Trinity 10 [Luke 19:41-48] (28-Aug-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm), and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 19:41-48)

Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Duŋ mi deri jɛ ŋa̱c a cäŋɛ walɛ kɛn tin nööŋkɛ mal! Kä täämɛ cakɛ tey kä ji̱.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Within the last couple of months, there was a special episode of the ABC TV program Q&A all about spirituality and religion. And during the episode, one person asked a question to the panel: “Has God gone quiet?” – He turned up in burning bushes, sent prophets and all sorts of people, worked miracles, etc. etc. but why has he gone quiet now?

And one of the panellists, a Christian by the name of John Lennox who has often publicly debated atheists, gave this answer:

“I don’t think that the problem is that God is not speaking, the problem is that we’re not listening.”

What do you think of this man’s response? What do you think?

Has God stopped speaking, or have we stopped listening?

But really these things go very much together: because if we have stopped listening to God, then the voice of God is blocked out for us.

If God calls and calls, and we continually become deaf to him, eventually we get so deaf to him that we don’t hear him any longer. It’s not that God has stopped speaking, but the problem is that we continually ignore him.

It’s like nagging: a mum can keep on nagging her son to take out the bins, or clean up his room, or hang his towel up in the bathroom, but eventually, the son becomes deaf to it. The son becomes deaf to his mum, he no longer hears her voice any more. But then the voice turns into something else: it becomes louder and louder, it starts to nag, so that the son gets annoyed with his mum, and might even blow up at her and yell at her. And sometimes relationships like this can be damaged for life because people get sick of listening to each other. And the only way these relationships can be repaired is for them to get together, sort out their business, apologise to each other, and try to reconcile. But the bigger the argument, the more drastic the reconciliation needs to be.

This is exactly what happens in our reading today.

Jesus comes into Jerusalem and says:

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

The people of Jerusalem are deaf to the voice of God. They don’t know the things that make for peace. Now these things are hidden from their eyes. They have stopped listening to God so much that they can’t hear any more, they can’t see anymore. These things are hidden from their eyes.

Then Jesus foretells the downfall of the city. He says:

Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

When people stop listening to the voice of God, God threatens to punish them. Jesus says: They days will come upon you, when your enemies will come. This is what it says in the Small Catechism: God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear his wrath and not do anything against them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands.

God is a very strict judge. If we have done something wrong, we will be punished for it. God requires vengeance, he requires recompense, he doesn’t let anything go unpunished. Sometimes, when we’re forgiven as Christians, we sometimes also still have to live with the consequences of our actions in this life. For example, if someone commits murder, they can be forgiven in the church by God, but they still have to go to gaol for it. There’s a punishment for the crime.

But there’s a difference between the punishment of God, and what many people call “karma”. Karma means that whatever you do, you will get your come-uppance. If you tread on an ant, you will be reincarnated into an ant that gets stepped on. If a skinny person calls someone “fat”, they’ll find themselves a “fat” person in the next life.

Now, Christians don’t believe in karma. Karma is impersonal. It just happens. It’s uncontrolled. Karma doesn’t have anyone in charge of it – it just happens by itself.

Christians believe that all punishment belongs to God. And we do believe that God punishes. But he also relents.

In the book of Jonah, Jonah walks into the city of Nineveh and says: “In 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed!” But then, what happens? The people repent! And then we read: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

So God punishes, but he also relents. He also changes his mind. God is not ruled by karma. God is not held to the laws of the universe, or the laws of the world. He makes the law. God is not someone who works for a faceless government and says: “I’d love to help you, but I’ve got to do what the paperwork tells me.” He’s not a bank employee who says: “Sorry, but I’m not allowed to write you out a cheque for that amount.” God says: To hell with the paperwork, to hell with frugality. If I want to do it, I’ll do it. In fact, I’ll send my Son into the world to die for you, so that you will know that the paperwork’s been ripped up. It’s been nailed to the cross and covered in blood. 

Colossians 2 says: God cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He forgives. He changes his mind. He can actually decide that he won’t punish after all. And that’s his business. That’s his right!

(By the way, people who believe that unbelievers are predestined to hell don’t understand this. Grace is not some abstract system, but it is the action of a living, personal God!)

So listen to our words from the gospel again, where we read:

And when Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

But now, Jesus makes a solution to this problem. Since the people have not been listening to him, he has to do something dramatic. He has to clear the air.

When the son gets so fed up with his mum nagging him, they have to go and sort themselves out, and get it all out in the open, and reconcile.

So we read:

And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

He walks into the temple and clears it out all the people who are buying and selling.

