Sermon for Pentecost 23, 16.11.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Sun of Righteousness. Amen.
The prophet Malachi, he who is the voice-piece of the Lord Almighty says, ‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays’ (Mal 4:1-2a).
Let us pray: Lord Almighty, help us listen to your fiery forecast for the future and how to take heed so that we may escape the flames of judgment. In Jesus, the sun of righteousness we trust and pray. Amen.
A Fearsome Forecast vs. Rays of a Resurrection to Eternal Life.
As the Church Year comes to an end, what with only one more Sunday to go, many of the Bible Readings over these weeks reflect the closure of the present age and speak of the realities of the immanent Second Coming of Christ when He will vindicate those who have trusted Him and looked to Him for salvation, and when He will send those who do not into the unquenchable fires.
Malachi sure paints a vivid picture. The current and former rural property owners amongst us don't need any extra embellishment to picture in their minds-eye what the fulfillment of this event will look like. Like peeking through the blinds into this future Day of days, they have seen this looming firestorm and picture of devastation already, and for some, even more than once, as scrub, timbers, grass and structures alike have gone up in flames. The rest of us town-dwellers have seen it too, but from behind the safety of a television screen. God sure built Australian flora to burn and burn hot.
Every Summer there is the ever-present potential of once more seeing or experiencing what verse 1 of our text will look and feel like - ‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them.’ The energy that a fire-storm has can consume everything in its path, both above and below ground, as even tree roots smolder for months. I remember seeing an image of just one object that suffered the intense heat of the February 2009 Black Saturday fires. The fires of Black Saturday had melted an aluminum ladder and transformed it into a long globular snakelike sculpture which its owner kept and placed in the garden of their new house. The scale of a bushfire can be horrific, the loss of life crippling, and the loss of livestock, pets and property devastating. Today, Malachi speaks of an even greater devastation to come. He speaks of a world-wide fire-storm that is surely coming.
This year summer is very slowly advancing. This may cause some property owners to become complacent and downplay the approaching fire season. But when it does arrive, summer and the threat of fire may come with full ferocity. When the Day of days arrives, it will certainly come with a ferocity never seen before. But the Christian is not to fear it. For they have been given a forecast. This devastating forecast from the prophet Malachi is spoken so that it may drone in our ears and even burn within us now, today, so that we may escape its fury when it comes.
For in his prophecy, Malachi does not speak about the devastation of the loss of stuff, but rather about everyday people; people who have left the Lord their God to follow other gods. At that time, he spoke directly to people in the land of Judah who had entangled themselves with foreign gods and were faithless towards one another - "10Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? 11Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god" (2:10-11). Now the prophet speaks to us, for in this season, as in all seasons past, we are in grave danger of wandering away from the Lord, disobeying Him, substituting His commands with our own more convenient ones, being complacent about and idle concerning His Return. Malachi's message is no less aimed at us today as it was aimed at the Judeans 2,400 years ago.
There were massive changes made in Victoria post the devastation resulting from the Black Saturday bushfires. Having heard what's coming over the horizon for us all, are we ready for the fire of God's wrath that is surely coming? Are we taking note of the forecast? What will our fire mitigation plan be? Do we have one?
At first Malachi spoke words of total destruction, but then immediately added God's words of comfort and hope and salvation, saying, ‘2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.’ This is the Good News promise from God himself that whoever puts their confidence in Him alone will be healed. But they won't be healed from injuries caused by the fire of God's wrath that will ravage the earth! They won't need healing, because they won't be harmed. As Jesus Himself said in the Gospel Reading today, "And not even a hair on their head will perish." It’s the wicked and arrogant who will as combustible as stubble, but stubble that is not consumed, but rather burns eternally. But the righteous ones will be like evergreen trees planted alongside the waters of eternal life.
The fires of the end of time are surely coming. We know that the fire season of God's wrath is coming. How will we escape the flames? The answer is in God's promised Son, ‘2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.’ It is the Sun of Righteousness, our Lord Jesus, who has risen to bring healing to all people as He makes all things new through his rising in resurrection. Those who will escape the flames are those who revere God's name. How do we revere God's name? In faith we call upon Him as our only God who has sent His one and only Son into the world to suffer the fiery judgment of sin and disobedience for us. In other words, Jesus suffered the wrath of God's anger over our sin and disobedience in our place so that the fiery judgment may pass over us and not consume us.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our safe place. He is our rally point. He is our fire bunker that we can enter to escape the heat of the fire of judgment. We can shelter in Jesus, because on the cross, He already suffered the fire of God's wrath for us. God's wrath has already been consumed in the body of Jesus and the fire has already passed over those who take shelter in his care. Thus, those who have faith in Jesus Christ as the One who has born the fire of God's wrath, over their own sinfulness and disobedience, can say with confidence that they have already passed from death to life. This is the promise God made, through His mouthpiece Malachi,id mH that He repeats to you this day, ‘2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.’
As evergreen trees planted by the Lord Almighty, we are to bring shade and protection to those in our care. We are to inform them of the Lord’s dire forecast for those who disobey Him and deliver them the Good News of Jesus so that they, through repentance and faith, are also transplanted by the Lord Almighty into life everlasting. In Jesus, we need not fear the fearsome forecast, for the fires will pass over every believer as did the Angel of Death for the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds sheltered in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 22, 09.11.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Sadducees ask Jesus, “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife” (Luke 20:33).
(new slide) Brothers and sisters in Christ: This is the question no Christian is dying to know the answer too…
(new slide) It is the question no Christian is dying to know the answer too…for it has been revealed to them that:
‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection’ (Lk 20:34-36). (blank slide)
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, teach us to look forward to your Son and our Husband’s Return to take us to His side, to be where He is, and will be, into all eternity. In His holy name we pray. Amen.
Today’s Gospel and the message it generates is weighty, so we can first have a laugh together – see “Brainy quote.” (new slide) Read slide
(blank slide) We needed to pause for a laugh, because from today’s Gospel Reading we learn so much about God and man. First thing to note is that Luke, in his 20th chapter, has captured two times already, how Jesus’ authority had been challenged. It is first challenged by ‘the chief priests and the scribes with the elders,’ who challenge Jesus to provide an answer as to where His authority originates (Lk 20:1-2). Jesus answers their question with a question of His own, which silences them all, lest they ascribe heavenly authority to Him. This, and the Parable that followed - “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants” infuriated them, so they closely followed it with a second attempt to foil Him. The spies of the ‘scribes and the chief priests’ were tasked with asking Jesus a question about paying taxes to Caesar or not (Lk 20:19-25). Again, He answers their question with His own, saying, ‘“Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marvelling at his answer they became silent’ (Lk 20:24-26). Brothers and sisters in Christ: An eternal truth consistent towards anyone who challenges Jesus’ authority, whether it be now or on the Last Day is, ‘The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths’ (Ps. 107:42).
Building upon this theme of insincerity (Lk 20:20), in today’s Gospel we are to see the depths of how disingenuous man is, and can be, even towards the man from whom no one can hide the attitude of their heart. In our text, the insincerity of the Sadducees is now added to the sins of the world. For the group asking the near purely hypothetical question, is the group of so-called believers, who don’t believe in their hearts that an answer is even possible, let alone credible. Luke tells us “straight out of the gate,” that the Sadducees didn’t even believe in the resurrection! Granted that marriage vows made by men were, and are still today, so easily erased because of the hardness of a man’s heart (Mtt 19:8), and that Jesus had earlier spoken with a woman divorced five times (Jn 4:18), yet the Sadducees were like that person who attends R.I./R.E. Class or congregational Bible Study, or Inquirers’ Class, or Confirmation Class armed with the question they think will stump the pastor or teacher and thereby prove themselves superior, or in the attempt to try to discredit Christian teaching all together. As the Sadducees ask their question, you can picture the rest of them in a huddle trying to hold back their sniggering, confident that Jesus’ will fail to provide an answer, and therefore that they will be justified in judging Him.
The second thing we learn, is that the person they are asking is the intended Husband of all people, now and in the resurrection age (Jer 31:32; Eph 5:25-27)! And on top of that disgrace, they are using the Holy Scriptures as a weapon, they being what Moses prescribed in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, to try to trap and condemn Him. If only this Q&A encounter had of developed as it did for that woman divorced five times of John chapter 4 “The Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well.” For when we consider how Jesus said, in conversation with her, ‘“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4:10), it is revealed that she came to take a step towards faith in the Messiah, saying, ““Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (Jn 4:29). If only that kind of conversation had developed here in Luke 20! If only the Sadducees had not hardened their hearts so callously as to come to Jesus having already rejected the possibility of a general resurrection of the dead and therefore ruled out the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come! For if it had, a great number of God’s chosen and beloved people would have had hope for a better and brighter future around the throne and wedding feast of the Lamb.
For it is a this critical point where I worry about your children and grandchildren who know you’re a Christian, and themselves might know Jesus, but because of their disconnect with the congregation at worship and at Bible Study, they might make the serious blunder of prioritizing the relationships we may be blessed to enjoy in this life, over and above the relationship begun in this life and one that will continue in the next, with Jesus, the Bridegroom of the marriage that really matters. Not that our marriages don’t matter! They are precious and to be guarded with our very lives! As our Creator, God instituted marriage for social order and for the purposes of, and just to remind us all I quote from our Church Doctrinal Statements:[1]
to unite one man and one woman (that is, husband and wife) so that they become ‘one flesh’. In this relationship the one person is the complement of the other (Matt 19:5)
to produce children and to care for their upbringing within the framework of a family (Eph 6:1–4)
to provide an appropriate place and context for a man and a woman to have sexual relations (1 Cor 7:2,3).
Marriage ‘exists by divine decision and decree.[2]’ But Jesus makes it clear in our Gospel text that marriage to our spouse is only for this age, not for the age to come.
So to rewind a bit, why do I say I worry about your children and grandchildren concerning what Jesus says in our Gospel text? Well, it’s you widows (and widowers), who upon your death, whose children or grandkids might be inclined to say, as they deal with death and try to console themselves and others, the well-intentioned, but worrisome saying, “It’s OK. She’s with Dad now,” or “She missed him terribly. She’s been waiting for a long time to be reunited with Dad/Grandad.” We all hope and expect that to be true, that they both died in the faith, but it’s all more importantly true to believe that it’s Jesus, her Bridegroom, whom Mum or Grandma is to enjoy, world and marriage without end. For if Dad or Grandad died in faith, then he has been enjoying that same promise fulfilled and that same perfect relationship with Jesus already. No, he hasn’t missed Mum or Grandma at all, for there is no crying or mourning in heaven or in the age to come (Rev 21:4). All those who have died in faith have been enjoying Jesus too much to worry about things “down here.” That might seem insensitive, but it’s true, and it highlights how wrapped up in this world order, even in the good order that marriage is, that we are and can be. Being so wrapped up in the world will be to the neglect of desiring daily, as Jesus says, ‘to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead’ (Lk 20:35). When we have our priorities out of order, hearing this text reveals how much our heavenly Bridegroom plays “second fiddle” in our lives.
But Jesus longs to take each of us as his wife. He is the One who left His Father (Lk 1:30-35; Jn 1:14; Eph 4:10) and mother (Jn 19:27) to be united to you. You are the one He loves from before time began. The Father was pleased to choose you to be wedded to His Son. (new slide) He is the One providing the “all-expenses paid” bridal shower (baptism) and wedding banquet (Holy Communion). You are the one whom Jesus desires to be at His side forever and ever, feasting at the eternal banquet table. He has dressed you in His innocence, righteousness and blessedness, presenting you ‘to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she [i.e. you, the Bride] might be holy and without blemish’ (Eph 5:27).
(blank slide) The second, and lesser, but not unimportant error that our disconnected children and grandchildren might venture into, is believing that their precious loved one, upon death, becomes an angel in heaven. This belief might be uncommon in our circles, but you will read about it all the time in Newspaper Death and Remembrance notices, especially, and not surprisingly at the death or remembrance of a child. However, humans are not resurrected as purely spiritual beings. Jesus wasn’t even resurrected purely as a spiritual being. He had to say to the disciples, ‘See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have’ (Lk 24:39). Angels, however, are fully spiritual beings and since the days of creation there has been a set number created: those who since have been confirmed in their state of blessedness and those who rebelled with Satan and are destined for the eternal fire (Mtt 25:41). Every single person ever conceived will be resurrected at the Last Day and receive a new and restored physicality that is incorruptible/imperishable/immortal (1 Cor 15:42): a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:44) to be enjoyed eternally by those who died in faith, but for those who refuse to believe, a body to suffer eternal and unquenchable pain. This is what we confess when we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.”
Just to break for a second, I haven’t said anything about who the Sadducees were.
The Sadducees were smaller in number than the Pharisees, but actually had more members on the Sanhedrin than the Pharisees. They belonged to the priestly line and were usually wealthy and politically minded. They rejected anything past the first five books of today’s Bible (the Pentateuch) and the oral traditions too. They did not believe in resurrection, angels or spirits. (new slide) With no hope for an afterlife, this was what made them “sad, you see.” Get it?[3]
Even though the Sadducees were hardened in heart, Jesus answers them correctly so that anyone else in the Temple could hear and believe the truth. So Jesus must add, ‘37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” (blank slide)
This teaching by Jesus is so important to get right and to confess it as true, because it is the very foundation of Christianity, as Paul writes: 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
(new slide). So say with me…together – “We are the people of the resurrection. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.”
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the risen and ascended Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS AND THEOLOGICAL OPINIONS (DSTO) VOLUME 1 H. ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES Marriage, divorce and re-marriage
[2] DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS AND THEOLOGICAL OPINIONS (DSTO) VOLUME 1 H. ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES Marriage and de facto relationships
[3] https://www.feedthehunger.org/sad-you-see/
Sermon for Pentecost 17, 05.10.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
To know why the Twelve Apostles, rather than the larger audience of the disciples responded to Jesus asking Him to increase their faith, today’s Gospel Reading should have begun at verse 1 of chapter 17 of Luke. So, let’s rewind to there:
And he [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him.”
Increase Our Faith
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.
Unworthy Servants
7 “Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterwards you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (ESVUK)
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the Truth; Your Word is Truth. Amen.
The first thing to note about this text of Scripture is what it is NOT saying. Besides deliberately sinning against the Ten Commandments themselves, the worst thing any Christian can do is say to another Christian; one who is struggling physically, emotionally, or spiritually in life’s hardships, is, “You just need more faith!” If anybody says that to you, you have my permission to punch them in the face… well maybe not, rather go directly to your pastor to hear the truth of the Bible - “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you” (Lk 17:6). Otherwise, you might believe that ignorant Christian and go down the path of doubt and despair while reciting the false mantras, “If only I had faith like him,” “If only I had faith like her.” There are no second-class Christians. There are no super-Christians. While it might look like some Christians are gorging on the faith while others get the crumbs of faith that fall from the Master’s table; rather the truth is that “We are all beggars, that’s for sure.” And if you know who had those words written on a piece a paper in his jacket pocket the day he died, you are doing well. He was the guy who stood up to the Pope and said ‘Here I stand. I can do no other.’ He was the guy who desired to reform the church according to the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was the guy who knew that faith was a gift, not a work, so that no one could boast before the Lord on the Day of Judgement. He was the guy who knew that faith saved. He knew nothing and taught nothing of how much faith you required to be saved. When he was greatly stressed and depressed, even the great man and instrument of God who I am describing, Dr Martin Luther, needed a wife or a Father Confessor to remind him to see his faith contained in the smallness of a single little grain of a mustard seed and to trust Jesus that that was enough.
Faith is a pure gift. Your faith comes from God. Faith can’t be born from within. We are all born dead – dead in trespass and sin. Dead things can’t generate anything, let alone faith that gives life. Faith has to come from outside of us – from the Holy Spirit who points you to Jesus. Faith is given in the planting of the seed of faith at Holy Baptism. Faith comes by feelings?... NO, but by being born again by water and the Spirit. Faith comes from hearing the Word – the Word of Christ – and when asked for an increase Jesus said to the 12 Apostles, “Look how small this faith is and what its littleness can achieve!”
Imagine if every Pastor was issued with a “Faith Yard-stick” and measured you against it every time you came forward to the Altar Rail to receive Holy Communion. Would you measure up today? WRONG QUESTION. If that ever happened, I hope you would grab his measuring stick and start beating him with it and shout at him, “That’s why I am coming to the Altar Rail, you twit! Give me my Jesus! I need Him now. I need my little grain of mustard seed faith to sprout before it dies! I’m struggling. I’m a doubting Thomas. I need to see Jesus. He just said, “Come, for everything is ready.” Get out of my way… GIVE ME MY JESUS!”
Yes, Jesus does say on another occasion, “O you of little faith” (Mtt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20; Lk 12:28) and “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8). Yes, Jesus did say these things, but that was because this little group of men were being swamped with fear (Mtt 8:26), or worried about God’s material provision for them (Mtt 6:30), or sinking because they (i.e. they being just Peter in this case) took his eyes off Jesus out there on the water. As its Author and Perfector, Jesus is allowed to lament the loss of faith, originally in the Garden, and its loss in every one of us born into this world of doubt and derision towards the Lord of Life. He is called to rebuke us so that, in sorrow over our faithlessness and in what?… …in FAITH we dare lift up our eyes to Him, reach out to Him with our empty hands and take possession, once again, of the pure unmerited gift that faith in Jesus is.
Why did the Apostles ask, ‘“Increase our faith!”? That was a natural response from our fellow fallen and sinful brothers who had just been taught the truth of the largeness of forgiveness. So, if any size of faith comparisons can be made, we might conclude that “Large forgiveness of sin, requires large faith.” That’s at least the context of the beginning of Luke 17. Jesus said, ‘If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him’ (Lk 17:3-4). This is Jesus’ call to the Apostles to live out the kindness, mercy and forgiveness exemplified in Himself, that kind of forgiveness that spoke as He was bleeding to death, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
The second and shorter thing to note is that Jesus is first speaking to all his disciples. Then at the hearing of the teaching of the largeness of forgiveness and it being the primary task of the church, it is just The Twelve Apostles who ask for an increase in faith. A literal translation of the Apostles’ request is, “Add to us faith.” As one’s sent, for that is what Apostle means, they were the select group sent by Jesus to preach the kingdom of God and heal and keep the little ones, those being in Sunday School and Confirmation Class and the Inquirer’s Class (i.e. catechumens) to keep them from stumbling (Lk 17:1-2). For so many faithful preachers and teachers in the church across time, know by experience, that the hiddenness of the kingdom of God in the world needs, not superior, not really more, not exactly an increase, not extra, but a particular bestowal of faith to keep them keeping-on in their duties. The Twelve had faith that saved. So, the way I receive their request for “more” faith is along the lines of what Jesus needed to say to Peter, ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers”’ (Lk 22:31-32). Paul would add, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). I posit that The Twelve needed this kind of divinely sourced strength to keep-on keeping-on. And who wouldn’t?
