This Sunday we had a visiting preacher, Pastor James May from Kenya.
See www.lutheransinafrica.com
Sunday 29 January 2012
Sunday 22 January 2012
Friday 20 January 2012
Epiphany 3 [Matthew 8:1-13] (22-January-12)
This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am, lay-reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St Paul's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Matthew 8:1-13)
Jesus said to him: “I will come and heal him.”
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our reading today St Matthew records the eye-witness accounts of two miracles which Jesus performs: that is, two special healings of Jesus, where he uses his divine power and works outside of the laws of nature, proving that he is truly the Son of God, true man and true God.
The first miracle is the healing of a leper, and the second miracle is the healing of a centurion’s servant.
Now if we’re going to understand these miracles, we need to be clear about something first. When Jesus heals a person, it is his work alone, and it happens through his word and his will alone. In the same way, when Jesus saves a person, he does it through his work on the cross and his resurrection alone, and through the power of his living and active word alone.
We don’t do half, and he does the other half. The entire business is in his hands, and it’s his work, and it’s his word that does it.
But also, our gospel reading today is not actually about eternal salvation first of all. Both the men who come to Jesus to ask for healing put their trust in Jesus and his power to save. And Jesus commends the centurion for his faith. He says: “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
But the main thing that we read about in our gospel reading today is that there are two people who are healed: one man is healed from leprosy, and a centurion’s servant is healed from being paralysed. And the things that happen in our gospel reading are not done by the leper or by the centurion, but by Jesus alone. Jesus is the one who does the healing.
Often when Christians are sick, they ask questions like this: Why am I sick? Have I done anything wrong? Is God punishing me? Why doesn’t Jesus heal me? If I ask Jesus to heal me, will he listen? If he’s not going to listen, and if he probably won’t heal me, what’s the use of asking him in the first place? Is my faith strong enough? Is it genuine?
Many Christians when they find themselves sick come to the conclusion that the problem is with them, and that the reason why they are not well again is because their faith is not strong enough.
This simply isn’t true.
Before we die and before we enter eternal life, there is never a single moment in our earthly lives where we are free from the corruption of sin. Many people think sin is something that they do sometimes, or every now and then. Some people even think they don’t sin at all! But when we say in the Divine Service each Sunday that we are a “poor, helpless sinner”, we are not saying something about what we do, we are saying something about who we are. Before we die and before we go to be with Jesus in the next life, there is never a single moment when we are free of sin. Sin isn’t our actions, it’s our condition. And when we realise this, we realise what a great gift eternal life is, because when we die, we will be free of sin for the very first time. When God puts an end to our earthly life, we know that that will be the time when God puts an end to our sin! Not a moment before that time will we ever be free of it. Even the good works and the good things we do are tainted. We do good things for the wrong reasons.
And God our heavenly Father knows this, and it grieves him. He puts us on trial, and he is ready to give his sentence. He can read our thoughts and our minds – he knows that there is nothing good there. He knows that the only sentence that we deserve is the punishment of eternal death. And it is perfect within his right to give this judgment.
But Jesus Christ comes along and says to you: “I have fulfilled the law. I have done everything for you. I have died on the cross for you. I have risen again from the dead for you. And I have come to buy you with my blood, and I have come to pay for you with my blood.”
And God the heavenly Father sets us free. He knows that we are sinners, but because of Jesus, he says: “You are free to go. You are forgiven.”
And this sentence of God, this verdict, this pronouncement of forgiveness, is spoken on earth in the church. When the church baptises people, God’s voice rings out: This is my beloved, forgiven child. I am well-pleased with him. I am well-pleased with her. Each Sunday we hear the living voice of God pour out of heaven when we hear the words of the absolution: I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Each Sunday we hear God’s gracious verdict: Take and eat, this is the body of Christ, given for you. This is the blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
God our heavenly Father treats us just like he treats Jesus. When he sees us, he sees nothing except Jesus.
But sometimes we see nothing except our sin. When we feel like this, we should remind ourselves that Jesus does not want us to trust in our feelings but in his death, and his resurrection. There is no sin too big that God cannot forgive. The blood of Jesus is powerful and it covers everything.
So it’s funny when Christians are sick, they think: “There must be something wrong with my faith.”
But there’s nothing wrong with your faith. If you trust in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to save you, if you trust that eternal salvation has been given to you and placed into your lap through holy baptism, then there’s nothing wrong with your faith.
But your sin is still with you. You are forgiven, but you are constantly disappointing yourself because you think you should be a better person. You feel like you’re letting Jesus down because you’re not in a better shape.