Now why did Jesus do this, we might ask?

He says: “You have made it a den of robbers.” The word “robber” here doesn’t really mean a “thief” in the sense of a shop-lifter, but rather someone like Ned Kelly -- someone who goes out on the highways and robs people. They were people who rebelled against the government and beat people up to get their money. In the Good Samaritan story, the man is beated up by “robbers” and left for dead. This is the sort of person which is meant by the word “robber” in this passage.

Also, in John’s gospel, where Jesus clears the temple, he says, “You have made my father’s house a place of trade.”

So what is Jesus attacking here? What is he angry about?

In all of the passages, where Jesus clears out the traders from the temple, we see in each place, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” Jesus is not saying that trade or buying or selling is a dirty thing, but when it was put into the temple, it compromised the temple in such a way that it couldn’t be prayed in any more. The temple could no longer be a house of prayer in the way that it should be. It was a building that was set aside for a holy purpose and shouldn’t be compromised in that.

By the way, we also need to give this issue very serious consideration in our churches. Even though the church is not a building but the people who gather in it, our church buildings are blessed and set aside for a holy purpose. If we use them for anything else, we need to make sure that the church as a house of prayer is not compromised, and that the sanctuary of God, the place where we hear the word of God, where we offer prayer, and receive the holy sacrament, is not defiled.

So Jesus gives the temple a clean out. He chucks out the traders and the sellers.

And then what do we read:

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priest and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

He taught them. And he taught them daily. He taught them every day.

God threatens to punish. But then he goes and heals. He teaches.

Psalm 119 says: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Jesus teaches the people. And now they can hear! It’s not like before when Jesus said that the things are hidden from their eyes. Now, he goes into the temple and begins to open their eyes again, anew, afresh.

So let’s examine ourselves today in God’s presence. Do we think that God has stopped speaking? Do we think that God is no longer involved in the world and is no longer calling people?

If the answer is yes, then his words for us are these: “These things are hidden from your eyes… Your enemies will come and will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

So where do we hear the voice of God?

First of all, we hear it in the Holy Scriptures, the bible. And the bible is not a shut book, but it is a book of sermons. It is a book that is always being open and spoken. So the ministry of pastors in the church is to speak the words of the bible. That’s what pastors are called to do. Pastors are called to give voice to the words of the bible, and most importantly to speak the forgiveness of sins over people.

Each week, when we come and confess our sins, and we hear the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken to us, we are being spoken to by God’s own voice himself, through the ministry of the pastor. Don’t let yourself be blinded to this reality. You might think that you go to church week after week and hear the same thing and it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Well, wake up to these words! They do mean something! Jesus is teaching you! Don’t become deaf like the city of Jerusalem. Remember, once upon a time the same words were said in the temple week after week, and the words of Jesus did come true: the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, and has remained destroyed for almost 200 years, and now there’s a great big mosque in the place where the temple was. Be careful! Listen to the voice of God when he speaks to you.

Listen to the words: “I baptise you.” “Baptism now saves you”.

Listen to the words: “Take and eat, this is my body given for you.”

Listen to the words: “The Lord bless you and keep you.”

Let those words clean you out, through and through. The temple of your body will be cleared out, and be made a temple of the Holy Spirit, and you will begin to listen to Jesus there too. Is there something on your heart that you know you should do? Is there someone on your mind you haven’t spoken to for a while and might need to give a call? Have you made a promise to someone which you haven’t kept? Do you have an unresolved argument with someone?

All these things are the voice of God. Don’t let them be hidden from your eyes. Let your conscience, your heart, your mind, be sharpened by God and his word. But your conscience, your heart, your mind won’t save you. The only thing that can save you is the living words of God. So let your heart be comforted, let your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit be strengthened, let it be built up with the holy and living words of Jesus: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Make sure you know on this day the things that make for peace. Recognise the time now of his visitation. Listen to Jesus daily, and hang on his every word. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, come and clean us out through the power of your Holy Spirit, and make us to hear your word again, anew, and afresh. Teach us your word daily. Give us every day everything we need to support this body and life, and every day, richly and daily, forgive us all our sins and the sins of all believers. Amen.

Trinity 9: Audio Sermon (21-Aug-11)

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Trinity 9 [Luke 16:1-13] (21-Aug-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 16:1-13)

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Gospel reading today starts like this:

He [Jesus] also said to his disciples.

And after the parable, Jesus says these words: The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

This story is not for the Pharisees, it is not for scoffers, unbelievers, or outsiders. It is for insiders. Jesus told the parable to his disciples, but he allowed the Pharisees to hear it, but they didn’t understand it, they didn’t receive it, they didn’t believe it: so they mocked Jesus, they laughed at him, ridiculed him, made fun of him.