For there is, and will be so much sin to forgive, hence the reaction of The Twelve, ‘Add to us faith.’ And hence Jesus continuing to teach The Twelve using that picture of a bond-servant-Master relationship, bond-servant meaning a slave who voluntarily asks to remain in the service of their master for the rest of their life. And in this teaching, Jesus describes the expected servant heart that a servant of the Gospel of forgiveness that forms faith needs to be gifted – ‘10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
All this is an extremely powerful word from Jesus, given in order to energize our mustard seed faith so that we can be a force of forgiveness in the church and for the sake of the world. This is my and your duty and delight.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 16, 28.09.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:11-16.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth: your Word is Truth. Amen.
Do you like a good fight, a good clash, a good wrestle between opponents? There was a big head-to-head contest held yesterday at the MCG. You might have watched it? It's that time of the year again when sporting clubs host grand finals all over the country. So, it's a good time of the year to hear St Paul telling young pastor Timothy to, "Fight the good fight of the faith." And, "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." St Paul was probably picturing a Greco-Roman wrestling contest when writing these verses. They paint the picture of an award or trophy, that is, something highly prized, being taken hold of with both hands and raised in triumphal glory to the soaring cheers of the spectators.
And we must take special note that Paul commands Timothy to ‘Fight the good fight of the faith.’ The fight is not a dirty fight, it’s a good fight. It’s a fight played by the rules. The devil and evil men fight dirty, spurning the rules, causing one foul play after another. Not so with you. As an Apostle entrusted with the ministry of the Word by God’s mercy, St Paul would most strongly say to the Christian congregation, ‘We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:2). We know that dirty tactics and foul play are completely unfair in the sports-arena, how much more then in the realm of faith!
When it's an Olympic or Commonwealth Games year, I try to watch the boxing events on T.V. I take no interest in professional boxing, with its over-the-top bravado and one-up-man-ship and even trying to psych-out your opponent as early as the press conference weeks before the bout. Rather, I prefer the contests of the amateur boxing; blue vs. red, country vs. country, a points based system of scoring, chasing a gold, a silver or a bronze medal. No ridiculous amounts of money swapping hands. No prize money awarded, but rather the highly sought after prize of an Olympic or Commonwealth medal.
To be able to fight the good fight, and prevail victorious, you need to know your opponent. A good coach will teach and train his student to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. If you are to win a fair fight, you need to exploit your opponent's weaknesses, and learn to defend yourself against their offensive attack, and also strengthen your own defences. Think of my favourite Olympic sport of boxing. You may have the talent and are fit to fight, but if you haven't gone into the ring having already studied your opponent's style and punch combinations then you won't know the best ways to dodge, duck and weave your way around their gloves. If you haven't studied their defensive style and stance, then you'll expend your energy hitting their gloves or worse, the air, air-swinging your way into exhaustion, and therefore wasting valuable point scoring opportunities. St Paul says to the Corinthians, "...; I do not fight like a man beating the air" (9:26).
And if you haven't practiced all this on a sparing partner before the actual fight, then you have little chance of overcoming your opponent, come fight day. St Paul knew his opponent. But here's what might be a surprise. He knew that the battle was "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). Though it may have looked like it from outward appearances, as he defended and promoted the truth of the revealed Word and will of his Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wasn't physically or verbally "dukeing-it-out" with men, but rather with the Evil One, and therefore against the evil that stood behind all falsehood and deception that had corrupted man and his beliefs.
When was the last time you pursued a Bible Study on Spiritual Warfare? Do you know the offence and defensive tactics of the Evil One? Can you recognise his sometimes blatant and most other times subtle sly moves? What strategic position are you going to take when the devil is on the prowl? Do you know what move makes him flee? James writes, 'Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you' (James 4:7).
In Ephesians, Paul writes of the gifts that God gives every Christian soldier. He writes, "...put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (6:13). St Paul draws on a Centurion's garb of helmet, breastplate, belt, sandals, sword, and shield to paint a picture of the armour of God. But it's not hard to imagine, "Headgear of salvation," "Mouth-guard, that is the Word of God, or the shield of faith," "Gloves, as thrusting swords of the Spirit" and a boxer's feet, "fitted with the fleetness that comes from the gospel of peace." It's a different picture, and not as good as St Paul's centurion, but just another sporting way of describing God's equipping all his saints to 'fight the good fight of the faith.' And as a boxer, you will always want to be the one who remains on his feet. That's the clincher of what St Paul writes, to "be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Ephesians 6:13). Without godly training and without the supply of God's equipment, St Paul could never have said in a second a letter to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
St Paul wanted the same boldness and determination from his young "charger" Timothy, even if it appeared in public that he was a "wooden spooner," always being on the losing side. For that is what the church looks like to most people - losers in an underperforming and poorly rated team. But we live by faith and not by sight. While we wait in hope for the time of "the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which God will bring about in his own time,' we are not called to sit on the side-lines watching others 'fight the good fight of the faith.' We are all in the arena together. It's "all hands on deck." Every congregation assembled by the Holy Spirit is called to work as a team, lifting others up when they stumble, encouraging each other to remain on their feet when they start to doubt that the final victory is theirs to share in. Every Christian needs at least one fellow believer to stand next to them, guarding and shepherding them from their common enemy - the Devil, with his lies and deceit and trickery. Having been given the good deposit of truth by Jesus himself (2 Timothy 1:14), that being Genesis through Revelation and the apostolic teaching received from there, and been given the deposit of the Holy Spirit who works through those 66 Books of the Old and New Testament to create and nurture faith, and having been outfitted with the clothing of salvation in baptism, and having stood for so long on the Rock of salvation and drinking from the Rock, that is, Christ, what a shame it would be to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory!
St Paul instructs Timothy, as a man of God, to flee those things that road block the path to eternal life, for himself and his hearers, and to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness;" those spiritual gifts amongst others that are distributed amongst the members of every congregation by the Holy Spirit, so that individuals, and collectively as a congregation, or should I repeat, as a team, can we make the good confession by word and deed 'in the presence of many witnesses,' and end up fighting 'the good fight of the faith,' and staying on our feet and stepping up on the dais to receive the crown of righteousness.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 15, 21.09.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Having just heard read from the lectern St Matthew’s own account of his call to discipleship from Matthew 9:9-13, and since we are in the “Year of Luke” in the Lectionary, I bring you Luke’s account of the same event:
Luke 5:27-32 – ‘After this (what is the ‘this’? It is that Jesus has just taught and demonstrated to the Pharisees and Scribes, by making a paralysed man walk, that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth), Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’
31 Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
The calling of Matthew is also present in St Mark’s Gospel (Mk 2:13-17). There we learn one extra tidbit of information, that being, Levi was the son of Alphaeus.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, call us out of our need for selfish gain and transform us into the people of God who pursue the tasks of selfless discipleship. In your most holy name, we pray. Amen.
St Matthew - A Gift of God.
You will read in the majority of Bibles in English, that Levi, whom we remember today as St Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist (Matthew 9:9), is named as a tax-collector. Older Bibles, like the King James Version employ the term ‘publican.’ However, there is an interesting nuance to be noted concerning the accuracy of the use of the terms ‘tax-collector’ versus ‘publican.’ Apparently, the term publican does not accurately describe Levi’s profession but flatters it. He had an official Roman occupation that was established as early as the 3rd Century B.C. He was employed in what was known as the Roman publicanus. This meant he was a public contractor who played a crucial role in the administration of public affairs. The likes of Levi were responsible for various tasks of the Empire. They included,
Ø Supplying the Roman legions: Publicani provided food, equipment, and
other supplies to the legions, ensuring the military's readiness and
support.
Ø Managing public buildings: They oversaw the construction and
maintenance of public buildings and infrastructure.
Ø Collecting taxes: Publicani were the tax collectors for the Roman provinces, ensuring the collection of taxes and other public dues.
Ø Participating in contracts: They bid for contracts for public duties, such as constructing roads, fortifications, and other infrastructure projects.
Levi was therefore an established public figure, and considering that Peter, Andrew, James and John were fisherman, perhaps the most prominent public figure amongst the Twelve was Levi, rather than who we might think of simply as an obscure debt-collector who chased bad debts. So, we shouldn't picture him going from door to door, rather he had his office or kiosk, or as the NIV has and as seen in on-screen depictions, a ‘tax-collectors booth,’ stationed in Capernaum. And if you remember, Capernaum was St Peter’s hometown and the headquarters of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The Romans were sure to have, what we might know as a Toll House or Customs House in Capernaum, and other major cities and ports. Capernaum was situated on the road that led from Damascus just where, at the northwest corner of the lake of Galilee, the highway passed from the territory of Herod Phillip to the domains of his brother, Herod Antipus. Not only customs but road-tolls would be calculated and extracted there, according to a vague tariff that would leave a certain lucrative freedom to the Customs Officer himself. The Pharisees might despise it, but the trade was a profitable one and much sought after: whether it was to be pursued honestly or dishonestly would depend on the character of the officer.[2]
And regarding that question of a tax-collector’s character, in his 2008 book, ‘Cast of Characters,’ author Max Lucado describes how the general populace might describe the likes of Levi. He writes,
Combine the grade of an embezzling executive with the presumption of a hokey television evangelist. Throw in the audacity of an ambulance chasing lawyer and the cowardice of a drive by sniper. Stir in a pinch of a pimp’s morality, and finish it off with the drug peddlers code of ethics - and what do you have, a First Century tax collector. According to the Jews, these guys ranked barely above plankton on the food chain. Caesar permitted these Jewish citizens to tax almost anything - your boat, the fish you caught, your house, your crops. As long as Caesar got his due, they could keep the rest. (pg. 13)
Maybe Max is employing a bit of hyperbole, but what is for sure is that those-in-the-know bundled the likes of Levi with sinners. In their own words we hear them say in their bemusement at Jesus, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? (Lk 5:30).
And Jesus’ answer reveals God’s heart and mission in the world, first to the Jew, then to the rest of the world, when he said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Lk 5:31-32).
Did Jesus give Levi a new name, that of Matthew? You might think of the tribe of Levi, that is, the Levites, when you hear the name Levi? The forlorn Leah, wife of Jacob, first coined the name Levi. When he was born to her, she said, ‘Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi’ (Genesis 29:34). Levi therefore means ‘attached’ or ‘joined’ But this Old Testament Levi’s New Testament namesake (i.e. our St Matthew) wasn’t living up to that name. For along one line of thought, the name Levi expressed the role of the Old Testament Levites in that they were to provide and promote social cohesion across the 12 Tribes of Israel. The Levite, ‘had no land of their own but were dispersed among the tribes, infusing all of them equally with the same education and thus forging a unified national identity across the clans.’[3] However, just like one of his colleagues, Zaccheus a chief tax-collector, Levi was also attached, but not to his people, but rather to selfish gain. Presumably, Levi gifted himself with a tip or two on top of the taxes he would have to pass on to Rome. And along this line of thought, we can now consider the name Matthew. Matthew means ‘gift of God.’
Because of the Lord’s choosing and calling him to follow, this newly named and saved sinner became an extended gift to us all. For we will now refer to him as Matthew - a gift of God. You see, when he left his ledgers behind, the official one of Rome and presumably the one for himself “under the table,” he took a lesson from the flowers of the field and the birds of the air who never did a day’s calculation in their life (Mtt 6:26-28). Matthew’s Master was no longer Herod Antipas: the shrewd fox (Luke 13:32). Now his Master, the Lord Jesus, who unlike the foxes, didn’t even have a place to lay his head (Mtt 8:20). This transformation took away all Matthew’s worldly prospects: Simon and Andrew might return to their fish, waiting for them in the lake, but Matthew had walked away from a coveted business and could never recover it. But he left it gladly and completely – at least it was not he but Judas who would come to keep the accounts for the Apostles (John 13:29).
Very interestingly, and something we may easily overlook is St Matthew’s obscurity, for the most part, after his call to discipleship. Yes, he appears in the list of the Apostolic Twelve, but temporarily “disappears” for a time. What became of him? Yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways, but he also works in the most intriguing of ways.
For in the most beautiful of ways, when the time arrived for a written Gospel record, to whom would it fall to be carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21); to testify to salvation alone in Christ Jesus? Accordingly, the duty and delight fell upon one who used the pen. Poor Matthew was back where he started, but this time with an eager will and purpose from on high. And it came to pass that sometime between the years 40 and 50 A.D., this ex-civil servant produced not the action-packed, yet artless Gospel of St Mark, but the orderly, almost ledger-like treatise which the church gladly received - The Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew. For if we were to judge from our surviving Greek addition of it, whose substantial identity with its Aramaic original, there is no reason to doubt the human author’s mathematical mind reasserted itself with a certain arithmetical neatness. Hence the seven parables of the Kingdom, the seven woes for the Pharisees, seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer, the probable number of seven Beatitudes. So too with the number five: five disputes with the Pharisees, the five loaves, five talents and above all the five books into which the body of his Gospel is clearly divided. And then, as we might expect, a sign of special knowledge regarding all things financial - the ‘denarius’ of Mark and Luke becomes more technically ‘the coin of tribute,’ a fact obvious and naturally expressed by a former Customs Officer. So also, though Mark and Luke omit it, we find the detail of the Temple Tax complete with its technicalities of indirect tax and poll tax, it's ‘drachmas’ and its ‘stater’.
And so Matthew’s old trade entered into a new service: the accountant became an evangelist; the Ledger turned into a Gospel. It is not surprising that Matthew alone records his Master’s words, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old’ (Mtt 13:52). Rightly understood, it has been said, that there is no poor tool or trade of ours that God's service will not perfect and dignify in the advancement of the Gospel.
The First Gospel and what has been claimed as the church’s favourite, is Matthew’s memorial. One tradition has it that he preached the Gospel to the Jews in the Holy Land for perhaps 15 years after the crucifixion (Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii.24.265). According to another possible tradition, confused perhaps because Matthew and Matthias are very closely spelt, it is possible that St Matthew went to Ethiopia, Parthia, and Macedonia to preach the word of the Lord; the Gospel of our salvation.
It is commonly but not unanimously affirmed that St Matthew died a martyr’s death. What is for sure is that he lived a martyr's life - and that is enough for us to remember and return thanks to God for a life well-lived. And for us he will always be the man who knew what money was and what it was not.[4]
As with all the Saints, today we have had St Matthew’s life and good work set before us, that we may follow his faith and good works, according to our calling[5],’ for it is in our own callings that the Lord Jesus can prosper the love and devotion of Jesus, ‘first in the family of faith’ (Galatians 6:10) and then in our families and communities as he calls each of us out of our sickness of sin and slavery to it, and out into the freedom of the Gospel and to take up our cross daily and follow him. As Jesus again invites us to table with him, we are to come to the altar rail longing for him to promote our transformation and conformation into his image for the sake of the world. Then by faith may we be each sent out into the world, forgiven to forgive with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and become little Matthews – little gifts of God to the world.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[2] The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, John Coulson Ed, Hawthorn Books Inc., New York, 1958, pgs 327-28.
[3] Levi | The amazing name Levi: meaning and etymology
[4] The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, John Coulson Ed, Hawthorn Books Inc., New York, 1958, pgs 327-28.
[5] (Source: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/#ac-xxi-0001)
Sermon for Pentecost 14, 14.09.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Luke 15:3-7: Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Rejoice with me.
The sheep are "bahhhhhhhking" mad this morning! They woke up with no one guarding the gate. They felt abandoned and let down. They felt unloved and scared.
"The master is irresponsible and reckless," one bleats to another.
Another one says, "We could have all died."
Yet another cries, "It's all too horrible to think about."
The fearful frenzy carried on until well after sunup until one of them saw the shepherd coming over a distant hill. Immediately the mood changed from despair to elation. They all rejoiced with one accord. They jumped and frolicked and bleated with joy but their celebration lasted only until they saw 'THAT OLD EWE!"
There, on the shepherd’s shoulders was Sheila! All her life she was getting into trouble, always the last to do as she was told, nibbling her way into trouble as her stomachs, that’s right, all four of them took her further and further away in search of fresh snippets of grass. Yes, Sheila was one of them, but she was also "one of those." She was different and didn’t fit in. No-one had even missed Sheila that morning.
They all raised an eyebrow each. "What's the big idea, boss?" they bleated, "Going out after one and leaving us all behind?"
They were convinced that they were in the right; that they knew better. "We didn't wander off!" "We behaved ourselves!" "We do what you and the dog tell us, quick smart!" "We are not as silly as we look,” they all bleated.
In light of the night's events, the time had come for the sheep to hold a convention to discuss what they needed to do to get a decent shepherd to look after them. They called it "Sheepvention!" They weren't going to put up with another "Sheepgate" scandal.
At the convention they butted their heads together and came up with a list of complaints that they would take to the shepherd. It read as follows:
Whereas, some days ago, we, the sheep were left alone to fend for ourselves, and
whereas, we were given no indication that the shepherd ever intended to return and
whereas, the uncertainty over the doubtful return caused serious distress amongst us, and
whereas all this distress was caused over just one troublemaker,
therefore be it resolved:
that we, the sheep, do strongly protest our abandonment on the night in question,
that we demand a full explanation of the reasons for said abandonment, and
that we demand an apology for such thoughtless and irresponsible action on the part of the shepherd.
We demand better care and consideration.
Signed - The Flock.
When the shepherd heard the indictment he responded to each of the items in turn.
"Yes, it’s true I left you last night and you were left to fend for yourselves for a while, but Sheila was in danger and goodness knows where she might have ended up. Nobody ever objected those other times I went out to look for one of your lost lambs."
"Yeah, but that's different – that was a lamb," bleated one of the sheep.
"As to the part about not knowing whether I’d come back, well, frankly I’m a little surprised at all of you. Haven’t I always come back and never abandoned you before? Haven’t I always protected you from wolves and taken you to fresh pastures and clean and cool water? I have never abandoned you before, why would I start now?"
"Yeah but …" another of the sheep bleated.
"And finally, as to this part about it being unfair, what was unfair about it? Wouldn’t I have done the same for any of you others?"
"Well," said the ringleader, Roger the ram, "going out and saving all the rest of us, that’s one thing. But, well, you put all the rest of us in jeopardy for just... ...her." He snorted towards Sheila, who, true to form, was already starting to nibble her way some distance away from the proceedings.
"That’s what really bothers us", said Roger the ram, "Why didn’t you just let her take her chances? Why has she ever done to deserve that kind of special attention? Why does she deserve so many chances? When will you go off again to look for her and leave us all alone by ourselves?"