It’s simply not true. When Jesus forgives you, he doesn’t want you to trust in the fact that you can feel forgiven. He doesn’t want you trust in the fact that feel energetic or well or happy or better, he wants you to trust in his word. His word says that you are forgiven, and that settles it. If that’s what you believe, then there’s nothing wrong with your faith.
In our reading, two people ask for healing from Jesus.
The first man is a leper, and he comes and says to Jesus: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
This prayer of this man is not a prayer for eternal salvation. When it comes to eternal salvation, eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, there is no “if”, there’s no “if you want to, if you will, you can forgive me.” There is only “yes”, there is only, “yes, you will.” Eternal salvation, eternal life, and forgiveness are certain, definite, fixed. Jesus died and rose again: you are baptised – there’s no doubting you are forgiven and saved.
What the man asks for here is a gift for this life. He wants to be healed of his disease. And so he says, “If you will”.
In the Book of Jonah, we see something similar. Jonah walks into the city of Nineveh and says: “40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” And the people actually repent. And the king says: “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
Did you hear the doubt there? The king says: “Who knows?” When he says: “Who knows?” he’s not talking about the forgiveness of sins. He’s talking about whether God will destroy the city. He doesn’t mean: “Who knows if God will forgive us”, but “Who knows whether God will change his mind about destroying our city.”
And so the leper says: “If you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus says: “I will.”
Notice that the leper’s healing has nothing to do with the leper. The leper asks to be healed. But the healing only happens because Jesus says: “I will”. He does it. He wills it.
Often people think that they are not healed, because they have not “willed” it. But remember, you are not a god. You don’t heal yourself, no matter what every crack-pot new-age guru would tell you. Remember when Satan tempted Jesus, each temptation began with the words: “If you are the Son of God…” In the same way, each temptation for us begins with the word: “If you were really a true Christian…”
But in the second part of our gospel, we read about a centurion who says to Jesus: “Lord, my servant is lying paralysed at home, suffering terribly.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
The centurion is a Gentile, and Jews don’t go to the homes of Gentiles. And not only that, but his house is a place of uncleanness and suffering. Normally, a good Jew would never go to a place like the centurion’s home.
But Jesus says: “I will come and heal him”.
Jesus is not ashamed to go to a place where there is sickness, suffering, pain and death. He is not ashamed to go to the cross. And if you are sick, he is not ashamed to live with you. He doesn’t require you to be well first before he wants to come and live with you. In fact, it is his pleasure, his joy to come and be with you.
He says: “I will come and heal him.”
The centurion says: “Hang on a minute. That’s not what I meant. It’s not fitting that you should come to my house. I’m not worthy that you should come to my house. It’s not the right sort of place for you to come. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
And Jesus says: “I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” And then he says: “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
When he says: Let it be done for you as you have believed, Jesus is not saying to us, believe whatever you want, and it will happen. If this were the case, then we’re back again, thinking that if only we believed that we would be well again, we would be. Jesus says: “You have believed rightly: I can heal your servant through speaking a word. Let it be done for you as you have believed.”
Sometime Jesus heals people in this life. If he doesn’t heal you of your diseases in this life, then you will know for certain that he will heal you in the next life. But if he chooses to give you a miraculous healing in this life, it is because of his will, and because it serves to glorify him. It is not because he doesn’t love you, and it is not because he hasn’t listened to you, and it is not because your faith isn’t strong enough.
And there is one thing we can be absolutely sure about: the fact that we might be sick does not mean that we are not forgiven. Look at St Paul and all the things he suffered! St Paul says: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me… For when I am weak then I am strong.”
The forgiveness of sins, eternal life, eternal salvation is an absolute solid rock. You can build your house on that! If before that time, Jesus allows us to be free of sickness and to be miraculously healed, then that is a great blessing. But in the meantime, we should remember all the many blessings that he has given us, and be always running and willing to be the first in line to praise and thank him, simply because he is God, and simply because he is good.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good!
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
Then when we have thanked God simply because his mercies are new every morning, then we can give thanks to him for the fact that he has done great miracles, and performed many wondrous things.
The devil wants it the other way around. He wants us to stop praising God, unless he does something miraculous and showy.
God has done something miraculous and showy. His Son, Jesus Christ, our true Lord and God, has risen from the dead and all our sins are forgiven, and it has all been given to us in Holy Baptism, and we can be sure than we will enter heaven itself. That’s the greatest miracle we could ever want!