So we see that our parable today is very significant, because it has a special M rating on it: may contain violence which will cut to the heart, may contain nudity which will lay you bare before God, or may contain coarse language: language which Pharisees, lovers of money, as Jesus calls them, don’t want to hear.

So we read:

[Jesus] also said to his disciples: There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

The rich man has a manager: someone who looks after his money. And he hears that the manager has not been honest in looking after the he  money. So he takes his management away from him.

Another word we can use for the word “manager” is a “steward” who has been given a “stewardship.” Or we could call him a “treasurer” who has been given a “treasury” to look after. And so the rich man takes the manager’s job away.

Then we read:

And the manager said to himself, “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from my management, people may receive me into their houses.’

If the manager is going to lose his job, he needs to have a plan up his sleeve. He’s lazy though: he doesn’t want to work to hard, and he doesn’t want to have to ask people for help. So he comes up with a master plan!

We read:

So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He said, “A hundred measures of oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” Then he said to another, “And how much do you owe?” He said, “A hundred measures of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill, and write eighty.”

Do you see what he did? He went to make some friends. He wanted to get friendly with some people, by taking away some of their debt. At the same time, he does this without his master knowing about it, and he cheats his master. He uses his master’s money to get some friends.

So far, do you all understand what’s happening in the story? This is the easy bit: the next part is very unexpected.

We read:

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, [for his wisdom]. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Scratching your head? What’s Jesus talking about here?

First of all, listen to the first thing: The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

Hang on a minute! Didn’t the manager cheat his master? Didn’t the manager make a few friends for himself by wasting his master’s money? Wasn’t the rich man going to sack his manager because he was already wasting his money?

Why on earth did the master commend him?

It’s a very strange situation: The rich man is going to fire a man who is dishonest, and the man is going to lose his job. Then the manager before he loses his job, goes around and makes some friends by ripping off his master.

And then, this is so unexpected, the rich man, the master, says to him: Well done! You did a good job!

Wouldn’t we expect the rich man to get even more cross?

Well, have a think about it! The manager made the rich man some friends too. How do you think the rich man found out about what the manager did? It probably happened that these people came and thanked him, and said, “Thanks very much. I’ve been having a really hard time lately, and I just couldn’t afford to pay back what I owed, but now I can. Thanks very much!”

And the rich man says, “Hey! Not only did the manager make himself some friends, but he made some friends for me too!”

And then Jesus says:

For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Aha! Now we know what this parable is about! It’s about money. You cannot serve God and money.

So what is this parable saying to us?

First of all, the rich man is God. If you want to be rich, God is still the richest, and all the gold, silver and jewels of the entire world belong to him. And also, all the riches of heaven belong to him too.

You have been given many good things in life. You are his manager. You are his steward. You have been given a responsibility. You, as a person who lives on this earth, have a responsibility to look after the things that God has given to you. This is your treasury, this is your management, this is your stewardship.

And also, this is not talking to you primarily as a member of the human race, but as a member of his church. This parable is addressed to Jesus’ disciples. It is not addressed to everyone. The Pharisees laugh and mock this parable.

So what is this treasury that God has given to you to look after? What is your management? What is your stewardship? Well it is everything he has given to you! Everything that is valuable. We’re not talking so much about “spiritual” things, if you like, we’re not talking first of all about sharing your faith, even though faith should always be shared, but we’re talking here about your wealth, your things, your money. The word in Greek is mammon, which is not just money, but stuff! And at the end of the reading today, Jesus says: You cannot serve both. “You cannot serve God and money.”

And Jesus says, “For the sons of the world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”

People know that they won’t always have a job. They know there will be a day when they will be old and they need to have some money in the bank. They need to have some money up their sleeve to live on when they don’t have any more money. They need a pension, or they need some superannuation. Or they need someone who will take them in and look after them. They don’t want to be out on their face.

So, if that’s how people think when they can’t work any more, what do you think when God will take your life away from you? Your money won’t do you any good then. You can’t save up your pennies to buy your way into heaven. You need to be faithful until death and receive the crown of life. You need to repent and be baptised. You need to come out of the kingdom of darkness into God’s marvellous light. You need to invest your time and your energy into God’s word, so that when your life is taken away from you (and that time will come like a thief in the night) you will be proven to be a worshipper of the God of life, who gives life, and not of the money, which will drag you by the hip-pocket so low that you can’t imagine. You can’t serve God and money.

