, not only them, but also the consensus of the very first Lutherans. I will follow this up with an analogy provided by the Blessed Theophylact who was the learnèd Archbishop of Bulgaria 90 years into the second millennia (i.e. 1090 A.D).

Because some sectarian “Christian” groups believed and taught that, 'the Son, the Word of the Father, knew all things but that his assumed human nature was ignorant of many things,' (a statement we must reject,) the Lutheran Reformers had to write the following when discussing the 'Doctrine of the Person of Christ.' In the Formula of Concord (1580), they wrote:

The result of the Incarnation is that, "not that [Jesus] knows some things while not knowing others, or that he can do some things while not being able to do others, but that he knows and can do all things. On him the Father poured out the Spirit of wisdom and power without limit, so that as a human being, through the personal union, he has received all knowledge and all might, in fact and in truth.

So to that question, "Did Jesus know or not know the day and hour of His Return?" we must answer, that He certainly did. So, is this passage of Scripture wrong then? Is Jesus lying to the disciples? These are extremely important questions to sort out and arrive at the fullness of the truth. Confessing that there are no errors in the Holy Scriptures, as we do, and confessing the truth of Jesus' sinless life and nature, how are we to understand Jesus' saying, ‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.’

Well, the old analogy from that Bulgarian Archbishop will help us understand Jesus' words and actions. The analogy goes like this:

Often a little child will see his father holding something in his hands and will ask for it. But, for various reasons, like for their safety (e.g. holding a pocket-knife), or to be saved for the right time to gift it (e.g. Birthday gift), the father does not want to hand it over, there and then. This will cause the child to cry and possibly chuck a tantrum because they didn't get what they wanted. So, in response, the father hides what he is holding, maybe by slipping it into his pocket unnoticed, and presents his empty hands to the child, hopefully putting an end to the tears. In similar fashion, Jesus hid the day and the hour from the disciples, treating them at that critical time like children that needed to be protected from their curiosity. For if Jesus had said, "I know, but I will not tell you," the disciples would have been disappointed, if not hurt and angry, that Jesus had denied them that which they sought.

For if we believed, taught and confessed that Jesus knew all things as the Son of God, but was ignorant of many things as the man, Jesus of Nazareth, then the door of doubt would be swung right open in other Christian teachings. For example, Jesus said, 'For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him' (John 6:55-56). If Jesus' power was less than that of God's omnipotence (all powerful), inevitably then, God's power to save could not be available and effective in the flesh and blood of the man Jesus of Nazareth, for instance, for those who partake of Holy Communion. For we come up to the altar rail, not to receive just a wafer of bread and a sip of wine, but the very body and blood of God, in Christ Jesus, with bread and wine.

We would also have to abandon the truth in Jesus saying, 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them' (Mtt 18:20), and 'I am with you always, to the end of the age' (Mtt 28:20). We know that no one can be in two or more places at once. But again, if we limit the power of God in the man Jesus of Nazareth in any way, when we consider the fact that Jesus' body ascended into heaven, then we are left to answer the question, "How can he possibly be present with us here on earth, in all His fullness?" For when Jesus promises, 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them' and 'I am with you always, to the end of the age,' he isn't just projecting himself into our midst in His thoughts, or just sending us good vibes, or somehow present as a disembodied spirit, but rather He is truly present - the resurrected and ascended Lord, in all His fulness.

From these kinds of examples, you can see that getting the Doctrine of the Person of Christ in order is critical to knowing how, and trusting in, when God is still intimately working in this world, for both the world and your sake in His Church. So in saying, ‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only,’ Jesus is not lying to the disciples. Rather He speaks to them as One who decided not to exercise His divine knowledge of all things at that time, for the sake of the disciples’ faith and for our sakes as well. Upon his Ascension, He did not want to leave them hanging with another all-important question, "Well, he said he would give us all things, but he didn't. Can we really trust him?"

Within a week of the events of our Gospel Reading, Jesus would die on the cross. And again, if we admitted the error that Jesus was in any way, in power, in wisdom, or in truth, any less than God, than we would end up also denying that God, in Christ Jesus, suffered and paid the penalty for our sin and rebellion. That denial would lead us to the conclusion that it was just a man suffering and dying on the cross. But man alone cannot pay the ransom due for our complete fall into sin. Psalm 49:7 says exactly that, ‘No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them.’ This error robs God of His work of salvation and consequently we would end up robbing ourselves of the perfect comfort that a full and complete redemption accomplished by God Himself brings us, if the error were true.

Conversely, if Jesus hadn't exercised the power of God at other times, then He would have been turfed off the cliff outside Nazareth after delivering his first sermon. Instead He, 'walked right through the crowd and went on his way' (Luke 4:30). In the end, when it comes to meditating on 'Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God' (1 Cor 1:24), we are talking about a Divine Mystery, and each Christian has to grapple, in faith, with the truth that, 'For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form' (Colossians 2:9).

And now to the second question that might be on your mind, that being, "What does it mean "to watch," "to be on guard," "to be alert," 'to keep awake?" For St Paul, in the rest of that Colossians text that speaks to the mystery of God in the flesh, he goes on to add, 'and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross' (Col 2:10-14).

By-the-way, your redemption is not based on you knowing when Jesus will return, nor is it based in any way upon Jesus choosing, or not choosing, to reveal it to the disciples, and therefore to you through His Word. (In fact, it would be detrimental to the mission of the church if anybody did know the day and hour, for who wouldn’t be tempted to procrastinate and leave the preaching of the Gospel to the 11th hour!) Rather, your redemption is based on Jesus’ death, in your place, upon the cross at Golgotha and because of His resurrection on the third day.

Having been grafted into the vine that is Christ, through baptism and faith, you are called to abide in Him as He has promised to abide in you. Abiding in Jesus is the same as being watchful, as to being awake and alert and standing on guard. "Watch" means to be awake. The Greek word used here simply and consistently means, across the whole New Testament, "being awake." More than once the word is coupled with the call to prayer. It is also, more than once, associated with defending oneself against false teachers and the Devil’s deceptions. It all has to do with guarding yourself against being caught napping at Christ's Return. Therefore, it's a call to God's mission in the world: first of all, hearing the Gospel and receiving Christ through baptism and Communion for ourselves, then taking the church outdoors, as it were, in your very being temples of the Holy Spirit and being encouragers and encouraged to speak the Gospel and daily practice The Faith.

Being watchful is that simple, yet that demanding, (totally demanding in fact), as it calls every Christian to fight against the flesh, (which we know is weak and wants “to fall asleep at the wheel”), and to fight against the deceptions of the devil and the false hopes and false glories offered to us by the world.

This is Jesus’ call to His church. Advent is a special time to highlight the theme of watchfulness. But because, ‘concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only,’ with each new day comes the call to stay awake, to watchfulness, by living free in the forgiveness of sins for the sake of the witness that it will provide your neighbour who isn't yet on the lookout for their Saviour.

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 2, 10.12.2023

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Depending upon which school of Biblical criticism you subscribe to, the prophet Isaiah himself in the 8th Century BC, or a later unnamed prophet of the 6th, who therefore would be contemporary with the Babylonian Exile, spoke the Word of the Lord, saying,

‘Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins’ (Isaiah 40:1).

Let us pray: Thank you Father, for your patience

With a rebellious people

Loving you one moment

Forgetting you the next

Thank you for your endless love

Which does not give up

But wants the best for us

Despite our faults

Thank you for your promise

To all who believe

And put their trust in you:

Everlasting life

And in this Advent season

May the Baptist’s call

Resound in hearts and minds

Drawing many to the living water

Where they might find forgiveness

And knowledge of your Salvation. Amen.