And for once, though he probably didn’t know it, Roger the ram had told the truth. Sheila didn’t deserve that special attention, to be saved from herself and all the potential dangers that exist beyond the flock, but neither did any of the others deserve the care and protection the shepherd gave them.
This story would have had a happy ending if its conclusion was that Sheila, nor any other sheep ever wandered off again, and that the flock never complained again and they all lived happily ever after. That's the fairy tale ending we all want. But in real life at some time the shepherd had to carry every one of the sheep on his shoulders even when they were uncooperative, unwilling and complaining back into the fold.
Roger the ram and the rest of the sheep were right when they said that Sheila didn’t deserve to be loved by the shepherd the way she was.
Fellow sheep in the Good Shepherd’s care: the reason why Jesus taught using three successive parables about "Lostness" was that he was dealing with the same problems. People were saying that those he mixed with and shared dinner with didn’t deserve to be sitting at and sharing the same table. They complained, "This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!"
Very few ever understand and appreciated the kind of love that Jesus had. It’s a love that can look past the ugliness of our common stupidity and selfishness and looks to transform hearts and minds by unmerited love, mercy and kindness.
We know it makes more sense for the shepherd to forget about one mindless, or stubborn or disobedient sheep. The heartache they cause, the disruptions they bring, the expenditure of time they waste - it all adds up to a big baaaaaad debt.
But the Good Shepherd knows that about his sheep. They will always be sheep. He knows the costs involved. He knows exactly the price that has to be paid - the constant care that has to be taken! The flock could hog the Shepherd just for themselves. But they’re not hogs; they're sheep!
God’s grace and mercy and kindness is to be shaaaaaared. It’s God’s undeserved grace that comforts, soothes, forgives, reassures, and values each sheep as an individual. But it also drives individual sheep in the direction that ensures that everyone else gets to know and appreciate how much the Shepherd loves them and wants them to be brought into or returned to the fold.
To the shepherd, every sheep is a treasure; every sheep is valuable; no sheep will be lost if he can help it, even if that sheep is mostly obstinate and rebellious. That’s the kind of love that Jesus has for the sheep.
Jesus concludes his parable with the shepherd saying, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Each of Jesus’ parables in Luke chapter 15 ends on a very joyful note. At the end of each search there is a party going on. What was once lost is now found - the sheep, the coin and the son.
When the lost are found there is great rejoicing. When one sinner repents and responds to the love and care of the Shepherd there is great rejoicing in heaven by the angels and archangels and the whole heavenly host who worship the Lamb who was slain and bring all praise and glory to him. That's what the flock of God is all about and on about. That's the fold into which you have been brought by the blood, sweat and tears of the Good Shepherd himself.
(change slide) It does seem crazy that Jesus would leave the 99 for just the one sheep. But it will only remain crazy until you discover that one was you!
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 9, 10.08.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Text: Luke 12: 35-40
35 ‘Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or towards daybreak. 39 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’
Are you ready!
Make preparations! Keep the lights on! Look out the windows! Be ready at the door! Well I'll tell you about making preparations and being ready! You may think that you need to do this and that in order to get yourselves ready. Because we all naturally think this way, we all need constant reminding that it is Jesus, the Master, who had provided all the necessary preparations a person needs in order to get themselves ready, and be ready in time for his Return! Jesus gifts his church with everything its members need to get ready and be ready and waiting. I pray that is why you are here! You know that the Master has done all the prep work; that you are saved by grace through faith, but you also know that you need to avail yourself of it, and receive his preparations as a gift, in Word & Sacrament, not just once or twice, not just when you feel like it or at your convenience, but always!
Because seriously, if you or I were to rely on ourselves in any way to ready ourselves, would we ever know for sure that we were fully prepared? How would you know that you had dotted all the "i"s and crossed all the "t's," as it were? Maybe there would something else you had to do that you didn't know about, or had just slipped your mind? Maybe you could have done a better job at getting prepared? But these are useless questions, because the Master himself has provided everything needful for you to be prepared for his Return. So how does he prepare you, you ask?
He has brought you into his house through holy baptism, washing you clean through simple water combined with his powerful and effectual Word. There he incorporated you into his death and resurrection and so you can hear the declaration, "Your sins are forgiven you." And when the Master speaks, it is done. He says, “Don't doubt it, but believe!”
The Master says, "I have heard your confession and seen your broken and contrite spirit and declared your sins forgiven, making you ready to receive me."
When you hear the phrase, "Gird your loins and keep your lamps burning," how could you but not join with your brothers and sisters in the faith and remember the Master's great redemptive act when God's people of old were delivered from the hands of the Egyptians. The Lord told them to eat the Passover Meal 'With their cloaks tucked into their belts, their sandals on their feet and staff in hand.' They needed to stand ready to eat and escape. And since it was night they needed their lamps burning so that they could search high and low to make sure no leaven was in the house.
And just like the blood of the sacrificial lamb that was painted on the top and sides of the door-frames that protected the people of old from the angel of Death at Passover, you, too, have been given the mark of the blood of the Lamb and you are to ready yourself by being made ready by the Master and joining with him at table, in that special meal that celebrates the New Covenant established in Jesus' blood.
The Master didn't leave you as orphans in the world. He hasn't left you to your own devices to do what you think is right and necessary to get ready, or to do what you are fit and able to accomplish in order to be ready? He hasn't left you twiddling your thumbs guessing at what you might need to do to get ready! He says, "I, the Master have become the Servant to the servants. By virtue of faith and baptism you are each my servants, but I have turned everything on its head, and it is I who comes now to serve you."
That’s what the Master has said, "Truly I say to you, I will gird myself as a servant girds themselves for duty, I will invite you to recline at my table to feast on my body and my blood given and shed for you. Here I will serve you, so that you are well ready when I return and knock at the door.
So my brothers and sisters, how will you know that you are well prepared to meet the Master when he returns? You can have confidence in your preparations because it is the Master that has been the one preparing you through the forgiveness of your sins. This is your preparation: 'to hear the Good News "your sins are forgiven you" and take it to heart, in faith; to experience it, in a thrice holy splash of water; and to experience it on your tongue, as the Master returns to you again and again for the forgiveness of your sins.' For it is from the Master's own initiative, not from yours; it is from his own hand, not yours, that will make you ready, as you wait with your 'loins girded and your lamps burning' to receive him when he returns in his glory. For today you again, and whenever the Master’s Meal is set before you, will experience with your eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, and hands, the foretaste of the eternal wedding banquet to come.
Remember your preparation resides in the Master's work accomplised for you. So let's prepare in the right way by receiving his preparations. Martin Luther admonishes us, "That a person is well prepared and worthy who believes these words: given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins . . . The words "for you" require simply a believing heart."
Truly I tell you my friends, that when the Master of the house returns at the hour unknown, he will gird himself as a servant does, he will invite you to recline at his table, and will come to serve you! And he will say to you, “Come for all things are now ready.” Bring now your gifts of thanksgiving in praise for all the preparations the Master has made for you this day, and on into all eternity. Amen.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 6, 13.07.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: in the Second Bible Reading we heard from the opening chapter of Paul's Letter that has being given the short-hand title, ‘Colossians.’ However, the intended audience was more expansive than just the, 'saints and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae' (Col 1:2). Two other locations, they being, Hierapolis and Laodicea, which lay to the immediate north of Colossae, and what is modern-day Turkey, were also to receive and share Paul's correspondence. As we learn in chapter 4 of the Letter, these other congregations were also to read Paul's Letter out in the public assembly at the Divine Service (Col 4:16), and receive it as apostolic teaching and encouragement to stay true to 'the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding' (1:9), so that they may continue to, 'lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him,' as they bore 'fruit in every good work' (Col 1:10). We should also note that Paul includes Pastor Timothy in the greeting, not as a recipient, but as a fellow worker in the Lord, and as someone who could also subscribe to the apostolic authority and content of the Letter.
In it's "heyday," Laodicea was a noted centre of banking and finance. Hierapolis had its spas and drinking water that had purported medicinal benefits. Colossae, while enjoying a significant past, was at the time of Paul’s writing, mostly insignificant from a worldly point of view. The historians tell us that all three cities were destroyed by earthquakes in A.D. 17. Colossae was rebuilt and destroyed again in war (A.D. 60) and by 400 A.D. history tells us that Colossae was no more. Being Greek and Roman cities, these three places were known for their pagan temples and religion – Apollo, Zeus and Men Karou being the most notable.
However, from a Biblical point of view, the Colossae Christians comprised of notables like Epaphras. He was most likely the congregation's first Pastor, for Paul himself had not founded these congregations, nor even met 90+% of the congregational members. Other Biblical characters had Colossae connections, like Philemon and Onesimus (from Paul’s Letter to Philemon), and Archippus (most likely an associate Pastor) in the region. There was certainly a Jewish presence in Hierapolis and from a general Christian point of view, Hierapolis was noted by ancient historian, Eusebius, as the burial place of Philip the Evangelist (Acts 6:5, 8:5-40). Archaeological work in 2011 purported to confirm this. St John the Apostle wrote one of his Seven Letters to the Christians in Laodicea. And by the time St John wrote to them, the congregation was known for being neither hot, nor cold, in their deeds. Echoing the words of Paul in Colossians chapter 1, St John wrote, ‘These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ...So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me’ (Rev 3:14-20).[1] The succinct phrase that St John would employ, ‘ruler of God’s creation,’ to refer to Jesus’ Lordship; Paul would expand as, ‘For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy’ (Col 1:16-18). Paul expanded on this truth because this foundational Christian teaching was being threatened by the prevalent false teaching going around – that angelic beings, and thrones, powers, dominions and authorities, i.e. the powers of the spiritual world, stood as intermediaries between humanity and God and therefore needed to be placated or revered as deities, alongside of Jesus of Nazareth. This falsehood was being presented by the false teachers as wisdom and something highly valuable to know. But to this falsehood Paul responded with a reminder of the message of the cross, saying, ‘having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’ (Col 2:15).
At the time of writing, Paul’s Colossian colleague, Epaphras, had already come to visit him while he was imprisoned in Rome. Epaphras shared with Paul all the "ins and outs" of the mission and ministry work that had happened back home. He revealed to Paul how the cultural/religious pressures were threatening the Christians to turn away from following Jesus as originally taught to them. So, Paul set out to respond in writing. Even though he was under house arrest and therefore couldn't travel personally to be with them, Paul still had some freedoms afforded to him - the freedom to write. He had at least two parchments within reach, maybe three, as I have a hand-written note in my Bible that Colossians was composed at the same time as the Letter to Philemon. One parchment was also intended for the Ephesians and another for the Colossians and her neighbouring cities. He would send these Letters to their destinations with Onesimus and Tychicus (Col 4:7-9).
Paul reveals to us his primary intention in writing to the 'saints and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae' and beyond (Col 1:2). In Chapter 2:2-5 he says, ‘My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.’
As with most of the false teaching threatening congregations at this time, you can "boil down" them into the slogan, 'Jesus and ...' In other words, faith in Jesus alone wasn't quite enough to be saved or simply believing in Jesus as Lord wouldn’t qualify you as a fully-fledged disciple. As it presented itself, there were enforced ceremonies and traditions to adhere to, secret knowledge to gain and liberate you, things as simple as certain food and drink to avoid, unseen beings to worship, and that while the forgiveness of sins was good, it wasn’t enough for full and complete salvation.
But Paul would correct all these wrong and harmful teachings with the proclamation of the full supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus alone. LCA Pastor John Pfitzner in his Chi-Rho Commentary puts it best. He said,
Colossians is the antidote for those Christians who are afraid that their life is ruled by arbitrary powers and evil forces beyond their control. Christ Jesus is the Lord of the universe, and he is our Lord. Through him, God 'has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins’ (Col 1:13-14).
Those words are the closing words of Paul's opening remarks to whom, and it deserves repeating, he considers precious, 'saints and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ' (Col 1:2). Even though he had never met them, he loved them as brothers and sisters. Along with the other pastors, he is overjoyed at their faith and love and the fruit of the Spirit that is being set amongst them. The gospel they had heard as the word of the truth from their Pastor, Epaphras, was being believed and acted upon. Now they needed to stand firm on it because spiritual fulness came in trusting Jesus alone.
What a beautiful stance or attitude that Paul and even the current Pastor of the congregation had towards the Colossians, and Laodiceans and Hierapolians! Of course, it's quite easy to express love and admiration to those congregations striving to follow Jesus as taught to them. It’s not so easy when the congregation is falling for the empty words of false teachers. Yet Paul would prove his godly attitude towards God’s saints time and time again, even to the Corinthians who had all-sorts of problems in the congregation and even to the Galatians who were falling for another gospel. But he wrote time and time again, and even certainly wished he could be present personally, to befriend, in truth and love, those, and I say it again because it truly deserves as much repetition as possible, those precious, 'saints and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ' (Col 1:2).
Throughout the rest of the Letter, Paul keeps coming back to the Christian Confession of who Jesus really is. For instance, in chapter 3, Paul directs his audience saying, ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things’ (Col 3:2). Why does Paul do this? He does this because he knows the power of Jesus’ resurrection and the power of being baptised into it! Paul said, ‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God’ (Col 3:1). But Paul isn’t here saying look up to the heavens to Jesus and the hope of being there with him one day. Rather, he says, look around you here on earth unto the power of the resurrection in the life of the body of Christ, as Jesus now in the present, and then come in its fullness at the Resurrection on the Last Day, brings into being this ‘now and not yet’ resurrected life – this new humanity that lives like it is already resurrected, distributing nothing but mercy, goodness, forgiveness and love to each other and to the world. This is what Jesus’ resurrection brings into a world that is scared, that is full of selfishness, wickedness, hostility and reprisals and outright hatred. And as the end of the Letter spells out, what with its instructions to husbands and wives, to children and parents, to masters and servants, the resurrected life first lives itself out in the household of faith (Col 3:18-4:1). And then from there it moves on out into the world (Col 4:2-6) for the sake of the world and to the glory of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: How will you live resurrected in the week ahead? Answering that question, in word and deed, is an everyday challenge for us all. With a faith grounded in Christ and in his supremacy over all things, and in his all-sufficiency for our salvation, how will that knowledge and hope determine your words and actions this week?
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] https://www.padfield.com/acrobat/history/laodicea.pdf
Sermon for Pentecost 2, 22.06.2025 [Powerpoint slides accompanied this message]
(First Slide) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In his Letter to the Christians in Galatia, St Paul says,
‘Before the coming of this faith, (or ‘through the faithfulness of Jesus . . . 23 Before faith came’) we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth: your Word is Truth. Amen.
B.C. vs. A.D.
In Galatians 3 and on into chapter 4, St Paul describes the stark contrast between the belief that following the Ten Commandments will put you right with God and with faith in Jesus that will put you right with God. It’s a real chalk and cheese, or day and night, in fact, life and death kind of contrast! [Next slide] In his argumentation, Paul contrasts life lived, before and after faith in Jesus, or as the variant manuscripts allow, he contrasts life lived before and then after the manifest faithfulness of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth himself, that being a faithfulness unto death – even death on a cross. Paul lived at this time of world-encompassing change. He himself experienced this change of a life-time on the Road to Damascus and thereafter. This great change is what he had preached to the Christians in the region of Galatia on his first two Missionary Journeys, and had to re-state and re-emphasize again by Letter.
From this contrast that has more than one facet to it, we learn that faith in Jesus means that the Christian is no longer constrained or incarcerated or considered a minor, but rather is as free as free can be. Paul will put an exclamation mark to his whole argument saying, ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery’ (Gal 5:1).
Most, if not every culture has its “Coming of Age” transitions in life. Once you were ranked as a child or adolescent, then there invariably comes a time when you join the ranks of adulthood. [Next slide] Every “Coming of Age” can have an associated custom, ceremony, ritual or some other rite of passage like:
strapping vines on your ankles and diving head-long off a tower and surviving the fall, as done in Vanuatu, by the so-called Land Divers,
or successfully jumping over a castrated, male cow four times while naked, symbolizing the childhood they are leaving behind them, as is the practice of Ethiopian bridegrooms-to-be, (they really do jump into marriage!)
or turning 15 and attending Mass to renew your baptismal vows and commitment to the family of faith and sharing a fiesta, as in South American Catholicism,
or turning 16 and enjoying unsupervised weekends away from family, as some Amish communities do for their youth when transitioning from children to adults, [Next slide]
or undergoing a period of initiation, as do many Indigenous peoples from Alaska in the north to Australia in the south,
or the milestone of turning 20 in Japan. There festivities are had, along with a public ceremony and receiving of gifts, plus the right to vote and ability to legally consume alcohol.
The list is large. What Coming of Age transitions did you go through? Think about obtaining your driver’s license and purchasing or getting gifted your first car, or maybe it was a motorbike. It needs not be said that this rite of passage brings an enormous amount of freedom and independence and greater levels of expected maturity!
[Next slide] But of all the Coming of Age transitions that have ever happened in the world, the one that tops all charts is the coming of God in the flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth – the Coming of the New Age – this Before Christ to Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord) transition that marks and centres world history.
Before Jesus’ Advent, all people were not truly free. Whether it was enshrined in stone for the Hebrews or written on hearts of stone for pagans, everyone lived under the curse of the Law. [Next slide] The coast may have looked clear, but the curse of the Law resulting from man’s own fault at the Fall truly incarcerated humanity on a kind of island prison. That’s the circumstance, the common human condition that the Koiné Greek text describes: being “hemmed-in,” & “shut up and locked away together.” Paul says that until Christ came into the world and took into his body the curse of the law and our sin, that Scripture, (that is, the law that revealed the curse of sin), and that the Law itself was humanity’s temporary Guardian or Custodian.
For you need to know that in Greco-Roman culture, boys aged 6 to 16 were assigned a Guardian. These Guardians were slaves who disciplined and protected the boys on their way to and from school. They kept watch over the boys and supervised their daily activities. They would rebuke or discipline the boy for wrong or immoral behaviour. At no point did they enjoy freedom from the rule of the Guardian. Only upon reaching the age of maturity, this type of Coming of Age, would they be free to live “by their own laws,” that is, become autonomous. Again, think of the freedom your first car or motorbike gave you!
But as St Paul says later in the Letter, great freedom brings with it great responsibility. Therefore the greatest freedom which Christ secures for you, that is, freedom from everything, brings with it the greatest amount of responsibility; a responsibility towards everything! [Next slide] This is what St Paul would reveal a couple of chapters later, saying, ‘You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other’ (Gal 5:13-15).
