Sermon 6th August 2023 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Matthew 14:13-21 – Always enough

 Sermon 6^th August 2023 – 10^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 14:13-21 – Always enough

 

Over the past few weeks we have listened to Jesus teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven and God’s grace and mercy through parables. Parables are interesting ways of teaching because they evoke various responses depending on your personal reflections and experience. So one parable can evoke various responses and they can all be correct because that’s the purpose of a parable – to create discussion. Parables, therefore, never become irrelevant or outdated. But here in our Gospel reading we don’t have a parable but rather an actual event that puts the parable to the test.

 

Last week we heard the parable of the mustard seed – the smallest of seeds that becomes a huge tree providing shade and rest for the birds of the air. We heard that the Kingdom of God was like a pinch of yeast that when mixed with an amount of flour mixes in with the batch of flour to cause the flour to rise. And here we see in action how from little things big things grow.

 

Jesus is teaching out in the open field and is followed by thousands of people – 5,000 men plus women and children. It is getting late and Jesus is concerned about their wellbeing and asks his disciples to feed them.

They panic and say “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food”. But Jesus rejects their suggestion and says – They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. Their natural human response is to look at their dilemma with physical eyes: We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish – how many could that feed? From there Jesus blesses the food they have – they distribute it to the people – and they pick up 12 basketfuls of leftovers – presumably more than they started with.

 

As in the parables of the yeast and the mustard seed, Jesus is teaching us that we don’t need to look for supernatural miracles to the issues that are facing us. God has given us ample provisions to do his work even with what seems to our eyes to be rather small and insufficient. Jesus could have caused a miracle like in the Old Testament where God rained down manna from heaven and blew quail with a strong wind to feed the people. But Jesus wanted them to look at what they had and solve the issue at hand with the provisions God has given them – their daily bread as he teaches in the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Likewise God challenges us when we are faced with momentous issues to not give up but trust God. As St Paul had to when he sought supernatural healing for his suffering, Three times I prayed to the Lord to remove my ‘thorn in the flesh’ . To which God replied – my grace is all you need. My grace is sufficient. Your 5 loaves and 2 fish are sufficient.

 

It is easy to give up and live within our means. To look at our budget and say – we can’t afford it. To look at our membership and say – we don’t have the resources to do this. To look at our schedules and say – I don’t have time. Our work for the Kingdom does not start with what we have or what we can afford or what we can see. It begins as it did with Jesus – with compassion. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Compassion has moved people to commit their lives to helping others – to solving world problems without first wondering if I have enough. The word compassion in the original context here means a pain that emanates deep in the bowels. As we often express when we see something that upsets us we talk about being “sick in the stomach” or a real “kick in the guts”. That’s the meaning behind compassion – it made Jesus sick in the stomach to see the people in their distress.

 

Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel we read also about Jesus compassion: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Which is why Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd.

He never abandons his sheep – even going after the one lost sheep. Behind mission and ministry of the church should not be physical resources as we would always doubt. We would always fall short on resources or fear that they would run out. Mission and ministry is driven by compassion for others. If we have compassion then we will always find a way as Jesus did.

 

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Our other 2 readings speak about the challenges that we face. We have Jacob wrestling with this unknown assailant all through the night and neither could subdue the other. Jacob realizes that the one he is actually struggling with is God and not an enemy.

 

Sometimes our struggles are with God himself. Wondering “what are you doing God”. When God places compassion on our hearts but we feel inadequate. Paul also shows the pain of compassion and the sacrifice he was prepared to make for his Jewish brothers and sisters who did not accept Jesus as the promised Messiah. He says: I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. And what was the sacrifice he was prepared to make? That I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.

 

As painful as this is – the pain deep in stomach with compassion for others we know that it produces amazing results as we see in the feeding of possible 10,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish – with abundant leftovers. It reminds me of what Paul says about our human suffering that it produces perseverance, which produces character which produces hope. Some of the greatest humanitarian efforts have been achieved by survivors of human suffering.