A Word of Comfort!

Consensus concerning the historical background of Isaiah 40 through chapter 55, is that it speaks to the closing years of the Babylonian Exile (597-538BCE). After a series of victories over the Medes (region of modern-day North-Western Iran) and the Lydians (region of modern-day Eastern Turkey), the Persian King, King Cyrus II (the Great) entered Babylon in 538 and gave permission to the peoples who had been deported there to return to their own countries.

Prior to this, in at least two waves (probably three) of deportation (597BC & 587/6BC), the more influential Jewish peoples of Judah had been taken to Babylon as a time of punishment sent by God for their apostasy towards God: what with their detestable and despicable acts of Baal worship and their apathy towards the poor, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner in the land. And so God sends the prophets; Isaiah comprising the largest body of work, calling the people to return to the one true and living God.

But they would not! So God raises up a foreign King to bring judgement upon his people. The Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, lays siege upon Jerusalem and she eventually falls. The Temple is destroyed, their homeland is taken away, their identity as a people suffers great humiliation. The victors take the spoils of war, both product and people, captive back to Babylon. And there in a foreign land God’s people must wait-out their time of judgment.

A rhetorical question - What do these things have in common:

A meal.

A blanket.

A friend.

A hug.

A promise.

A Panadol?

These are things that can bring comfort into desperate, lonely and painful times.

The prophets in exile are heard weeping for the people. Their constant refrain is that there is ‘no one to bring comfort’ (Lamentations 1:2, 9, 16, 17, 21).

Let me tell you about Dorothy. Along with her husband Bill, Dorothy lived next door to the home I grew up in. I only ever knew them both as elderly people. Dorothy became a widow around 1990 and lived alone next door for the next dozen or so years. But with no children of her own and with her closest step-children living in Corindi, NSW, (some 454kms away), the combination of old age and frailty caught up with her, and all before ‘Home Help’ was a thing, time came to make the decision to move into a nursing home. I took my wife (who was then my fiancé) to introduce her to Dorothy. We visited her in the Nursing Home at least once, if not twice more with our first child "on the hip." The point of this story concerns the final time we visited her. As we approached and entered her room, Dorothy was sitting on her bedside chair holding, with two hands upon her lap, her mantelpiece clock. She wasn’t winding it up, setting the time or fixing it in some way. Rather, both my wife and I unmistakably noticed that she was vacantly staring, you might describe as, almost through it and beyond it. After the fact, my wife said to me that that was one of the saddest things she had ever seen in her then 22 years of life. Talking to her as I write this (to check if my recollections were shared), she added, “It was like Dorothy was holding on to death itself” …literally and metaphorically, in a deeply sad way, “holding on to time.” I think that the prophet’s lament, that there was ‘no one to bring comfort,’ fit the bill, prior to our arrival and appearance at Dorothy’s door.

To the point, a Scottish preacher, Ian McLaren, was asked what he would do differently if he had his preaching ministry to live over again. He replied, “I would comfort people more.”

‘Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins’ (Isaiah 40:1).

Advent, Christmas and the Epiphany seasons remind us that the Lord himself will visit his people. Today we are reminded that he will show up to bring comfort to a weary and forlorn people: a people who have brought disaster upon themselves, for sure, but at the same time a people who have a God who would answer ‘Yes’ to his people’s cry, “Haven’t we suffered enough?”

The Lord promised his Old Covenant people comfort and restoration. He delivered it through his servant Nebuchadnezzar. And because God is a God full of grace and mercy, he even delivers a double grace in the associated promise of the sending of another Servant, the Suffering Servant – his very own Son, Jesus Christ.

While a meal, a blanket, a friend, a hug, a promise, even a Panadol will provide comfort in this life, these kinds of comfort are only temporary in nature; they cannot comfort forever. So, the promise of Isaiah 40 is not just for the Jews, but for all weary and forlorn people who need, not just comfort and restoration, but something far greater: an everlasting comfort, and not just temporal restoration, but eternal resurrection. To this point, Luther said: “The resurrection is comfort against the devil, sin, death, and hell. The first commandment not only to the women at the empty tomb but to all the baptised and believing Christians is; Fear not!” As our prophet says in the next chapter, ‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (Isa 41:10).

Brothers and sisters in Christ: The Lord has visited you yet again with a word of comfort. Is there a Dorothy in your life who needs the same comforting word?

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 1, 03.12.2023

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Isaiah the prophet prayed to the Lord God Almighty, ‘Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! (Isaiah 64:1)

Let us pray: Thank you Father, for your patience

With a rebellious people

Loving you one moment

Forgetting you the next

Thank you for your endless love

Which does not give up

But wants the best for us

Despite our faults

Thank you for your promise

To all who believe

And put their trust in you:

Everlasting life

And in this Advent season

May the Baptist’s call

Resound in hearts and minds

Drawing many to the living water

Where they might find forgiveness

And knowledge of your Salvation. Amen.

A shake awake!

The prophet Isaiah is praying. Today’s First Reading from Isaiah 64 is an intercessory prayer. The prophet is praying for a rebellious people: a people who want things their own way; who want a god of their own making; who want a spiritual life of their own crafting; who don’t want a hands-on potter-type, in-your-face kind of God, yet one who will give them what they want, when they want it.

Isaiah is not praying a timid prayer. He isn’t gently tapping on the shoulder of the sleeping loved one, whispering, ‘Time to rise, sleepy-head.’ Rather he is praying for a major shake-up! With both hands jerking back and forth on the shoulders of the sleeper he desires to disturb the blissfully unaware soul in his care! He asks the heavens to be split apart and the Lord himself to come down and have mountains quake and the rocks tumble down and cause all people’s knees to knock together in a great wake up call, just as in the days when the Lord called Moses up upon Mount Sinai. (Read chapter 63)

How many of you have been in a deep morning sleep and BEEP-BEEP-BEEP- BEEP-BEEP, your alarm clock cuts you in half, severing you from sleep? This is Isaiah’s prophetic kind of wake-up call.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

that the mountains would tremble before you!

2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze

and causes water to boil,

come down to make your name known to your enemies

and cause the nations to quake before you!

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,

you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

Just as Pharaoh and the Egyptian Army had no idea how the Lord would save his people through water, the unbelievers and rejecters of God, as Saviour, still to this day have no idea. So God chose a people who were to know and experience salvation from the Lord. This people was Israel. But even these chosen people are no longer waiting on the Lord. Such is the depth of their sleep. They are not consciously or unconsciously waiting for the alarm to go off! They aren’t even roused to peek with one eye open to see how many more minutes they can nap and get away with it. Instead, they sleep right through. They are not waiting for anything to happen; no one, they think will rouse them from their slumber.

Therefore, the sadness of the prayer:

 4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

The sadness comes because the people are not waiting on the Lord. Isaiah is the only one awake to such foolish slumber. And so he must intercede for a people fallen asleep.

And so he repents, as a sinner, as an intercessor, standing in the midst of sinners who were at the outset called to be intercessors in prayer and blessing for the world, (as a light to the Gentiles), confessing:

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
    who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
    you were angry.
    How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
    or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have given us over to our sins.

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
    do not remember our sins for ever.
Oh, look upon us we pray,
    for we are all your people.