This truth would also feed into Martin Luther saying that every Christian,
is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
[Next Slide] This statement encapsulates our understanding of Christian freedom. This freedom, grounded in faith in Christ, doesn't lead to a life of self-indulgence, but rather, to a life of service to others.
The Galatians were in grave danger of relying, in part, on the Mosaic Law for their salvation. They were being falsely taught that circumcision and adherence to the Law of Moses was needed, in addition to faith, to be saved and enjoy God’s blessing. But Paul is at pains to remind them that if they were to rely on the law, even just in the smallest way for their salvation, that they are truly and really still under the curse of the law, and therefore under the rule of their old Guardian. And there is no freedom at all under the curse of the law, under sin or under a Guardian. But just as there is a Rite of Passage for a youth transitioning into adulthood, based on that natural and universal law that being a child is only temporary, so too, life under the Guardian of the curse of the law and sin is temporary for those who trust in Jesus and/or trust in the faithfulness of Jesus as revealed in his obedient life and death under the law. For it is his life and death that secures your liberation from all powerful enslaving forces – be it the curse of the Law, be it Sin, be it a Guardian, be it the ‘elemental spiritual forces of the world’ as St Paul goes on to say (Gal 4:3).
In life, the way out of guardianship comes via the simple passage of time; it is invariably age related. In life, we all leave our Baby-Sitters behind at some point. St Paul says, ‘Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian’ (Gal 3:25). And the following verses spell out for the Galatians, and therefore for us, how we are likewise transitioned by our Father, and by our family of faith, out of guardianship to the people who are called heirs of God, and therefore, to a people who receive the full rights and responsibilities of an heir to the Father’s inheritance. And it is through Baptism that we are life-changed. St Paul adds to this revelation of the Gospel in Romans 7:6, saying: 'But we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.'
[Next Slide] Then back in Galatians, ‘So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Faith and Baptism is you most life-changing ‘Rite of Passage’ (and more than that as a means of new life) that transitions you out of guardianship into the maturity and true freedom that is in Christ Jesus. And true freedom has great responsibilities that come along with it. For most people, their first solo drive on the road is a very freeing feeling, but it also comes with some anxiety. The stakes are higher. You have no one to blame but yourself. All that freedom can be intimidating; it has great responsibility. As the driver of a car, you are free also to make some very big mistakes! And you can’t drive around as if the stop signs and speed limits do not apply to you. And that’s where this part of Galatians gets a bit tricky. Paul says that we are no longer under a Guardian, we are no longer being baby-sat, no longer on our “L-plates”. But he doesn’t say, in verse 25, that we are no longer under the Law. It’s true that our Guardian is not sitting in the passenger seat anymore acting like a cursèd “back-seat driver,” but the road rules still apply. We may have come of age, but that doesn’t give us license to fly through the stop signs or ignore the cautionary signs without consequence. What St Paul does say, is that the curse of the Law no longer applies to the believer who is justified through faith. For in the very next chapter Paul writes about how Christ dealt with the curse of the Law and sin, saying, ‘But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship’ (Gal 4:4-5).
[Next Slide] Paul continues his argumentation with, what is at first glance, a startling claim; a claim that has received no end of misinterpretation over the past decades in western Christendom. He claims that, ‘there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus' (Gal 3:28). First thing to say is that the Doctrine of the Office of the Ministry in not in view. For if it was, than the argumentation made destroys the new doctrine itself. If there are no distinctions to be made now, than there is also no Teacher nor Student, no Pastor nor flock, no Master nor Servant, therefore, no Office of the Ministry nor Priesthood of all believers, and therefore no relation between the two. Rather, the unity that faith and baptism in Christ Jesus brings is in view. For faith and Baptism adopts both Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, into Christ. Therefore, anyone, no matter what their differing social or cultural class can become, by faith, Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. That’s what we can say because of the content of the Letter. Anything else rests on speculation, which might be intriguing, but won’t be of much value, and certainly won’t be unifying.
Faith in the promises of Jesus given in baptism, or the faithfulness of Jesus, (which is saying the same thing) accomplishes these things for anyone and everyone who has left their Guardian [Next Slide] behind and has “Come of Age” in Christ. [Next Slide] For ‘If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (Gal 3:29).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 25, 10.11.2024
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I wonder when it all started? What started I hear you say? When did our Gospel text start being interpreted so badly and receive the oft-quoted slogan as "The Widow's Might/Mite?" When did this passage of scripture get twisted so badly and divorced from its context? How many Bible studies and sermons have completely missed the point?
Is what we are to learn from, and been called to do, to emulate the widow who, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on, into the church's coffers? Is the widow that great exemplar of faith and genuine piety since she entrusted absolutely everything into God's hands by giving away, as an offering, everything she had to live on - even if it was only two measly cents?
If that is the case, then when the offering plate comes past, empty your wallets and purses and resolve from now on to send all your pay, pension or superannuation directly to the church bank account. If you don't, then your faith is suspect. Is this the teaching of Jesus? To send the poor completely broke and take their last two cents to maintain massive buildings and feed the churchmen who prattle and promote such abuse of the people of God? Yes, the Treasurer's Report might look spectacular, but in that hidden reality, the church would be full of dead souls living under the unforgiving law of God.
Church communities are alive because of the forgiveness of sins won in the person of Jesus Christ. We don't belong to a church that purposefully or accidentally pledges allegiance to the law of God and its requirements; those requirements of the law that can never be met without the knowledge and experience of being forgiven in Christ and being freed by him from its burden. It is Christ who declares you free from the just punishment that ought be handed out for failing to live up to the standards of the holy law.
Today's text is not primarily about the widow and her actions. This story has a completely different point to make. In order to make this point, I need to read Mark 12:38 to Mark 13:2 which includes all the relevant material that will have us shift our focus away from the perceived virtue of the widow's offering, towards the true teaching of Jesus:
Firstly, that he warns those who are under the law of God, yet do not practice the law, that the requirements of the law will have full judgment upon them.
Secondly, that the widow becomes a lamentation for Jesus, because she is an immediate prophetic fulfillment of the abuses of the priesthood towards the poor and vulnerable members of society, and,
Thirdly, that the destitution of the widow is a preview of what, in turn, will also happen to Jerusalem and the Temple and its impious priesthood.
Mark 12:38 - 13:2:
As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market places, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widow's houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury that all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on" (Mark 12:38-44).
As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"
"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down" (Mark 13:1-2).
Jesus said, "They devour widow's houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely" (Mark 12:40, see Deut. 27:19). This is the main text that highlights Jesus warning, that those who are under the law, yet do not practice the law, that the requirements of the law will have full judgment upon them.
The teachers of the law are known for their praying. But if we looked behind the veil of their outward piety, behind their flowing robes and lengthy prayers, we would see that this veil of piety was covering a kind of "praying" that was of a different sort altogether - a preying upon! The teachers of the law indeed preyed, but like predatory animals, rather than praying, as in conversing with God. They preyed upon the widows by one or more of the following multitude of sins. They devoured widow's houses by:
1. accepting payment for legal assistance, though such receipt of payment was forbidden,
2. as the appointed lawyer of the estate they used their position to cheat the widow out of some or all of her inheritance,
3. by freeloading on the hospitality of widows,
4. by mismanaging the widow's estate entrusted to them,
5. by receiving money from women in return for the supposed benefit of intercessory prayer,
6. by taking a widow's house as a pledge for a debt that could not realistically be expected to be paid back. (see Deut. 24:17)
The teachers of the law were those who were under the law. But history would prove that they did not practice the law. They broke the holy law by accepting money for work which required no payment. They used their position of authority and trust to steal from widows who were amongst the most vulnerable members of the community. They took advantage of the hospitality of widows by exploiting their generosity around the dining table. They mismanaged the estates of the deceased so that many widows became poor and vulnerable. They took payment for making lengthy and so-called virtuous prayers, but when made from a faithless and impious heart became nothing but lip-service to God. And they also took possession of widow's houses as a pledge for debts that they knew could and would never be paid back. At each of these points they broke the law in which they themselves were well versed and were supposed to obey to please God by serving others. Those under the law knew that a blameless life was required from them, but in their failure to keep the law, even if it was only at one point, then the requirements of the law would be their judge. And the judgment of the law is always one that results in condemnation and punishment. As Jesus says, "Such men will be punished most severely."
In our text we have a prophecy and an immediate fulfillment of it. Jesus prophesizes and says, ""They devour widow's houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
And we hear that it is immediately fulfilled when our text says, "But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny."
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury that all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on."
Here in his prophecy and in its fulfillment, Jesus is not praising the widow for her faithfulness and her piety. Rather, Jesus is full of sorrow. He laments that the teachers of the law have put such a wicked burden upon the widow, and those like her, that she must, out of her poverty give all she has - all she has to live on. And what is worse, the teachers of the law were those very people given responsibility to "look after the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner in the land," (see Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:18, Deut. 24:17-21; 26:12-13 & 27:19). The church, as their "Social Security," was robbing them blind and sending them to an early death.
So this poor widow, poor in every sense of the word, becomes a prophecy in herself about the destruction of the temple - the corrupted to the core edifice of impropriety. At another time Jesus scowled fiercely saying, 'How dare you turn my Father's house into a market' (John 2:16b) and 'My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers' (Luke 19:46)
We are not explicitly told what happened to the widow once she had "put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny [into the temple treasury]." What we do hear though is Jesus' lament, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury that all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." From Scripture we know that she was now completely destitute: now not even being able to purchase a handful of flour, which is what two lepta, those two small copper coins may have purchased her as her last meal, or if she had children, their last meal.
As they looked across the temple court, Jesus and his disciples witnessed a prophecy being fulfilled. The widow was devoured by the temple establishment as she offered over her all that she had to live on.
And what must Jesus say to all this? He says, "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down" (Mark 13:2b). It is a prophecy that comes to fulfillment in 70 A.D. when the Roman general Titus reduces the Temple to piles of ash and rubble.
At this point St. Mark's Gospel takes a turn. Gone now are hopes that Jerusalem will repent of its wickedness. Gone are the hopes that the religious establishment will welcome the message of the kingdom of God and Jesus of Nazareth as its fulfillment. The verbal sparring in the temple precincts now comes to an end. Mark chapter 13 records the time period between the prophecy of the temple's destruction and the time of Jesus' Passion, in which St John informs us is one and the same event - Jesus' body is destroyed and is raised again in three days (2:21). Having rejected the one who came to the city and the temple "in the name of the Lord," the city and her temple authorities have sealed their fate.
That is where St Mark leads us - to the cross. He takes us to the place that God has chosen to reside. He takes us to the Messiah's body hanging dead on a cross. On the cross the temple is destroyed, but it is raised up three days later never to be abandoned, or destroyed or left destitute again. It is in the temple of Christ's body in which the satisfaction for sin is made once and for all. It is into the temple of Christ's body in which all sinners are received and so the burden of the law is lifted away from all who put their hope in him. It is into this temple, the temple of Christ's body in which we are baptised for the forgiveness of sins.
It is in Christ's body that the law is fulfilled and where those who are under the law, yet do not practice the law, are forgiven for their failure to live under the law. It is in Christ's body that the requirements of the law have full judgment and full effect upon him, that is, unto death.
So now you can respond in kind, and support the Mission of God in the freedom of the Gospel, not under the compulsion of the law, and certainly not under some evil instruction from the church!
May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for 20th Sunday after Pentecost, 06 10 2024
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bible Reading - Luke 5:4-10:
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’
5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’
Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.
'Stay with me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.'
Jesus first called Peter and his brother Andrew to a life of discipleship by saying, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). But consistently during Jesus' three year ministry, Peter proved the fact that fallen and sinful man needs God himself to gift the miracle of faith, to convince and confirm the majesty of Jesus of Nazareth, every single day, so that sinners, like Peter, and like you and I, can believe afresh in the promise of forgiveness and thus be enabled to follow as a lifelong disciples.
The Gospel writers record Peter's life of discipleship, that is, his life of faith, as being regularly interrupted by a misplaced fear and worrying doubt, and I suggest, a misplaced fear and worrying doubt that we experience at one time or another.
On one occasion Peter saw Jesus walk on water. He called out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water" (Matt. 14:28). Jesus commanded him, just as he requested, and he was enabled, through the miracle of faith, to walk on water. And he kept putting one foot in front of the other until he took his eyes off Jesus ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2). With his eyes averted away from Jesus, Peter became afraid and started to sink. Even though Jesus had just told the disciples, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid" (Matt. 14:27), Peter became anxious and worried. Fear replaced faith.
On another occasion Jesus foretold that he was to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Peter had just been enabled through the miracle of faith to confess Jesus as, "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). But a short time later he rebuked Jesus saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you" (Matt. 16:22). Jesus responded by rebuking Peter because he, "was not setting [his] mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Matt. 16:23). Again fear replaced faith.
On the Mount of Olives, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter promised Jesus that, "Though the other disciples fall away because of you, I will never fall away," and "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you (Matt. 26:33 & 35). But within hours we hear Peter repeatedly saying, "I do not know the man" (Matt. 26:72 & 74). Again fear replaced faith.
For in each of the three examples given, Peter was at some point stricken with fear and doubt. He either became afraid because he took his eyes off Jesus, or he became afraid of the death of his Master, or became afraid of his own death at the hands of an angry mob.
This pattern of faith turning to fear also occurs in today's Gospel reading. Peter had just been listening to Jesus teach and preach. When he had finished speaking to the crowds, Jesus asked Peter to put the fishing boats out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Peter responded by stating the obvious overnight occurrence of coming back emptied handed, but through the miracle of faith he added, "But at your word I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5).
But again fear was to replace faith. For the abundant blessing of God through the miraculous catch of fish shook Peter to his knees. He realised that he was in the presence of the divine and cried out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Once again an unhealthy fear had replaced faith.
Peter was never able to generate the miracle he needed to remain with Jesus. Time after time he failed to follow through with his desire to remain a faithful disciple. Despite his initial willingness to walk on water, to follow Jesus towards certain death, to stop Jesus from being taken away from him, to sit and listen to Jesus preach coming kingdom of God and drop the nets at his word, Simon Peter demonstrated that, "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41). There would always be another miracle that Jesus needed to perform in order that Peter might do the impossible. That miracle was the miracle of faith. Because he was a self-confessed sinful man, Peter needed Jesus to give him the faith that turns misplaced fear and troubling doubt into proper reverence and worship of the living God, in the man Christ Jesus.
Without Jesus and the gift of faith, Peter and the other disciples would always be fishing in the dark, as it were, and coming home empty handed. But with Jesus, who is the promised Dayspring from on high (Lk. 1:78), and who would be miraculously resurrected at daybreak, needed to keep gifting the miracle of faith in the lives of his people through the preaching of the forgiveness of sins.
Peter needed to know and believe that Jesus had come to save sinners. Time after time Peter's misplaced fear drove away his faith. What the knowledge of Jesus as the Saviour of sinners would have enabled Peter to say was, 'Stay with me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.'
The knowledge of our sin should drive us to Jesus, rather than have us cower in fear over what we have done to displease him. When we are overcome by doubt and a fear that we cannot and should not come into the presence of a holy and righteous God, our approaching prayer needs to be, 'Stay with me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Stay with me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.' That’s why the liturgy gives us the thrice-holy plea:
Lord, have mercy,
Christ, have mercy,
Lord, have mercy.
Even though Peter again failed to follow through with faith, Jesus didn't take his advice and leave him stranded. Instead, Jesus absolved him. He forgave him and comforted him with the words, "Do not be afraid..." (Luke 5:10). Not only did Jesus forgive him, but he went on to commission Peter as one who will be chosen as an apostle to go and drive out the misplaced fears and daily doubts of others; those who are in the same boat as Peter, as it were. Soon he would be fishing people out of the fearful sea of doubt and despair and releasing them through the forgiveness of their sins to a life lived forgiven.
After his resurrection, and in an almost identical fashion, Jesus would demonstrate his power and authority again to Peter. A second miraculous catch of 153 fish was followed by Jesus reinstating him as a pastor and teacher who would feed and tend those which the net of the gospel would harvest for Jesus. And the last thing that Jesus repeated to Peter that day, as recorded by St John, was "[You] follow me" (John 21:19 & 22).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 5, 23.06.2024
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
‘They [the disciples] were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’’ (Mark 4:41).
Let us pray: Enlighten our minds, O Lord, by the Spirit who proceeds from you, so that, as your Son has promised, and like the disciples in the boat, we may be led into all truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
That day…
What day is this? It could be the very day begun back in Mark 3:7 when, ‘Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.’ Alternatively ‘that day’ could have begun at 4:1, when Jesus, ‘began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables…’
when evening came,
Elsewhere Jesus said, ‘As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work’ (John 9:4). Although he was here contrasting this age with the one to come (that is, when no one can work), it would do us good to pause at this passing phrase and consider the impact of our night shifts, our night meetings, our evening sports and activities, and acknowledge that we live in a time that challenges God’s good design – the thankful reception of the good gift of ‘and there was evening, and there was morning (Genesis 1). We think we can work around the clock, burn the candle at both ends, but it’s a gift from God to rest from sunset to sunrise. For these are the hours that the Holy Spirit continues to work upon us, and it’s no coincidence that these are the hours we are least resistant to him. Most people know in their hearts that they are to wind down at night in order to set the night up for a good sleep or I should say productive sleep. For God, in a way, winds up at night. He does this for our sake. It’s been said that the Lord does most of his work upon us and for our benefit while we are asleep. Hence the gift of evening prayer in the Psalms:
‘In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety’ (Psalm 4:8). And,
‘As for me, I shall be vindicated and shall see your face;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness’ (Ps 17:15).
he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’
Why did Jesus and the disciples cross the lake? Same answer as to why the chicken crossed the road - To get to the other side! There was critical ministry to undertake amongst the Gentiles as well, not just amongst the Jews of Galilee and Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
There are all sorts of alarming things about to take place that evening. While other boats are present in the scene, the disciples are most likely all present in the same boat with Jesus, since the 1986 archaeological find of a first century Galilean fishing boat revealed that, at 8.2m by 2.35m, it could carry 13 people. They are rowing the boat, working the oars to cross the 12 or so kilometres from Capernaum, south-east to Gadara (Kursi on the map) where they would first encounter the Gerasene demoniac living a life of hell amongst the tombs. This man would be the first amongst many Gentiles to be released from the savage grip of demons, even a legion of them, and now by the releasing power of Jesus be found ‘dressed and in his right mind’ (Mark 5:15).