In the meantime, Jesus is not ashamed to come and heal you. He will heal you in time. He does not require you to be healed, before he will come to live with you. He has promised us his free grace, and his free forgiveness and he says to us today, “Do you believe that you are saved through baptism, that the forgiveness of the pastor is my forgiveness, and that my body and blood are given to you in the Lord’s Supper?” Say: Yes. I believe it, even though I am a sinner, even though I am sick, even though I am weak. And Jesus says: “Let it be done for you as you have believed.”
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for the saving power of your Son Jesus. We thank and praise you for the forgiveness, life and salvation that we have through him, and through his word. If you will, and if it serves to your glory, heal us of the diseases and problems of our body, and give us patience, hope and trust as we wait for that time when we will be free from sickness, suffering, sadness and sin in your house where you have prepared a room for us, in Jesus name. Amen.
Sunday 15 January 2012
Epiphany 2 [John 2:1-11] (15-January-12)
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: (John 2:1-11)
When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
When I was in Adelaide in October last year, I had the privilege of hearing a sermon in Nuriootpa, South Australia by a Lutheran pastor from Madagascar, Joseph Randrianasolo. Now there are 3 million Lutherans in Madagascar, and it is one of the fasted growing Lutheran churches in the world. During his sermon, the pastor made a comment about our reading today, which went like this:
“Why did Jesus turn the water into wine? Because he wants to make the people happy, and Jesus is the source of happiness.”
What a simple, clear answer to this question! But I want you to think about this very deeply: Jesus wants to make the people happy, and Jesus is the source of happiness.
Think about this little statement and churn it over. Jesus is the source of happiness, not just in terms of what we look forward to in the future but he is the source of everything that has brought us happiness in the past.
Everything that brings happiness we can trace back to Jesus, because Jesus is not simply any old man, but he is also the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the Word of God, who existed without a body before he was born of the Virgin Mary. And he is truly God, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, and he created the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. St John says: “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
This is the same person, the same Son of God, Jesus, who was there at the creation of the world, and who made the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who took human flesh from his virgin mother, and now comes to this wedding in Cana and turns the water into wine. It’s the same person.
And so we say: Jesus wants to make the people happy, because he is the source of happiness.
Everything that could possibly make us happy comes from Jesus, because he is the creator of the world. He invented happiness. He came up with the idea. And happiness comes from his eternal light, which he shines on all people. St John says: “In him was light, and the light was the light of men.” The light shone around all people.
So the fact that we have all kinds of different things that make us happy: food, clothes, houses, homes, family, friends, marriage, children, music, laughing – all these things come from Jesus. All these different things come from him and he invented them and made them. Of course, we haven’t even mentioned the gift of faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit, which turn all things sad into things of joy and happiness. These gifts, the gifts of Jesus, the gifts of the church, the forgiveness of sins, the word of God, the sacraments – all these things bring about a new creation. All these things water all the dead plants, everything that is dying, and makes them new again, makes the flowers bud and produce life. Isaiah says: The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of God remains forever. There’s an old English Christmas carol that says: “But why should we on earth be so sad, since our Redeemer made us glad?”
This is what is happening today in reading, where Jesus goes to a wedding in Cana. When he performs this miracle, he is at a wedding: and a wedding is such a celebration of so many happy things in life: people wear nice clothes, they like to eat nice food, there’s going to be a new house, a new home, a new family, people like to play their favourite music, and people generally have a good time.
They also like to drink nice wine.
And the fact that they have run out of wine is a real embarrassment. Also, in those days, it wasn’t as if people had a choice to drink lemonade and Coke if they wanted. The fact that the wine ran out would be something that people would remember for many years to come. People might say: “It was a nice wedding, but they ran out wine. The tab ran out.”
But before we delve too deeply into the reading there a couple of things about this reading and the events described in this reading that we need to understand first.
The first thing, is that what is described in this reading is no fairy tale. It’s not a little story that just makes us feel good, and then we say, “Isn’t that nice!”, and then we blink and move on with our lives as if nothing happened.
It’s sometimes easy for us to dismiss the miracles of Jesus as if they never happened. But Jesus himself speaks about them as proofs of the fact that he was the Messiah. You remember when John the Baptist was in prison and he sent his disciples to come and ask Jesus if he was the Messiah or not, and Jesus said: “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.”
If we don’t believe that any of the miracles of Jesus are true, then we’ll have a hard time believing that he was born of a virgin, and that he rose again on the third day. Right from the beginning of Jesus life, from his conception, the angel Gabriel speaks to the Virgin Mary words which mark his life as a life which is surrounded by miracles: “Nothing is impossible with God”, the angel says.