And God is not a God who will let sleeping dogs lie, as it were. He will come down and be willing and able to stir up trouble for those who would rather slumber in their filth, apathy, and carelessness. In-line with verse 2 of Isaiah’s prayer, Jesus said, ‘I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!’ (Luke 12:49). And in God’s mission to the Gentiles, another people of another time, yet also asleep to the mightiness of the one true God, St Paul would quote Isaiah’s prayer. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, saying,

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:

‘What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived’ –
    the things God has prepared for those who love him –

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

Was Isaiah’s prayer answered? Of course it was. All prayer is answered by God. But who saw or heard or conceived the way God ultimately answered the prayer? Besides the few shepherds previously minding their own business, who else saw the Lord God Almighty wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger? To only those who had the eyes of faith opened – to those few waiting for the consolation of Israel, to the eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and to such as Cleopas and his companion in the breaking of the bread! And only to those who were given ears to hear – the women at the empty tomb, to the denier Peter and the doubter Thomas, and to the others who would all together be restored, bar one (Judas Iscariot) who would be so transformed as to testify, and again all but one (John the Apostle) give their very life over to death, only to receive it back again, witnessing to the world, in their own words, ‘which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life’ (1 John 1:1).

Or again, as St John said concerning Jesus’ counsel to every Christian, where the Lord said, ‘Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you’ (Revelation 3:3).

Brothers and sisters: time is not on your side: ‘the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed’ (Romans 13:11b). So bring your filthy rags to the cross and have them washed in the blood of the Lamb that you may return dressed in Christ’s robe of righteousness for the sake of those still asleep. For Isaiah’s prayer for all of us sleepers has been answered. Having woken up to our sin, confessed it and received forgiveness from God our Saviour, let us set our alarm clocks for prayer time! Again as Jesus counsels us, saying ‘Be on guard! Be alert!  You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

35 ‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”’ (Mark 13:33-37)

Each of us has our assigned tasks. Give it some thought as to whether one of your tasks is to “grab the shoulders” of a sleeper or two this week and proclaim judgement and salvation in Jesus name! Time is not on their side either. Why are you here today? Unless you’re just warming the pew, it’s because someone alarmed you to God’s judgment and salvation in Jesus.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 4, 18.12.2022

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, "Joseph Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21).

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; Your Word is Truth. Amen.

What's in a name?

What's your favourite child's name? I don't mean to ask "Which of your children is your favourite, and what happens to be their name", but rather, what name have you heard given to a child recently, or a long time ago, that you would choose as your favourite name? We have all said to ourselves, "That's a strong name," or "That's a pretty name," or "That's a popular name," or "That name is coming back into fashion." When you were choosing the names of your children or even your pets, you probably drew upon one of your favourite names to give to them.

Most Popular baby names in Australia (as at July 2022) [for your interest]

          Boy             Girl

1      Oliver            Isla

2      Noah            Charlotte

3      Jack             Olivia

4      Henry            Amelia

5      William          Ava

6      Leo               Mia

7      Charlie           Grace

8      Theodore      Willow

9      Lucas           Matilda

10     Thomas           Ella

Once upon a time the name chosen for a child was crucial for understanding who they were. Today our surnames serve that purpose more so than do our Christian names. These days it is our surnames that better describe to others who we are, where we came from, who we are related to, and other important things like that. Earlier in history though, names like Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Esau, Joshua, and a myriad of other names painted a picture of who that person was, what they did, or how others were to relate themselves to them.

The Scriptures reveal to us that God himself has a favourite name. His favourite name translates into English as, "the Lord is salvation." In the dream that Joseph had, the angel of the Lord told him to name Mary's child, Jesus, which is the Common Greek version of that much older name, Joshua. The name Joshua is a powerful name. It's a name that commands fear and respect. It's a name that carries great force. It means "the Lord is salvation." And so that the modern mind doesn't miss out on the great heritage and meaning of Jesus’ name, the angel knowing best, and for our sakes, added the explanation - "for this child will save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21). The name of God has power to save. King David knew that "the Lord is salvation" so he said, "Save me, O God, by your name, vindicate me by your might" (Ps 54:1). And when St Peter was at Cornelius' house, he said, "All the prophets testify about Jesus that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43).

In both Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 1, the reader hears about the giving of a name. In Matthew we hear of the angel of the Lord commanding Joseph to call Mary's child the name Jesus. While in Luke we hear the Angel Gabriel tell Mary the same. The name Jesus was forever to be associated with salvation, just like it had been for centuries in the Old Testament Hebrew form, that being, Joshua. To the angel(s) who brought the name of Jesus to Joseph and Mary, the name to be given to the Christ-child was truly revealing, first to them, and on into the world, of who this child was and who he would in time, reveal himself to be - the Saviour of the world!

The angel(s) was very specific about the name that Mary's baby was to receive. Matthew chapter 1 ends with these words, "And Joseph gave him the name Jesus" (Matt 1:25). And in Luke chapter 2 we hear, "On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived" (Lk 2:21). So it's crucial for us to understand "What's in a name?" and even more so in this case, because Jesus' name is not just any old name. His name rises above every other name. "Jesus" is a crucial name, that is, it is a "cross-shaped" name. Crucial means "cross-shaped." It's the "crux" of the matter. That's what's in a name! The angel said that, "this child will save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21). And true to his name, Jesus paid the penalty for your sins on a cross, and thus saved you from suffering eternally because of the punishment they deserve.

"The Lord is our salvation = Jesus." That's the name to be most highly prized. That name is to be the Christian's favourite - at the head of any and every name list! St Peter said, "salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). We might have our favourite names that we love and give to our children, but God gives us the precious possession of his own son’s name - the name of Jesus. It's just like I said when we lit the four candles of the Advent wreath, "To all who received the true light, who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God" (John 1:12).

There was a time in church history, and it may be still current in some parts of the church, when the day of your baptism, was also the day you were officially given your Christian name - hence the substitute name for holy baptism, that being, Christening. These days it's hard to leave the maternity ward without having officially chosen and recorded the baby's full name for the government birth registry! Because you have been baptised into the name that is above every other name (Philippians 2:9-11), your Christian name is now God's favourite name. Through the grace of holy baptism you now share the most prized name – Jesus.

Names have always been very important. God revealed his own personal name to Moses in the burning bush. He said, "I am who I am." That name-giving opened up to us the Father-child relationship that we now enjoy, by faith, in his Son, Christ Jesus. St Paul says, "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father" (Gal 4:6). God's gives us his personal name to use, but to use it rightly when we call upon him at all times in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Moses and the Israelites had been given the privilege of knowing God personally through the disclosure of his personal name, "Yahweh", and in these days, through the name-giving of his Son, Jesus, we have that same personal access to our Father in heaven. Your Lord Jesus is "the Lord is salvation". So brothers and sisters in Christ, your sure help and Advent peace, hope, joy and love, is found and given to you in the name of the Lord - Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21).

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in name that is above every other, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 3, 11.12.2022

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’

Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me’ (Matthew 11:2-6).

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

Questioning Jesus?

Brothers and sisters in Christ: How does the greatest figure ever of the Old Covenant period (Mtt 11:11) go from declaring about Jesus of Nazareth, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29,36) to questioning him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Mtt 11:3). What had happened? Had the initial joy of hearing ‘the bridegroom’s voice’ (Jn 3:29) capitulated to despair now that he was imprisoned? Or had nothing changed? Is the reader mistaken if they attach a negative connotation to the question rather than seeing it in a positive light? Was the Baptist, in fact, looking for confirmation of what he had held dear all along?

