Sermon 1st October 2023 – 18th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Exodus 17:1-7 – Is the Lord among us or not?

 Sermon 1^st October 2023 – 18^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Exodus 17:1-7 – Is the Lord among us or not?

 

Is the Lord among us or not? Great question. Have you asked that question before? Is the Lord among us or not?

What has made you ask that question? What prompted that question by Israel. It was because God had sent Moses to free Israel from slavery in Egypt and to lead them to a new land – their own land – a land flowing with milk and honey – a land which will be known as The Promised Land. But the journey was not what they expected from a God who was supposed to be loving and caring for their needs. They are hungry and thirsty so they reminisce back to the days in Egypt when even their horrid and cruel slavedrivers at least made sure they had enough to eat and drink. They were starting to think that their cruel slave drivers cared more for them than God.

 

When have you asked that question of God – is the Lord with me or not. Have you thought that perhaps the world has more concern for you than God? Maybe that’s why many focus more energy on their careers, their sports and their leisure. It sometimes seems that people much less faithful seem to get more breaks than I do. It seems that even those who reject and mock God have easy comfortable lives. How is it fair that God makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the good and the evil. What benefit is there to being a Christian?

 

The benefit is not in the joy that earthly pleasures offer but the eternal blessings the world cannot give. Earthly pleasures last for a moment compared to the eternal life that God gives to us. Hunger and thirst soon return after a full stomach. Like the Israelites sometimes we are led to believe God is unfair and that others would have treated us much better. And so we ask - Is the Lord among us or not.

 

Israel looked backwards rather than to the promise of God – what did God promise – to lead them to the promised land.

What has God promised us? God promised that his Son whom he sent to us would be called “Immanuel” which means God is with us. When Jesus had completed his earthly ministry after his death and resurrection he ascended to Heaven with the same promise – I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS TILL THE END OF THE AGE. So there is never any doubt whether God is with us or not because God has promised to do so. The real question is why, if God is with us, are our lives not perfect. A lot of the times it’s to do with our lack of trust in God. That was Israel’s problem – they looked back rather than trust what God had promised. There was no way that God was going to let Israel die of thirst or starvation. But their expectation of what

they believe God should be doing didn’t match how God was looking after them.

 

There’s an interesting passage in Deuteronomy 29 where Moses says to Irael. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.  With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders. “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”

 

That’s really interesting that God did not allow their clothes or shoes to wear out while walking the wilderness for 40 years.

If God was able to do that then wouldn’t God be able to suppress their hunger and thirst and not let them die of hunger or thirst. Surely God was more concerned for them than their clothes and shoes. But they were so used to filling their stomachs that they looked back to their past in Egypt. Now compare that with what we read about Jesus in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Though Jesus was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

 

So, Jesus did NOT look back on his former glory but trusted in God even when he had not eaten for 40 days and was tempted by Satan to turn rocks into bread. And even though that trust would lead to his humiliating suffering and death – he humbled himself and trusted God. And as a result of that trust, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul says - Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. God IS with you. In your Baptism Jesus promised – I am with you always. In Holy Communion Jesus promises – this IS my body – this IS my blood.

What we are to learn from this for our own lives, is that God is with us even when we don’t feel it. And the way we can be sure of that is not because of our prosperity, or lack thereof, but because of God’s unchanging word of promise. God’s presence is not about feelings but about promises. Our world is of great concern to so many people. With cost of living, Covid, climate change, sickness, aging, death. While these may weary us they are also opportunities to support and uphold each other as Paul points out: Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

 

If you ever have any doubts about whether God is with you or not then look to what God has done for you and promised you. God sent Jesus to die for you. Paul really sums it up in Romans chapter 8: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

As Christians, the good news is that these experiences are limited to this lifetime. In Heaven there will be no more suffering or death, no more hunger or thirst. And so for Israel, rather than looking to the past they should have been looking to God who had promised to lead them to their promised land. And if God was taking them there then surely he wouldn’t have let them die of hunger or thirst. Likewise, we are being led on a journey to our Promised Land. And yes the journey can be tough but the worst that the world can do to us is what they did to Jesus. And remember what Paul said last week – to die is gain – because we achieve eternal life and reach our eternal home, our Promised Land..