 

I know suffering is difficult and at times we can wrestle with God and ask “WHY” and like Paul to remove it. But perhaps, as Jacob did, we can ask God for a blessing. And in that blessing we can be a blessing to others. So may I encourage you, in your wrestle with God and all that’s going on in your life, to look deep inside yourself – into the compassion deep in your stomach – and ask not what God can do for you but what you can do for God. Jacob walked away from his wrestling a changed man. He walked away with a new name, Israel, one who has struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. But he also came away with a limp.

 

We too may come away without full healing but we come away blessed by God to be a blessing to others. As Paul also discovered – when I am weak, then I am strong for the power of Jesus Christ rests on me. May the power of Christ also rest on you as the peace of God that surpasses our understanding watches over you now and forever. Amen.

Sermon 30th July 2023 – 9th Sunday after Pentecost Text Romans 8:26-39 – Our Prayer helper

 Sermon 30^th July 2023 – 9^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text Romans 8:26-39 – Our Prayer helper

 

A couple weeks ago we heard a heart felt confession by St Paul that must have taken real courage. The good I want to do I do not do – the evil I do not want to do I keep on doing. That took a lot of courage and probably reflects most if not all Christians but sadly because of our pride we don’t like to present ourselves as less that perfect with our faults visible to others. We like to present ourselves as good people who try to do the right thing even though sometimes we might not get everything right. But evil – no. We would like to feel that we are a far cry from how Paul describes himself – wretched man that I am – who will save me from this body of death. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the worst of them.

 

And today I believe we seen another side of Paul that reflects many of us even though we might not like to admit it. That Paul seemed to know what it was like to struggle with prayer. Now that might sound strange for Paul – a person close to God even before his conversion to Christianity. A person who saw and spoke with the risen Lord Jesus on his way to Damascus. A man prepared to go to prison – even death – for the sake of his Christian faith. And yet, he says the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought. Notice he says – OUR weakness – WE do not know how to pray.

 

Again, I would say that prayer is another area where many, most, dare I say all, Christians feel they are challenged. Shouldn’t it be one of the easier tasks Christians to be able to do? I mean, it’s just talking to God, isn’t it? I’m guessing that many Pastors would be reluctant to admit that they too struggle in their prayer life because we are seen as symbols of faith. But in all honesty, I struggle like everyone else. And, according to Paul, it’s a weakness and we do not know how to pray as we ought.

 

Why is it a weakness and what makes it a weakness? Is it to do with the amount of time we spend in prayer?

Doesn’t Paul say to pray without ceasing? Or is it to do with the content of our prayers as James tells us? When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Do you feel guilty perhaps when someone asks you to pray for them or you say to someone “I’ll keep you in my prayers” and you don’t. I think these are perhaps symptoms but not what Paul is trying to help us understand. These are physical affects on our prayer life of a much deeper spiritual attack on our prayer life which falls under what we refer to as “Spiritual Warfare”

 

In warfare communication is vital. In relationships communication is vital. So, it’s no surprise that Satan will attack our communication with God. Communication with God is always under attack – whether it’s worship – which involves communication - Holy Communion which has the same root word – or the Communion of Saints where we gather together which has always been under attack as far back as the first churches which the writer to the Hebrews says: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. There is the Word of God communicating to us his word of Grace and forgiveness. But here Paul is particularly talking about our communicating with God in our prayer life.

 

But the Good News is that God is on the offensive in this spiritual warfare by sending in his own Holy Spirit as Paul says: The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints – you and me = according to the will of God.

How beautiful is that. Just like his wretched body of death and who will save me –  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So too here, God, through his Holy Spirit rescues us. And even the Holy Spirit knows the scars of battle in Spiritual Warfare: That very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

We must never underestimate the battle that wages around us. We cannot see it with our physical sight – just like Jacob couldn’t see the angels ascending and descending the ladder from heaven to earth. Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” John, in the Book of Revelation, saw the battle raging around us with the beast and the dragon waging war against God’s elect.

 

Should we be afraid? Definitely not because, as Paul says,  What then are we to say about these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Despite the war being waged against God’s elect, Paul says we are protected. Who will bring any charge against God's elect?  It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. So not only do we have the Holy Spirit praying on our behalf, we have Jesus Christ himself interceding for us.