So it’s very important, if we are not going to worship money, what are we going to do with it? We are going to manage it! We are going to manage our money and our wealth well, not let our money and our wealth manage us. God is our master, money is not. God has given us our money to look after, our money doesn’t look after us. There are many churches around with all those so-called “evangelists” on the TV that say: Put money on the plate, and God will give you a Lamborghini in return. Those people are worshipping their money, not God, and they will be shown to be false prophets in God’s good time.

So what does God expect you to do with your money? First of all, he asks you to put it all back into his hands. You are baptised, you have been made a holy person, because Jesus died for you, rose again for you, and now covers you with his blood, and forgives all of your sins, not just in the next life, but in this life, in the church. That’s what the church is here for: to give you the forgiveness of sins, and when you are covered by God’s grace, and by God’s holiness through the forgiveness of sins, so is your money, so is your management, so is your stewardship. It becomes holy money, set aside for a holy use, because it is in the hands of holy people. So your house is a holy house, your things are holy things, and your possessions are holy possessions.

So think about it: how do you support God’s church? St Paul says: Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

God says: make up your own mind. You decide how much you want to give God. In the Old Testament, God required of people a tenth of their earnings, and many Christians do the same thing. You can give less, or you can even give more. But it’s God’s money, he’ll look after it, he’ll look after you. Anything you lend to him will be repaid to you.

But also in our reading today, Jesus says: Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

God wants us to be merciful, just as he is merciful. The economics of this world only works justice: the sons of the world, as Jesus call them, only do what is fair. Only Christians can truly know what is merciful, to be kind to those who don’t deserve it, to show mercy to those who’ve messed up their own lives by their own faults, who are caught in addictions of booze, drugs, domestic violence, gambling, sexual addiction and pornography addiction, through their own fault, because our heavenly Father forgives us the sins we committed, as an old prayer says, “by our own fault, by own most grievous fault.” Only Christians can know what it means to help those in need, not because they are doing something to earn their way into heaven, but because they are already there. The church in many places has not yet learnt what it really means to be merciful: it has learnt to be just, and do social justice, but it has not yet learnt in many places what it means to be merciful, because so often the church has not yet heard the forgiveness of its own sins. Australia is not a country that has already had the gospel and is now losing it, it is a country that has never heard the gospel in the first place! Australians know what justice is, but not mercy.

If someone needs something that belongs to you, give it to them. As Jesus says: “Give to the one who asks from you.” You never know: the person may be an angel in disguise, and not even a cup of cold water will go unnoticed to God. You see, when we do these things on behalf of God, and we give to people who are needy, we make God look good, we give him a good name, and who knows, those people may even be standing there welcoming us when we enter heaven’s gate itself.

That’s God’s economics. The Pharisees scoff because it’s upside down. Worshippers of money keep their money to themselves. But with God everything is shared, even with those who don’t deserve it and who owe God their very lives and every breath. Jesus shares his death and his resurrection with you, through holy baptism. Jesus shares the Holy Spirit with you, through the hearing of the Word of God and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus shares his own body and blood with you in the Lord’s Supper.

And with us, we are given a stewardship, we are given a treasury. It is always a dishonest stewardship, and it is always one that needs the forgiveness of sins poured out over it. We love, because God first loved us. God’s economics does not work without the forgiveness of sins, good stewardship does not work without the forgiveness of sins spoken over us – it does not work without that freedom – the freedom which has the body of Christ on our tongue and the blood of Christ pouring down our throats. God created the world, and Jesus died for it. But most importantly, he created you, he gave you a stewardship, and Jesus died for you, and rose again for you. Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, you order the world through the forgiveness of our sins. You sent your Son to die for us and you bless us with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Teach us to be good stewards, of heavenly riches, and also of the unrighteous wealth, and keep us from being slaves to money, in Jesus name. Amen. 

Trinity 8: Audio Sermon (14-Aug-11)

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Trinity 8 [Matthew 7:15-23] (14-Aug-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am, lay reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Matthew 7:15-23)

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits.

Niɛrkɛ rɔ̱ kɛ göök ti guäy, tin bëë kä yɛ a ca rɔ̱ moc kɛ tuac rɔɔmä, kä ce̱t rɛydiɛn kɛ jio̱o̱k nyapëc ti näk buɔth kɛ. Bia kɛ ŋa̱c kɛ dɛykiɛn.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the end of our service each week, we always finish with the “blessing”, which is also called the “benediction”. And many of the older churches, like the Catholic, Orthodox or Anglican church, always have a blessing at the end of the service. And for many people in our own church, this is a favourite part of the service. And so it should be! What could be better than having the blessing of God rest upon your whole life and the week ahead!