 

Sermon 24th September 2023 - LCA Lay reading sermon - Matthew 20:8-10 - Our Gracious God

 

The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.

Sermon for Year A Proper 20

Text: Matthew 20:8-10

Apparently, it was the custom in Jesus’ time for those people who relied on work on farms or labouring jobs to go to the town square early in the morning and wait for work.  Sometimes there was an urgency to harvest grapes and grain before bad weather rolled in and destroyed the lot.  A builder may have needed to get a house built quickly. Of course these landowners, builders, or whatever, would pick the youngest, fittest and strongest workers. 

Getting work was important.  It was a matter of survival. Those who were given work first thing in the morning were certain that at the end of the day to have a day’s wages to spend buying wholesome food for their household and everyone would go to bed with full tummies.

For those who were left standing in the town square things were less certain.  Waiting and hoping and praying for some work was nerve wracking.  Landowners and others offering work would come and go all day and each time those workers in the square would hope that they would be picked.  How frustrating it must have been, knowing that the well-being of their families depended on a stranger, a landowner, who may or may not choose them to do some work and who didn’t know or care much about the consequences of not having work on their families. 

It’s not that the workers in the town square were lazy, in fact, they wanted to work. But if they were still in the town square when the sun went down at the end of the day they would have to go home and say to their families that they had nothing to give them to eat that night.

In Jesus’ story just as the workers were about to give up hope someone comes and hires them and tells them that they will receive whatever pay is fair.  Something is better than nothing and a small amount might be just enough to get the family through to the next day.

But then the landlord does something completely crazy, completely unexpected, completely and totally generous, something beyond their wildest dreams. He gives them a full day's wage even though they haven't earned it.  He gives them enough to live on.  He gives them enough to take home to their families and if they are careful this will be enough for tomorrow as well.

We know that those who had worked all day were unhappy with this kind of generosity.  The landowner explained they had no right to be unhappy because they were paid the agreed wage and besides, what right did they have to question his generosity. 

This kind of generosity flies in the face of everything that we would consider good work practice. Both trade unions and employers’ associations would be up in arms.  It hardly fosters good relations among the workers and between workers and their bosses.  But this isn’t a story about what is fair, just and right. It’s a story about generosity that is unbelievable. 

And Jesus says that is what the kingdom of heaven is like. This is what the generosity of God is like.

Jesus, beaten, whipped, mocked and nailed to a cross is evidence of the generosity of God.  The Son of God had come from heaven to earth, not because he was looking for a nice place to have a break from heavenly chores, but because he was part of a divine plan set in motion when the first man and woman disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.  God became human, born in a stable, laid in a manger, raised in an out-of- the way country town, Nazareth, was misunderstood and rejected, falsely accused and wrongly sentenced to die on a cross. 

Why?  Why did God go to such extremes? Because of his extravagantly generous love for each one of us. 

There is nothing fair about the way Jesus was treated. There was nothing fair about his trial. There was nothing fair about the way this totally innocent man was executed as a criminal. There is little doubt that the man who could command the wind and waves to stop, walk on water and raise the dead could have given his executors (and that includes us) what they truly deserve but instead he is able to say with such generosity of spirit, “Father, forgive them.  They don't know what they are doing”.

This generosity of God has confused people for centuries.

In today’s Old Testament reading we find Jonah sitting on a hill overlooking Nineveh. He is very unhappy, even angry.  Why is he so upset?  After all the people of Nineveh had given up their wicked ways and God had decided not to punish them. 

Jonah thought this so unfair.  He considered himself a God fearing man always doing his best to follow God's ways and he slipped up just once. Just once he disobeyed God and ended up in a storm, thrown overboard and then in the smelly belly of a big fish at the bottom of the sea.  And now here are the Ninevites, wicked through and through and they get off scot free.  Where is the justice in that? 

That day Jonah learnt some valuable things about God's generous love not only for the Ninevites, but also for himself and for all his creation.  The Ninevites might have been some of the most perverse people on the face of earth but his love for them was no less generous than his love for the often cranky and self-righteous Jonah.

Just before our Gospel reading Jesus is asked by Peter, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him?”  Peter suggests seven times but Jesus is far more generous.  His answer implies there is no limit to the number of times that forgiveness is to be given. 