 

Maybe your prayer life is far from perfect but that’s what Satan will use against you. He will make you feel guilty – inadequate – unworthy. He will condemn you but Paul reminds us that only God can condemn but it is God who makes us right through Jesus who died for us. Satan would like us to believe that because of our inadequate prayer life that God doesn’t love us. But again, nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul says: He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? And because of that assurance there is nothing that should make you feel separated from God; Nothing.

 

For neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. May God bless you as you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your prayers and our Lord Jesus to comfort you as he intercedes with his Father and your Father in Heaven.

 

Sermon 23rd July 2023 – 8th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Genesis 28:10-19a – Between a rock and a hard place

 Sermon 23^rd July 2023 – 8^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Genesis 28:10-19a – Between a rock and a hard place

 

There is a saying that one is sometimes caught between a rock and a hard place. Basically, it means you are in a difficult situation where you have to choose between two equally unpleasant courses of action. Going forward is fraught with difficulty. Going back is fraught with similar difficulties. You have to choose. It is believed to have originated from days in the mines where workers faced grueling conditions underground digging through hard rocks, but the alternative was harsh conditions above ground without any source of income.

 

However, some believe that the saying may have originated from our Old Testament reading where Jacob is on the run from his brother Esau who is wanting to kill him. We heard last week how Jacob stole his brother’s birthright by taking advantage of his hunger and only allowing him food if Esau, the first-born twin, gave up his birthright to Jacob. But his swindling didn’t stop there. As Jacob’s father was nearing death with his eyesight failing, Isaac decides to bless his first-born Esau but doesn’t recognize the deal made between Jacob and Esau.

So, while Esau is out hunting, Jacob’s mother devises a plan to dress Jacob up as Esau and steal Esau’s blessings. When Esau finds out what has happened and that he has missed out on his father’s blessing, he goes on a rampage and swears to kill Jacob. So, Jacob flees to his mother’s hometown to stay there in safety.

 

While on his way he stops to rest at Bethel and sleeps using a rock as a pillow which he will later set up as an altar to God. So, in our Old Testament reading Jacob is between a rock and a hard place.  He is on the run not knowing what lay ahead of him but behind him was Esau. So, Jacob is caught between the rock of the unknown and the hard place of Esau. But as he lay with the rock as his pillow God’s protective hand is revealed to him showing an alternative solution to being caught between a rock and a hard place. Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. God speaks to Jacob and says: Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!

 

So it’s not about trying to work out which direction he should take but that wherever he goes that God is with him. And this is the same promise God makes to us. It is the promise Jesus made to us as he ascended to Heaven – “surely I am with you always till the end of the age”. Our life journey can often feel like it’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes we’d like to go back to when life was simpler – less complex. The future seems so uncertain. But we keep journeying with the promise we hear in Psalm 23 – Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid, for you are with me.

 

Have you lain in bed at night, so full of worry and despair that your pillow feels like a rock?  You can’t get comfortable and relax no matter how you toss and turn because the turmoil in your mind is tying your body in knots.  Maybe you’re wondering how you’re going to get through the next day, week, year. And then comes the amazing comfort from God. You can’t put it into words but I’ve heard from so many people talk about a presence they felt that they can’t explain – perhaps like Jacob’s experience of angels ascending and descending. Such as Jesus explains in Matthew 18: “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

 

Jacob’s dream is interesting - the ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending! But God never asks Jacob or anyone else to climb the ladder. That’s not the purpose. God comes to us. The purpose is not to escape our turmoil but to have God’s angels minister to us like they did to Jesus in the wilderness. Again in Matthew’s gospel – chapter 4 - Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came and took care of Jesus. It was the angels of God who were ascending and descending on it coming to us

And notice where God was: “And the LORD stood beside him.” Where is God in this situation? Not at the top of the ladder looking down. No! God has come down the ladder to Jacob. This is exactly what happened at Jesus’ birth. God descending from heaven, coming down to us, standing right beside us to guide us and to promise to be with us. He shall be called Immanuel – God with us.