Into this field of thought we can pause for a moment to consider the man; rather consider what Scripture alone reveals about him. Who was he? The Jewish leaders were mostly clueless. But knowing what they knew concerning the coming Messiah, they asked if he was Elijah, or the Prophet, or even the Messiah himself? To these questions John answered ‘in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”’ (Jn 1:23). What about, the common folk (Luke 3:10), and people like soldiers (Luke 3:14) and even the tax collectors (Luke 3:12 & 11:29). They knew he was a prophet (Mtt 21:26) and acted on it by submitting first to his baptism. Some others thought in their hearts that he might be the Messiah, but John set them straight saying, “I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Lk 3:16-17). And we hear that King Herod, ‘feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him’ (Mark 6:20). And that proved true up until the point John pointed out to him his sin of marrying his brother’s wife Herodias. In reaction, ‘Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison’ (Mk 6:17).

And that is where we find him on this Third Sunday in Advent: in prison. The prophet of God, and the greatest man yet sent from God (Mtt 11:11), who for thirty years had only been confined by each wild horizon, was now imprisoned in a dungeon cell, as is the criminal. His prophetic career came to a sudden stop. It was over. And it looked like a failure.

Is that what had changed? Had he deceived himself? Is that what prompted his question, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’

William Barclay tells the story of a prison cell in Carlisle Castle in England. He says that the English had arrested and detained a certain Scottish border chieftain and had left him untried for years. The cell had one little window way up high. On the ledge of the window, worn away in the stone, were two depressions. They were the marks of the hands of the border chieftain from day after day lifting himself up to peer out the window across the green dales which he would never ride again. Was that John the Baptist’s psyche? Had the cold hard walls nearly beat him so that in a desperate cause for sanity he asked, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ Brothers and sisters in Christ: I don’t think so.

Or did impatience catch up with him? He believed what he preached, that ‘The axe has been laid to the root of the trees…’ (Mtt 3:10). The time was ripe… wasn’t it? Where was the axe or the winnowing fork or the divine fire? Where was the action? Where was this promised victor? Instead of dead and fleeing Roman soldiers, there were escapes from death: the official’s fever-filled son (Jn 4:46-54), Peter’s mother-in-law and nameless others (Mk 1:29-34). Instead of angel legions descending to avenge the blood of God’s servants, there were legions of demons fleeing the scene (Lk 4:31-37). Instead of the sinful and unclean being knocked to the ground and trodden upon, they were being lifted up, forgiven and restored (Lk 5:12-16; Mk 2:1-12; Mtt 9:1-8). What was going on? Perhaps, what was going on wasn’t expected? ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ William Barclay said, “One thing is certain that the man who waits for savage wrath will always be disappointed in Jesus, but the man who looks for love will never find his hopes defeated.”

Or have our stabs at the correct conclusion, so far, missed the mark? What really might have prompted John’s question? Maybe John had realised his fate as the prophet of God? Maybe he knew he was the last to speak of the Old Covenant ways of God? Maybe his faith and expectation were reaching its zenith, rather than spiralling into confusion and dismay? Maybe we need to know and believe what John told his own disciples to believe when he said to them, ‘A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, “I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.” 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less’ (Jn 3:27-30). So amongst that long line-up of rejected and despised prophets of God, stood with them now – John, son of Zechariah. And so, in faith, joy and hope he asks for its confirmation - ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’

Brothers and sisters in Christ: what do you think of that conclusion? Is that why he asks? Does he put all his hopes to the test in that one last question?

Well, I think so! Why do I think so? Our text says, ‘When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Mtt 11:2-3). St Luke’s says similarly, ‘John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Lk 7:18-19).

To get our conclusions correct, we will need to know what the ‘all these things’ were. In other words, we will have to know what Jesus was up to while John was locked up and hidden away in the dungeon - Luke chapters 4 to 7. So what are ‘all these things?’ All these things include, raising the dead, healing lepers and the lame, forgiving sins, giving sight to the blind and expelling demons: and all in the fulfilment of the Nazareth Sermon where Jesus said,

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Lk 4:18-19).

John was locked up, he couldn’t eye-witness for himself these works of God in Jesus of Nazareth. He couldn’t see the coming of the kingdom for himself. He had to live by faith. Sound familiar? We are all called to live by faith in the Son of Man.

But not only does he want his faith, joy and hope confirmed for himself, but he wants it also confirmed for his remaining disciples that are yet to go over to Jesus and follow him. Since all of John’s disciples hadn’t yet gone over to follow Jesus, John’s question was us much for himself as it was for them also. Again, Luke’s Gospel account fills in the details. John’s disciples were seeing what Jesus was up to and were hearing him preach and teach. The kingdom was certainly coming; but not with the thrust of hand-forged steel, but rather with the Sword of the Spirit. Or as the Apostle Paul would make clear soon thereafter, that Christ’s kingdom would come, ‘in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything’ (2 Corinthians 6:4-10). John the Baptist would have fit in well with the other Apostles, had he not been martyred for his faithfulness to God because of King Herod’s foolish vow.

On that note: knowing his time was short John was saying to them the likes of, “If you have any doubts, and if you cannot be sure who Jesus really is, go and see what he is doing, and what he can do, and then your doubts will be at an end.” As William Barclay said, “If anyone begins to argue with us about Jesus, and to question his supremacy, the best of all answers is not a counter-argument but rather the invitation, “Give your life to him; and see what he can do with it.”

So the Biblical witness to John the Baptist’s question is a positive one. I don’t believe that doubt, confusion or despair drove his final question to Jesus, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ John knew his God-appointed role as the last prophet and messenger of the Old Covenant, and he was faithful to the end (Jn 3:28). In our usage, the saying, “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” has the negative connotation of always getting second place. But it was for good purpose (actually great purpose) that John was only friend to the bridegroom (Jn 3:29). It’s the members of the New Covenant who receive the privilege to be Christ’s bride. For, ‘…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish’ (Ephesians 5:25-27). And that is what you have been made, ‘according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit’ (Titus 3:5). That is why Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’ (Mtt 11:11).  Wisdom would be proved right by her deeds (Mtt 11:19). Jesus would confirm that John was indeed the Elijah who was to come (Mtt 11:14), preparing the way for the King of kings.

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 2, 04.12.2022

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

‘John the Baptist said, “I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire”’ (Matthew 3:11-12).

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

The three blessings from the fire of Jesus!

In our text today, John the Baptist differentiates his baptism, from Christian baptism. The one he offered was with water for repentance. Christian baptism, the 'one baptism' (Ephesians 4:5) that would follow the events of Pentecost, he says, is with the Holy Spirit and fire. We do well to remember the tongues of fire that rested upon those gathered in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost and how St Peter responded by calling everyone to repentance and baptism and that thereby they would receive the gift of the Holt Spirit (Acts 2).

The Christian church didn’t invent the idea of baptism. A once-off or regular purification rites are part of many world religions including, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism. But what the Christian church did do, was to receive the teaching from Jesus and the apostles that we are to go and baptise all nations, ‘baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mtt 28:19). We do this because the Word of God teaches that all people are born sinful and unclean. So we all need the forgiveness of sins. Holy Baptism is one of the gifts God gives to the church to wash us clean from the uncleanness of sin. Christian baptism is a saving act of God that directly connects the baptised to Jesus’ resurrection (1 Peter 3:21).