In many churches, there are all sorts of blessings that are used. But in the Lutheran Church, it has always been the tradition, if you like, for Communion Services to use the “Aaronic Blessing”. This is the blessing that God gave to Aaron to use in Numbers 6: so it’s called the “Aaronic” blessing. And it’s a particularly powerful one, because it is the only blessing which God commanded someone to use. We say: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favour and give you peace. Amen.”

But have a listen to those first words: The Lord bless you and keep you.

There are two sides of a coin here: blessing and keeping. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you.

“The Lord bless you” means that God gives you everything good. And “the Lord keep you” means that God will protect you from everything bad.

It’s not enough that God just gives us good things. He also needs to protect us from bad things, otherwise we can’t enjoy the good things. It’s a sign of God’s love that he protects us from bad things. It’s not love, if we know something’s dangerous for a person, and we stand back and let them walk into it.

So when we say the blessing we have these two different parts: “The Lord bless you and keep you.”

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When we come to church and we hear the words of Jesus, normally we read about some blessing that Jesus gives. But today we read about Jesus doing some “keeping”. Today Jesus is speaking words of protection, he is keeping us from evil, guarding us from what is bad, so that he can bless us with everything good.

We read: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits.

We live in very strange times. Many people believe that there is no such thing as truth. This means that people don’t believe that there is such thing as right or wrong. People say: “What’s true for you is not true for me”. But that’s not true! There is such thing as a truth, and Jesus says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

If we want to know what is true, we also have to know what is not true. We can’t have one without the other. We need to know that God blesses us and that he keeps us.

If nothing is right or wrong, if there is no truth, what do you say about the maniac in Norway recently who shot all those people? What do you say to him? Would you say, “Well, he has his truth, and I have my truth! Who am I to judge him?” Surely, you know that terrorism and opening fire on innocent people is wrong! You can’t possibly believe that there is no such thing as right or wrong here!

What about England? Do you think it’s a good thing that people start running amok around London and Manchester and Birmingham and do whatever they like, setting fire to buildings, robbing and destroying shops and the livelihood of honest, hardworking people? Do you think that’s right?

It’s amazing that these things have happened in our world recently in countries where once upon a time Christianity flourished. And now, according to internet statistics, there are only 27% (if that) of people in England who go to church, and only 5% of Norwegians that go to church. When people, when a society, when a culture cuts itself off from the worship of God, and from the holy sanctuary of God, and from the Word of God, and the sacraments, what are we left with?

We need to make sure that we recognise that these things which have been happening before our eyes on the world stage at the moment are a result of crumbling cultures who no longer believe that there is such thing as truth. If people don’t believe that there is such thing as truth, it is no wonder that these things have happened in Norway and England. We need to take notice of these things and make sure that we take the wisdom of God to heart, and not take it for granted.

We need to make sure that we receive the blessing of God: the words of God, the wisdom of God, the peace of God.

And we need to make sure that we receive the “keeping” of God: we need to be kept from the absence of truth, from the lies of people, and from the violence of people.

Truth leads to peace. Falsehood leads to violence. We need to seek the truth. And love without truth is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

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And so in our reading today, Jesus says:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognise them by their fruits.

Today, the first part of our reading here is not talking so much about Christians in general, but it is talking about “teachers” in the church, or “pastors” if you like. It’s talking about “false prophets”. And Jesus tells us to “beware” of them.

And the picture of a false prophet that Jesus gives is a wolf that has put on a sheep’s clothing. The picture is of something that’s pretending to be something else. That’s exactly what a false prophet is: someone who is pretending to be a real prophet, a wolf that is pretending to be a sheep.

Everything that is wrong in the world is an imitation. It’s pretending to be something else.

So we have the one and only true God, our heavenly Father.

The cheap imitation version is an idol – it’s pretending to be a god, but it’s not.

We read in the bible about Jesus Christ – the one and only Jesus Christ.

And Jesus says that there will many false christ’s, and even an Antichrist.

We read about the Holy Spirit. And we also read that the apostle John tells us to “test every spirit, so see whether they are from God.”

We read about apostles. And we read about the false apostles: the people who were pretending to be apostles but weren’t.

We read about prophets. And we read about the false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Now Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognise them by their fruits.”

We have to be very clear here – we are not saved by works. This text is not saying to us, that we will be saved because of the good things we do. We are saved because Jesus did the work for us. He died on the cross for us, and God saves us because He is our saviour, not because we save ourselves.

Nevertheless, Jesus commands us to do good things, not to earn salvation, but so that others will see our good works and give glory to the Father.