 

That is the very story of Jesus Christ being born as a human and dwelling with us. And Jacob understands the significance of what he is experiencing.  “Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place– and I did not know it!’”  He responds to this profound experience by turning the stone that was his pillow into an altar.  Our world at present seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place with cost of living pressures – interest rate rises on mortgages – fears about climate – political debates.  In fact, Paul says that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

 

God promises to redeem all things in the fullness of time.  And what a joyous time that will be as we join with Paul in saying –  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. God promises that the sin and death of our times will one day be redeemed: That is a promise not just to Jacob but also to us. Life can be tough. The future can seem as if we’re not going to make it.

But be assured that God is watching over you. That his angels are present with you watching and guarding you.

What Jacob saw was not his imagination but God unveiling the reality that exists. Unfortunately we can’t see the spiritual realm that exists but that doesn’t mean it’s not there as Jacob said: “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”  And if we could see it we would join with Jacob and say: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” And that is also what Paul discovered in Colossians 3 where he says: Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. That glory is here now but will only be fully understood in eternity.

So until that day let us take comfort because the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

Sermon 16th July 2023 – 7th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 – keep sowing

 Sermon 16^th July 2023 – 7^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 – keep sowing

 

On one of my recent walks I went past a house that was obviously abandoned. Apart from the letter box overflowing with junk and personal mail the overgrown grass was a dead giveaway. But what surprised me was when I looked at the roof of the house it had grass growing in the gutter. I thought to myself – how on earth did it get there? We have trouble growing grass on our nature strip at home even with sowing grass seed and watering it. And it reminded me of today’s parable – the parable of the sower.

 

The seed is so abundant that the sower doesn’t care where it goes.  What that sower trusts is that God will provide the response in the hearts of the people where the Word is being sowed – even if it’s thrown into the gutter. God’s generous abundance keeps overflowing in us so that we are invited to share it with others.

And what about those others?  Jesus further elaborates on his own parable by describing each of the different soils where the seeds land.  We probably all know people that we could categorise into each of these soil.

But let’s begin by looking at our own faith journey? Perhaps you shift between one soil and another from one day to the next.  We’d like to believe that we are the good soil, but if we are honest, we probably aren’t – at least not all the time. Imaging how Paul must have felt at times – the good I want to do I do not do – the evil I do not want to do I keep on doing. What sort of soil is that to sow seed in? Even the disciples at the Ascension we are told some doubted. Thomas doubted. Peter denied knowing Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus. All the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested. What sort of soil is that to sow seed in?

 

We too, at times, can vary in the type of soil that the Gospel finds. As human beings, we are complex creations of thoughts, feelings, and the tendency to act on them impulsively.  When we experience discomfort, we want it to go away and may act impulsively in order to find comfort or release from pain and anxiety rather than rely on our faith. In the news and on social media, we are seeing so much to challenge our faith, deaths from violence, relationship struggles, job loss, bankruptcies, interest rate rises, cost of living. We can become like the seed thrown on the soil who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing..  

 

This was Esau’s problem today from which he lost his rights of the first born.  He comes in from the field, starving because he had been working hard.  Jacob knows this and takes advantage of it.  He knows that all that Esau can think about is food – his stomach – his physical pleasure.  So, Jacob tells him that he can have food if he gives him his birthright. Our natural human impulses can lead us into distraction - choked with the thorns of the world and we yield nothing. And sadly these distractions can focus us away from our mission of spreading the seed elsewhere as, like Esau, we only have concerns for our own physical wellbeing.

 

Churches can easily fall into that thinking as we begin to focus on our own survival rather than mission to others – we call that maintenance ministry. It still intrigues me, how did that grass grow in the gutters. Who put lawn seed in the gutter to have grass grow there? I guess there are many possibilities. The wind could have blown grass seeds from the ground into the gutter. Birds could have picked up the grass seed and dropped it into the gutter. Birds could have picked up the grass seed while building their nests and rain washed the seed out of the bird’s nest and into the gutter. What this tells me is that the sower didn’t worry about where the seed went because there was a possibility that it would be blown away to places he couldn’t get to.

 

So as Christians we are also sowers because wherever we go we take with us a seed of God that can be placed wherever we are even if we don’t intend it. No one intended to place a grass seed in the gutter but it still got there.