Also, since Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, eternally begotten of the Father, and since he is the only person like this who has ever lived, then we know that the miracles of Jesus are unique. Also, Jesus’ miracles are different from Moses’ miracles which are frightening and show God’s anger: plagues, blood, darkness, and death. Jesus doesn’t turn the River Nile into blood, he turns water into wine. He doesn’t put to the death the first born children in Egypt, he raises people to life: Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widom at Nain, and then of course he himself rises from the dead.
So, this miracle of Jesus turning water into wine, we should treat as a real event that happened in history at some point. Because without the historical reality of this miracle, anything else we want to say about it will have no power and useful effect at all.
The second thing we should notice in this reading that Jesus glorifies marriage. He blesses the wedding, and he blesses the couple. After all, he invented the idea. I could of course say a lot at this point about in what a poor state marriage is in our country at this point of time: we all know how much social dysfunction there is, family breakdown, broken homes, domestic violence, suffering and confused children, and such like. And it’s a very significant thing, that in a time where marriage is suffering so badly, that people want to change the definition of marriage to include gay unions. In politics, people care more about being popular rather than what is good and healthy for our society as a whole. Last year’s debate on this issue has not been about clear reason, common sense, facts and truth, but about being politically correct.
Marriage and weddings is not simply a piece of paper: it’s a community celebration where a man and a woman are united together in a life-long commitment to each other. And marriage is the foundation for the rest of society, it’s the backbone which holds everything else together. There’s no easy fix to the social problems of the world, like sex education in schools (anyone in the last 30 years who’s had to endure this at school knows what an absolute joke it is): we need a renewal and an enthusiasm for the estate of marriage.
But it’s easy for us to groan and carry on about what is bad. Jesus himself turns up to this wedding at Cana and he blesses it. He blesses every wedding, church weddings and civil weddings. And good marriages bring light and blessing to everyone around them.
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But right at the heart of this reading there is a simple prayer and simple reality. Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes to him and she says: “They have no wine.”
Notice that Mary doesn’t tell Jesus how he should fix this problem, or even that he should fix his problem. She just tells him what the need is: “They have no wine.”
Jesus even gives her the cold shoulder a bit and says: “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
But Mary won’t take no for an answer, she won’t let Jesus go until he blesses her. And so she says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now, this is one of the most foundational prayers of the Christian life: “They have no wine.”
When Jesus begins his sermon on the mount he says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
He says: “Blessed are those who have nothing, who are empty handed, and need to ask for everything.” Those people are blessed who know what they don’t have and they know that they need everything from God.
And so Mary says: “They have no wine.”
And we have nothing. St John says: You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.
We have nothing. Jesus gives us everything.
And so, in prayer, we simply put before him what we need.
Everyone who is born into this world has no faith, no respect and no fear of God, no love for God, nothing good in their flesh. If you don’t believe me, read the book of Romans, chapter 3 and chapter 7: St Paul says:
None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
When we know these things, the only prayer we can make is: “I have no wine.”
And then we know the promises of God: “Nothing is impossible with God.”
We know what the master of the wedding feast says: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have saved the good wine until now.”
Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Don’t we see that we would have no faith at all, not a drop of it, if you hadn’t heard God’s own words and if you hadn’t received all the gifts of God in holy baptism?
And as you come to the Lord’s Supper, come as one who has nothing: “I have no wine”. Let Jesus give you his wine, his bread – in fact not just that, but his true body given for you and his true blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
We know that he can turn water into wine: we know that on the last day he will change our mortal bodies to be like his, and we will be transfigured like him. And why do you think he does all this?
He wants to make the people happy, and Jesus is the source of happiness. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you as beggars, with empty hands, we ask that you would fill them. We have no wine. Give us everything we need for our bodies and souls. Send us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and give us the happiness, the gladness, the joy that comes from him. Amen.
Sunday 8 January 2012
Saturday 7 January 2012
Baptism of our Lord [Matthew 3:14-17] (8-January-12)
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 3:14-17)
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our reading today, Jesus is baptised. And we read that the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father spoke from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The event is described for us in the gospels in a very simple way.
But before John the Baptist baptises Jesus, there’s a little conversation that they have. This is what we read in the Gospel of Matthew:
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented.
If we understand baptism, we have understood everything about the Christian faith. If we get baptism wrong, we get everything wrong. And there’s only two ways to think about baptism: either you get it completely and totally right, or you get it completely and totally wrong. There’s no half-way or saying: “This person almost has a correct understanding of holy baptism.” If they are almost there, then they simply haven’t got it.
