Sermon 31st January 2021 – 4th Sunday after Epiphany Text Mark 1:21-28 – Head to heart knowledge

 

Sermon 31^st January 2021 – 4^th Sunday after Epiphany Text Mark 1:21-28 – Head to heart knowledge

 Marks’s Gospel is an interesting account of the life of Jesus. It doesn’t have the sweet recording of Jesus birth – shepherds, manger, wise men coming to visit. No, here we are in chapter one of Mark and he’s in a synagogue confronted by an evil spirit. And what’s interesting is that this unclean spirit is the first to acknowledge who Jesus is. Others took a while and still others could not get their head or heart to acknowledge Jesus is. Remember Jesus’ question to his disciples well into his ministry? He asked his disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But there was no confusion at all for this unclean spirit: I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

 

So what we are seeing in this passage is the difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. Hang on – didn’t I just say the same thing? No. There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone and this is what we are seeing. James, in his letter, also says the same thing:

(James 2:19) - You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. The difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus is relational. I can read the bible from cover to cover and recite facts and figures and quote this passage and that passage – but that is not relational; That is head knowledge rather than heart knowledge. Heart knowledge is when we don’t just know about Jesus but are able to confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour and that I trust him with my life and soul. This is when Jesus doesn’t just become a compartment of my life along with many other things but he is my very being and existence. Remember a couple weeks ago when Paul said – do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

God is not meant to be another thing that we fit into our lives but our very life. Because the problem when God is something we fit into our lives – when our lives get squeezed – we can often squeeze God out of our lives. And that’s when we might know ABOUT God but no know God in our hearts. Peter is again a good example to show both at work. When Peter is asked who do “people” say I am he gives a list: “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

 

But look how quick Peter’s “heart” knowledge resorts to his head knowledge when Jesus says: that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,  and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” But Jesus then turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

 

Notice the difference – with his heart knowledge he knows Jesus as his Lord and Saviour – you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But sadly when he faces danger he reverts to his head knowledge that only knows “about” Jesus – fuelled by his “merely human concerns”. And that’s where the rubber hits the road when it comes to our faith – when we face difficulties and uncertainty and our natural instinct is to protect ourselves. As Luther said in his Large Catechism – whatever you run to in time of danger – that is your God.

St Paul made the same distinction in our 2nd reading where he says: Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

Head knowledge compared to heart knowledge.

Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him. And there’s an important distinction; Head knowledge knows about God.

But heart knowledge is where we are known by God.

 

So faith is more than just knowing about God – knowing about Jesus. Faith is being in a relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ. It is confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and not just a head knowledge of Jesus. Because head knowledge won’t sustain you when your back is against the wall and you face uncertainty. When you cannot see a way through your situation and you don’t turn to your own strength but to God as the Book of Hebrews says: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. And it talks about several Old Testament people distinguishing between head knowledge and heart knowledge:

 

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

 

You see there – faith is not about knowing God but trusting God and that’s the difference between the confession of knowledge of the unclean spirit in today’s Gospel and the confession of Peter of Jesus as the Messiah. God wants to be in a relationship with you. He doesn’t care if you can’t recite chapter and verse from the Bible. He just wants to be in a relationship with you and for you to call on him in time of trouble and as we read in several places in the New Testament; Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

May God grant this to us all and the peace of God that surpasses all our understanding watch over your hearts now and always. Amen.

Sermon 24th January 2021 – Epiphany 3 - Text: Mark 1:14-20 – The Good News of repentance

 Sermon 24^th January 2021 – Epiphany 3 - Text: Mark 1:14-20 – The Good News of repentance

 

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to a house or car alarm going off? What’s your first response? If it’s like mine, it’s usually not – I hope everything is okay. No it’s normally annoyance – seriously, don’t they know what time it is. Last week we heard an alarm going off in the afternoon and rather than rushing out to see if there was a problem we pondered wondering where it might be coming from.

 

It seems that we have somehow drowned out alarms from our system finding them an annoyance rather than a warning that something is not right. And I believe that this is one of the greatest challenges that faces the Christian Church today. You may recall a generation or so ago when Preachers were more known for delivering fire and brimstone sermons which seemed to draw in crowds through fear but that doesn’t seem to be working these days.