As the disciples row, Jesus is exhausted from the day of preaching and healing and is sleeping, seemingly oblivious to the wild storm that has been whipped up, and the boat being swamped by the waves. But who exactly has whipped up the storm? Mother nature? The devil? God? It was well known that the Sea of Galilee was particularly susceptible to sudden, violet storms. The meteorologist would tell us that cool air from the Mediterranean is drawn down through the narrow mountain passes and clashes with the hot, humid air lying over the lake causing sudden storms. There’s no need to dispute this physical phenomenon, but could this occasion also be regarded as an attack by demonic forces upon the Son of God? The text is quite silent, but is the disciples’ boat, with Jesus asleep in the stern, the only boat being affected? The poets of the Bible, like the psalmists and Job and St John weren’t shy in poetically appropriating the chaos of the storm-raged sea as deriving from the sinister underworld (Ps 74 & 89; Job 9:13; Rev 13:1). This line of thought could be justified we when consider that there is Biblical precedence for the Lord God Almighty allowing Satan limited power and ability to attack, through use of the natural world, his beloved, like Job. I think there is much to be commended in this line of thought, as we shall see in a minute.
However, in the same genre (poetry) we read of the Lord himself as he who:
spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves’ (Psalm 107:25).
Whoever the instigator of the storm, or combination thereof, Jesus of Nazareth reveals who is ultimately in control.
The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ What is this, their response? Is it loaded with only self-preservation in mind? Or is it a statement that looks to the only one amongst them who can help? Or is it a bit of both? If we stick to St Mark’s perception, which is St Peter’s recollection of the actual incident, we can regard it as both 1. A call to action and 2. A statement of faith. In other words they were saying, “Paddle faster!” as much as “Lord, help us, your loved ones!” The disciples have so far learnt so much about their Teacher (Mark 4:38) and Master (Luke 8:24). However, none of them yet fully understand who he is, what he is truly like, and what he is about. The disciples’ cry for help is the age-old cry of a people in “mid-belief”:
Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us for ever (Ps 44:23).
Rather comically, but true to experience, it has been said that, “It’s usually the experts who recognize the need to panic.” As many were fisherman, the disciples naturally enough reacted to the threat. And they needed Jesus to “get on board” as it were, and to join them in doing something about it. However, Jesus wanted them “to get on board” with him and the coming of the kingdom of God in his person, and simply believe, to trust him in all circumstances, as Lord of lords. But until Easter Sunday had come to pass, Jesus knew and believed what they didn’t - his very presence amongst them was all they needed to survive, ‘That day’ and overcome the approaching ‘evening’ of death and the power of the Evil One, and the endless efforts of grasping at straws’ or in the disciples’ case, ‘grasping at oars’ - “Paddle faster!”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’
41 They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’
The Lord Jesus, who days earlier in the Capernaum synagogue rebuked the unclean spirit, saying, ‘You be silenced and come out from him!’ (Mk 1:25), now again rebukes the wind and the waves with the similar command, ‘You be calm. You be silenced!’ In both cases a great storm was replaced with a great calm. And most importantly, the disciples themselves would never get to a great calm of their own without going through a great storm. And they, too, would have never regarded Jesus as more than just a carpenter, that is, without failing Immanuel – God with us, when they roused him from sleep. And they themselves would never have felt the shame of Jesus’ rebuke for their lack of faith, if they hadn’t - not primarily through this nature miracle or an exorcism, but ultimately through death and resurrection - recognised the power of God in Jesus of Nazareth over ‘the rulers, …the authorities, … the powers of this dark world and … the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 6:12).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding calm your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 24, 12.11.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Joshua said, ’But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15b).
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the Truth: your Word is Truth. Amen.
A message for all Confirmands.
The sixth book of the Bible, the Book of Joshua, would have to be most famous for the signs and wonders of:
All Israel crossing the flooded Jordan River ‘on dry ground’ (3:17).
The destruction of the fortified city of Jericho, as the walls ‘fell down flat’ (6:20)
For the sun standing still in the sky for ‘about a whole day’ (10:13).
I’ve noticed that along with the Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 23, that Joshua 24:15b, ’But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord,’ is one of the more common cross-stitches or banners that decorate the Christian home. The themes in the Book of Joshua have spawned countless hymns and spiritual songs, none perhaps more known in our circles than the much loved hymn 347, ‘Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah.’
Verse 3:
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side:
Songs of praises, etc.
A kind of format for God’s patient and gracious dealings with his chosen people is laid out in Joshua’s and the people’s pilgrimage into the Promised Land. But what, in faithful obedience could have just been a three-week campaign, because of doubt and fear-filled complaining, ended up taking 40 years and the death of a generation to see realised. Moses had died and this ministerial and prophetic succession that had been given by the Lord to him, had now passed on to Joshua, son of Nun, not son of a nun!
This whole experience anticipates each Christian’s pilgrimage in the one true faith. Just as the people of old were saved through water at the Red Sea, and then the Promised Land opened up for them as they again pass through the water, this time the Jordan River, each Christian likewise passes through water, that is, the waters of baptism, and then follows the call and leadership of ‘Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep,’ (Hebrews 13:20) to take the pilgrimage through a ‘barren land’ where we must struggle, like the people of old, with hostile forces. And just as the New Testament describes, each Christian will be sustained by ‘precious and very great promises’ (2 Peter 1:4) – promises of a land which far surpasses the land of Canaan; the promises of a home, beyond the Jordan of death, ’where all is peace’; promises of ‘an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you’ (1 Pet 1:3,4).
One more fact before we move on: the name Joshua means ‘the Lord is salvation.’ Did you know that there are actually two books of the Old Testament with the same name? The minor prophet Hosea is a precursor of the name Joshua – they all come from Yeshua. And ultimately, the name that is above every other name, the name Jesus, is the Greek equivalent of Joshua. And it is at this name:
‘every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Philippians 2:10-11).
For both Joshua’s, that is, Jesus and his forebear, overcome the enemy and provide the people in their care with rest.
Now this becomes a very neat preamble and segue into today’s Confirmation Service, because Joshua chapter 24, today’s First Reading set for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, is most appropriate for a Confirmation Service.
As the promise, originally given to pagan Abram is now fulfilled and the Promised Land delivered and distributed amongst the tribes of Israel, Joshua again renews the Covenant. At the extremely significant site of Shechem - a holy site where Abraham and Jacob both built altars to the Lord - now Joshua gathers everyone together and recites the Lord God Almighty’s covenantal salvation history with them and describes the fact that they are now enjoying the fruits of the land that once wasn’t theirs to enjoy, this land described as a land flowing with milk and honey. Quite the political and religious topic in the news once again! Very significantly, it was at Shechem where Jacob called upon his family to put away all their foreign gods and had them bury them under that famous Old Testament tree – the great oak of Moreh. Here at this holy place Joshua now asks a new generation of God’s people, “And so who will you serve?”
It’s a question for all of us every single day. It’s the question we ask Confirmation students. At Shechem, the next generation of God’s people, those born out in the 40 years of desert wanderings, were being asked, just as Moses’ farewell speech asked effectively, which way they would turn; who they would worship as their God. These people had the advantage of seeing the promises of God fulfilled – they were in the land God promised their ancestors would one day possess and they were enjoying its fruit. The manna from heaven out in the desert did not need to be collected six out of every seven days anymore. And the question, “Who will you serve?” is the question that must be answered. And how did they answer? ‘…We will serve the Lord’ they replied (Joshua 24:21). And what did that mean for them? It meant putting away everything that would contaminate them as the holy covenantal people of God. And linking the faithful people of old with the faithful of today, we can listen to the author of the Book of Hebrews. He writes, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith’ (Hebrews 12:1-2).
In this current Christian climate of the past 50-60 years, far too many 14-15 year-olds viewed Confirmation Day as Graduation Day, as if all they were doing was thanking God that their Christian Education, just like their schooling, was now “done-and-dusted.” And if you don’t believe me, just ask yourself the question, “Where are they now?” How many of your Confirmation Classmates go to church regularly? You had the same good or bad minister teaching you all. Why are you a worshipping member and they fill the lapsed list? Everyone was asked the same question. “And so who will you serve?” Reportedly, they turned up to church on Confirmation Day and all took Joshua’s stance, ’But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’ But assuredly, not all meant it. Not all were thankful. Not all it seems were of Israel – those who live by faith, not by sight.
For within hours of their release from Egyptian slavery, God’s people cried out in fear of the hostility coming their way, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’ (Ex 14:11-12).
And within days of their salvation the same people began crying out, ‘What are we to drink?’ (Ex 15:24) and, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat round pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death’ (Ex 16:3).
So you might say, that out of a “class” of 600,000 “Confirmation students” that left Egypt, only two entered the Promised Land – Joshua and Caleb – the faithful two. Surely these are worse numbers than our Confirmation Classes today? Or are they? What would congregations look like today if even only half the students stayed on to keep learning, kept sitting at the feet of Jesus, rather than “graduate” back to the pleasures and so-called securities of “Egypt,” and even further back to the idolatry of Abram, before God called him Abraham?
Put it down to what you like, blame what the West has sown, cultivated and is now reaping – a much more mobile society, educational and employment opportunities, prosperity, or whatever - but there have been 211 Confirmations in the parish since 1966. Again, if only half of them meant it when they mimicked Joshua, ‘But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’ It must have truly only been a mime for so many!
Thank God it wasn’t just lip service or idle talk for you! Thank God you chose life over death, blessing over curses! Or did you? Are we really just another Reformed denomination? Or are we Lutherans?
Jesus said, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last…’ (John 15:16). Come Confirmation Day, we suddenly don’t have the freewill to start choosing God’s ways over our own – the sudden ability to choose life over death, blessings over curses! Listen to what Martin Luther must say in regards to what’s really happening at Shechem – the renewal of the covenant established in grace, not by works, so that not even the chosen nation can boast. Luther says:
This passage is important as proof for the doctrine of grace over against the worth of merits and works, which the fallen human mind extols so highly. For if you ask what Abraham was before he was called by a merciful God, Joshua (24:2) answers that he was an idolater, that is, he deserved death and damnation… Abraham is merely the material that God seizes through the Word and forms into a new human being and into a patriarch. And so this rule is universally true, that of himself man is nothing, is capable of nothing, and has nothing except sin, death, and damnation; but through his mercy, Almighty God brings it about that he is something and is freed from sin, death and damnation through Christ, the Blessed Seed… Abraham is an idolater and very great sinner. Yet the Son of God wants this ancestor in his line of descent to be exalted, just as other ancestors of Christ are noted for their great sins. Why should this be the case? Firstly, God wants to show himself as the Saviour of sinners. Secondly, God must display his unending kindness, lest the sinner spiral into despair. Thirdly, God must block the road to man’s self-importance and pride. For when Abraham has been called in this way, he cannot say: ‘I have deserved this; this is my work’… In this respect, all the saints are like Abraham. (Luther Works 2:245-249)
Therefore, the same applies to the new generation of God’s people entering the Promised Land under Joshua. Therefore, the same applies to you; to James and Benjamin; to all who passed through the waters of redemption and deliverance from death and are freed from the old ways that lead to hell.
On occasions like this, it is most unfortunate that the Lectionary Readings are chosen by an Ecumenical Committee. For you may have noticed that they have us, salvation by grace alone believing Christians, skip over part of Joshua’s recitation of Old Testament salvation history. Listen to the missing bit as I emphasize the grace alone bits. About the pure grace of God, Joshua also said,
3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5 ‘“Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 ‘“I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 ‘“Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you – also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”
Yes, Joshua asked, ‘…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15). Notice that Joshua says that it is one false god or another that, your so-called freewill, can surely choose to serve. But the Scriptures must tell us ‘… that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12:3). As grace alone believing Christians, remember that Joshua counselled the people saying, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God’ (Josh 24:19). So how on earth can anyone serve the Lord? Answer: By the pure grace of God and the gift of faith he grants through the Word and Sacraments alone.
So today, as you, parish members and guests, did before them, James and Benjamin will simply, yet miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit given them at baptism, publicly confess the one true Faith that saves; that which was freely gifted to them by Jesus himself on the 3rd December 2006, and Easter Sunday 2010 respectively – yes, the days they each passed through the redeeming water of baptism and landed, as it were, safe on Caanan’s side!
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 18, 01.10.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Philippians 2:5 NIVUK: 'In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus' OR as on screen, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2:5b KJV).
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is truth. Amen.
“The Pro-Forma”
Back in verse 27 of chapter 1 of his letter to the Philippians, Paul said, 'Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.' He goes on to say that when you conduct yourself as a congregation according to the gospel of Christ, you will have stood firm in one spirit, and contended as one man for the faith without being frightened in any way by the opposition (verses 27b-28).
Let's put that into the context of this Grand Final weekend. Imagine that after the pep-talk and encouragement, that Brisbane's or Collingwood's coach, in their pre-match speech said to their respective teams, "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of being a Lion, of being privileged to wear the Brisbane guernsey, or of being a "Pie," of wearing the mighty Black & White stripes!" That would rally the team spirit. It would remind each team member that they are part of a much bigger picture - the team, and that they are part of a long history - the club. The Grand Final is the biggest arena, and the players have trained and disciplined themselves all year-long to go out and "shine like stars" (Philippians 2:15). If they each play their part as individual members in their individual positions, but at the same time think each others thoughts, anticipating each other and react appropriately to the play, they will move around the ground as one man and thus play their part in a final victory.
Paul is saying something similar to the Christians at Philippi. They have been selected or chosen by God the Father through the power of the gospel of Christ. The purchasing power of the gospel brought them together as a solid unit and the continuing presence of the gospel is the glue that binds them together. They believe individually and corporately that they can participate in the final victory. History has proved it, and they believe that history will prove it again. They have been incorporated into the community of faith and now have all the privileges and responsibilities that being in the inner sanctum brings. They are all in-Christ! And Jesus is more than the captain, or coach or CEO! Rather, he is all in all to them: the reason for their existence and from whom all meaning flows! His emblem is the cross!
So this is the presupposition of Paul's Letter as we read ahead into chapter 2. For the presupposition in its four parts is that:
1. they have encouragement from being united with Christ,
2. they have comfort from his love,
3. they have a common sharing in the Spirit, &
4. they are tender and compassionate.
Paul can presuppose this, because, if they are wearing the club's emblem, then that will also be their disposition, their mindset, their attitude in Christ. And Paul presupposes these things, because he knows that they have heard and believed the gospel of Christ and been baptised into Him. He addresses them as such in his opening greeting, 'To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi...' (1:1b). So the truth of the matter, is that, in faith and in the power of the gospel that creates and nurtures faith, the Philippians have all encouragement, all comfort, all communion, and all tenderness and compassion at their disposal. They have access to these attitudes, and empowerment in them, because they have 'every spiritual blessing in Christ' (Eph 1:3).
This common mind-set, this same love, this one-mindedness in spirit and purpose will make Paul's joy complete. For Paul goes on to contrast the way of servant-hood with the way of self-service. He describes the attitudes and actions of faith verses unbelief. He contrasts the "team spirit" of Christ with the party-spirit of factions and divisiveness. He contrasts the love of God and neighbour with the love of self and selfish ambition. And he contrasts the purpose of the cross with being at cross-purposes when party-spirit within the congregation dictates terms.
More than once did Paul address this topic of a congregation's one-mindedness in faith and purpose. In Romans 15:5-6 he wrote, 'May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' And to the Corinthians he wrote, 'I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of one agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought' (1 Cor 1:10). And later in Philippians he wrote, 'And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:7). Whether the Christians in Rome or Corinth listened to Paul and changed their hearts and minds is up for grabs, but we know that the Philippians were obedient both in Paul’s presence and absence. Paul writes, ‘Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose’ (Philippians 2:12-13).
If we stopped reading at chapter 2, we might rightly conclude that the Christians in Philippi were perfectly united in one mind-set, ‘having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind’ (2:2). But even the Philippian congregation wasn’t immune to factions arising in their midst! For the Letter reveals that at least two Christians in their midst were not of the same mind. Paul writes, ‘I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord’ (4:2). It goes to show that anyone in Christ can fall into temptation and direct "the play" away from Christ and the unity that he brings.
So Paul bluntly continues saying, 'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.' For example, what if the Joe Daniher's and Charlie Cameron's, or the Brody Mihocek's of the AFL world went into every game thinking, and therefore acting, like they were the only ones capable or worthy of scoring the goals. They might be the spear-head of the team, but without the other team members getting the ball into their possession, then being up front would be a very lonely affair. What if players like these always thought themselves less than the other players? How would that attitude affect the team? I guess that would truly make them team players! That attitude would serve the team well, both on-field and off.
Paul returns to the Letter's main thread, saying, 'Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.' And he does this by cataloguing the humility and exultation of Jesus in the form of one of the first, if not the very first, Christian hymn. Forty fans often ask each other, "What kind of form is your team in?" Paul would likewise have every Christian congregation ask that question of themselves, "What form are we in?" For here in this Christ hymn, St Paul outlines Jesus' own form. St Paul refers the Philippians back to, "The Pro Forma" (which means, "for form's sake") to justify every exhortation he has just made about what it means to be in Christ Jesus. He says:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 who, being in very nature (in the form of) God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature (the form) of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
This is the form of Christ, who humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross, and was exalted to the highest place so that he could win a people for himself and in doing so bring glory to God the Father. I think the Footy analogies might have run out now, but there is something in equating a footy team giving everything its got in order to win a Grand Final, you know, blood, sweat and tears, and then having the honour of stepping up on the podium and being "enthroned in glory."
St Paul is writing his Letter to the Philippians from a distance. He is imprisoned in Rome. But this imprisonment is serving to advance the gospel. Paul's chains are having the effect of giving courage and fearlessness to his co-workers in proclaiming the word of God. So in his absence he desires to hear that the Philippians are standing firm in one spirit and contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by the opposition (1:27b-28a).
Today's Epistle Reading selection closes with these words, e
'Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose' (2:12-13).
In light of this reading, the Christian congregation is to ask itself if it is fulfilling God's good purpose as it refers itself back to its foundation in Jesus, as spelled out in the hymn that speaks to his servant-hood, and back to Paul's request to make his joy complete.
You can only imagine the fear and trembling of the AFL players yesterday afternoon as the left the rooms and made their way out on to the MCG. A whole season of hard work and all the off-field training was now on the line. Conversely, every Christian is to 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling' not because you are nervous that you might just be on the losing team, for you certainly are not, but rather because you are in "the club," you are in Christ. Along with the first recipients of this Letter, you also are in Christ, and Christ is ever with you, and Christ is ever acting amongst you for his own good purpose.