Jesus says: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Jesus says to John, I’m going to be baptised by you, and this is the way it should be done. This is how it ought to be done. There is no other way it should be done. And then he gives the reason why he should be baptised by John like this: He says: “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” It is fitting, it is proper, it’s the right thing to do – to fulfil all righteousness, to make everything right, to set everything in the right way.
So you see, when Jesus is baptised, and when we are baptised, all righteousness is fulfilled. Everything is made perfect. Everything is right. Everything is as it should be. That’s why it’s so important for us to make sure we understand what baptism is and what it does. When we understand baptism in the wrong way, then we haven’t understood what Jesus said: “Let is be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”
Now here’s the funny thing: in our reading today, John the Baptist has absolutely no idea, and he get’s the whole thing totally, totally wrong. He completely misses the target, he completely messes the whole thing up.
We read: John would have prevented [Jesus], saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”
He gets baptism completely the wrong way around. He not only that, he wants to stop Jesus being baptised by him. He protests. And when he holds Jesus back, he stops all righteousness from being fulfilled, he stops everything happening in the right way.
So Jesus turns John’s opinion on its head. He says to John: “No, you’ve completely missed the point. You’ve messed up the whole thing. This is the right way. You have to baptise me.”
And so what happens? Jesus is baptised. And the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit comes upon him like a dove to rest on him; and the voice of God the Father says: “This is beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The funny thing is that Jesus doesn’t need to be baptised. He is completely and totally without sin. John realises this: John knows that he himself is a sinner, but he knows Jesus is not one. That’s why he wants to be baptised by Jesus. But Jesus wants to baptised, not because he has to, not because he needs to be forgiven of his sins, but because he wants to, and he wants to say to all believers in the future: I went there first, and when you are baptised, you will be in the same place where I am, and will receive everything that I received.
And so when we are baptised, we receive the Holy Spirit. And we don’t receive the Holy Spirit 10%, or 20%, but 100%. “All righteousness is fulfilled.” Every gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us: We are made part of the Holy Christian Church. We are grafted onto Christ like branches on a vine and become one communion of saints with all Christians of all places and all times. We receive the forgiveness of sins, past, present and future. We receive the promise of the resurrection of the body, that on the last day, our mortal bodies will be raised up from the dust, and changed to be like Christ’s glorious body. And we receive the gift of eternal life.
And so we say in the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. These are all the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we receive in Holy Baptism. And all these things are possible because Jesus was baptised, because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and because he suffered, died, was buried and rose again on the third day. He did all the work then: and now in the church today we receive everything that he won for us in Holy Baptism.
And not only do we receive the Holy Spirit, but also God the Father speaks his words to us: This is beloved Son, This is my beloved daughter, with whom I am well pleased.
When we are baptised, God looks at us, and he sees us there together with Jesus and he says: “This person is my beloved child. I am pleased with them.”
God the Father knows that we are sinners: he’s not blind. There are plenty of people who don’t know that they are sinners themselves: they are blind, but God’s not. But because in baptism, we are with Jesus, together with Jesus, and because Jesus has died for us, shed his holy precious blood for us, and risen again from the dead for us, God says: “You are my child. I love you. And I am pleased with you. I am happy with you.”
God doesn’t say this because you have earnt it or deserved it. Jesus has paid the price for you with his blood. His death is perfect, his resurrection is perfect, his life is perfect. And if you are baptised, if you baptised into Jesus, and joined onto Jesus like a branch on a vine, which is exactly what happens in baptism, then God speaks to you and treats you just like he treats Jesus. He treats you just like you were perfect. This is what is called the forgiveness of sins. God forgives you, not because of anything that you have done, or because you’ve done so well, or because you got everything right yourself, but completely totally free of charge, and without any contribution from you. You did nothing for it, Jesus did everything for it.
And then we might say: “But how do I know that I have a genuine faith?” And God says: “Forget about whether you think you are genuine. I don’t want you to trust in the fact that you are sincere and genuine. But I give you something more sincere and more genuine than your faith, your sincerity, your genuineness. I give you water and my words. And if my words say that you are a child of God and that you are forgiven, then that’s that. And if you know that on a certain time in your life, that the waters of baptism were applied to you, then that’s that. You can be certain that all of my gifts are in your hands.”