That sounds extremely unfair. By our human way of reckoning, there must be a limit to the times we forgive another person. There must be a time when we say, “That’s it. You’ve hurt me for the last time. Just watch me give you back some of what you have dished up to me!”  Jesus totally shatters our human standards of fairness and justice by giving each one of us his love and grace without us having to work for it or deserve it. He sets a new standard for our relationship with others. 

There’s more to forgiveness than counting how many times we should forgive. Let’s not forget that God's generosity toward us is totally undeserved and unconditional, so it follows that we extend the same kind of generosity toward others. 

This can be expressed in any number of ways.

·       We can be generous in the way we give a person encouragement and a kind word when they are feeling down even though that person might not be one of our best buddies.

·       We can be generous in the way we give of our time to help someone going through a rough patch.

·       When someone says something that offends us we can be generous in our reaction and sympathise, understand and appreciate what has made the person respond in the way they have rather than give back as good as we had given to us.

·       When we have fallen out with someone or believe we have been unfairly treated we can be generous in our willingness to reach out and make amends and restore friendships.

·       When someone really annoys us and gets under our skin we can be generous with our patience and kindness and deal with that person in a way that reflects the generous nature of God.

This happens in reverse as well.  When we are tired and worn down and depressed and feeling alone I’m sure we would appreciate someone being generous toward us and patiently taking the time to talk with us and help us see the brighter side of things.

It’s nice to talk about generosity in this way and how our lives ought to reflect the generosity of God, but we all know how hard it is to do just this.  As the workers experienced in the parable, the biggest barriers to generosity are envy and selfishness.  It’s that part of us that wants to be first and foremost over and above everyone else.  And it is just at that moment that we look to the generosity of God to forgive us again, renew us once more and redirect our attitudes to be more Christlike.

The generosity of God toward us is summed up in one word ‘grace’.  That’s what Jesus’ parable is all about and that’s what Jonah experienced that day outside Nineveh—the grace of God.

The workers who received a full day’s wages for only a half-day’s work or less were surprised and no doubt appreciative of the landowner’s generosity.  This unexpected gift was a source of hope for the workers that would bring happiness to their families and hope for a better tomorrow.  The generosity of God is what gives us hope when it seems that only gray skies and dark clouds colour our days.  It is this hope that changes the grey into the bright colours that only the grace of God can bring into our lives. Amen.

And the peace of God that surpasses all understand keep your hearts and minds forever in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon 17th September 2023 – 16th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Matthew 18:21-35 – An unpayable debt

 Sermon 17^th September 2023 – 16^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 18:21-35 – An unpayable debt

If you have a credit card you probably try your hardest to pay it off in full or at least pay as much as you can to limit the amount of interest charged. There are 3 options when you receive your statement. You can pay it off in full and accrue no interest charge. You can pay part of it as long as it’s more than the minimum amount due and pay  interest on the balance. Or, if you’re having an expensive month, you can pay the amount they call the minimum amount payable.

What you may notice on your monthly bill, and it’s required by law, is a notice to let you know how long it will take to pay your account in full if you only pay the minimum amount each month and it can be quite staggering. We always pay our credit card off in full but on our last statement which was around $1,500, it had in the notice that if we only paid the minimum amount each month and made no extra purchases it would take us just over 4 years to pay off this debt and around half of that would be interest.

So, in today’s Gospel reading we have a servant who has accrued much more than what I accrued last month. He owed 10,000 talents which in today’s estimates is estimated at 200,000 years of labor! It is 60,000,000 working days. In modern money, it is approximately $3 and a half billion dollars.

Many questions are raised in this parable told by Jesus. How did he accrue such a massive debt? He begged for mercy promising to pay it off. How could he ever pay off that amount, is the question we ask, Then we are told that the king imprisoned him, his wife and children and took all his possessions until the debt was paid – but how would he pay it if he was imprisoned. It sounds absurd – ridiculous – unimaginable – but the point Jesus is making is that this is the reality of our debt to God. Not a monetary debt – but a debt of holiness for our sinfulness. And we can make the same claims. It’s absurd – ridiculous – how on earth could we accumulate such a debt to God? I’m not such a bad person. Are we that evil?