People have drowned out the warnings coming from the church about the dangers hell.

 

I’m not suggesting that we go back to those days but I’m wondering whether we are a little bit reluctant to use our sermons and messages to warn people but to be more warm and accommodating – but is that working? Even Jesus used a warning to remind people why it was necessary for him to come: Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. It was the message that John the Baptist had also preached to the people to repent. Notice Jesus connects – repent with the good news.

 

Our teaching has always been one of Law and Gospel. We preach the law in order for people to understand the human condition before God – one of our fallen relationship through sin. But we don’t leave the message there – we assure people of the Good News that God forgives our sin and restores our relationship with him.

In order to truly appreciate and understand God’s grace we need to be fully aware and understand what God’s grace is delivering us from. If there is “good news” then what is the news that is not good?

 

St Paul says that the not good news is our punishment for sin – as St Paul says in Romans 6 about sin – for the wages of sin is death – but the gift of God – the grace of God – the good news of God is eternal life in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord. There Paul preaches – Law and Gospel. And what we see in our Gospel reading and also in our 2nd reading from Paul is the urgency of needing this good news.

 

When Peter and his brother Andrew heard the call from Jesus to follow him their response was “immediate”.  Immediately they left their nets and followed him. When James and his brother John heard the call of Jesus to follow him – their response was immediate. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. Even the people of Nineveh in hearing the judgment of God at their doorstep took no time at all to respond: When Jonah came and told them that in 40 days God was going to bring about his judgment, they didn’t say – well, we’ve got 40 days, let’s have a think about this. No, the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. They saw the urgency of needing to turn their lives around and receive God’s grace.

 

St Paul also stresses the urgency: The appointed time has grown short; the present form of this world is passing away. The growing shortness has been used as a way of frightening people but it need not be frightening. Jesus, connecting repentance and good news is to bring comfort to the suffering and concerned.

 

As we live in a world that continues to bring grief and concern to us how comforting to know that the time is short for which we must endure this lifetime.

 

Once sin entered into God’s perfect world, life in this world would not be a blessing. Even if a person is born into a well off family, never needs anything, they will still face the day when their life draws to an end and their health diminishes. So God has limited this lifetime and assures us that after this life there is new life in heaven where perfection is guaranteed because nothing evil will ever live there. Where there will be no more suffering or death because the old order of things will have passed. That’s what Jesus comes to proclaim as the Good News - The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;

 

The Kingdom of God is where there is a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Where God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Tears that we have shed through suffering and mourning. And after God has wiped away our tears, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

 

So what is the Good News of the urgency? If fire and brimstone preaching and the fear of hell is not behind the immediacy of these readings what is? It’s because of God’s love for his children that does not want to see them burdened by the weight of fear that comes to us through sin. That’s Satan’s preferred way of attack.

Remember back to Adam and Eve. When they first sinned they feared God – they hid from God – “Adam where are you”. Adam responded - I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

Sin didn’t keep God away from Adam but sin took Adam away from God. So Jesus issues an invitation to us when he says – come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest - I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

 

God wants you to begin to experience the comfort of his presence now and invites you – repent for the Kingdom of God is near. That’s what Paul refers to when he says - For the present form of this world is passing away. We don’t have to wait until WE pass away to experience the joy waiting for us. We can experience it now through a relationship with God. It doesn’t mean we can avoid the suffering of this world but we can know the comfort that soon it will be over. That’s why Jesus says – the Kingdom of God is near. Come and experience it NOW.

 

The message may to some be a message of fear and concern where they are not in a relationship with Jesus.

As Paul says in Corinthians – the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God, not wanting anyone to miss out on the blessings of eternal life in Heaven. The message of repentance is not one of fear but one of invitation to experience the comfort and assurance that Jesus is with us as we journey in this life.