When it comes to pastors, and leaders – how will we know if what they say is true? We will see it in their fruit. If the tree is good, then people will be happy to come and eat good fruit from it. A lot of the time, we as Christians never see the good fruit that we produce. In Matthew 25, in the story of the sheep and the goats, the sheep say to Jesus: “When did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you in prison and visit you?” They didn’t know! They didn’t see their own fruit. But that’s because the fruit is not for them to see, but is for others to see, and to recognise them.

On the other hand, how do you personally recognise whether you are a good tree?

You won’t recognise it from the fruit. Everyone always wants to buy their own brand, you know! How do you know whether your fruit is any good?

Most churches will point people to look at the fruit. This only leads to despair. The Catholics do it – and so no one ever has any certainty of the forgiveness of sin. And then most protestants do it too – they talk about looking to your decision for Jesus: and then everyone starts wondering whether their decision was genuine. That’s what most Christians believe. Or they start talking about predestination: and so people start to think that maybe God hasn’t chosen me for heaven after all. Maybe God chose me ahead of time to go to hell, and there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s what most other Christians believe.

So what’s the answer? How do you know if you are saved or not? How do you know whether or not you are a good tree?

The Lutheran church does not teach that you should look at yourself to find out the answer. We don’t believe that you make a choice to become a Christian by your own free will, and we don’t believe that you are already either chosen ahead of time to go to heaven or hell.

So what do we believe?

Well, my fellow tree, have good a look at your trunk. Have a look at the ground where the roots begin. That’s where you have to look. And what will you see there? Manure -- Heaps and heaps of it -- Piles of the stuff. And as Peter Cundall says, for all you gardening buffs: “That’s your blooming lot!”

God makes you see your sin. If you see your good fruit, beware because it’s probably rotten. If you see your sin, then rejoice. If you can smell the manure at your roots, then rejoice.

Hang on a minute! “That doesn’t make sense”, you say. “Are you saying that I know I’m a Christian because I sin?”

Yes! But more precisely, not because you sin, but because you know you sin. If you know you sin, who told you? The devil? Well, he doesn’t want you to know that! He just wants you to see all your good fruit and an orchard full of the stuff, and he wants you to go to market and sell it all, waxed, polished and full of maggots. The devil wants you to be a hypocrite.

But if you know your sin, then you know that the Holy Spirit must have told you, because who else is interested in making you know that? Often God comes to us as a sheep dressed in wolf’s clothing.

And then, of course, the only thing to do is listen to the words of the forgiveness of sins. And we know that we are forgiven not because we feel forgiven, or because we see our supposedly “good fruit”, but because God’s word says so. Jesus died for you, and that’s it. Those words save us, despite our reason and our judgment. Jesus saves you by his good fruit, not by your rotten old fruit. If you want to produce good fruit, then come and be grafted onto Jesus, be forgiven by him, be baptised by him, receive his body and blood, let him fill you with all the juice and the sap of the Holy Spirit. Let God work in you, both to work and to will for his good pleasure.

Let him save you, because no one else will bother, and you can’t save yourself!

The only way you can be saved, and the only way in this life you can produce any good fruit at all, is to connect yourself up to God’s tap: the word of God and the sacraments. Listen to the absolution, the forgiveness of sins, and receive it as often as you can. Receive baptism if you’re not baptised, and receive the Supper of the Body and Blood of Christ. When we’re baptised, we’re grafted onto Jesus Christ, the living vine and made into a good tree. And when we receive the Lord’s Supper, we receive all the juice from the vine.

You won’t see your good fruit, but others will. That’s their business to recognise it.

But when you recognise your sin, then trust in your Saviour Jesus. Because he is the only good tree, the only true prophet, the only true pastor, and he promises to bless you and to keep you.

Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, make us good trees which produce good fruit. Protect us from false teachers, from the wolves in sheep’s clothing, and receive us by your grace into the kingdom of heaven, in Jesus name. Amen.

Trinity 7: Audio Sermon (7-Aug-11)

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Trinity 7 [Mark 8:1-9] (7-Aug-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Mark 8:1-9)

And they ate and were satisfied.

Cu naath mi̱th a cukɛ ria̱ŋ.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There are basically two religions in the world. One that believes God created the world, and one that believes that the world is god.

On one hand, we have a religion that believes that God gave life to the world and that all life comes from God, and on the other hand, we have a religion that believe that the only life there is is what we can see now and that it comes from the world and the universe.

There are two religions: Christianity and paganism. Everything that is not Christianity is a form of paganism. You are either a Christian or a pagan.