But it shows the essential need for us to keep sowing even when our own faith comes under attack and causes distraction. God sends us out as sowers as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians: I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. We are both the sowers and the soil. When seeds fall in our soil we produce more fruit and seed to scatter. The seeds that have been sown in us continue to produce fruit and further seeds.

 

So when we go out today and tomorrow, we are called to sow abundantly, frivolously, wastefully. There are many ways we can spread God’s seed; By loving one another as Jesus loves us – and by this everyone will know that you’re my disciples. By loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us and then being prepared to give the reason for the hope that we have. Like the parable of the sower we don’t need to care if the seed goes to places where WE think it might not grow. God is the one who makes it grow.

Sermon 9th July 2023 – 6th Sunda after Pentecost Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 – Spiritual Rest

 

Sermon 9^th July 2023 – 6^th Sunda after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 – Spiritual Rest

 

Jesus today seems frustrated. He doesn’t get the people’s attitude. Those around him criticized John the Baptist as being possessed by a demon because he didn’t eat or drink in the ordinary way that other people did – he ate locusts and wild honey.  But then they criticized Jesus for eating and drinking with the wrong people calling him a glutton and a drunkard.

Jesus sees the fickle nature of humanity and how we turn the blessings of God into burdens. He then prays aloud to God thanking him that he has hidden his truths from the wise and the intelligent – adults - and revealed his inner secrets to children. Which is something we hear quite often from Jesus – Let the children come to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

Jesus knows that if he is feeling this way then certainly his disciples who come after him will experience the same frustrations in the new church. But rather than giving up he says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This is quite a contrast to what we’ve been hearing Jesus say lately. For the past few weeks, Jesus has been talking about the turmoil in the cost of discipleship –persecution, conflict, suffering and painful division especially in families for those who choose to follow him – all the world will hate you because of me. It’s interesting as we look at Jesus’ offer that it doesn’t primarily mean problems and burdens of a physical nature – such as too many bills, or being unemployed, or sick, or stressful work conditions.

 

Jesus is talking quite specifically about those who have spiritual burdens in their relationship with God. And these can be much more burdensome and wearying than physical burdens. In fact, Jesus himself is showing that spiritual exhaustion when it came to the criticism of himself and John the Baptist. We get a glimpse of what that spiritual burden looks like in Christians with Paul who tried all of the usual ways of finding some peace with God and achieved only frustration and weariness. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells within me. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  And then he finds that release of his spiritual burden – the Spiritual rest that Jesus offered. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

Spiritual weariness should never be underestimated in the harm it can do to us. Sometimes we don’t realise the spiritual burdens we are going through unlike the physical burdens. Physical burdens are easy to see – tiredness in particular. Physical burdens can be dealt with by physical rest. An early night – a day off – holidays – long service leave or as we call it – recuperative leave. But spiritual burdens are not dealt with in the same way. We don’t deal with spiritual burdens by taking a rest from church or by taking a time out from our prayer life or bible reading. Jesus gives us an invitation to take his yoke.

A yoke is a device that spreads across 2 or more necks. You might see 2 oxen sharing the weight of a plough. So Jesus is offering to help us carry the weight rather than removing it. And that’s what we find often happens when we come to Jesus with our burdens. He lightens them but doesn’t necessarily remove them.

 

What Paul was dealing with and what was Jesus was addressing was the burden that we carry when we misunderstand our relationship with God. The Pharisees of Jesus time put great burdens on the people through laws. They took the 10 Commandments – a gift from God - and they turned them into 616 burdensome laws which saw Jesus rebuked because he healed on the Sabbath – because he ate with tax collectors and sinners – because he refused to condemn a woman caught in adultery – because he allowed a woman of ill-repute to wash his feet – and no doubt a whole lot more. Paul also found that the more he tried to obey the law the more his sin convicted him with guilt. Luther found the same burdens placed on the people of his day particularly the peasants who could not afford to purchase the indulgences to free their loved ones from purgatory.

 

So this is a challenge to us today as the same burdens continue to weigh down many people who are seeking a relationship with God but must first get their lives in order. It’s not saying that God’s commands or obedience has been abolished. No. Jesus himself has said that. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them – for YOU. And that last part is the crucial part – I have come to fulfill them.

The law can place a heavy burden of guilt on us.