The meaning of the word baptism has changed throughout the centuries. In the Old Testament it meant ‘immersion.’ By the time of the New Testament it was used variously to mean, ‘immersing,’ “washing’ and ‘pouring.’ You could baptise, that is, wash clean people, as much as you could wash hands or cooking implements clean. The kind of washing with water for repentance that John the Baptist speaks about was a customary ritual for the Jewish people. They already connected washing with repentance. In fact, they said something quite beautiful about it. They said, “Repentance is like the sea – a person can bathe in it at any hour of the day.” And in preparation for the coming of the Christ, that is what John the Baptist was offering out at the Jordan River. That’s what the Evangelist tells us, ‘People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan’ (Mtt 3:5-6).

You may have heard it said that repentance is an “about-face,” a 180o change of direction in life. And it is, at least that can be the result, or the fruit of repentance. But primarily repentance is a change in mind. For example, instead of setting your mind on earthly things, the Christian is to set their mind on heavenly things (Col 3:2). Why? To escape earthly realities? No. Rather because of the fact that every baptised believer has ‘been raised with Christ…3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God,’ so says St Paul (Colossians 3:1,3). That’s why he goes on to say, ‘Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming’ (Col 3:5-6).

John the Baptist spoke of this coming wrath of God as well. We heard that, “…when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance’ (Mtt 3:7-8). Unfortunately, the Pharisees and Sadducees were only coming out to investigate what John was doing, rather than submitting themselves in humility to his baptism. St Luke tells us that, saying, ‘(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptised by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John)” (Luke 7:29-30).

God’s wrath is described as fire throughout the Old Testament (Deut 32:22; Ps 21:9; Ps 89:46; Isa 9:19; Isa 30:27; Jer 4:4; Jer 21:12; Lam 2:4; Lam 4:11; Nah 1:6; Zeph 1:18; Zeph 3:18). One example:

‘Who can withstand his [the Lord’s] indignation?

    Who can endure his fierce anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire;

    the rocks are shattered before him.’ (Nahum 1:6)

So it’s perfectly true that, whether it be directed at God’s chosen people or at another nation, God’s anger towards sin raises a fire of his wrath – which is judgment and punishment for unrepentant sinners.

But there is another way, not a substitute way, but rather a complementary way that the image of fire is used in the Scriptures. Remembering that John the Baptist said about Jesus, that ‘He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire,’ we see that fire is used to describe the blessings that come with Christian baptism. John the Baptist is not referring to a so-called second baptism, a kind of “on-top-of” or supplementary baptism that some radical Christians profess as important, if not essential.[1]

For fire does not only consume and destroy. Because of the nature of fire, it does more than reduce things to smoke and ashes. It also illuminates life. The blaze of a fire, or even of the smallest of solitary candles, sends light throughout the night and illuminates the darkest corners. Think of how many lives have been saved and disasters averted with the building of lighthouses. As ‘the light of the world’ (John 8:12), Jesus leads us into truth: into himself as the safe harbour and guides us home to God. Hence the practice of gifting a lighted candle to the newly baptised and saying to them, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine to the glory of God the Father.”

Again, fire does more than reduce things to smoke and ashes. It also gives warmth. We light the fire to keep warm. Walking into a cold room is awful. When the fire of Jesus comes at Christian baptism, he kindles the heart with love towards God and towards the neighbour. It has been rightly said that, “Christianity is always the religion of the kindled heart.”

And again, fire does more than reduce things to smoke and ashes. Fire can be very selective in the sense of what it consumes and leaves behind untouched. Fire is used variously to purify metals. The unwanted dross is removed as the metal becomes purer. Or think of the sugarcane farmer “putting the match” to the crop. He obviously doesn’t set out to destroy the crop. Rather, knowing just how selective fire can be, the cane-grower sets fire to the field in order to get rid of the bulky leaf matter that would otherwise need fans coupled to the harvester to separate the wanted cane from the unwanted trash, as it’s called. A fan is something a grain harvester has to have because the grain-grower cannot set fire to the wheat before it is harvested, lest he lose everything. Hence what John says that Jesus will do at the Last Day, ‘His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire’ (Mtt 3:12).

Do you remember that Jesus said, ‘But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!’ (Lk 12:50). He said that years after he was baptised in the Jordan by John, so he must be referring to something more. Yes, Jesus’ baptism is the starting point for God the Father to begin laying upon his Son the fire of his wrath over humanity’s sin. But Jesus continues to stand under the Father’s fiery wrath until the fire is quenched in his crucifixion. Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world and received the just and due punishment and condemnation that our sin deserves. This all began with a baptism in water, but it was finished with a baptism in blood. That’s why St John would write about Jesus, ‘This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement’ (1 John 5:6-8).

So my brothers and sisters: because Jesus has taken upon himself the fire of God’s wrath over your sin, God’s fire becomes for you and every baptised believer a blessing in illumination, warmth and purification.

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] See www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/spirit-baptism-acts-8/ for an excellent commentary on the significance of Acts chapter 8, and the so-called baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Sermon for Advent 1, 27.11.2022

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus said, ‘So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him’ (Matthew 24:44).

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

The Return of Jesus: Like rain falling from a blue sky!

Are you "watching this space?" Are you expecting the unexpected? Are you watching for something as unexpected as rain falling from a blue sky?

From what I have heard from you throughout the years, is that you are not expecting the unexpected! It seems to me from what you have been saying, is that you would be “gob-smacked” at finding rain falling from a blue sky!

For whenever I hear you talk about the Day of days, that is, the Last Day, the Day of Jesus return to ‘judge the living and the dead,’ I hear you only ever talk about the expected. I hear it said, “Look at the times we live in, these are the last days for sure. Jesus is coming very soon.” In light of today’s Gospel Reading: why are you saying that or something along those lines? I think it might be because you are expecting the expected.

So, why are you expecting the expected? The answer, I think, is two-fold. Firstly, it’s because you have read and heard Jesus say in the verses proceeding today’s Gospel reading, ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Messiah,” and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains.

9 ‘Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ (Mtt 24:4-14).

Secondly, you live in a world where news of these very things is zoomed into your homes through TV, radio and over the internet every single day. So naturally enough you connect the dots and come to the conclusion that sometime this year, this decade, or certainly within this lifetime, that this is the time in which Jesus will return.

For these reasons you have thought that what Jesus said to his disciples pertained equally and directly to you, too. For these reasons you have applied these words of Jesus directly to your lifetime. But why would you do that when Jesus is answering the disciples question about the destruction of the Temple? Jesus says about that time, ‘Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains.’ Yes, Jesus describes events that will occur prior to the Last Day, but the event of the Temple’s destruction and the cyclic events of famines and earthquakes and wars, say nothing as to the day or hour of its arrival.

Yes, we are to live out our callings in life as Christians, for the Last Day ‘is near, right at the door’ (Mtt 24:33). But in chapter 24 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ is first and foremost answering the disciples’ question provoked by him when he said about the Temple in Jerusalem, ‘Do you see all these things?’ ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down’ (Mtt 24:2). Jesus there talks about the destruction of the Temple that would, and did occur, in AD 70, that is, in so many of the disciples’ lifetime. He is not there and then referring to the very Last Day, to his Return. In fact, one clear aim of what Jesus says in chapter 24 of Matthew’s Gospel is to prevent premature excitement about his Return! For there will be no sign to look for prior to the cataclysmic arrival of the Last Day! No clouds will gather, as it were, before the End. So, are you watching this space? Are you expecting the unexpected? Are you watching for something as unexpected as rain falling from a blue sky? Are you ready for the unexpected?