If you are a pagan, it basically means that you worship nature, the universe, and you put your trust in the world, in nature and in the universe. Often we call this sort of a religion pantheism, which basically means that everything is god. The sun is a god, trees are a god, birds and animals are gods.

So which one are you: A Christian or a pagan? Do you worship God, or do you worship everything else?

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You might think that you can answer this question easily. “Of course, I’m a Christian!” you say. “I don’t worship animals! I don’t worship the earth! I don’t worship the sun or the stars or the moon! I’m not an Aztec or an ancient Egyptian!”

We might think that worshipping nature and the earth and the universe is something that only happened in ancient cultures and ancient times. But it is very much alive today.

If you believe in God, it means that you don’t believe in “chance”. Examine yourself: do you believe that something good or something bad that happened to you ever happened to you “by chance”? If so, you’re not talking like a Christian. “Chance” is for unbelievers: If you want to talk like a Christian, talk about “God’s will”.

In 1 Samuel 6, we read a very interesting story. The Israelites had a war with the Philistines. And in this war, the Israelites did something very wrong. They brought the Ark of the Covenant out of the sanctuary and took it with them into war, a bit like a lucky charm. And the Philistines captured the Ark. The Philistines won the battle. But then the Philistines started to get sick with tumours and die, so they thought that they should send the Ark back to the Israelites. And so they put the Ark on a cart with two milk cows, and let it go back to Israel by itself. We read that they said: “Send [the cart] off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes upon on the way to its own land… then it is [the God of Israel] who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

And what happened? The cart went back to the people of Israel. And so the Philistines knew that it hadn’t happened by chance.

“Chance” is the language of pagans. It is the language of unbelievers. It is the language of people who are outside the church.

If you want to talk like a Christian, talk about “God’s good and gracious will.”

In our society today, in our homes, and in our very own hearts, there is a war going on. It is a war between two trusts: the trust in chance or the trust in God’s will. There is simply no middle ground.

If you believe in chance, then you simply believe that God either didn’t create the world, or he’s not interested in it. But if you do believe that God created the world and formed it and shaped it and gives life to it, and gives life to you, then you know that there is not such thing as chance. There is only such thing as God’s will.

Even the debates between science and religion are not really debates between science and religion at all. It is a debate between two different religions: a religion which believes that the world came into existence by chance and a religion that believes that the world was created by the word of God. And the atheists are promoting the same religion as those who write horoscopes and read palms and tarot cards, because they all believe in one god called “Chance”.

Every time Christianity is perverted and twisted into something else, it is always perverted into something which rejects God’s will and his word, and embraces chance, coincidence, fortune, luck. Christianity is perverted every time it rejects the words of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary: “Nothing is impossible with God.”

And every Sunday, we as Christians spit in the face of chance, when we say: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.”

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But what, you ask, does this have to do with our reading today?

In our Gospel today, we read about Jesus feeding the 4000 people. Now this story is not the story about the feeding of the 5000, but the feeding of the 4000. Maybe you didn’t realise that there are actually two different events in the gospels, one where Jesus fed 5000 people and another where he fed 4000.

Today he feeds 4000. And this event happened second. The feeding of the 5000 people happened earlier.

And so it’s funny: just like the earlier story, the feeding of the 5000, Jesus and his disciples are stuck in the middle of nowhere with all these people and no food. And you would have thought that after the first time, that the disciples would have thought that Jesus was able to perform the miracle again.

We read:

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

And this is the point where we learn a great lesson: that Jesus is actually true God! He is a man, a human being, born of the Virgin Mary, and he is also true God, conceived of the Holy Spirit. Take this to heart and think about it. Jesus is not just some great man, some great teacher, like any other moral teacher, like Buddha, or Gandhi, or the Dalai Lama, or even Mystic Meg.

Jesus is truly God. St John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh.” The Word became flesh – flesh: just like you and me. He became a tiny baby in a stable in Bethlehem and grew up into a man, and learnt a trade, and he lived and he died. But that man is also truly God: he created the world, the rose from the dead, he ascended into the heaven, and he fed 4000 people with 7 loaves of bread.

In our Gospel it says: And his disciples answered [Jesus], “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

Ah, you silly disciples! Don’t you know who it is you’re standing there with? Don’t you know that the man you are standing with in the wilderness made the wilderness?

And we read that Jesus says: “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.”