But Jesus has come to assure us that God’s grace is there to bring comfort and relief. As Paul discovered - Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So there are 2 aspects to what we read today.

 

First – Jesus is dealing with people who use the Law to supress people, like the Pharisees did. The Law suppresses people when it should lead people to the Gospel. In many cases people don’t need the law because they know they fall short of pleasing God. But Jesus fulfilled what we couldn’t without abolishing the requirements of the Law. To use the wording of our reformers from Luther’s day – the Law always convicts – it never comforts. So Jesus saw his mission as a healer, as he said when he was asked why he ate with sinners: Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And that why he offers rest for the soul by taking his yoke. He doesn’t abolish the law and its demands but offers to carry them with us and for us. Take my yoke – it is light – I’ve fulfilled the law for you. So when the burden of guilt weighs you down – come to me and hear the Good News that you have been forgiven. The law has not been abolished but the burden of the law and the guilt it causes have been abolished through grace.

 

And then, secondly, we see the personal application of grace to the demands of the law in Paul’s life. The good I want to do I do not do – the evil I know I should not do, this I keep on doing. What a mess Paul found his life in – who will save me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if you’ve found the burden of guilt continuing to weigh you down – come to Jesus and let him give you rest for your soul. To come to Jesus is to receive a free gift of grace.  To come to Jesus is to discover, as Paul discovered, that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” To come to Jesus is to discover that the task of getting it all correct is replaced by the absolute gift of God’s grace.

All the heavy topics we’ve been hearing the past few weeks about the cost of discipleship is still very much there.  But the yoke of Jesus is easy for us to bear.  It leads to life and to be embraced by God’s mercy. We are called to this new yoke of grace, not to a law, or to a set of rules.

 

We are called to a person and a community built around God’s grace where we find its richest fulfillment, and its deepest satisfaction. Jesus said and continues to say, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”

Sermon 2nd July 2023 – 5th Sunday after Pentecost Text Matthew 10:40-42 – All Welcome?

 Sermon 2^nd July 2023 – 5^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text Matthew 10:40-42 – All Welcome?

It’s probably seen on every church sign board – on every church bulletin – on powerpoint displays – in fact it’s probably the very first word spoken by the Pastor or during announcements – WELCOME

Signs may say “ALL WELCOME” The opening phrase may be “WELCOME TO WORSHIP”. Welcome.

Such a small word that we say all the time – but an important word that is vital for churches to remain alive. A church would not survive if those who attended believed this is not a welcoming church. A visitor or new-comer would not stay if they were not to be made to feel welcome. What does it mean to be a church that welcomes? It doesn’t mean changing worship styles or the pastor wearing casual clothes. It doesn’t mean being more entertaining or making sure we don’t talk about sin and judgment. Usually a person visiting a church expects these things because they know that these are part of how a church presents itself. In fact sometimes they come for those things because they can get all the other things elsewhere. If they want to be entertained they can go to the footy or to the movies. If they want modern music they can turn on the radio or their Spotify account. No, they are looking for something different in church that they cannot find in our dog eat dog world that judges us by our standing in society. They are looking for hope –  They are looking for acceptance of who they are as a child of God and not some insignificant person defined by their possessions or career.

We have a look at what Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me”. So, Jesus is the standard of who and how we welcome. If we look at Jesus’ ministry we see him welcoming all without judgment or discrimination. We all know that he ate with sinners and tax collectors. But he also ate at Simon the Pharisee’s house. A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's home and got ready to eat. And while he was at Simon’s place  a sinful woman in that town found out that Jesus was there  and started washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. The woman kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them. Simon was horrified that Jesus would welcome someone like her. Simon said: If this man really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him! He would know that she is a sinner. Jesus knew exactly what kind of woman she was and how she had been treated. It could very well have been the woman caught in adultery whom Jesus welcomed back with dignity.

Being a welcoming church is more than just putting a welcome mat at the front door or putting a sign saying “all welcome”. Welcome is more than a word; it is an action and it is also a subjective feeling by the person. What do I mean by that. We might say and believe we are a welcoming church but if the person doesn’t “feel” welcomed then that’s important to understand. If a visitor walks through our door it’s for a reason. It’s not because they had nothing to do today so they thought they may as well go to church. People have TVs and sports to occupy themselves when they have nothing to do. In fact Sundays have become one of those days where people like to go our for brunch or have family gatherings and also sport is very popular on Sundays especially children’s sport. People come to church because they believe at church they going to find something different – they are going to be welcomed by God.