Jesus is perfect, we are imperfect. Jesus is incorrupt, we are corrupt. Jesus is risen from the dead, we are dying. Now in baptism, Jesus does us a swap: He takes everything that is imperfect in us, everything that is corrupt, all our filth and sin, all our death, and gives us his forgiveness, his perfection, his life, his resurrection. It’s all ours. And it’s all given to us in holy baptism.
Now when we get baptism right, when we understand what it is and what it gives us, then we’ve got the whole Christian faith right. If we get it wrong, then we get everything wrong.
Most Australians today don’t understand baptism at all. And because of this, most Australians have no idea what Christianity is, and have never heard the gospel.
In baptism, God does everything, we do nothing. He sends the Holy Spirit, he speaks his clear, holy and perfect words. Baptism is completely messed up when we add something of our contribution to it. If we want to add our works, our contributions, our efforts to baptism, then we make it our work, and not God’s. All we need to do is add the tiniest bit of our own works and our own contributions and we’ve completely misunderstood baptism.
So, sometimes people say: “God helps those who help themselves.” This is completely wrong. Nobody helps themselves. Nobody can help themselves. God saves, and nobody else. People say, “We do our bit, and God does his bit. We reach up half way, God reaches down the other half.” Australians love hearing this stuff! That’s complete and total rubbish. And this is what most Australians believe about religion. And it’s no wonder that Australians don’t want to come to church, because Christianity does not depend on you doing your bit. You’re “bit” isn’t worth two cents! God has to do everything. And if you don’t want him to do everything, then you’re adding your own contribution into it, which isn’t worth anything. Think about the holy precious blood of Christ, the blood of man and God in one person, who won everything for us. Do you think that you have something more to give God than that? So, the whole thing about God helping those who help themselves is wrong. God does everything. He gives you everything: He gives you faith, life, salvation, everything in holy baptism.
The other thing which people get totally wrong is that they think that baptism is just another work. They don’t think that it’s God’s work at all. They think: “My kid’s got done. We got the kid done.” God’s completely taken out of the picture. Baptism saves, because Jesus saves, and Jesus saves through baptism. If you take the Father, Son and Holy Spirit out of baptism, then you’ve completely messed it up again. This is 100% God’s work: and God wants people to be reminded of baptism throughout their entire life, through the hearing of the word of God in the church and the receiving of the Lord’s Supper, the body and blood of Christ. God wants to continue to give people his gifts all through their life. And so, it’s no wonder that people don’t see any connection between baptism and the continual life of the church, because they think they “did their bit”: “They got the kid done.” And God’s got absolutely nothing to do with it. People make baptism into 100% their work, the parents’ work, and nothing to do with Jesus.
But one of the most deceptive misunderstandings of baptism is when people say: It’s not just baptism that saves, it’s baptism plus faith. It’s true: we’re saved by faith. But faith is not something that you do. It’s something that receives the gifts of God and doesn’t reject them. If we say, “I know I’m saved, because I’m baptised and I believe”, then we’ve added something to baptism again. We’ve put our contribution on top of it. We think God’s work isn’t good enough – we need to put some icing and a cherry on top of it. I’ve heard an old prayer that says: “God, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your church.” This is so wrong: We shouldn’t ask God to look on our faith, as if it’s another work, and our contribution, because our faith is tainted and corrupt like everything else in us. We should say instead, “God, look on Jesus’ death, look at his blood. He died for me. He is pure, I am not.” Or some churches will refuse to baptise babies because they don’t have faith. Babies are the perfect recipients of baptism, because they don’t make any contribution to it. They don’t even walk to the font themselves. The problem with adults is we want to contribute something. We want to contribute all our false promises, our failures, our self-righteousness, our feelings, our choices, our decisions, call it “faith”, and stick it in front of God’s nose as if it’s worth something. This sort of false “faith” is rife in Australia and it’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
With respect to baptism, we should say: “I am baptised, God says that whoever is baptised and believes will be saved, he says Baptism now saves me, and God does not lie.” I trust in him, I trust in his work, I trust that he did his work in baptism. That’s what faith is. It’s not another work, it’s not a contribution. It’s simply the empty hands that receive the gift. When we get a Christmas present, we just thank the person who gave it to us: we don’t thank ourselves for having hands to receive it. Of course, “no faith” means we don’t want baptism, we don’t want God, we reject his gifts. Then baptism’s no use to us.
So let’s remind ourselves of our baptism. If we’re not baptised, it’s time to receive this powerful gift. Let’s remind ourselves that God has done everything, we have done nothing. And that’s exactly what happens everytime we are in church. God speaks to us, he forgives us, he purifies us, he puts his body and blood into our hands, and we do nothing. We just sit on our backsides and simply absorb. We trust it. We put out empty hands, not full hands. That’s Christianity. If we get baptism right, we get everything right.