God's good purpose and pleasure is for, ‘all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.’ (1 Tim 2:3). He wants all to participate and share in the final victory of Christ Jesus. So, does our present participation in Christ, that is, our sanctification, reflect the admonitions of Paul and the Christ hymn he calls us back to, or does it reflect something else? That is a question every congregation needs to ask itself when its present sufferings and trials seem too much. If we are suffering for sins committed, then we are called to repent. But if we are suffering for bearing the name of Jesus and for defending his Word, then we are to patiently and joyfully bear that cross. For central to the Christ hymn, and central to this Letter, is the congregation's participation Christ's sufferings. As Paul says in chapter 1, ‘For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have’ (Philippians 1:29-30).
So we have Christ Jesus as the “Pro-Forma” to follow "in the form of". And we also have St Paul as an example of Christian humility. Towards the end of the Letter he wrote, ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you’ (Philippians 4:8-9).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the Christus Victor - our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 17, 24.09.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the parable of Matthew 20:1-15, the vineyard owner said to those who had worked the longest, 'Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' (Mt 20:15)
The unfairness of God's grace.
In chapter 19 of Matthew's Gospel we read that Jesus had left Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan River. And we are told that large crowds followed him there. Amongst the crowd are his disciples and most notably some Pharisees. The authors of the Old Testament had pictured Israel as the special vineyard that belonged to God. The Old Testament described how God lovingly tended the vineyard, protected it with stone walls, cultivated the soil and fertilised the vines, just as grape growers tend their vineyards today. So when Jesus told the parable about the vineyard, the Pharisees in the crowd knew he was talking about them.
But in the parable, Jesus doesn't reveal to his audience what task the labourers were called to do. It could be pruning time, or harvest time, or maybe its in-between times. But because of the urgency revealed through the actions of the vineyard owner, as he repeatedly goes to the marketplace looking for more and more workers, it is highly plausible that Jesus refers to a very busy time of the year, which many surmise is harvest-time. So let's say that the particular setting for this parable is a hot summer's day with more and more fruit ripening with every passing hour. Grapes ripen quickly in the heat, so it's imperative to the vineyard owner to get as many workers picking grapes as he can muster. His profit-margin and perhaps even his livelihood are at stake.
There is a great sense of urgency in this parable. Time is of the essence. It's the kind of urgency that Jesus previously preached in the synagogues when he saw that the crowds of people where like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:35-38). In the passing of 2000 years, we can say that nothing has changed. This parable's sense of urgency equates to the time that we now live in. Our day is the final days in which more and more workers are needed to bring in the ripe harvest.
Once the grapes are safely harvested and the working day is over, Jesus then reveals to his hearers that something expected, yet at the same time quite unexpected occurs! Jesus reveals that at payment time, all the workers received the exact same wage. The worker's who began harvesting earliest in the day had agreed, before starting work, that they would receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. They were happy with that. But, when those who started earliest saw that they were being paid last, and that those who had only put in an hour of work at the very end of the day had also received a full day's pay, then that work agreement no longer sounded fair.
With our human understanding of a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, it comes to us as no surprise that the worker's hired earliest started grumbling about what is fair. You can imagine how excited the early starters must have become when they saw how generously the "Johnny-come-latelys" had been paid. In their excitement, I bet that they thought they would be paid even more than what was promised. But it was not to be. The foreman hands them what was agreed upon, a fair full day’s wage.
This parable isn't about processes for establishing work place agreements, though any employer can be as generous as he wishes! What Jesus teaches in this parable is the generous way God works both his hands, so to speak, as he graciously administers fairness in the earthly kingdom with his left hand, and how he graciously administers forgiveness through his right hand in the heavenly kingdom. This parable teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like an owner of a vineyard who is generous with what belongs to him - both through his good creation and through his free forgiveness of sins.
You may notice that the parable of the "Workers in the Vineyard" is set in two locations. The first location is the vineyard, and the second is the marketplace. The vineyard can represent the Church in which God enacts his gracious plans of salvation through his Word and his Sacraments. And the Marketplace can represent the world where God enacts his gracious plans of ruling through government, commerce, the judicial system and the like. Luther called these two locations represented by the vineyard and the marketplace, God's Two Kingdoms. Luther taught that God rules equally as King over the vineyard and over the marketplace, but in different ways and for different purposes.
Martin Luther explained God's kingly rule in this way: God rules us in two different kingdoms. There is the earthly kingdom which includes absolutely everyone from every nation, age and walk of life - children, employers and employees, etc. In this kingdom everyone should receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. There are rules set up to make sure that happens. When an employer is found guilty of withholding what is fair from their employee, then they must be punished by the court in whatever way is fair. God rules this earthly kingdom through people elected into Government and other positions of responsibility. They may or may not be Christians, but this doesn’t mean they can’t rule effectively or fairly.
The government has the task of making laws that are fair for all citizens. Establishing good law and good order is the purpose of good government. God rules over the world through government which Luther describes as God working with his left hand. For example, in one way of enacting fairness, governments are to set minimum standards for pay rates and working conditions. And when these laws do not contradict God's rule and law, then Christians are to follow these laws and rules too. For good government also aligns itself with God's good Law. At first glance it seems fair for government to ask its people what it thinks about relevant issues that it might make a future ruling upon. But good government first asks God what he has decreed about that relevant issue. That would be good governing.
God's other work is his work in his spiritual kingdom. It is the kingdom of God’s amazing grace. It is the time of the church on earth. This kingdom is different and distinct from the earthly kingdom and it does not conform to our worldly ideas of “fairness”. There is no enactment of fairness in this kingdom, because there are no rules that can be used as a measuring stick to judge what is fair. As St Paul says to the Galatians, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against which there is no law" (5:23). The only judgment that God makes in the right-hand kingdom is a graceful judgment that declares sinners forgiven for the sake of Christ. In God's right-hand kingdom, grace rules over all worldly concepts of what might be considered fair.
In the parable, the vineyard owner says that he can do whatever he wishes with his money - he can be as fair or as generous as he pleases. God can likewise be as fair and as generous with what is his. In his left-hand kingdom he provides governments and rulers who are charged with carrying out what is fair. When governments and rulers get it right then everybody is on the receiving end of what is fair. Governments also have the option of being gracious, as when a judge chooses a lesser sentence over against the maximum sentence, and that's when most people start grumbling! But with his right-hand, God works outside the parameters of what is fair. Through the church God dispenses grace through the free forgiveness of sins. When the church gets it right then everybody is on the receiving end of grace which has no amount of merits or worthiness attached. Grace is by definition, unconditional and unmerited.
In the church, it isn’t a matter of how long anybody has served God as a Christian. Whether you have been in the "marketplace" until the eleventh hour, or not since sunrise, it does not matter. Many receive God's grace as babies and children through baptismal faith, while others receive God’s amazing grace through faith at the "eleventh hour," as with the criminal that hung next to Jesus on the cross.
In two ways God reaches out in loving care to all people. With his left-hand he reaches out to the unworthy through good government for good law and order. And with his right-hand he reaches out to the unworthy through the church with the free forgiveness of sins.
As those already called out of the market-place into the vineyard we are empowered to work for the owner of the Vineyard, by showing others how he has lifted us up with his mighty arm through the free forgiveness of our sins, while not forgetting the work of his left-hand too, which is important also to give thanks for.
There is a great sense of urgency in this parable. It's the kind of urgency that Jesus preaches when he said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:35-38).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the Lord of the harvest. Amen.
Sermon for 16th Sunday after Pentecost, 17.09.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
'Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory' (Romans 8:17).
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.
The title of this sermon is: Put your brother or sister in the Cross-heirs of Christ.
It has this title because of how Joseph responded to the hatred and jealousy he received from his brothers. It has this title because of the way King David responded to Saul's hatred and jealousy. It has this title because of the way St Paul knew when he was repeatedly hated and rejected by his own brothers, opposed and thrown out of synagogues for bearing the name of Jesus who was before him, vilified, opposed, rejected, and taken outside the city walls and crucified at the hands of his brothers. It has this title because each of us is very likely, if not already, fallen into temptation, and have lined-up our brothers and sisters in the cross-hairs, more than ready to pull the trigger on our hate, or jealousy, or whatever fleshly desire has gripped us.
But the actions of Joseph, David, Jesus, and Paul teach us a different way. They teach us to, in any and all of our interactions, to put our brothers and sisters in the Cross-heirs of Christ. For the way of the Cross is forgiveness, life and salvation. Through the lens of the cross we can say with St Paul, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Rom. 8:17). Through baptism and faith, God himself views us, that is, scopes us out, in and through the Cross-heirs of Christ, making us his heirs - heirs of the cross. And God gave us this ministry of reconciliation so that we can set our sights on each other through that same lens. That is the scope of the Bible. Let that be our common aim.
When Joseph came into his brother's presence out in that field, you might say that they had Joseph right where they wanted him. He was well and truly in their sights! This week I heard a saying that struck me. It said, "All wars are civil wars; because all men are brothers."
Much earlier in history, Cain led his brother Abel out into a field. Sin crouched at his door. God asked him what would become of his anger. But Cain had Abel right where he wanted him. He had him in his sights and he attacked and killed him.
King David's son Absalom was stuck fast in an oak tree. Even though King David had told all his army commanders, "Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake," when the commander Joab learned that their enemy hung by his hair, having him right where he wanted him, he aimed his sights and plunged three javelins into the heart of the king's son.
Jesus' words in this week's Gospel capture another scenario where one person is set in the sights of another. A man who had just had his massive debt cancelled came across someone who owed him, but owed him significantly less, and when he was in his sights, he grabbed him in a choker hold. He had his man right where he wanted him and demanded, "Pay up or I'll make sure you and your family rot in jail until you've paid the last cent!"
Joseph's brothers feared that upon the death of their father, that Joseph would have them right where he wanted them. The brothers feared that Joseph would set his sights on the sins of their youth. Joseph held all the cards, as it were, but would he now purpose all things for good or for evil? Having God on his side through think and thin, a very gracious and forgiving Joseph said to his brothers, "Don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children" (Gen. 50:21).
Who have you got in your sights? Is there someone right now that is lined up in your cross-hairs? Who is it that you have exactly right where you want them? Will you purpose good or evil for that person, that group?
Cain unloaded on Abel! Am I my brother's keeper? (Gen 4:9). Joab unloaded on Absalom! Will you "Be gentle with the young man ... for my sake" (2 Sam. 18:5)? The unmerciful servant unloaded on his man! "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother...Up to seven times?" (Mt. 18:21). What will you do in the heat of battle? Who else can you set your sights upon when you have begun to line-up your brother or sister in your cross-hairs? Will you fix your eyes on Jesus? Are your sights upon him, so that the situation is transformed; so that you now see your brother, your sister, in the Cross-heirs of Christ?
There were a couple of times when David had Saul right where he wanted him. These were the times when Saul was out on a mission to kill David. On the first occasion Saul happened to be, well, "taking care of some personal business" in the privacy of a cave. Little did he know that David and his men were already inside. David had the perfect opportunity to attack Saul unawares, because he literally caught him with his pants down. The second time David literally caught Saul napping! David's men even reminded him that Lord had said, "I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish" (1 Sam. 24:4). What would David do with that? David had Saul in his sights. But instead of killing him he had mercy on him and let him live. David knew that, "All wars are civil wars; because all men are brothers." David put his brother Saul in the Cross-heirs of Christ.
Even though you and I are a "trigger-happy" people, who aim and fire as if without recourse, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, God's Anointed One has had mercy upon us. If there was ever a deserved target to pull the trigger on, it would be you and I. But having handed all of us over to disobedience, God, the just executioner for our sin, has had mercy on us all, placing us squarely in the cross-heirs of Christ.
In Joseph's drama, Judah eventually came clean and confessed the guilt of his sin. He accepted full responsibility and kept the vow he had made to his father. He came to the conclusion that he alone would have to pay the penalty for the brothers' murderous plot. He stood in Benjamin's place so that his father Jacob would not lose the second beloved son from Rachel's womb. Likewise, it would be the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David who takes the place of his brothers and sisters on the cross, thus paying the just penalty for the sins of the world.
In the most dramatic turn of events, the sights of all men were turned on Jesus. Those who plotted to kill him and his Roman executioners had Jesus right where they wanted him, or so they thought. He had been in their sights for some time. The brothers, that is, all mankind purposed it for evil, but God purposed it for good. Joseph's words of consolation to his brothers may have been said 1800 years earlier, but they are applicable to the work of God in Christ Jesus. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Gen. 50:20).
God puts you in the Cross-heirs of his Son, Jesus Christ, your brother. The cross of Jesus is God's viewfinder. That is the scope of his love for you. The cross-hairs of man's hatred were aimed at Jesus, and the trigger was pulled, as it were, but through his death and resurrection the family is able to be brought back together, reconciled, restored and forgiven. You have been invited to become heirs of the Father and co-heirs with Christ.
Since the family's focus is on Jesus, St Paul directs you as to what you are to aim at from now on. He says, "12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Col. 3:12-13). As you strive in this way, you will be placing your brother and sister in the Cross-heirs of Christ. That's where your brothers and sisters belong. After all, that's where God himself has placed them - in the Cross-heirs, as heirs of the cross of Jesus.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, your brother. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 14, 03.09.2023
Fathers' Day
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
'Pay close attention, son, and let my life be your example' (Proverbs 23:26 TEV). This is the text:
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; Your Word is Truth. Amen.
Happy Father's Day! That's the customary greeting today, isn't it! But it could also be for some considered a little presumptuous! Those who have not had a good and positive role model in their father, or those who have just buried their father and are in deep grief today may think the greeting, "Happy Father's Day" doesn't apply and may even conjure up nothing but heartache and disappointment. And if you are not a father, you may feel left out all together. But we must remember that all males can conduct themselves in a fatherly manner and influence multiple generations of developing boys and girls.
Fathers, is it a happy day for you? Or does the celebration of Father's Day bring with it mixed feelings? Fathers, how is your relationship with your children? By what you say and what you do, are you setting them a good example? Number 17 of "The 30 Wise Sayings" in chapters 22, 23 and 24 of the Old Testament book of Proverbs, reminds fathers that their children will watch them closely and follow closely in their footsteps. Father's are incredibly important to us. A good father is an absolute treasure! They are critical in the makeup of what makes a family, a family. When they are taken away from us, we lose something very precious and dear. When they let us down, we are deeply hurt and disappointed. And if they are absent altogether, well then, that can potentially set a pattern that gets passed on from generation to generation.
Many of you fathers will still be able to remember the times when your children followed you around like a shadow, copying and mimicking everything you did. Children will copy everything! It seems at times that children will copy every single little thing, like your habits and your mannerisms and most embarrassingly, your verbal slip-ups when you stub your toe or smack your thumb with a hammer. Any of your behaviours, good or bad, may just make an appearance one day in your child's behaviour. In that way, a child carries around with them a big mirror that they will hold up to you, usually when you least expect it. It's fine if they are doing something cute and admirable, but remember that they can also copy the things you don't want anybody outside the family knowing that you do or say! Many of you who have had children or are right now in the process of trying to rear them the best you can, will easily relate to the teaching contained in Proverbs 23:26, 'Pay close attention, son, and let my life be your example.' So, the question for us fathers today is, "What example are we setting?"
Douglas MacArthur once said, "The fathers plant the tree; the children live in its shade."' It's a quaint saying, but it's true. Fathers do establish an environment in which their children will develop and grow. Fathers have to daily ask to themselves the questions, "How healthy and vital is the tree I have planted?" "Does it have a canopy that is protecting and nurturing, or one that is harmful because it has become bare?"
I will read a couple of paragraphs from page 118 of "To all eternity" which states matter-of-factly God's will for a harmonious family life. The author of the devotion writes,
Truly blessed are those families in which the father is regularly present to provide his share of the shade from the heat of everyday life, in which the mother adds faithful love and nurture, in which the children live in the shadow of a loving relationship between husband and wife. Such children enjoy a special shade throughout their lives that is likely to extend its benefits into future generations.
[How different is the landscape when a tree falls in the forest, leaving a gaping whole in the canopy. When one spouse is missing from the picture, through their willful desertion of their parental responsibilities,] how the shade dissipates when the arms of father and mother work at cross-purposes... The absence of strong and loving arms can result in more heat than young minds and hearts can bare, a failure that too often ends up being repeated in succeeding generations, mirrored in adult lives and passed along to others.
Fathers are graced by the gift of Fatherhood. But what do we do when we fail in this God-given vocation? What consolation do we have when we 'exasperate our children, and fail at raising our children up in the training and instruction of the Lord' (Eph 6:4)? How do we handle our failings, and without becoming bitter and passing on the blame, how do we handle our own father's failings that we may be repeating?
Turning to Psalm 121:5 we read: The Psalmist says, 'The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand'
The Psalmist reminds us fathers that we too have a Heavenly Father who protects us with his evergreen canopy of loving protection. We live and breathe beneath his shade...protected by his care. The Lord, who as a man hung on a Roman cross and died for the forgiveness of all your fatherly failings, is the One who covers you with a protective blanket of shade. He, through the Holy Spirit, is also the One who empowers you through the forgiveness of sins to strive to imitate the true Fatherly care and concern that God the Father has for all his dear children.
On Good Friday, when you consider the wrath of God and man beating down upon Jesus - that point of fatherly abandonment and desolation - there was no shade for the true Son of God to shelter under as he hung on the cross. There Jesus, the Son of God, bore his Father's full fury over the sins of the world. There was no shade for Christ on the cross, for he had to suffer his Father's full judgment and condemnation for the sins of the world. But it was there from the cross that we hear sweet words of forgiveness when Jesus interceded for us. He said, 'Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing' (Luke 23:34).
Good Friday is Good News for fathers who know that they have failed their children, in big ways or small. We know that fathers fail us at times. And through the lens of the cross we know that they are just like us. We are all in need of the forgiveness that Christ brings. Therefore the best example that fathers can set for the next generations is confessing our fatherly failures and asking our children to forgive us. That would be a most powerful demonstration of God's power, and therefore the best example to set, so that it may be imitated by our children to their hearts content!
The "Tree of Fatherhood" was given by God to provide branches for shade for all children. On this tree all our parental failings have been paid for, because, "On the tree of the cross he gave salvation to all, so that, where death began, there life might be restored, and that the enemy, [the Father of lies], who by a tree once overcame, might by a tree be overcome." Under this shade of forgiveness and restoration, we as fathers are privileged a new start at Fatherhood. By God's power, we can embark on providing the protecting and nurturing shade that our children need from us as fathers and from those fatherly figures in their lives.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 13, 27.08.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Psalm 124
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side –
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Let us pray: O Lord God, our heavenly Father, in you is the fullness of light and wisdom: Enlighten our minds by your Holy Spirit, and give us grace to receive your Word with reverence and humility, without which no one can understand your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
King David gets this psalm’s authorship credit, but was this psalm written as a response to his own personal conflicts with Saul and the Philistines, or was it an older historical response to the struggles of the Exodus and entry into the Promised Land, or was it a post-exilic response to the rise of Israel’s internal political conflicts? Either alternative, or all-of-the-above fits the bill. And there is always a fourth option as well – for the church in all its internal political strife: when one group is saying, ‘The Lord is on our side,” and the other group responds, “No, the Lord is on our side!”