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey speaks about a woman, like the woman who came to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears. One of his friends was speaking to this woman who was in desperation and asked her “have you ever thought about going to a church for help”. Her response was “Church! – why would I ever go there? I am already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse”. Is that how people see the church? Is that how people see us. Is that what Jesus is speaking against – judging rather than welcoming?

Jesus sees a direct link between welcoming others to welcoming Jesus and his Father into our midst. It sort of reminds me of what the writer to the Hebrews says – Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it such as Abraham did in our reading a couple weeks ago. We may only get one shot at welcoming someone when they come to visit. And if they feel like they have been welcomed then they will be our greatest witness as they tell their friends and family. But if they are not made to feel welcome then they become our biggest critic and who knows how many people they may affect.

When we are at Holy Communion we experience God’s hospitality. A banquet has been prepared for us and we are welcomed in. We received God’s hospitality to prepare us to give God’s hospitality to others.  It reminds me of the song that we sing: Freely freely you have received, freely freely give.

We are welcome by the Lord today and in our encounter with God we receive a blessing in order to be a blessing to other as Jesus explain. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

While we have our “official greeters” at the doors of our church to welcome people as they enter, each of us should consider ourselves a “Welcomer” so they don’t feel like a first timer or an outsider breaking in, but a part of the family. And the welcome is not just as they arrive but also as they leave. Arriving is easy – walk straight in and get involved in the service. But what about after – to invite them in for a cuppa and fellowship. Sometimes they may say they can’t stay – Then maybe you can give up your time of fellowship and walk them to their car and keep chatting. To see if you can follow up. That’s where the welcome really begins as Jesus says - whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple-- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

Welcoming is made up of many small gestures – gestures like making a phone call to ask how a friend or stranger is doing, dropping off groceries for someone unwell, reaching out to the lonely and most vulnerable among us. How many of our members have become hidden because they haven’t returned since Covid? There is no small gesture. A cup of cold water is the smallest of gifts – a gift that almost anyone can give. But a cup of cold water is precious to a person who is thirsty – in some instances, the gift of life itself.

The smallest service brings with it an eternal reward for the giver and sometimes to the receiver as they are made to feel welcome and return the following week. Don’t underestimate what welcoming and hospitality can do to the receiver and to the giver. Look at the visitors who came to Abraham. 3 angels visit Abraham. As angels they probably didn’t need to eat or drink but they knew how important it was to Abraham to be hospitable so they accepted his hospitality. Sometimes God sends us visitors – angels unaware – for our sake. To teach us how to extend hospitality.

Jesus tells us that small deeds are important – even eternally significant. It doesn’t take much; but it takes something. And every one of us can achieve these things, and every one of us can make that difference – a phone call, a visit, a card. We can find God in those smallest of good deeds and so too can the receiver. We are all called to be Christ to each other and to meet the needs of others through acts of kindness… cups of water. When we welcome one another, we discover the reward that comes from the deep hospitality found in God’s welcome of us. When we give hospitality and welcome to others we begin to understand God’s hospitality and welcoming to us even deeper. Whoever gives even a cup of cold wate will most definitely not lose their reward. Let us become a church that welcomes the least of these and share the blessings we have received from God.

 

Sermon 25th June 2023 – 4th Sunday after Pentecost Text: Romans 6:1b-11 – the logic of Grace

 Sermon 25^th June 2023 – 4^th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Romans 6:1b-11 – the logic of Grace

 

When I was serving at Frankston, the manse had hooked up pipes from our drainage system to fill up containers so we could recycle water from our showers and washing machine. It made me feel less guilty when having a longer shower because the water would go into the recycling tub to use for watering our garden. So I had myself believe that the longer shower I took the better it was for the environment because there would be more water to recycle. Which I know is actually not the case even though it sounds logical. It would be like printing off all my emails because I can then recycle the paper which means less trees would be needed to cut down. Again, that’s not how recycling works.