Jesus says: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfil all righteousness.
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your baptism by John in the river Jordan. Bless us continually with your Holy Spirit, and speak into our ears those precious words from your Father, that we are in actual fact his children, and that he is pleased with us, and showers his blessing on us, and on everything we are and do. Amen.
Friday 6 January 2012
Epiphany [Matthew 2:1-12] (6-January-12)
This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 7pm.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Matthew 2:1-12)
And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Most people in the church today would testify to having seen a decline in the church throughout their lifetime. Personally, I don’t have years and years to look back on throughout my own life, but I’ve seen a change occur in attitudes towards Christianity even in my own short lifetime.
But it’s strange: you can read books from a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, three hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, and people will often say the same thing. People say: “The church isn’t as strong as it used to be.” “There has been a decline in Christianity from earlier times.”
It always seems as though the golden era of the church was always just that little bit further back in the past, just that little bit out of the reach of today’s people. Even in the Lutheran Church of Australia: people point to our church’s hey-day in the past. In our parish, people point to an earlier time when we had full churches. People from Africa come to Australia and say the same thing: “When we used to live in Africa, people went to church, but people don’t seem to go to church any more.”
People often call our culture in Australia, and in Europe, a “post-Christian” culture. It means that in our past, most people were Christian, but now many people have rejected Christianity, even though we have many remnants of Christianity in our culture and life.
But if we look at the bible and the history of God’s people throughout the centuries and the millennia, we see that faithfulness to God, decline, decay, corruption is always present, because we all live after the fall into sin. The Garden of Eden is there in the past, and for us now, it is mysteriously shrouded and decayed, inaccessible, out of reach.
We read in Genesis 3:
Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you…You are dust and to dust you shall return.
And then we read:
And God drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
So in the whole history of the world, we can see this decline and decay and corruption that sets in. The whole world is returning to dust. As it says in Isaiah 40: All flesh is grass and its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.
But here’s the reality: there is no going back to the past. We can’t replicate the past. There is an angel standing there: a cherubim with a flaming sword wielding a devouring fire in every direction. The past is a closed book.
What our world needs, what our country needs, and what our church needs so desperately is a return not to the past, but a return to the Word of God. Because it is only with the Word of God can we be hopeful for the future. Hebrews says that the Word of God is living and active. Jesus says: My words are spirit and life. Psalm 119 says: Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.
Our Old Testament reading tonight starts with these brilliant words: Arise! Shine! For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
It’s in this context that we come to celebrate Epiphany tonight in our little church here in Traralgon. We come to church in a time of great darkness. The Jewish people at the time of Jesus’ birth were longing for the past. The Romans had invaded and taken over their land, and appointed King Herod as the king of Judea. For the Jewish people it was a time of great darkness, sadness, and disappointment.
And we read: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
As we come to finish the Christmas season for another year, it’s interesting to reflect upon all the different aspects of the Christmas story. So much of it is completely outside of our experience. Many people in our world today would simply call it mumbo-jumbo, and fairy tales.
But think about it. Before the birth of Jesus we have an angel coming to Zechariah in the temple, we have an old barren woman Elizabeth giving birth to a child, we have an angel coming to Mary, we have a boy being born of a virgin, an angel coming to Joseph, we have angels coming to shepherds in their fields, we have animals watching their maker being placed by his mother in their feed-trough, we have singing, we have rejoicing. And now tonight, on this great festival of Epiphany, we have some wise men from the east who come to Jerusalem because they were following a star.
And so many people today scoff at all this stuff, and think it’s all nonsense. They scoff, they laugh, because they don’t understand one thing: They don’t understand that when the world was created, there was a time when human beings had no sin. They think that this is the way it always has been. But it’s not true. They don’t know what it means to be a human being. Don’t you know that to see angels, to acknowledge the work of God’s fingers in each star, to listen and obey your conscience and your heart, to sing with full voice, to rejoice: these things are all a natural part of what it means to be human! These things are all part of what God created us to experience. Now that decay and corruption have set in, our consciences are so dulled and so darkened, we don’t notice angels even if they were screaming in our face, because we don’t even notice a poor man at our gate having his sores licked by the dogs. This inability to notice God, to see his hand at work, this blindness to God, this deafness to God: this is what it means when the bible says: Darkness shall cover the earth.