Sermon 17th January 2021 – 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Text: John 1:43-51 – Come and see Jesus

 

Sermon 17^th January 2021 – 2^nd Sunday after Epiphany

Text: John 1:43-51 – Come and see Jesus

 

This is my first week back for 2021 so firstly I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. In my break I have tried to contemplate what will 2021 look like. We are already hearing about a new strain of Covid that has entered Australia from overseas. We’ve seen restrictions tightened in Victoria – we’ve seen other states going into lockdown. Churches in greater Brisbane had to cancel their services at short notice last Sunday. I guess for me, as a Pastor, one of my concerns is for our outreach.

 

My role as a Pastor of this congregation won’t change- I’ll always be here for you. At times it might get impacted if some of the earlier restrictions return like the 5km rule. There are some restrictions on visiting nursing homes and hospital. But the biggest concern I have is our outreach. It’s hard to do what Philip did with Nathanael when he reached out to bring him to Jesus and said – come and see. It’s hard to say to someone – come and see but I first need to ring our booking line to make sure there’s enough room. Or what do you say to someone who arrives at church unannounced for the first time and it’s booked out? Do you say “come and see” next week and I’ll book you in.

 

I guess we’ve always worked with the objective that Sunday church is our goal – and to an extent that is important. But we have been challenged in the last 12 months – what becomes our mission if our church building is not available or if we will continue to face limits on how many we can have and can’t even fit all our regular members in? I know that for me the Covid experience has made me evaluate how we do church – how we do evangelism. For me, prior to Covid – getting as many people into church – getting the budget paid – justifying the amount of work I was doing were my priorities. But look at Philip’s priorities – look how Phillip does evangelism He shares his experience with Nathanael. He shares his excitement and invites Nathanael to come and see Jesus and experience a relationship with him. And whereas the church building on a Sunday was the place we would have as our objective – to invite people to come and see Jesus - is that the only way?

 

St Paul reminded us in our 2nd reading today – you are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit. The church is not a building – the church is the people who gather to create the body of Christ. If we have no church building – we still have church – you are the church. And as important as our Sunday gatherings together is, it is not the only way that the church can exist. If our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit then we can invite people to come and see Jesus in our own lives – in our own homes.

 

We’ve already experimented this past year with smaller gatherings outside of our regular church times – can we explore that further – maybe in our own homes where some newcomers to the faith might even feel more comfortable – less threatened. We know how often we have a visitor come along and they slip away either because they don’t feel comfortable or they feel no one has come up to them to speak with them. We can let this pandemic defeat us or we can grasp the opportunities and look for ways to adapt to new challenges.

 

Personally I like the sounds of new challenges and would like to see us look at new ways of doing church. It doesn’t mean that we do away with Sunday gatherings here in our church buildings but we can look to ways to supplement our Sunday gatherings and take church outside of these 4 walls. Phillip was excited and I believe that if we are excited about our faith then we will look for and find ways to be the body of Christ – to be the church in new ways. Maybe God is speaking to us through this experience and, like Samuel, we need to stop and listen and say – speak Lord, your servant is listening.

 

There is nothing I have loved more than a full church with music and singing at full blast- but what happens when those things are taken away from us? Do we take the position of – well that’s it – or do we say – okay, what’s next.

The digital revolution has helped to keep us going but that cannot be our goal. Like everything else, it supplements what we do.

 

The Christian faith is a personal experience – one of being together with each other – supporting one another.

I’m sure if they had internet available Phillip would not have said to Nathanael to log onto to the internet and watch this. No, he took him to Jesus. He didn’t just tell him about Jesus. He showed him Jesus and shared his own experience and then said – Come And See.

 

It’s going to be a challenging year ahead of us but it is in times of challenges that allows us to respond in new ways. As I have said previously – what we do that is essential won’t change. Word and Sacrament. How we do these has started to change with the common cup not being available – gloves and mask being part of the way we do things. Even our music has presented us with challenges. It’s not to say it will always be this way but it has shown us that we can adapt and we shouldn’t be afraid to adapt. How we do these may change even further – where we do these things may change even further.

 

Let us not be afraid to grasp these new challenges but trust where God is leading us and like Samuel let us be prepared to respond: Here I am, for you called me.