 

It’s a very similar reasoning in the argument that St Paul is putting up today. He says: Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Now what was Paul’s logic in this? His logic is that when we sin God’s grace comes to us through the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore the more we sin the more grace we receive – logical The more we sin the more forgiveness we receive - logical. Like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet. Jesus said that she loved much because she has been forgiven much. Sounds logical but it’s not how grace and forgiveness work. Paul emphatically says “NO”. BY NO MEANS.

 

Why does Paul reject this logic? It’s because Paul sees what damage is done to our faith through sin – even the smallest of sins. So even though we know we are forgiven of our sins it doesn’t not mean we are free to sin without consequences of our sin. Even though we are forgiven of our sins doesn’t mean that sin cannot attack our faith. What we need to understand here is that Paul is not talking about a punishment from God when we sin. That’s not how God works, which is often how people understand sin. That when we do something wrong then God will somehow punish us. And when we do good we either get rewarded or it offsets our sin. Often people will evaluate their suffering as a result of God punishing them for something they have done. “I must have done something really bad for God to let that happen to me”. No – sin has an affect of separating us from our faith in God as we see in the Garden of Eden with the very first sin.

 

Adam and Eve sin against God but God does not come down to punish them. God actually comes to see Adam and Eve but because of their sin they separate themselves from God. God did not separate himself from Adam and Eve – Adam and Eve separated themselves from God. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

So what we notice here is in their state of sin God actually comes looking for Adam and Eve.

 

That is God’s grace at work – going after the one lost sheep - in that grace comes to bring healing and reconciliation in our broken relationship with God. Paul says that this is how God demonstrates his love for us – that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Grace doesn’t give us freedom to sin – Sin causes harm to our faith, which is what Paul is saying in Romans 6. If grace comes because I have sinned should I sin more so that more grace comes? NO. Because sin causes harm to our relationship with God. It’s like, if I cut myself I will put on a bandaid to bring healing and relief. And that feels good when I apply it – I can feel the healing. But I don’t cut myself again so I can feel even more relief. No, the cutting does harm to us. And so does sin.

 

Sin harms our relationship with God so why would I want to sin. Paul knows the danger of sin and he also knows how insistent sin is in our lives. That’s why in the next chapter, Romans 7, Paul says: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 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. Paul sees sin not as something trivial like a lapse in concentration but something that wants to undermine our relationship with God. Sin is our enemy which Jesus says has come to steal, kill and destroy. That’s why Paul is so concerned about sin. He says the wages of sin is death.

 

But Paul brings comfort and assurance through our Baptism into Christ Jesus. He says that Baptism links us with Jesus death – and if we are linked with Jesus’ death then Baptism also links us with Jesus’ resurrection which is his victory over sin and death. Jesus’ death is what defeated sin and our baptism is into Jesus death and also his resurrection victory over sin and death.

And therefore, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

So, if sin casts doubts into whether or not we are saved then we turn to our Baptism for assurance of salvation.

That’s true logic by Paul rather than my logic of recycled water by having longer showers. What this is not saying is that if you are not Baptised you are not saved. Nowhere does it say that.  But if you want comfort and assurance then we need to look outside of ourselves and to where God has washed away our sins and brings comfort. Comfort from sin cannot come from within ourselves. If we sin then comfort doesn’t come from doing something good.If that were the case then we would never know if we have done enough good to pay for our sin so we would live in continuous doubt.

 

So we look, not to what WE have done but to what God has done. And Baptism is purely God’s work not ours. We present our children for Baptism but God baptizes. And what comfort that brings to us, firstly as parents but then as baptized children of God as our Baptism unites us with Christ and therefore whatever Christ has we also have. And Paul states very clearly what that is. He says: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. That’s yours also through your Baptism.

 

So may you cherish your Baptism as a gift from God. Luther certainly did as he battled with Satan over the guilt of his sin and cried out “I AM BAPTISED”. Satan’s name means “the accuser” and he will use your sin to accuse you and to break down your faith in God, as St Peter warns –  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. But thanks be to God who has rescued us from the jaws of Satan into the death and resurrection of Christ as all who are baptized are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.