For about the Last Day, as we heard read, Jesus says, ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.[1] 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.’ (Mtt 24:36-39).

Did you hear that? Jesus said that the people living in Noah’s day knew nothing about it. They knew nothing about it because they despised Noah’s preaching in both word and deed. As ‘a preacher of righteousness’ (2 Peter 2:5) who called all people to repent,[2] he made known to them, in word and deed, what was about to take place – the judgment of God upon a world gone very, very wrong. Noah “walked the talk” as evidenced each day by the towering growth of the mega-ship he was building in his backyard! But not a soul listened to him or took heed of his actions. Why? They weren’t “watching this space.” They weren’t “expecting the unexpected?” They weren’t watching for something as unexpected as rain falling from a blue sky?

But we are to expect the expected: the earthquakes, famines and wars etc, as part-and-parcel of living in a fallen world; a fallen world groaning for liberation 'from its bondage to decay' (Romans 8:21-22). But these signs, these birth-pangs (Rom 8:22) alone are not reasons to make the prediction or speculation that the Last Day is immediately upon us. Rather, the promise of Jesus himself is enough. He said multiple times, ‘Yes, I am coming soon’ (Rev 3:11; 22:7,12, 20). And the Church responds, ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus’ (Rev 22:20). Not only that, we also pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven" in which we are also praying for the hastening of the coming of the Last Day.

And so the take-home message today, in fact of every hour of everyday, is that it is possible to prepare for Jesus’ Return, not by calculating or speculating about its date, but by a life of constant readiness and response to God’s warnings and promises. And again, the reliable promises and warnings aren’t signs in the heavens and earth, but rather from the preaching and teaching of Jesus and his church, that is, from the Word of God alone.

And Jesus and the church with him, says, ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him’ (Mtt 24:42-44).

Did you lock your doors when you left home this morning? Why? I bet anything that it was it because you were expecting the expected? The only reason why you locked the house or the car this morning is because you know that thieves might be about – might be out there right now snooping about in the carpark and street. But that’s another example of expecting the expected. But what if you left your relative or friend behind this morning inside your locked or at least guarded house, and yet something still gets taken? You wouldn’t expect them to nick something. That would be unexpected; like rain falling from a blue sky. I’ve extended the reach of the example Jesus gives of the burglar coming at night in order to drive home the point today that every Christian is to expect the unexpected; not to expect the expected.

For Jesus’ Return to separate the ready from the unready, that is, the believer from the unbeliever will come upon the world at an unexpected time. Hence the call by Jesus, ‘So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him’ (Mtt 24:44).

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Footnotes:

[1] Surely you think that Jesus, as the all-knowing Son of God, really knew the day and hour of his return? Surely the Scriptures are wrong in their testimony? Well: ‘Church Father Irenaus was not troubled by the phrase ‘nor the Son.’ Rather, he used it as positive Christian instruction saying, “If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to the Father only,…neither let us be ashamed to reserve for God those greater questions which may occur to us. For no man is superior to his master.’ (page 1295 of Jeffrey A. Gibbs Concordia Commentary Matthew 21:1-28:20.)

[2] ‘By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family’ (Hebrews 11:7).

Sermon for Advent 1, 01 12 2024

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

Today’s Gospel Reading can be split into two major sections. The first two verses, verses 25 and 26 of Luke 21, comprise what I have conveniently termed ‘Cataclysmic Catechesis.’ In these two verses, we hear Jesus saying that,

‘There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

It is most interesting to note that of the 1,151 verses of Luke’s Gospel that these two verses are the only verses in this Gospel account that announce the cosmic disturbances we are to expect prior to the Second Advent of Christ. That's 0.002%! Jesus makes a very short statement on what will be the end of the world as we know it. That is remarkable and pause for thought!

The text continues,

27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And here we can take note of what St Luke recorded in his second volume. In Acts 1:11 we hear two angels tell the disciples that, 'This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'

And then following those two verses of ‘Cataclysmic Catechesis,’ we hear Jesus give his ‘Comforting Catechesis.’ Now in nine verses we hear Jesus say,

 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

29 He told them this parable: ‘Look at the fig-tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 ‘Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 ‘Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.’

In this second section that we can aptly call ‘Comforting Catechesis,’ we hear Jesus redirect his disciples away from the natural and expected rise of fear and trepidation that will be experienced by ‘this adulterous and unbelieving generation’ (Mk 8:38) upon his return to judge the living and the dead. Instead of experiencing surprise and fear and trepidation, the disciples are to take heed and focus, not on the two verses that briefly describe those awesome cosmic disturbances, but rather on the five directions to:

1. Stand up

2. Lift up your head

3. Watch

4. Pray &

5. Stand.

Just as the familiar Spring sprouting of the leaves point to the arrival of the new season, so too, will the cosmic disturbances point out nothing other than the Last Day when the Season of Grace will give way the eternal Season of Glory; that never-ending Season that will be enjoyed in the New Heavens and New Earth by all the redeemed.

In the centre of Jesus’ ‘Comforting Catechesis’ he makes a promise that provides every disciple with the power and ability to accomplish that which he has spoken. He promises that, ‘33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’ This verse is central and critical to all Jesus had to say at the Temple to all those listening to him on that Monday of Holy Week. For the words of Jesus, that is, his Catechesis, will never pass away. Because his word is truth, it will never lose its power to accomplish that for which he sends it (Is 55:11). The fact that ‘the word of the Lord endures for ever,’ as Peter would later confess in his First Letter (1 Peter 1:25), is a promise and comfort that has sustained generation after generation of isolated Christians and Christian communities around the world for millennia. It is an enduring promise that we are to take to heart, for only the Word of Christ has the power to transform our natural fears and apprehensions, at what is to befall the world, into a fearless, confident, attentive and worthy stance in the presence of the Son of Man. This standing up, lifting up your head, watching, praying and standing will only come about in your life because you take your stance upon the rock of Christ. For the Rock of Christ is immovable. It is the only safe refuge in times of trouble and doubt. For when all is said and done, when all the lies and deception of this fallen world have been exposed, and when we have beheld the truth and beauty of Christ the Lord, we can only confess with St Peter, saying, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God’ (Jn 6:68-69).

When it comes to the same promise spoken in John’s Gospel, Jesus directs every disciple saying, ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’ (John 15:7). In contrast to the unbelieving generation that has been “fainting” at the prospect of the world literally tearing apart at its seams, the disciple of Jesus knows exactly where to turn and what to strive after. The disciple turns to the Word of Christ for strength and comfort as they simultaneously strive after setting the high moral example for the world to sit up and take notice. For let’s not gloss over verses 34 & 35 in which Jesus adds a warning, saying, ‘Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth’ (Lk 21:34-35). These deeds of darkness are a trap for all the unwary. They are a trap to every unbeliever because they are unseen to them. For without the light of Christ shining as in a dark place, every unbeliever cannot help but step headlong into the devil’s snares. It is impossible to avoid the trap that's covered in darkness. And they are also a trap set for those who seek to follow Christ, but think that God’s grace and forgiveness provides a license to do as they please – as if sin may abound in the grace of God! But as St Paul says, ‘We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?’ (Romans 6:2).