And at Christmas time, when the Son of God takes on human flesh from his virgin mother, we see here the beginning of a new creation, we see Jesus making all things new, we see shepherds having their eyes opened to visions of angelic choirs, we see the Jesus’ adoptive father Joseph having his mind opened to the apparition of angels in his dreams. We see these wise men from the east taking notice of the stars, and noticing them all in their distinctiveness and peculiarity, and are even so moved by what they see, that they travel through deserts and across mountains to worship the baby Jesus.
You see, here at Christmas, the whole of creation, the whole universe, people throughout the whole world, the animals, the stars, the angels, the archangels, are all involved, and the world is renewed.
When our modern scientific people say “Bah! Humbug!” to the angels, to the shepherds, to the wise men, they are not testifying to the fact that they are so enlightened, they are testifying to the fact they are corrupt, it is a testimony to the cancer of that real disease called original sin, that they have decayed so much from an earlier time when people believed these things, that they think that the only things that are possible are those things which they can see. This atheism, this denial of God, this denial of anything supernatural today, is a groping around in the darkness.
And so the preaching of the church throughout all times and in all places will always be to the world what it always has been: foolishness! St Paul says: The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
So why do people think the gospel is folly? Why is the gospel always “folly” to the world? It’s folly to the world, because God always, always puts the gospel outside of the reach of human reason. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel. God is only accessible through his clear, brilliant word.
And so the prophets and the gospels say: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. We live in darkness, and the gospel comes into our midst and shines a bright light. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
And so, we have this supernatural event which we celebrate at Epiphany: these wise men come from the east to worship the baby Jesus because they have been lead there by a star.
There are many different opinions about who these wise men are. Some people think they came from Persia (modern day Iran). Some people think they came from Babylon (modern day Iraq). Some people think they came from Arabia or even Ethiopia.
But we know that they weren’t Jews. And even so, they recognise that there is not just an unusual star in the sky, but it is a particular star: it is his star. It is the star that belongs to the King of the Jews. They say: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
How did they know it was his star, and not someone else’s? How did they come to all these conclusions?
But you see, what a wonderful inspiration of the Holy Spirit they must have received! What special people they must have been! What a wonderful calling God must have given them, that they should just up and leave their homeland, with expensive gifts, with gold, frankincense and myrrh, all because they saw a star!
This event when the wise men came to King Herod is the first time that the news of Jesus birth came to the attention of important people. Before that, the birth of Jesus was a quiet, humble affair – it happened among poor people, shepherds, animals, in a stable. But now the news is on the front page of the newspaper. And we read: When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea”… Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
You see how when Jesus comes to earth there is a renewal, and a refreshment given to all the world. “Peace on earth! Goodwill to all people!”, the angels sing. But then the darkness increases more and more. This reading tonight is just as much about King Herod’s deceit and his trickery and his jealousy than anything. And as the darkness get darker, the light shines brighter and brighter. Jesus says to us: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
And when the wise men went to go and see Jesus, we read: Behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Peace on earth! Goodwill! Joy! Great joy! – See the gifts that Jesus brings, even when he doesn’t speak, and is still wrapped up in baby clothes.
On this day of Epiphany, let’s remind ourselves not to curse the darkness, but instead to light a candle.
Jesus is here in our midst with his blessings, and we bring him our humble offerings, and we bow down and we worship him.
Jesus is here and he speaks his word, and this word powerfully and truly renews the face of the whole world in ripples outwards. It is such a wonderful, creative, life-giving, bright, brilliant word that we hear in the church.
We have been baptised with water and the Spirit. Our sins are forgiven. The body and blood of our Lord Jesus will be on the altar for us to receive. The angels are ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
And if we are not allowed to see the angels here in this life, and if God permits we very well might, we will certainty see them in the next.
The wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.
But when we awake on that final day in the resurrection, we will not be warned in dreams, we will be commended and welcomed with our eyes wide open. All these things are true, real things that are part of what it means to be a human being, created in the likeness and the image of God.
That image of God in us was lost in the fall. That image is renewed by Jesus through his death and resurrection and our forgiveness. And we see heaven and earth converging and overlapping in our reading tonight, just as it converges and overlaps secretly and mysteriously every time we gather in church and every time we hear God’s word.
And that image of God in us will be perfected when we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. And so we do not despair at the darkness! God will lead us to his Son through a brilliant, bright shining star: the light of his clear, holy and precious word.
And so St Paul says: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, send out your light and your truth and let them lead us to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Bless us with your Holy Spirit, and renew us by your word. Refresh our bodies, our senses, our faith, and our hope and we look forward to that day when we will see with our eyes what we now believe by faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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