Listen to those words: “I have compassion on the crowd.” Those are the words that uphold the universe. Those are the words that keep the world going and put your daily bread on your kitchen table. The world does not produce grain by itself, and rain does not pour down from the sky by itself, and bread is not made by chance. All of this happens because of the compassion of Jesus Christ. All of this happens because Jesus has compassion on the crowd. That’s how daily bread happens: it happens because Jesus has compassion on the crowd, and by nothing else. If Jesus ceased to have compassion on the crowd, if our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit stopped pouring out their love upon the world and having mercy on all people, there would be nothing to eat. Everything comes from God. The earth is not a god. God is God, and it’s his job to provide for you, and he does it because he loves you, and he does it because he has compassion on the crowd.

In our times, our greatest temptation is to revert back into paganism, back to a godless life, a life where God doesn’t matter, where it doesn’t matter whether he even exists or not, where everything happens “by chance”.

And so first of all, there is the temptation not to pray. Because we think it will take too much time and that it won’t work. We think that time is better spent doing something productive. We think if we “waste time” praying too much, we’ll go hungry and we’ll end up in the wilderness. But the time you have to do things doesn’t come to you by chance, it comes from the hand of Jesus Christ.

There is the temptation not to go to church. There is the temptation to believe that nothing happens in church. There is the temptation to believe that you don’t actually hear the word of God in the company of the church and amongst fellow believers. There is the temptation to believe that you don’t actually receive the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. There is the temptation to believe that if I stayed home instead, and slept in, or even worked, that that will be time better spent. But this church is not here by chance. You’re work is not given to you by chance. The forgiveness of sins doesn’t come to you by chance. People say: If I go to church and bludge on my backside for an hour listening to the bible, I’ll lose time, and then I’ll be hungry, I’ll be behind in my work and I’ll end up in the wilderness.

There is an excuse to disobey any of the Ten Commandments all because we think we will end up in the wilderness and have nothing to eat. So, people hate each other because they think it will be too much hard work if they actually make up. “You shall not murder” and “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” is just too impractical. Men and women don’t get married but just move in and live together instead. “You shall not commit adultery” is just too impractical. Many husbands and wives purposely don’t have children because they think they’ll go hungry if they have too many. “Be fruitful and multiply” is just too impractical. People lie and cheat and steal because if they think they’re honest, they’ll get nowhere. “You shall not steal” and “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour” and “You shall not covet” are all just too impractical! Pastors are the same: It’s easy to preach your own opinions, and life stories all the times, because preaching the word of God is too impractical! If it were all left to chance, it wouldn’t work. But the commandments are calls from God to us to stop worshipping chance, and to trust in our gracious heavenly Father and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Martin Luther said: “There is indeed no virtue beyond that of obedience, attending to that which is given to a person to do.”

And it’s funny: in our gospel reading, we read three significant things.

1)    A whole lot of people got so distracted with their lives listening to Jesus that they ended up in the middle of a wasteland with nothing to eat.

2)    Jesus had compassion on the crowd.

3)    The punchline, verse 8: They ate and were satisfied.

They ate and were satisfied.

Sometimes when we follow Jesus we do end up in a wilderness. But Jesus does not abandon those he loves. He loves you, and you can be sure he loves you because he made you, he died for you, and he rose again for you. And even in the middle of the church, he forgives you, he washes your sins away in baptism, and he strengthens and nourishes you with the heavenly banquet of his own holy and precious body and blood.

They ate and were satisfied. And Jesus is gentle with you. He forgives you again and again, and sends you on your way. He doesn’t just feed 5000 people once, he does it again with 4000 just to show you that he’s the same Jesus, yesterday, today and forever. He doesn’t deal with you according to your sins, but he forgives your sins, he covers them over, he still gives you your daily bread and he gives you a call to trust in him once again leading you to a desolate place where you’ve never been before, and there he feeds you and he transforms the wilderness into a paradise.

Our whole life as Christians basically is one where we are being poked by the Ten Commandments and receiving the forgiveness of sins. The Ten Commandments are always knocking us on the head and confronting us with new challenges, which say: Do this, and don’t do this. And we say to Jesus: “But Jesus, what you say is so impractical. It won’t work!” It’s the voice of old Adam, the sinful nature, the old self, the corrupt selfish person which says: “God, your commandments are too impractical! It won’t work!”

Well, having 4000 hungry people in a wilderness wouldn’t normally have a practical solution either. That’s why it’s so important for us to believe that the events of the gospels actually happened and were actual historical events. These things didn’t happen by chance. They happened because of the good and gracious will of God. Jesus had compassion on the crowd.

They ate, our text says. They ate. And not only did they eat, but they ate and were satisfied.

So friends, as we stand in the company of heaven today, and in the presence of the living God and our resurrected Lord Jesus in the Divine Service today, eat and be satisfied. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Amen.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, husband/wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainty true. Amen.