For we know that the sentiment of Psalm124 has stood the test of time. It was sung routinely by God’s Old Testament pilgrim people journeying each festival up to Jerusalem and the Temple. It also still stands the test of time for God’s New Testament people, as we come before God each Sunday, along with the ‘one holy, catholic and apostolic church’ to ‘lay down our burdens at the doorway before entering upon the praises of God’ as we appropriate this Psalm in the preparatory Rite of Confession and Absolution of Sin. For the versicle, ‘Our help is in the name of the Lord’ is one of only three parts of the Pre-Reformation worship service (that is, in the Preparatory Rite of Confession & Absolution) that was retained by the Reformers because of its Scriptural purity.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ:
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
This concluding verse sums up the whole Psalm. It sums up our whole approach to God, before, during and after our deliverance from affliction. No wonder that the prophet Isaiah commands the people of God, declaring, ‘Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones’ (Isa 49:13).
Psalm 124 gives voice to our deliverance from proud and violent men who, ‘if the Lord had not been on our side’ would like to eat the righteous alive for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it would very much seem that David, personally as King, or the nation Israel, was battling some internal affair. For notice the language of the author. He doesn’t say ‘when the nations (i.e. the foreigner/enemy out there, across the border) attacked us,’ but rather, ‘when people [more specifically “men”] attacked us,’ those being ‘our people,’ people who ought to be on our side, those whom we know who ought to have our protection and the Lord’s interests at heart. So David’s choice of words here do point to some internal unrighteous uprising. But the Lord’s anointed will not,
‘walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
Rather the righteous king, will,
delight … in the law of the Lord,
and … meditate on his law day and night.
For,
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
whatever they do prospers…
just as the first Psalm teaches.
Looking back at the exhausting period of the English Reformation, what with all its exasperating internal affairs for those who sought God’s truth, Horatius Bonar (19th Century Minister and prolific Hymn writer) commented:
In the year 1582, this Psalm was sung on a remarkable occasion in Edinburgh. One of the very first Presbyterian ministers, John Durie, had been imprisoned for ‘complaining bitterly against the court’, but eventually had been set free. He was met and welcomed on entering the town by 200 of his friends. The number increased until he found himself in the midst of a company of 2000, who began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street, ‘Now Israel may say, etc.’ They sang in four parts with deep solemnity, all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard; and one of the chief prosecutors is said to have been more alarmed at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland.
You have heard of Daniel’s experience in the Lion’s den. There the lion’s did not lay a paw on the righteous man. King Darius was so moved that he issued an edict that all under his rule must fear and revere the God of Daniel. Darius, in fact declared (and again, take not of the language)
He (i.e. Daniel’s God) rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.’
Psalm 124 also speaks poetically of being torn apart by a beast with teeth that tears apart its prey. For his faithfulness to God, Daniel found himself thrown into the lion’s den. But it seems as if David found himself clenched in the jaws of death itself.
Listen again,
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
God afforded Daniel some distance of protection from the lions, but it seems not so, with King David. For we need to note that the righteous person is found in the beast’s mouth and inside the fowler’s snare. For God may allow the righteous man, or woman, to experience the heat of the lion’s breath and the pain of being pinned, as by teeth. God may very well allow the righteous man, or woman, to experience feeling trapped in the net, with no way out.
But the author of Psalm 124 says that the pinning will not crush and kill, and that the snare’s wooden frame will be broken, and the righteous will escape. St Paul knew it to be true. He said, ‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed…’ (2 Corinthians 4:8a). And we need to know that the snare of the fowler was commonly a slip-knot kind of trap. But some traps also had wooden frames that secured nets that when triggered, snapped close capturing its prey.
In the middle of the 14th Century, the well-educated English hermit, mystic, and religious writer, Richard Rolle, of Hampole, said this:
God made the earth where the snare lies, so that he can rightfully destroy the snare as laid unlawfully in his domain. [The idea here is of Satan and wicked men being like poachers transgressing upon the Lord’s estate and laying illegal traps for the unwary]. God also made the heaven, the true sphere of the soaring wings of those souls which he has delivered, so that they may fly upwards from their late prison, rejoicing. He came down to earth himself, the Lord Jesus in whose name is our help, that he might break the snare; he returned to heaven, that we might fly “as the doves to their coops” (Isaiah 60:8), following where he showed the way.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: no matter if the danger is open and engulfing as a flood, or as concealed and enticing as a snare, in the Lord Jesus, the righteous person, though they feel pinned down, will be not be crushed, and though the traps have been set, will not be ensnared by death. Rather, it is the Lord Jesus who ‘was pierced for our transgressions, …crushed for our iniquities…’ (Isa 53:5). It was the Lord Jesus who was “framed” by a net of false fabrications and the deceit of prideful men trying to ‘trap him in his words’ (Matthew 22:15). Satan and man thought they had Jesus right where they wanted him (Ps 119:110; 140:5; 141:9); they thought they had him pinned down and caught in their trap. But through his death and resurrection we see, with the eyes of faith and in ‘the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27), the mouth of the tomb, now empty, lies open and the curse of death has been broken.
So, brother and sisters in Christ:
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 12, 20.08.2023
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Romans 11:1,2,29-32 – St Paul writes to Gentile converts to Christianity in Rome, saying,
I ask then: did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.
[a big jump over the facts
1. that God preserves a remnant of true believers, the elect, who are saved by grace alone through faith alone, at all times in history
2. “all Israel” are all Israelites who live by faith in the Son of Man, not by works righteousness/a righteousness of their own
3. Israelites who put their trust in themselves/their own righteousness are broken off the olive tree as Gentile believers are grafted in.
4. Israelites now broken-off, through rejection of the Gospel, can be just as easily, through faith, be grafted back in again, for
29 God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Let us pray: Thank you Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for grafting us, by mercy and faith, into the olive tree, that is, the Root of Jesse. Nourish our faith in you, so that we may continue to grow into flourishing olive trees of your design and purpose, for the sake of all people. Amen.
Brothers and sister in Christ: A rhetorical question to summarize what St Paul is teaching the Gentile converts to Christianity, beginning back in chapter 9 and on through to today’s passage in chapter 11, might be:
Which is better? (a) The sunlight that streams into a murderer’s prison cell, or (b) the sunlight that streams into the pastor’s study?
It’s a bit of a riddle, isn’t it? You could answer that question both ways depending on your angle of approach. You could answer it with multiple explanations that make good sense.
What if I clarified the question by saying that “sunlight” stands-in here for God’s mercy? Does that help you answer the question?
So, which is better? God’s mercy that streams into a murderer’s prison cell, or God’s mercy that streams into the pastor’s study?
If you answered one (a) or the other (b) you are 50% of the way in grappling with St Paul’s teaching in Romans 9 – 11!
In similar fashion, that’s what confronts St Paul when he here is describing a mystery of God’s plan of salvation that is offered to all people – Jew and Gentile alike (Romans11:25). For Jesus is not just the King of the Jews, but he is the King of kings, the King of the universe. This same mystery was the catalyst for the assembly of the first Church Synod or Council in Jerusalem. The Old Testament spoke to the mystery in many places, (Ex 9:16; 33:19; Isa 1:9; 8:14, 10:22,23; 28:16; 29:16; 45:9; Hosea 1:10; 2:23) but, still, St Peter and St Paul, the other apostles, and the Christian Church as a whole had to grapple with this mystery, that being,
‘humanity’s universal rejection of God serving God’s universal mercy in Christ.’
It’s the kind of mystery that has St Paul, once everything that can be said on the matter is said, saying:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?’
35 ‘Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?’
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory for ever! Amen. (Rom 11:33-36)
So, if you answered both (a) and (b) you have grappled with the mystery! For God’s mercy is God’s mercy. St Paul quotes God on the matter!
‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’ (Exodus 33:19; Rom 9:15).
Brothers and sisters in Christ: God’s mercy that flows to one is neither better nor worse, bigger nor smaller, stronger nor weaker, brighter nor duller, than it will flow to any other person, whether they be ‘Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free’ (Colossians 3:11). God’s mercy, or better put, God’s merciful character, is not dependant on who is the recipient. However, the receiving of God’s mercy is dependent on whether the recipient wants it or not. That’s Israel’s dilemma.
The opposite of showing mercy would be to be without mercy or merciless, of which Jesus, the prophets and apostles warn us forthrightly in many ways, and this sermon need not say more than, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy’ (Matthew 5:7) & ‘But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Mtt 9:13) & especially the final destination of where St Paul is driving the Gentile converts towards, where he says, ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship’ (Rom 12:1).
Rather, today I want you to be able to name the opposing force to God’s mercy? What draws the curtains closed to God’s mercy that would otherwise equally flow into prison cell and study alike? It is the sin of pride.
Jesus spells this that in a parable, saying:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
13 ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
14 ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Here Jesus is pointedly highlighting the lack of true faith in those of God’s chosen people who had replaced true faith in God with pride in oneself, even one’s external obedience to the law of God. And when righteousness by faith is replaced by the righteousness of the law, God’s mercy is shut out, not needed, rejected. All along God’s chosen people had,
‘the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs…’ (Rom 9:4b-5a)
But all these things will lose their provenance when the good news of Jesus, that is, the free forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in God’s Son alone, is rejected, that is, when the cornerstone becomes the stumbling block, as it did for those who hardened their hearts against Jesus and the Gospel (Rom 9:30-33).
For the heart of the matter throughout Romans 9 – 11 is “God’s rejection of the Jews” and how to reconcile that with the fact that ‘God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable’ (Rom 11:29). The mystery is that rejection is God’s way to Israel’s salvation. For in revealing the crux of the mystery, St Paul says, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved’ (Rom 11:25).
Once, the Gentiles were objects of God’s wrath, but those who humbled themselves became objects of God’s mercy. For man meets God in only one of two ways, as an object of wrath of as an object of mercy. Now, because of their rejection of his Son, casting him out of the vineyard and killing him (Mtt 21:39), Israel meets God as an object of wrath. This is their present rejection by God.
But God did not fully reject Israel. St Paul himself was a testimony to that. He was ‘circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless’ (Philippians 3:5-6).
But just as Jesus showed mercy to Paul in transforming the ‘worst of all sinners’ (1 Timothy 1:15) into a saint through faith alone, so, too, was this mercy daily being beamed, through the Gospel, into every window of the human heart – whether ‘Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free’ (Colossians 3:11). For heaven’s sake, even the Temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, to reveal God’s seat of mercy (Matthew 27:51)! St Paul goes so far to say that he would sacrifice himself to see all his people, the Jews, come to the right knowledge of God in Christ Jesus and be saved (Rom 9:3).
God ‘wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:4), so Paul adds the revelation that since the Gentiles were coming into the Kingdom of God that this would prove fruitful in the fact that, and in full accordance with prophecy (Deut. 32:21), that this may cause envy in the Jews towards their own salvation. For God’s rejection of his people had the ultimate purpose of his acceptance of them; their grafting back into the Root of Jesse.
All of this intrigue and mystery was for the purpose of God’s glory. St Paul says, ‘What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?’ (Rom 9:22-24).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 7, 16 07 2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8:1-2).
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.
The ‘War of the Laws’
St Paul says that the ‘law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.’
In other words,
The ‘law of the Spirit who gives life’ overcomes ‘the law of sin and death.’
I like to think of it this way: there are all sorts of Laws in the physical world. The universe would be completely unstable and unpredictable without these Laws. We call the study of some of these laws - Physics.
For example: the Law of Inertia says that the marble will stay stationary unless it is overcome by some external force, like a sprung finger ready to set it flying across the floor.
Same could be said of many other examples of breaking the Law of Inertia or overcoming the Law of Gravity, etc.
So you could rightly say, just as the Scriptures do, that all of us are born “stationary in sin and death.” Because of the Law of Sin and Death, we are all born fit for the grave, as it were. Because of our Fall into sin, we are all stationed in sin (and therefore death, because ‘the wages of sin is death’ [Rom 6:23a]), that is, until we are transferred by the Spirit, through the means of faith and baptism in Jesus, who is our righteousness, to ‘life,’ just as St Paul finishes his Romans 6:23 sentence saying, ‘but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ For Jesus himself had said that in this new life he offers to us, won for us through his own death and resurrection, is an abundant and true life, when he said, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ (John 10:10).
Consider again the marble analogy. Unless it is hit by the sprung finger, it is going nowhere. According to the Law, it must remain stationary. By itself, it goes nowhere.
The good news is that none of us, not even one, when utilising this analogy, can ourselves break the Law of Inertia. It must be broken for us. God himself breaks it for us by granting us faith in Jesus. God exerts his power, through the Spirit upon us through the knowledge of the free forgiveness of sins. To this point, St Paul said, ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile’ (Rom 1:16). Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and our baptism into it (Rom 6:3-10), St Paul can proclaim the Gospel in this way by declaring that the Law of Spirit of Life overcomes the Law of Sin and Death.
Since ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:1), those who remain in him and in his free gift of righteousness sent by the Spirit and received and lived out by faith alone, will certainly share in the final victory over sin and death, and therefore the grave.
Yet, as the title of the sermon suggests, as long as we are in the flesh, that is, still breathing, the ‘War of the Laws’ is still being waged in us. St Paul describes that constant battle to the death, saying:
‘14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin’ (Rom 7:14-25).
War is a wretched thing. Sin and death are wretched things to be overcome. It’s the constant struggle we must all face. Adam and Eve were overcome by sin which led to their deaths. But through his death on the cross, Jesus, the Second Adam, has overcome sin which leads to death, as St Paul said, ‘For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit’ (Rom 8:3-4).
Because sin has been condemned by God in Jesus’ flesh, there is now no condemnation for those who believe that the war is ultimately and eternally won. And so in faith, you can join Jesus’ victory parade as he leads the Law of Sin and Death captive. For it’s our Easter confidence in God that has us sing, for example Hymn 97:
1 The strife is o’er, the battle done;
Now is the Victor’s triumph won;
O let the song of praise be sung.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
2 Death’s mightiest powers have done their worst,
But Jesus hath His foes dispersed;
Let shouts of praise and joy outburst.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! (LH 97 vss 1,2)
The righteousness that is received by faith alone is the only thing that can break the ‘Law of Inertia” in our call to live holy lives as Christ has made us holy. We will all get stuck in the rut of sin, but Christ comes to lift us back upon the way. When working alone, none of us is strong or courageous enough to break the inertia that keeps us motionless towards heaven, as if we are six-feet under already. Only faith lifts us, in fact, resurrects us up out of that dilemma and gets us “walking the talk of the Christian Faith;” for the sake of those people in our lives who need what only Jesus can provide, that being, the final victory over the Law of Sin and Death.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 3, 18 06 2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Matthew 10:2-8: ‘These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.’
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; your Word is Truth. Amen.
Tapping into the Kingdom of God
Dallas Willard writes that when he was a boy, rural electrification was just happening and power lines were being strung throughout the countryside. But suppose even after the lines were up and running you ran across a house where the weary family still used only candles and kerosene lanterns for light, used scrubboards, ice chests, and rug beaters. A better life was waiting for them right outside their door if only they would let themselves be hooked into the power lines. “My friends,” you could proclaim, “electricity is at hand!” But suppose they just didn’t trust it, thought it was too much of a hassle, and anyway didn’t believe the promises that things might be easier with this newfangled juice running into their house. “If it’s all the same to you, we’ll stick with the old ways.”
Maybe the kingdom is like that: it’s here, it’s real, it’s right outside your door. The kingdom of God is at hand! (from Rev. Scott E. Hoezee [ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in North America])
Brothers and sisters in Christ: We must remember that God’s supply of grace is endless. Yes, the workers are few. We are living in a time when we are really feeling the impacts of very low Pastor Graduate numbers, disgruntled Pastors leaving the LCA for greener pastures, the large and increasing cohort of retirement age Pastors, Lutheran Schools and congregations producing few and far between candidates for Seminary and Lay Worker training, etc. But we must also remember that Jesus had just 12 men, not 1200 to send out on their way with his message and power to transform lives! And he sent them out into the danger 2-by-2 as well, perhaps halving their immediate reach, but I believe doubling their powerful impact and influence.
In the West and in those countries settled by Europeans and Brits, the church has had it good. We have been spoilt, really. The workers weren’t so few then. Everything was well-kept, neat and tidy, just like our street poles stand tall and are spaced out to be inch-perfect. Sometimes they lean over a bit under the strain and tension, but the maintenance crews will get to them sooner-or later and brace them up or replace them, no worries. How often does the church create problems that probably don’t exist, when, for instance we ask ourselves: Are we a maintenance congregation or a sending/building congregation, as if one is superior to the other? God will always provide them both in the measure that he will dictate. Some congregations are the transformers while others are full of electricians. The network needs both!
So what do we have to show for the church’s past success in planting congregations and its structured orderliness today? Past how many homes do the wires trace, but how many homes are today no longer, if ever they were, tapped into the supply of God’s grace. Every home on your street has access to the power supply. But how many are truly tapped in? Think about how many baptised children you went to school with. Now think of how many, or should I say few, baptised believers there are today amongst those same adults? How many are regularly switched-on to God’s grace? How few therefore, are empowered by God every day to keep the light of grace shining for the sake of family and friends and work colleagues, etc?
For whatever criticism comes our way, our churches - the modern, the old, the chapel, the cathedral, the contemporary, the traditional - they are not the dull and dark places of this world! Rather it is the average home and business and community hall that have become dark and dingy over time. Once-upon-a-time the light of Christ in the Christian’s gathered there made itself known. These so-called secular places, alongside the churches, were also places of God’s illuminating activity in the community. Charitable Service Clubs and even Parliament sittings used to even at least honour the Lord’s Prayer! Not so much, if at all today.
And even as we routinely, it now seems, turn the lights off for the last time at more-and-more church facilities, it wasn’t the worship style, or the beliefs, or even the overt hypocrisy in the congregation (which every congregation will have) that ever barred people from entry into the Kingdom of God and into a true and living relationship with Jesus. Rather, it was the town’s residents, your school mates and acquaintances, your friends and family members, one-by-one, silently disconnecting themselves from God’s power supply: choosing to live lives illuminated by every and anything else the world could possibility energize them with. They might get a buzz, and they will, but he who stays connected with the electric motor running (i.e. receiving the current of God’s grace), as it were, knows it will be a short-lived buzz. Only God can supply the endless current people need to live true and abundantly in his grace and mercy and peace. This is our current plight, but also our current hope in the West. We must remember that God’s supply of grace is endless. No one, not even the gates of hell can shutdown God’s power station!