So to avoid setting a trap up for yourself and being eternally snared in it, Jesus, the Saviour from sin, provides the necessary equipment that every disciple needs to stand confidently and face him upon his Return. When we go to the Word of Christ we really can have all the confidence in the world, even when that world is tearing apart at its seams.

Too many people over the course of history have focused too much attention on those two verses that describe the cosmic disturbances that accompany the Return of Christ. But we see in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus only allocates it two verses, not that he assigned the chapters and verses in Holy Scripture, that was done later, but I think you know what I mean! And not that even if it was only one verse would we consider it unimportant! But I point this out to highlight the fact that the weight in the Gospel of Luke lies in the allocation of nine verses, that’s four-and-a-half times as much space, to Jesus providing every disciple with directions in how to actively wait for his Return. And in these same nine verses, Jesus provides us all with words of comfort; those comforting words that his Word will never pass way and will therefore accomplish his good purposes. This 'Comforting Catechesis' also includes God's own provision of the Christian’s armour that is needed to stand firm until the very end of the world as we know it. For when it comes to standing up, lifting up your head, watching, praying and standing, that is, remaining upright and ready, we read in St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians:

‘14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people’ (Eph 6:14-18).

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 2, 08 12 2024

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s text for consideration will be the first two verses of Luke chapter 3. In these two verses that we might be tempted to skim read, as just being the historical introduction to the ministry of John the Baptist, Luke writes:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene – 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: the contrast being captured by Luke in these two verses of his Gospel is staggering. It's far too easy for the reader to race past these historical facts without considering their significance for the Gospel. Yes, these historical facts capture the political and religious rule in the late second decade of the first millennia AD. But apart from locating God's salvation history in the geopolitical and religious life of the first century AD, what do we make of it? We know Luke loves his history. We know he records in a documentary style of writing. But is he here just "dotting his i's" and "crossing his t's" and being as comprehensive a reporter as possible? He certainly achieves this aim as he names seven world leaders that ruled in the regions round-about the Mediterranean Sea in the great Roman Empire. But is this Luke’s only aim in providing this historical data? Is there a greater significance to be revealed, as Luke not only tells us about world history at a certain place and time, but also something great about God, and how he worked in a certain time and place to bring salvation to a people, and ultimately, to the whole world?

We can receive more from Luke's introduction to John the Baptist’s ministry than the single fact that we can pinpoint these events on an historian’s timeline. When stopping to ponder these verses, I want you to hear the weighty contrast being revealed between God and man, and even between heaven and earth?

Firstly, there is a 7:1 contrast. The seven comprise those named world leaders: 1. Caesar, 2. Pilate, 3. Herod, 4. Philip, 5. Lysanias, 6. and former High Priest Annas, and 7. his son-in-law and current High Priest Caiaphas. These seven centrally located, powerful and prestigious secular and religious leaders are contrasted with one who lived “out in the wilds,” and ‘wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey’ (Mk 1:6). These world leaders were each in their own right “a sight to behold:” each for their high office, their power and their regalia. But the solitary one, John the Baptist, can only claim fame for his obscurity and "beast-like" diet and dress!

Any historian will naturally take note of the world’s glorious might and pomp and power being stacked up against what could only be described as a paltry pauper of a prophet. These seven world leaders are significant, while that lonely soul… …well who really cares? Anybody can see that Luke is declaring the existence of seven powerful voices in the world that can speak volumes into the world’s affairs. But what about the one? What about this lonely man, John son of Zechariah?

And here’s the second contrast! To whom does the word of God come? To whom is given the voice that ultimately speaks volumes, not just for his own time, people and place in history, but for all time as we know it, and for all the people? Surely Luke’s fellow historians would expect to read that the seven, or surely at minimum expectations, that at least it be either Annas or Caiaphas that would receive the word of God that prepared the way of the Lord! But no! The historian is shocked to read that the Word of God comes to the son of a rank-and-file priest of the tribe of Levi living a kind of hermit's life out in the wilds. And this Word first appears, not from the Temple "pulpit" or from any centralised seat of power, but rather out in the wilderness. For out into the wilderness was where an exodus was taking the people. And Jesus, for whom John the Baptist paved the way, would bring another exodus, as he brought all people “out” and “on the way/road” (which is what the word exodus means) to a full salvation from the captivity and oppression of sin, death and the power of Satan. John the Baptist was the one in the wilderness who would preach the Word that would level the mountains into the valleys, straighten crooked roads and make the rough places smooth. For this is what the Word of God did in history, and was now doing again. Any decree made by man that had arisen from the pursuit of the control of power and prestige did not and could not have this same 'word of the Lord' power. God’s Word is the power unto salvation. This is what comes to John the Baptist in order to prepare a people to see the salvation of our God.

In these two verses that anyone could be forgiven for allowing only the most cursory of readings, we see the workings of God! It is easy to skim-read these two verses, as if they only highlighted world history at a certain time and certain place. And it’s pardonable that we want to read ahead and invest our time in considering what the, ‘baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ (Lk 3:3b) is that John the Baptist administered. Or to read on further and investigate deeply those ancient words of Isaiah chapter 40 that were spoken by God to his covenant people; a people who had been taken captive in Babylon because of their sins, now once again being spoken 500 years later to another people in world history who shared a similar plight and needed deliverance from their sins. But let’s restrain our thoughts from wandering on too far ahead, and rather ponder the significance of the seeming insignificance of a man raised up to prepare the way of the Lord!

In a similar vein, as was John the Baptist’s perceived insignificance, was humble Mary’s perceived triviality, as was the lowly shepherd’s watching their flocks by night. But as Mary would bear in her womb and place on her lap the Saviour of the world, and as the lowly shepherd’s were the ones chosen to witness heaven come down to earth in the angelic host, so, too, would this otherwise insignificant son of Zechariah be chosen to prepare the way for the Lord. Not to one of the princesses of the palace, nor to Jerusalem’s elite, did the Word of God come. Neither did it come to those in Jerusalem before it came to John the Baptist and all those going out to him in the wilderness.

Here we see the workings of God according to his ways and purpose and not according to the expected ways and purposes of the world. And according to God’s plan and purpose, we read-on and learn that crowds of people came out to John to be baptized and to seek out how to set the standard in righteousness. Because he was given the very Word of God, John the Baptist made the in-roads that the Lord God desired. St Mark tells us that, ‘The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan’ (Mk 1:5). It is noteworthy that there was already a world movement, even an out-of-this world movement, happening at the exhortation and proclamation of the Good News of John the Baptist (Lk 3:18). The people were not going into Jerusalem to the Temple, to the house of God to make preparations for the arrival of the Messiah. Rather they were going out into the wilderness to hear the voice of God. Historically, for the people of God, the wilderness had once been the location of their ignoring and rebelling against the Word of God, but now things are reversed.

All these people were being prepared by John for whom he would say, ‘I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire’ (Lk 3:16-17).

Some would confuse John with the One he was making these preparations for. But John would answer them saying, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord”’ (John 1:23). And he would further qualify his preparatory ministry when he said to the Pharisees, ‘I baptise with water, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie,’ (Jn 1:26-27). And he would add, ‘I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel’ (Jn 1:31).

And the One to come, and who now stood in their midst, Jesus Christ the Lord, would be revealed to Israel, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn 1:29). But even John the Baptist had to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ To this question Jesus answered in the affirmative by quoting the same prophet that John had been quoting, that being Isaiah, ‘…the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.’ (Mtt 11:3, 5-6).