The point Jesus is trying to make is that it’s not that we have accumulated such a large debt but that our debt is unpayable because of our sinful nature. You may ask, how is that possible. People say it’s unfair. What choice did I have as we confess that we are born sinful. In fact, Psalm 51 says just that: Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. And it’s even more unfair when the good we do doesn’t account for anything. It’s because the good that we do does not pay for the sin we have committed.

The good we do is what we should be doing nonetheless.

Now, hear me out on this. But the fact that our debt is unpayable, as unfair and as unreasonable as it sounds, is actually Good News. It’s good news on 2 fronts.

Firstly. The fact that our debt is unpayable means that we have to do what the servant did. Fall on our knees and seek God’s mercy. God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with him in heaven – and if that is not possible because of our unpayable debt then it’s not our problem – it’s God’s problem. God tried to deal with sin in so many ways in the Old Testament. He sent a world-wide flood because he could no longer contend with humanity and decided to eradicate all human beings. But his love for us could not fulfil that so he preserved one family – Noah and his wife – his 3 sons and their wives. Despite this cleansing, sin returned. So God devised a Priesthood and a system of sacrifices to cleanse his people from sin. But they kept on sinning in particular worshiping gods that our Lord had forbidden them to do. He had warned them that if they did that he would cast them out of the Promised Land – literally it says the land would vomit them out. He did so sending Israel to exile in Assyria and Judah into Babylon.

But again, God’s heart was broken and after 70 years he brought them home and rebuilt their temple. And he decided that the only way to deal with our sin was to take our sin upon himself. And God recognized that our destination into heaven could only be assured if he did not seek to punish the sinner but to take our sin upon himself. And so, as Paul so eloquently puts it – God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to become our sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. The wages of sin is death, as Paul states, so God satisfied sin’s demands by the death of his own sinless Son. And as Jesus had no sin to pay by his death, his death paid our sin. That’s the good news. Our unpayable debt paid in full by God’s own son.

The 2nd part to this is the comfort it brings to us NOW – and not as we stand before the Judgment Seat that Paul talks about in our 2nd reading: For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

As Christians, we don’t have to wait until Judgment Day to know what the outcome of our judgment will be. Our sin was forgiven on the cross when Jesus died. What we would never want would be to have our eternity worked out like a school exam. Where you work all year – sit a final exam – and then you have to wait for the examiners to correct your work and let you know whether you’ve passed or not. That’s not how we want to live our lives – wondering how we will fair before the judgment seat.

And that’s why we don’t take into account good works for comfort. Because we would never know if we’ve done enough. And the pass mark for God is not 50%, 80% or even 99.9% It’s 100% with no exceptions. As James says in his letter: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. But the good news is – God has had mercy on us and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord HAS forgiven us all our sins.

But what about the last part of that parable. Where the forgiven servant goes out and demands restitution from one of his own servants. And when the servant begs for the same mercy, he refuses. And as a result the first servant has had his forgiveness revoked and is thrown into prison. And those harsh and stark words by Jesus to us: So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

Let’s fully understand what Jesus is saying – because this is also what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer; Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. What was the problem? The problem was that the first servant didn’t grasp the enormity of his debt. And as a result he did not feel or understand the enormity of the mercy he had  been given. He experienced only the extent of the forgiveness he was prepared to offer.

And that’s the message Jesus is sending to us. Do we really want to feel the mercy God has extended to us? Do we really want to feel the peace of God that the world cannot give? Then it is only limited by the limits we ourselves place on our experience. God has forgiven you all your sins. But if we cannot extend the same grace to others then we will not know just how much Christ’s death for us means. Let us remember that we are saved by God grace. So we are not saved by our actions which is how this warning can often be misinterpreted. If you don’t forgive then God won’t forgive you.

Compare that to Zaccheaus who when he received Jesus into his home felt the full extent of God’s mercy and reciprocated: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house. Today salvation has come to you by the grace and mercy of God.

So may that Good News of the mercy of God free you to experience that mercy by sharing it with others and know and experience the peace of God that surpasses all our understanding and will guard and watch over your hearts, now and forever.