But what about places around the world whose power scheme and supply looks like it does on the sub-continent, in places like India, for example with hundreds of wires criss crossing the streets and laneways? “What a shemozzle,” we neat and orderly people would say. “Aren’t these kinds of people breaking into the kingdom’s power supply?” But might these be the types that were spoken about by Jesus, when he said, ‘The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it’ (Lk 16:16 KJV). So what if our future in the West looks as tangled and disorganised as this? At least people are still hooking up to the power and receiving its life-changing benefits! We know that, ‘God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people’ (1 Cor 14:33), and we are not to challenge the fact that God’s grace and peace brings orderliness into lives made chaotic by sin. The orderliness of the ministry need not change, but maybe our future ministry delivery may have lines that criss-cross every which way extending out from a common hub?
Around the world, the power supply isn’t lacking. Have we lost some confidence in what the power of God’s power has done, can do, and is still doing amongst us? I don’t think that’s the problem. Maybe the problem is not actually a problem, but a paradox that must be lived with, rather than solved? Maybe it’s intrinsic to the subject of God’s mission in the world, and ever has been since he dispersed humanity all over the world following the Tower of Babel.
Think about our electricity analogy. Electricity is as mysterious as it is dangerous. It can harm you as much as it can keep you warm, keep you cool, heat up water, make your car move, etc. Ask any physicist or electrician about it! They’ll answer: Well, it works like this and can do this; you see it “uncontrollably” flash across the sky, but you can also capture it and package it up in a little box or cylinder. You can send it very long distances and harness and manipulate it alright, but don’t let it get out of control! In the same way, the kingdom of God has its own paradoxes, too.
The world will keep treating God’s Kingdom like the environmental activists treat coal-fired Power Stations. They will despise and attack God’s Kingdom, mainly because Jesus is King and they are not, but also because they are misinformed and have been misled and are even quick to forget the societal benefits the church has gifted the world with – like schools and hospitals, charities and refugee camps etc. It’s our job to educate in such an ignorant environment and make known what truly makes Christianity unique – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sake of the world. And we also may need to revisit how to take the opportunities God gives us to speak the word of Christ to our family, friends and colleagues and see what the Holy Spirit does with our conversations. For the world thinks we are smoking it up with pollution in a bad, if not evil cause. Of course we are not guiltless in adding to the sin of the world – what with the church’s greed in wealth, its abuse of power and its sexual perversity sagas, and the like. To its great shame, the church has burnt a lot of people over the millennia. The church needs to repent when it returns to worldly ways, lest Jesus’ warning come true for us and not just the chief priests and Pharisees, when he said, ‘Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit’ (Mtt 21:43).
Returning to the Power Station analogy, what’s really filling the world is steam – an image of the true power that transforms lives. When you think of steam power you might think of the Industrial Revolution. The church needs no revolution, rather a daily reformation in returning to Jesus alone for salvation. And that’s why we are here. Each congregation is uniquely placed in the world by God to demonstrate the transformation of lives, first-and-foremost through individual repentance and faith which will give shape to the love and concern it has for the world. The fruit thereof will go a long way in making connections and reconnections for people who have cut-off the power supply; those who have turned off the light of Christ in home, business and community.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: here is some encouragement to talk about Jesus to those people in your lives who have disconnected themselves from God’s grace or who have lost interest in living in the light of Christ. Imagine no more power bills; no service charge and no usage charges. Free electricity forever! Through the free gifts of baptism and faith, the Holy Spirit has connected you up to the love of Jesus and the ever-flowing current of the Father’s grace, mercy and peace. ‘Freely you have received; freely give’ (Mtt 10:8b). So how might you connect someone into the grid this week? You might get zapped by them, but you won’t get zapped by God for your efforts in making known that, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near’ (Mtt 10:7)… it’s here, it’s real, it’s right outside your door.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost, 28.05.2023
(50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the St Peter’s Altar & Pulpit)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3b).
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth; Your Word is Truth. Amen.
Holy, holy, holy.
What do the Altar and Pulpit mean to you? Why are they placed where they are? Why even have them? Are they just glorified tables and platforms of a bygone era?
Whilst I personally know of no accounts of the removal of the altar from an established and in-use church building, there are stories, which I could quote in the LCA, of Pastors, with the congregation’s blessing, removing the pulpit and packing it away over in the hall or out in the storage shed. So why do you still have yours? Surely with the passage of 100 years, (or even 164 years at St Paul’s) the pulpit has passed its use-by date? Surely we can move with the times? Yes? No?
I also know of an occasion when a certain newly installed Pastor, without the congregation’s blessing, found the stored away pulpit and returned it to its intended place, and he got in some hot water for it! I also know of a pulpit being seconded as a makeshift PowerPoint screen stand area – its elevated, and after all, if it wasn’t being used, well then, use it for something else.
What do the Altar and Pulpit mean to you? When you visit another denomination or even another LCA congregation, and there is no Pulpit, unlikely but maybe even no Altar, what do you make of it? What about when there is a Pulpit in place, but it never gets used? What would it mean if we didn’t place the Communion vessels on the Altar, but rather on another table down in the nave and received the meal from there? Would that matter much to you?
When Martin Luther preached at the dedication of the very first Lutheran Church designed and built by Lutherans, that being The Castle Chapel at Hartenfels Castle in Torgau (October 4, 1544), he made a statement about the nature of Christian worship that has been formative for Lutherans ever since. He said,
“The purpose of this new house may be such that nothing else may ever happen in it except that our dear Lord himself may speak to us through his holy word, and we respond to him through prayer and praise.”
In other words, Christian worship is God’s holy people gathering to receive the gifts of God’s grace, namely life and salvation through the proclamation of God’s word and the administration of the Sacraments to which God’s word had attached the promise of the gift of righteousness. To this point, Luther had also said, ‘a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy believers and “the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.”
So our Pulpit and Altar (along with the baptism font, of course) assist our Word & Sacrament ministry. These are not just clichés for churched people, but are rather the symbols of how God is active through the church for the sake of the world. This is how we understand it: Christ speaking to us his holy words – from the Bible, through the absolution, through the preached Word, at the Altar Rail in the promise “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” That is God’s movement to us. Then we have: Christ listening to us, his holy people, made holy by the blood of the lamb, as our response in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. So we have Christ, who has ascended on high and sent the Holy Spirit to give his holy gifts to the church. And we have the one holy Christian and apostolic church responding with its sacrifice of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, not for its own sake, but for the sake of the world.
This Robert Wilhelm Prenzel designed and built Altar and Pulpit has served you this way for 50 years (+ 1 day). Not only are they significant for us, but, like the Hill & Son Organ, they have national significance, and therefore true international significance. What an eye for treasure John Kriewaldt had!
Brief comments on the design…
Read from Handout…
Have you heard of the phrase, “Altar & Pulpit Fellowship”? It was a significant theological discussion point in Lutheranism in Australia in the 1950’s & 60’s. Very interestingly, these discussions, and the full agreement in Lutheran teaching that came about at this time, became the initial reason why St Peter’s was able to acquire their current Altar & Pulpit. For without the coming together of the ELCA and UELCA towards the end of 1966, St Luke’s Lutheran Church, Murtoa, may still be in existence and therefore still in possession and use of them both to the glory God. But because of this coming together, St Peter’s, through a round-about way, is the current custodian of such significant church furnishings.
If you have heard of the phrase “Altar & Pulpit Fellowship,” what does that mean to us as a congregation today? With the passing of the recent Synod Proposal that seeks to investigate the ramifications of the adoption of Women’s Ordination, intra-LCA Altar & Pulpit Fellowship is under serious threat. Not all LCANZ Pastors and not even all congregations will go along with this kind of progressivism. What then of “Altar & Pulpit Fellowship” amongst us – in the congregation, in the parish, in Western Victoria, in the District and nationally? How we will respond? The crunch may be only 17 months away.
Having beautiful Altars and Pulpits in our churches is one thing – a very good gift from God, and we give thanks to Him for the trees grown and harvested and the skillset to turn timber into sculpted works of art. But greater by far is Altar and Pulpit Fellowship with likeminded Christians – Christians who agree with each other about what the Bible does and doesn’t teach. Moving with the times means keeping up with what the world around us is doing. But those thrice repeated words on the Altar “Holy, holy, holy’ are there to remind us all that by grace, through faith, that we have been set apart – for that is part of what the word ‘holy’ means – to be the people of God, a people in the world but not of it. And as St Paul has pointedly said, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Romans 12:2).
‘“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” who was, and is, and is to come’ (Rev 4:8). Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 12, 11.08.2024
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35).
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the bread of life from God. Feed us with your promise of grace, mercy and peace and unite us more closely to yourself and live within us forever. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: He who was born at the ‘house of bread’, that is, Bethlehem, to the Virgin Mary, but yet also, ‘the only-begotten Son of God,' declares to a spiritually starving, emaciated and dying world, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ He who revealed his sacred name to Moses at the bush that was not consumed, ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (Ex 3:14), reveals it again, ‘I am,’ as a prelude and announcement of the greater redemption, not just one nation out of Egypt, but all nations redeemed by, not the blood of a lamb painted on lintels and doorposts, but by the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29, 36). The ancient declaration, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness’ (Ex 7:16) is here accented and advanced, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
The Norwegian theologian, Ole Hallesby, writes:
Man was created with body and soul. Both had to have food in order to live. The body received its food from the earth from whence it came. And the soul received its food from heaven, whence it had come. And God provided abundantly for their sustenance.” (‘God’s Word for Today,” pg 80)
Brothers and sisters in Christ: This is a most beautiful and most simple way to receive Jesus’ Bread of life teaching. Surely this isn't so difficult to grasp? Well, yes and no. For it depends upon whether you are inside or outside the Garden. For O. Hallesby wrote what he did from the perspective of being inside the Garden, before humanity’s expulsion due to their fall into temptation. But now from the vantage point that looks back towards the Garden, with hands outstretched desiring to reach back in and seize the Tree of Life, the Pharisees, as were the Pharaohs, hardened in their unbelief. For all who seek to peer over the fence back into the guarded Garden, St Paul has declared, ‘The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit’ (1 Cor 2:14). In other words, the arteries that open and feed on true life are always blocked by the calcification of unbelief. So the hardened heart must respond, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?' (Jn 6:60). And the Lord Jesus must lament saying, ‘But as I told you, you have seen me, and still you do not believe’ (Jn 6:36).
And in that repetitive murmuring of unbelief, we hear that the grumbling continues: ‘...Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’ Oh, how history repeats itself! Earlier in the Nazareth Synagogue, the people of God, as with the serpent in the Garden, began to question everything, ‘Where did this man get these things?’ ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ (Mk 6:2-3). Everyone present could point to the house where he lived, they could name all his kin, and they know his trade. They were not the wider public. They didn't need an exposé to "fill in the blanks" of his life-story. They know exactly who he is, of course they do, they saw him grow up. He was one of them. They all knew his place in society and where he had come from. And so the scandal grows, ‘How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’ (Jn 6:42).
Oh my! They had said, ‘Where did this man get these things?’ ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?
And yet they can stoop so low, be so mindless, as to now posit the question, ‘How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’ Heaven’s above! Even the man born blind could see where Jesus came from!
We don't need to look very far for more of the same. They took offence at him’ (Mk 6:3) again, and again, and again, all the way to the scandal of the cross!
So many were looking for Jesus because they had just ate in abundance and had their fill, even with twelve baskets full of leftovers. Who wouldn't want a king like that? Who wouldn't want good news like that? But to those who have stomachs for hearts, those who want to fill their stomachs with food instead of filling their hearts with faith, Jesus must say, 'Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me... 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’
Because 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,' (Matthew 4:4) Jesus must correct their appetite and what they have their eyes fixed upon. Martin Luther comments that Jesus wants them to come to the understanding that,
The Lord means to say that 'to come to him' and 'to eat the bread of life' is 'to believe in him,' and that he who believes in Jesus comes to him and eats him.
Neither Augustine, nor Luther received this John 6 text as referring to Holy Communion. Rather, without downplaying that tremendous gift, that is, the Holy Meal, Augustine said quite beautifully, 'Believe, and you have eaten already.' And Luther, who lived at a time when the church obscured the gospel and when faith was not taught, would pointedly say, 'many flock to the Lord's Table, and yet they die of eternal hunger and thirst.' He would emphasise this further in teaching that if faith is missing then the communicant is unworthy and unprepared.
For Luther continues,
... the Lord [in John 6] is speaking of spiritual eating. For Jesus himself interprets this as a thirst and a hunger of the soul. The soul longs to live forever; it does not want to stand condemned; it desires to have a gracious God and to stand before the judgment seat of a wrathful God; it does not want to be accused by sin and the Law or go to hell - those are the soul's longings, and these reflect a spiritual hunger and thirst. To satisfy these requires a spiritual food and drink, offered us when the Holy Spirit approaches and says: "If you do not want to die and be condemned, come to Christ, believe in him, cling to him, eat this spiritual food.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: each day we will always have to pray, 'Give us today our daily bread.' And God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people.' But with this John chapter 6 'Bread of life' understanding and appreciation, then we can rightly say to the Lord, 'from now on give us this bread.' And again quoting Luther,
Jesus will reply: "Yes, with all my heart I will give it; for that is why I came from heaven."
In Jesus the Bread of life, our sole, and our soul satisfaction, comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Brothers and sisters in Christ: Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the Bread of Life. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 13, 18.08.2024
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus said, ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world’ (John 6:51).
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the bread of life from God. You have given your flesh and blood for the life on the world as you sacrificed yourself upon the cross. Feed us with this bread so that we remain in you, and you in us, as we eagerly await the coming of the Last Day. Amen.
Still in John chapter 6, we hear Jesus continue to reveal to the world that he is the true bread from heaven; that he is the bread of life; that he is the bread that came down from heaven; that here is the bread that comes down from heaven which anyone may eat and not die. And as his proclamation develops, we hear him reveal that, ‘This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… …For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them… …This is the bread that came down from heaven.’ And as we trace these steps full-circle, we hear, ‘For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ (Jn 6:33).
Last week we considered that fact that Jesus was at pains to teach the Jews and the Twelve that he is, ‘the bread that came down from heaven;’ the very bread that satisfies all spiritual hunger into all eternity. To repeat myself from last Sunday,
Neither Augustine, nor Luther received this John 6 text as referring to Holy Communion. Rather, without downplaying that tremendous gift, that is, the Holy Meal, Augustine said quite beautifully, 'Believe, and you have eaten already.' And Luther, who lived at a time when the church obscured the gospel and when faith was not taught, would pointedly say, 'many flock to the Lord's Table, and yet they die of eternal hunger and thirst.' Why? Because faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins was absent.
And now as the conversation continues, we hear Jesus say, ‘this bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world’ (Jn 6:51).
So the bread of life comes down from heaven and offers himself to the world for its consumption. So we need to grasp what that means.
The word that St John uses for our English word ‘eat,’ here in chapter 6, is the Greek word φάγητε (phagete pronounced ‘feygete’). For instance a ‘phagos’ is a glutton (Mt 11:19; Lk 7:34). This Greek word can mean ‘to eat’ or ‘to consume,’ so it can point to at least two subtle, but different meanings. It can point to the act of eating food and it can point to the act of consuming something. We eat food and drink drink for physical nourishment, but we can also say that fire consumes wood or rust eats iron. The most wooden translation of this Greek word would be ‘to chomp’ or ‘to chew.’ So this one Greek word may give voice to two different kinds of consumption. And Jesus is here referring to the later; not some kind of cannibalism, but rather that he gives us himself as the Bread of Life for our consumption, by faith. Just as Augustine said it best, 'Believe, and you have eaten already.'
Many years ago, Sadhu Sundar Singh was distributing Gospels in the Central Provinces of India. He came to some non-Christians on the railway train and offered a man a copy of John's Gospel. The man took it, and in rage tore it in pieces and threw the pieces out of the window. That seemed the end, but later that very day a man anxiously seeking for truth was walking along the line, and he came across a little bit of crumpled paper and looked at it, and the words on it in his own language were 'the Bread of Life'. He didn’t know what it meant, but he enquired among his friends and one of them said: 'I can tell you it is out of the Christian book. You must not read it or you will be defiled.'
The man thought for a moment and then said: 'I want to read the book that contains that beautiful phrase' and he bought a copy of the New Testament. He was shown where the sentence occurred and as he studied the gospel, the light of Christ flooded into his heart, and he became a preacher of the gospel in the Central Provinces of India. That little bit of paper through God's Spirit was indeed the Bread of life to him, satisfying his deepest need. In this beautiful encounter, the prophet Jeremiah’s prophecy rang true:
When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
Lord God Almighty. (Jeremiah 15:16)
For the man walking along the railway line in India, three small words “Bread of life” meant the difference between life and death. It meant an encounter with the living Christ who brought Him out of the Kingdom of darkness and led him to saving faith. His anxiety was no longer an issue. He had come to know the living bread from heaven. He hungered after this living bread, Jesus. This man saw the scriptures as beautiful and studied the gospel, feeding on our Lord’s words of life.
For if we miss-hear Jesus’ Bread of Life teaching, then we will respond as the first audience did when they argued with each other, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ (Jn 6:52).
One of my previous Pastors once told me a story related to this teaching. He was at the hairdressers and the conversation got on to what he did for a living. He answered that he was a Lutheran Pastor and got a surprising response from the hairdresser, ‘Oh! So you are one of those cannibalistic Christians?’ What an interesting response that seemingly came out of nowhere! The earliest Christians were challenged by this accusation as well. But that response opened up an opportunity to proclaim what Lutherans have always taught about Holy Communion, as distinct from the soul spiritual eating that is synonymous with receiving, that is, believing in Jesus' full humanity, as described by his being truly flesh and blood.
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then consume Jesus by faith, for you will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)
If you want eternal life with God, then partake of the bread who was sent down from heaven.
If you want the food that does not spoil but rather endures to eternal life, then trust alone in Jesus.
If you want to remain in Christ Jesus, then feast upon the Word of God. Whether it be meat or milk, dine out on God's Word every day.
If you want true life, then take me in, says Jesus, the bread of life. For unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
In St John's opening chapter we hear, ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (Jn 1:14). And so the bread of God is offered upon the altar of a Roman cross; flesh and blood sacrificed for the life of the world. ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’ (1 Peter 2:24).
The bread of life has come down from heaven and he offers the dying world his life, which is true life.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the bread of life. Amen.