The day was coming when Jesus’ kingship would be revealed. But it would not be revealed in the way the world expected. His throne was not in Jerusalem's Temple. Rather, it was a Roman cross fashioned by the Empire to curb and quit such claims to royalty, power and authority. At their hands, and at the hands of Annas and Caiaphas, Jesus would be coronated with a crown of thorns in view of all the people. The Messiah's high office was one of humble service and not one that history would prove that it lorded itself over the people as compared with those seven world leaders: Caesar, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas and Caiaphas! The Messiah's seat of power would be located in the hearts of the people whose lives he came to save and transform. Upon obeying both John's and Jesus' call to, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' (Mtt 3:2) and 'Repent, and believe the good news' (Mk 1:15c), all those who believed would come to reign with Christ in the kingdom being established by the very Word of God.

So, on this Second Sunday of Advent, we have paused and considered afresh Luke’s historical introduction as much more than just that, and have acknowledged the striking contrasts between God’s ways and man’s ways; between worldly kingdoms and the kingdom of heaven. So we give thanks that, ‘the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness’ and that this Word paved the way for our eyes to ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn 1:29).

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Advent 3, 15.12.2024

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing.’

Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth: Your Word is Truth. Amen.

God delights in you!

There are some truly wonderful hymns in our hymn book and in other denominational hymn books all over the world. Songs and hymns have that unique ability to be easily remembered by young and old alike. When it comes to the congregation's sacrifice of praise, when we sing out of the same songbook, as it were, we are all connected with generations past and generations to come. And as the hymn or song gives all glory to Jesus, its value "comes to the fore" when the world is, or at least seems to be, falling apart all around us. It has been said that the Christian's library only needs three books - the Bible, Luther's Small Catechism and the Hymnbook. It has been also said that if the pastors of the church stuck to these primary resources a bit more, then the congregation's Mission and Ministry would grow. But of course this statement cuts across the grain of all the Mission and Ministry methodologies that have come on the scene over the past 50 years, but are replaced within a decade with something that promises better results. Imagine your grand and great-grandchildren armed against the world, with all its peer pressure and ungodly distractions, with the spiritual weapons of the Bible, the Catechism and the Hymnbook to guard them on their way to eternal life!

Our hymnody and songbooks are a most wonderful gift from God. They speak of God's awesome power and our wonder at all his works and ways. They speak of his power made manifest in the lowliness of a baby lying in a manger. They speak of the sacrifice God made in the death of his one and only Son. They speak of how this Son sets you free into the freedom you are called to enjoy. They give you a voice when you do not know how to pray as you ought. They speak of the power of God's Word at work in your heart as he conforms you to be more like his Son. They speak of how it is God's Word alone that converts you, and has you repent and turn to follow your Lord. They speak of how powerful and effective God's Word is over the persistent, but puny, power of the devil, like when Martin Luther wrote,

"This world's prince may still,

Scowl fierce as he will,

He can harm us none;

He's judged for e'er undone;

One little word can fell him" (from A Mighty Fortress is our God.)

Our hymns and songs speak of God's unfathomable love for you in his Son. They speak of rejoicing in God. They give voice to your longing to see Jesus as he is, face to face. They give voice to the reality of God's judgment and his mercy upon sinners. They speak of the hope you have. They speak of the peace that comes down from above. They speak of the joy of new birth and the consolation you have in death. Christian hymnody covers every human aspect of life, and of death, and of everything imaginable in between. They enable you to time travel so that you can join the angels and archangels, and "step into the shoes" of the greatest of prophets and the lowest of servant girls. They bring the voice of your great-great-great-Grandparents in the faith back into the congregation and they gift the great-great-great-grandchildren who come to faith with the same songs of praise, prayer and thanksgiving.

Two-thousand six hundred years ago, Zephaniah prophesied the day when "[God] will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder" (Zeph. 3:9). That's an awesome description of our redemption in Jesus and the resulting gift of the congregation's unison in praise of him and service to your neighbour. His prophecy is being fulfilled as people like you come to faith and are enabled to continually serve God "without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of your life" (Luke 1:74). And as the Song of Zechariah reveals to us, we can worship God and present pleasing and acceptable sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to him, not just on Sundays, but everyday. We get to serve God in this way by serving others.

In our Lutheran Hymnbook and its Supplement, there are actually less hymns and songs written and sung to God then there are songs written to be sung to each other and to the world about God. But its not that singing praises and thanks to God is somehow less important. Last week we joined John the Baptist's father, Zechariah in the Benedictus, as he came into full song after being made mute for not believing the words of the angel Gabriel when he said that his barren wife Elizabeth was to bear a son. We have opportunities at different times of the church year to join with Moses and Miriam, Hannah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Simeon and the Virgin Mary in their songs of praise and prophecy.

However, most of our hymns and songs are testimonies of God's love and his faithfulness shown to us. Our Hymnbook reflects the teaching that, "We love because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Our hymns testify to all the different gifts he freely gives to us. It's these unmerited gifts that fill the stanzas of Christ-centered hymns and songs that you sing to each other and to the unbelieving world. It's not at all inappropriate to turn around and face the church doors and sing God's praises to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as their Lord and God. St Matthew and St Mark record that from the cross that Christ prayed, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It is believed that Jesus prayed the entirety of Psalm 22 from the cross. In that case Jesus would have also prayed to his Father verse 22, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you" (Ps 22:22). That is how much he loves the world, that he would sing the Father's praises amongst the congregation that is crucifying him.

The human voice is a delight to the Lord. Your voice is a delight to the Lord. He gave it to you! You were given voices to sing for God and give him all glory, honour and praise. Your voice and all your speech is to be holy unto the Lord.

The human voice is also a delight to other people. We love listening to good singers. It's very uplifting to hear three tenors bellow out an aria, or to hear a young female soloist sing a melody in perfect pitch, or to hear a large choir in full voice.

But today the prophet Zephaniah brings us the Word of God that turns "the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). He lets you know that it is the Lord your God who sings over you. Zephaniah writes:

‘The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing’ (Zephaniah 3:17).

The first three quarters of Zephaniah's prophecy consists of God's call to repent and seek his righteousness and his humility; and to inquire of the Lord instead of choosing our own way to go, or deceiving ourselves with the belief that God's justice won't be met with his future judgment. It is in the message of this judgment that Zephaniah proclaims that the faithful remnant of God's people will be redeemed through judgment. Zephaniah's prophecy is one that calls sinners to repent. Jesus tells us that "there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:7), and that, "there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10).

Is God's voice a delight to you? What reasons do you have to delight in his Word? You have every reason under the sun to delight in his Word! He spoke you into being and sustains your life through that same speech. He spoke through the prophets and in these latter days he has spoken to you through his Son. And what has the Son said? Amongst many other things he said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk 2:17b). He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mk 8:34b).

God's hymnbook, that is, the Bible, is full of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that have his Son Jesus as the object of his love. And because Jesus dwells in you through faith, God is delighted to insert your name into his songs and to broadcast the love he has for you through his Son.

It is truly good news that God sings over you, for he does not sing a dirge over you. In Christ Jesus you have already been brought from death to life (Rom. 6:13). Jesus is the lead vocalist amongst us who, "rejoices over you with joyful songs." His voice is an instrument of righteousness. His voice declares to those who, by faith, look to him for salvation, as righteous. By faith you join in his righteousness by responding to his lead singing with all the parts of your body so that they may be fellow instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13).

‘The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing’ (Zephaniah 3:17).

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.