 

Sermon 10th September 2023 – Creation Sunday Text: John 7:37-39 – Creative justice

 Sermon 10^th September 2023 – Creation Sunday

Text: John 7:37-39 – Creative justice

 

I was rather surprised when I read our Old Testament reading from Amos. Surprised because Israel were being reprimanded for doing what God has supposedly commanded Israel to do: Observe religious festivals – bringing burnt and grain offerings to God, singing and making joyful music to God. Amos says that God actually hates them – despises them.

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. It’s actually not that much different to what St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 who speaks about the many gifts that we bring to God that are worthless without love. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 

So what was the problem? God does not just want us to go through motions to appease him but seeks things that we do to be done from the heart and with love. God is not a God where we just tick the box and all if fine. Amos says that God is more focused on justice being shown by God’s people rather than obedience. The classic example of this is Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees who were known for their strict obedience to the laws of God but neglected justice for those in need. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. And there were even more criticisms.

 

As we acknowledge this Season of Creation we will find the same principles at play in how we respond to caring for Creation – God’s creation. We know that the media is pushing very hard on things like “net zero” – renewable energy – electronic vehicles – reducing our carbon footprint – climate emergency and a whole host of more initiatives. But we also know the pushback from many people against these initiatives. This negativity is because of the attitude that if big companies can plant enough trees or buy enough carbon credits they can offset the pollution they cause so it’s okay. It’s okay to pollute as much as they need as long as they offset the pollution with trees or money or other initiatives.

 

But like Amos, St Paul and Jesus in our examples – the initiatives need to begin with our love for creation rather than a fear of what happens if we don’t do them. As Paul said – even if I give everything that I have to the poor – I gain nothing. So if we listen to both Amos and Jesus we see them both use the imagery of a river flow and if we think of how Paul describes the Holy Spirit being poured into our hearts we see this continuous flowing motion in our relationship with God and as our way of giving back of what God has blessed us with when it comes to caring for his creation. The love of God flows into us and then the love of God flows back through us to others. And if we think back to how we have been created by God out of the foundations of his creation -  the beginning of Creation where Adam is brought forth from Creation – from the dust of the ground. In fact the name Adam comes from the Hebrew word for earth or ground – Adamah – Adam was formed from the Adamah. And into this pile of lifeless dust God’s breath flows into Adam to create his own Spirit - the breath of life. And then Adam is sent to care for creation from which he was created to work in the Garden of Eden tending to its needs.

 

And so we begin to see this connection between humanity, formed from the very earth that we are called to care for. And so our disrespect and lack of care for creation is a disrespect and lack of care for ourselves and as we are created in the Image of God a lack of care and respect for God himself and our neighbour. And so we can see why God is so concerned for justice for each other. And we see in the Book of Hebrews how important justice is – it is the centre piece of Christ’s very being: But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. God’s rule with be with a scepter of justice.

 

There is a oneness with creation which we acknowledge each time we lay a person to rest to await the resurrection. We use the words – ashes to ashes, dust to dust – dust we are and to dust we shall return. At creation God commanded us to care for creation.

God said to fill the earth and subdue it. Sadly, as is often with human nature, we have misinterpreted the meaning of subdue to mean oppression. That we can do whatever we want to creation because WE are in charge. But that’s not the meaning of the word often translated as submission or to be submissive -hypatasso. To submit means - to be placed under the care of not under the control of. So just as we place ourselves under the care of God, creation places itself under the care of humanity. Just as St Paul says that husbands and wives are to submit themselves to one another because of our reverence for Christ.

 

God does not oppress, neglect or abuse us – and neither are we to oppress, neglect or abuse creation or one another but care for it and each other. And by this we discover this river of justice to us and from us. As Amos says let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. Having a relationship with God is not about ticking the right boxes. It is a relationship from the heart. Caring for our creation is not about ticking the right boxes. It’s about recognizing our connection with creation through our creation from the dust of creation and God placing creation under our care. And when we discover this then true justice will flow from us to the world. Not because that’s what we’re supposed to do but because of our connectedness and love for God, neighbour and creation, which are all connected..And that’s where we understand what Jesus meant when he said to love one another as you love yourself. Because we are all one.

 

We are created in the image of God. Our neighbour is created in the image of God. Dust we are and to dust we shall return.

So let us accept Jesus’ invitation: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink and let rivers of living water flow from within us and let the justice of God’s presence flood the world and let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream!