Mid-week Lent Service 1: Audio Sermon (29-February-2012)

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Mid-week Lent Service 1 [Mark 14:26-31] (29-February-2012)

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: (Mark 14:26-31)

Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

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.

Our reading tonight begins with the words:

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

In the 19^th century, there was a Lutheran Pastor in Bavaria by the name of Wilhelm Löhe, who wrote a devotional book called “The Seed Grains of Prayer”. (Some of you may know this book, or even have a copy.) Wilhelm Löhe was responsible for founding the Neuendettelsau Mission Society which trained and sent out pastors all over the world, to Australia, North and South America, and Africa. In fact, the first missionary to Papua New Guinea, Johannes Flierl, was trained at this seminary. He also founded a movement for deaconesses.

But in his book, The Seed Grains of Prayer, there is a little section called: “Brief counsel for the Suffering and the Afflicted.” This was a little chapter, only a few pages long, where he gives advice for those who are depressed, or suffering from spiritual temptation, or from depression. To this day, I have still found nothing more useful that this little chapter.

One thing he writes is this: “When you feel as if your courage were at an end, begin to sing Psalms and hymns of confession. This is very offensive to Satan and exerts a wonderful power upon troubled souls. Especially to be recommended are the Hymns of Praise. The prayer of praise will often attain what no pleading petition may gain. At times these prayers may immediately draw you out of distress. If you are not able to sing, let others sing for you.”

As a musician, this really touches my heart – and Löhe really shows here how church music is not a matter of taste, or simply fun or enjoyment, but has to do with spiritual warfare. And singing is a weapon – it’s a weapon against the devil in the face of spiritual attack, temptation and depression. Singing exerts such a physical effect on people: Easter hymns and hymns of praise especially often have high and low notes which make you have to stretch and work physically hard with voice, lungs, and stomach muscles. And in eternity, we will sing forever, and it could probably be said that our ability to sing with all the angels in heaven will be a joyful fruit of our resurrected bodies, giving voice to all the joy and happiness of the soul.

And so here we are, gathered to listen to the history of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s starts with singing.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

This little bit of singing can be so easily overlooked. And it Greek the expression “when they had sung a hymn” is only one word: hymnêsantes. So let’s chew on this little word before we continue.

Immediately before our reading tonight, we read about Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper. And so after the Lord’s Supper, they sung a hymn. In the Gospel of John, we also read about a special sermon which he preached on that night and also a glorious prayer which he prayed. You can read all of this in chapters 13—17 of John. But in the other gospels, the details are summarised. All that is mentioned is that they sung a hymn.

It was always the custom to sing Psalms 113 through to 118 at the Passover, and so this is probably what was indicated in the gospels. These 6 psalms were called the “Great Hallelujah”. You will probably be familiar with many verses from these psalms: What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

What wonderful words with which Jesus should begin his suffering and death! What a wonderful and invigorating song!

Think about the words: Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. See Jesus walking through the gates of righteousness, entering into the sanctuary of God as our high priest pouring out his own sacrificial blood on the cross, taking on our sin to be our righteousness. See Jesus as the stone that the builders rejected.

What a day of suffering it will be for Jesus! What a day of great gladness it will be for us when our sins are atoned for by our precious Saviour! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This is the day that the Lord has made!

And so, Jesus begins his journey to the cross with these songs on his lips, being filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. In the same way, each time we come to church and participate in the divine service, we don’t just come to reflect on the end of the week, but we come to prepare ourselves for another week with Jesus, rejoicing in our sufferings, as St Paul says in Romans 5. Because with singing the praises of God, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and are given power to endure which comes from the Holy Spirit alone, because we are joining in with what is already taking place on the other side of the grave.

And so, Jesus begins his suffering and death and his journey with a hymn.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Now we see that not only does Jesus prepare for his suffering with a hymn but also with prayer. We read in the bible that the Mount of Olives was almost like a favourite place for Jesus. We read in Luke 21 that “everyday [Jesus] was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet.” (Mount Olivet is another name for the Mount of Olives.) And nearby the Mount of Olives was the town of Bethany, where he often stayed and visited his friends Lazarus, and Mary and Martha. In Luke 6, we read that he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

So you see, Jesus doesn’t want to be arrested at his Supper, in the city, where there is a great crowd, but he goes to a quiet place, his favourite place, his refuge of prayer. And he prepares to meet his betrayer with prayer.

St John describes this in a bit more detail, and says that Jesus had to cross to Kidron Valley. The Kidron Valley was just near the Mount of Olives, and many years previous, King David had also crossed this valley and the brook there to escape from his son Absalom. But Jesus goes across there not to escape his enemies, but to prepare himself to face them.

And so we read: And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

Jesus comes to the place of prayer, and makes a prophecy to his disciples. He looks deeply into their hearts. St John’s Gospel chapter 2 says: Jesus himself knew what was in man. He knows that there is nothing good that dwells in their flesh, much more deeply than they can ever know themselves.

And he says: You will all fall away.

There is no disciple, without exception, who will not fall away.

And Jesus quotes from the prophet Zechariah: For it is written: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”

Here we see that God’s hand is at work: he stretches out his hand and strikes the shepherd. A long time ago, Abraham lifted up a knife against his son, but the angel of God prevented him and God himself provided a Lamb. But here we have a different situation. Here Jesus is actually the Lamb of God, whom God himself provides. Jesus is his only Son whom he loves, but Jesus is also the Lamb that God provides. With Abraham, his son and the ram who is caught in the thicket bush are two different things. With Jesus, he is both the Son of God and the Lamb of God.

And we read in Isaiah 53 (one of the most wonderful chapters in the whole of the Old Testament): We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted…It was the will of God to crush him, he has put him to grief… the Lord has laid on him (placed upon him) the iniquity of us all.

And so we read in Zechariah: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

You can just imagine when there is a shepherd in a field with his sheep, and a wild animal comes and attacks the shepherd, or a robber comes with a club and hits him over the head, the sheep will run in all directions. This is exactly what is happening here. This is exactly what Jesus is prophesying what will happen. God the Father will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

But there is a profound reason why the sheep will be scattered. It is not just for no reason that it has to happen like this – it is not for no reason that Jesus prophesies that this will happen.

Let’s read once more what happens in the reading:

Jesus said to them: “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”

Peter doesn’t want this prophecy to come true. He doesn’t like it, and he wants to make a stronger to commitment to Jesus.

But you see, it simply must come true. Jesus prophesies here that there simply has to be a separation between the shepherd and the sheep. Jesus prophesies that there simply must be a dividing line between the Son of God and his disciples. Nobody can die for the sins of the world with him: not Peter, not James and John, not Mary his mother – no-one can make the one true perfect sacrifice. Nobody else is true God and true man, intimately united the one person. Jesus is the only Lamb of God, he is the only Lamb that the Lord provides in the thicket bush. Only one Lamb is stuck with his horns in the shrubbery.

Peter died on a cross later in his life, so we are told from historians. But his death did not make atonement for the sins of the world: in fact, it didn’t even make atonement for Peter. Only Jesus’ death can do that.

So Jesus prophesies that the sheep will be scattered. And he puts the sheep as far away from the shepherd so that it’s clear to everyone that no-one else has made a contribution to our salvation. And as we know, no-one else can make a contribution to their salvation. Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus. By his stripes we are healed. On him the Lord laid the iniquity of us all, and he has laid them on no one else. And when we know that they are only laid on him, then we can be certain that the iniquities which are laid on him are those that belong to us all. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

And Jesus is so gracious here, that he even says: And after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Jesus prophesies not just the fact that the shepherd will be struck, and the sheep will be scattered, but also the fact that the shepherd will get back up on his feet and call all the sheep back to him.

And we read in so much detail how Jesus came and met his disciples after his resurrection, and treated them in such a friendly way, it’s almost as if they never ran away, and that Peter never denied him three times. Sure, we can see the scars in his hands, but he treats them just like they are still his friends, with no grudges that they walked out on him at his darkest hour. He gently comes to breathe on his disciples the Holy Spirit, to call them by the Gospel, to gather them together, to enlighten them with his gifts, and sanctify them and keep them in the true faith.

You see, everytime we sin and we walk out on Jesus and deny him and turn our back on him, he is there with open arms, to gather us again, to seek after the one lost sheep who has gone astray. That’s what it means to have a loving shepherd of our souls! No wonder we have two congregations in the parish named Good Shepherd.

But you see, Peter doesn’t want this either.

He says, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

You see here that Peter is presumptuous. He rejects Jesus’ words, and he rejects the words of the prophet Zechariah. Peter’s denial has already begun. And the disciples all say the same thing—they all listen to and follow the example of Peter.

Peter even wants to put himself above all the rest of the disciples: “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”

But Jesus reaffirms the future for Peter: “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.”

But that’s precisely the point, Peter! We don’t want you to die with Jesus, because you aren’t the Saviour of the world, and you can’t earn us a dry fig for our salvation! Get out of the way, Peter! Let Jesus die by himself.

Romans 11 says: “God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”

Peter, you need to be happy with the fact that you are a sinner. You will be disobedient. And you will deny your Lord many times. If you are not happy to be considered by God disobedient, then simply put you will never receive his mercy.

God has consigned all to disobedience. Listen to those words. They include you. There is one Saviour. There is one Good Shepherd. There is one name given here on earth among us by which we can be saved.

If you don’t want to be a sheep, then you make yourself a false shepherd.

Let Jesus die for you by himself, and put you far from him, so that he can go to Galilee and gather you back to himself again.

So here we see Peter with a false trust, a false confidence, a false expectation of his own capabilities. You may feel sometimes, you really want to set your life straight, and put it in order, and it just never works, and then you despair and groan even more than you did before. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to get any better.

But it’s time to let go of Jesus, and let go of your idolatrous ideas of wanting to die with him and be your own Saviour. It’s time for you to deny him, the separate yourself from him, let go of him, run away from him in accordance with his prophetic words, so that he can go to the cross by himself, and die alone for your sins. And then when he is raised from the dead, he alone will gather you into his sheepfold, he alone will forgive you, and he alone will build his church.

And so he goes to die a lonely death, by himself, alone: for you and for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the forgiveness of all your runnings-away, and all your denials, and all your attempts to die for the sins of the world yourself.

Jesus says: I am the Good Shepherd.

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us! Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Lent 1: Audio Sermon (26-February-2012)

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Lent 1 [Matthew 4:1-11] (26-February-2012)

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 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 4:1-11)

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

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.

Today the devil’s greatest trick is that he convinces people that he doesn’t exist. People also believe that there will be no judgment, no reckoning, no hell, no punishment. And of course when people don’t believe that the devil exists, it’s a small jump before people don’t believe in God.

But who is the devil? Who is he? What is he?

In the Nicene Creed, we say, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen.”

God not only creates the earth, but he fills it: he puts things on the earth. He makes the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, the plants, and human beings. There’s all sorts of creatures that God makes and forms and puts on the earth.

But also, God creates the heavens and he fills them: he appoints the sun, moon, stars, planets, meteors, galaxies, nebulae – all sorts of things there.

But when we say that God created the heavens, we’re not simply talking about the sky and the universe and outer space. We’re also talking about the invisible realm where God dwells. In the Nicene Creed we say: “of all things seen and unseen.”

So we also believe that God fills the heavens with invisible creatures, angels, archangels, heavenly spirits, cherubim (which Ezekiel describes as winged creatures with the faces of a lion, ox, eagle and a man), and seraphim (which Isaiah describes as having six wings, two to cover their faces, two to cover the feet, and two to fly). And these heavenly creatures, these heavenly beings, are spiritual beings – they are not fleshly, they are not body and blood, flesh and bones like us. They are without bodies, like wind or fire, but in a way that they are unseen.

The first thing in Isaiah’s prophecies in Isaiah chapter 1 is the words: “Hear, O heavens!” Who is he talking to? The clouds? The sun? The moon? No – he’s talking to the angels, the heavenly beings.

Now, some of you might think I’m being a bit speculative – but I’m not making anything up from my own ideas: I’m simply describing to you the things that are revealed in the bible, in the Scripture itself. We can say that these things exist, and they do things, but we should be careful not to go beyond what the Scripture says about angels.

Now here’s a couple more things: no matter what arrogant atheists think, Christians do not believe that God the Father is stuck up in the clouds somewhere. God does not live on a planet on the other side of the universe, like the Mormons think. God is not confined to physical space. But he transcends it. He breaks into it. So often in the bible, we see God reveal himself from heaven, from clouds, as a voice from heaven, and such like. But that doesn’t mean that he’s stuck up there – but he’s everywhere. God is there, everywhere, at all times and in all places. So it’s fitting that he should send down his voice from the sky, from heaven at various times in history, because he’s there in such a way that we are not. He shows us that there is a difference between us and him. As Ecclesiastes 5 says: “God is in heaven and you are on the earth: Therefore let your words be few.”

Now what about the devil? Where does he come into the picture? Well, he is an angel, but one that has fallen into sin just like the human race. Angels can be either holy and pure, or evil and unclean. Like human beings, God created the angels in the beginning with a certain freedom of will, so that they could freely love God. But with that freedom, also comes the abuse by some of the angels, and with the entirety of the human race.

We don’t know exactly when this fall of the angels happened, and it’s not described in great detail in the Bible. But when Adam and Eve are confronted by the temptation to sin in the Garden of Eden before their fall into sin, the devil is ready and waiting for them.

But here’s another strange thing: the devil is not very often mentioned in the Old Testament. There’s the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, and there’s the book of Job, where Job is tested by Satan. But apart from that there’s very little mentioned. Also, talk about demons very rarely occurs in the Old Testament either. There’s a couple of passages, one in Deuteronomy 32 and one in Psalm 106, where it talks about idol worshippers sacrificing their innocent daughters to the demons. But apart from that, there is very little written about the devil and demons in the Old Testament.

Nevertheless, in the New Testament, demons are everywhere. It’s almost as if as soon as Jesus comes on the scene, there’s demons yelling out to Jesus around every street corner. There’s a demon-possessed man who calls out to Jesus in the synagogue, Jesus casts out demons, and in our gospel reading today, he is tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

But one thing we have to understand about the devil is that he is a fake. He is a spiritual being like God and the angels, but he pretends that he is equal to God, and wants to convince people like us that we should do away with God and enthrone ourselves as gods instead. But when this happens, we always end up with the cheap alternative. The devil is not God – he is a pretend god.

In the same way, the devil always corrupts something that God created good into something perverted. So we have apostles, then Paul writes about the fake-apostles. We have the gospel, and we have people who preach a false gospel. We have pastors, and we have fake pastors. We have churches, and we have fake churches. We have God, and we have fake gods like money, prestige, honour, and health. Everything that the devil does is making fakes.

We have to make sure that we worship the one true God.

And so where we have Jesus, we have fake Jesus-es. We have Christ, and we have antichrists.

We have to understand that wherever Jesus is, the devil is always working very hard to destroy his work and corrupt it into something fake. We are gathered here in a church today where we believe Jesus is actually here, physically present in his resurrected body. Mt 28: “I am with you always to the end of the age.” Ephesians 2: “Christ is the cornerstone of the church.” The devil wants to make sure that we don’t believe it, and that we build a church where Jesus simply isn’t around and is stuck up in a tardis on planet Mars somewhere.

We believe that the Word of God, the holy Scriptures, are pure and clear. The say what they mean, and they mean what they say. There’s nothing that we need to remove from them, and there’s nothing that we need to add to them. The devil doesn’t want us to trust in them in their simplicity: He wants us to be intimidated by learned scholars who have never prayed a word to God in their lives and write books twice the size of the bible explaining what it means. He wants to turn our eyes away from the clear Scripture a pope to add his authority to it, or towards a Koran, or a Book of Mormon, or to the Watchtower Society. Or else he wants us to trust in what we think God is speaking to us in his own hearts in the privacy of our own bedrooms, as if we think we’re the Christian version of the Dalai Lama or something. The word of God is clear.

We believe that the water of holy baptism saves us through the word of God, and brings to us all the gifts of the Holy Spirit: forgiveness of sins, life, salvation, and the promise of the resurrection of the body. 1 Peter 3: “Baptism now saves you.” Titus 3: “God saved us, through the washing of the regeration and renewal through the Holy Spirit.” The devil wants to make sure that we believe that the water of baptism is nothing and to put our trust in our own feelings, and the “working of the Holy Spirit” in our hearts. This is nothing else but the devil ripping away the certainty of salvation from us, by taking our eyes away from God’s work outside of us, and turning our eyes inside of us.

We believe that the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of Christ. Mt 26, Mk 14, Luke 22, 1 Cor 11 says: This is my body. This is my blood. Four times in the New Testament. The devil wants to make sure that we believe that Jesus is not there and give us a fake, empty sacrament – some sort of remembrance meal – instead, so that Jesus own pledge, which he gave to us in the night he was betrayed, as his will, his testament, is no use to us, and then people blaspheme the sacrament, and trample all over it like it’s nothing.

Jesus on the other hand says, “The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.” There is still a church on earth, and as long as we have the church with us, we should be courageous and bold in inviting people to be part of it, so that they can meet Jesus here in the divine service for themselves, walk into the presence of the living God, believe in Jesus and be saved.

1 Peter 5 says: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” St John says: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

So what is the work of the devil? One sentence: He twists the word of God. In the Garden of Eden, he said: “Did God really say?” And all the work is done.

And so in the wilderness, the devil goes to Jesus and says: “If you are Son of God, turn stones into bread.” Create something for me. Show off for me. “Jump of the temple, because you know it says in Psalm 91 that the angels will come and save you.” “Bow down and worship me.”

And each time, Jesus simply restores the clarity and simplicity of the Scriptures: It is written. It is written. Begone, Satan! It is written.

It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

It is written: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

It is written: You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

The most amazing thing about our reading today is not simply that Jesus didn’t eat for 40 days and 40 nights. But the amazing thing is that after centuries of centuries of the devil leading all sorts of people astray, Adam, Eve, Cain, King Saul, King David, King Solomon, you name it – there is not one person unscathed – after all this time, and after all the practice that the devil had in deceiving people, Jesus was not deceived. He won the victory. And it’s in the midst of this great suffering and temptation of Jesus that we read that the angels came and were ministering to him.

But apart from all that, Jesus shows us the weapons, and he gives us the weapons: the living and active Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword.

And you are buried with Jesus through baptism into death. You are covered over with the blood of Jesus so that when the angel of death passes over you will not be touched. Christ’s death is yours, his resurrection is yours, the gift of eternal life is yours: and it is all yours for one simple reason – “It is written.” Amen.

Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill, they shall not overpower us. The world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will. He can harm us none, he’s judged, fore’er undone. One little word can fell him. Amen.

Ash Wednesday: Audio Sermon (22-February-12)

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Ash Wednesday [Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21] (22-February-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 6:1-6, 16-21)

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

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.

Our gospel reading from Matthew chapter 6 is from the middle of one of Jesus most famous sermons often called “The Sermon on the Mount.” It starts with the beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and later Jesus explains the 10 commandments in detail. But right in the middle of the sermon we have our gospel reading tonight, which speaks about three different things: giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting.

And three times in our reading tonight we read the words: And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Tonight we come together to celebrate Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, which is a season of the church year where we prepare for Easter for 40 days. These 40 days are in honour of the 40 days where Jesus fasted in the wilderness. And it is also called a season of repentance, sometimes also called a penitential season of the church year. There are two seasons like this, Lent and Advent. Advent prepares for Christmas, and Lent prepares for Easter.

Lent was also a time for self-examination, prayer, fasting: a time to have a good look at yourself in the mirror, a time to acknowledge what sort of a person you really are that Christ needed to so painfully suffer and die for you.

But why do we prepare for these happy times of the church year, Christmas and Easter, with repentance, prayer, and fasting? Because it acknowledges one very serious reality: the Christian faith is no use to anyone if we don’t recognise that we are sinners. The birth of Jesus is no use to you, if you don’t recognise that you were conceived and born in sin. The death of Jesus is no use, if you don’t recognise that the wages of your sin is death. The resurrection of Jesus is of no use to you if you don’t recognise that without Christ, you are dead in your sins.

This is a very serious business. There are many false prophets in the world today who want you to think differently. There are many people who think that sin is something that something that can be laughed away: “She’ll be right! Everyone’s a sinner!” But just because everyone’s a sinner doesn’t mean that everyone’s saved.

We are living in very evil times, because not only do people not believe in God, but they don’t believe that the devil is real, or that there is a hell, a judgment, a reckoning for every careless word spoken, and every sinful thought.

And before we start to think that the people who think like that are outside, over there somewhere, out there in the big bad world, remember that these lies of the devil are your cradle. You’ve been raised with these lies, you’ve breathed them in your whole life long – you’re not immune. In fact, every single person born in the natural way, is born with sin. Every thought word, and action is done is blemished, and tainted, and scarred with sin. Genesis 6 says: “Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” St Paul in Romans 3 says: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no-one does good, not even one… There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In 1530, the first Lutherans were asked to confess their faith publicly by the Emperor Charles V in the city of Augsburg. In the presence of many witnesses, they read their confession of faith, which was called the Augsburg Confession. This confession of faith became then the foundation of faith, teaching and confession for the Lutheran church. This is what they wrote about sin: “It is also taught among us that since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin. That is, all men are full of evil lust and inclinations from their mothers’ wombs and are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.”

Now, in our reading tonight, Jesus speaks about three things: giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. These are not good works for us to earn God’s grace and favour by our own efforts. If we want to appease God with our own works, then we spit in the face of everything that Christ did for us on the cross. He died for you, he rose again from the dead for you, he has baptised you. Jesus saves you and only Jesus saves you. Acts 4 says: “There is no other name given among men by which we can be saved.”

If Jesus had to die for you, do you think that you’re few dollars that you give to the needy, or your stammering prayers, and skipping the odd meal here and there are going to earn salvation for you?

Nevertheless, giving to the needy, prayer and fasting teach you about God through experience and they teach you about yourself. And anything that teaches you about yourself, teaches you about sin.

Now, what is interesting about our reading tonight is this: Jesus doesn’t wave his finger at you and say, “Oi! Give to the needy! Pray! Fast! Do it, because I say so!”

That’s what’s Islam says. It says, let me tell you what to do to be a good Muslim: say that you believe in Allah, pray, fast, give to the poor, go to Mecca. That’s called to five pillars of Islam.

Now Jesus is talking in a completely different way. He teaches about these things by saying: “When you give to the needy, when you pray, when you fast.”

Jesus assumes that you will do these things as part of your life. He also doesn’t give you a money limit for giving to the poor, a time limit for prayer, and a food limit for fasting. He leaves that to you.

Each person will notice different needy people at different times. It’s important that when we see Lazarus sitting at our gate that we don’t harden our hearts to such people.

Each person will have a different capacity to pray. It’s important also that we don’t neglect to pray and treat it as unimportant.

Each person will have a different physical capacity to fast. It’s important also that we don’t neglect the faith completely like so many do because they do nothing but worry about what goes into their bellies.

Now the interesting thing about each of these things, giving to the needy, prayer and fasting, is that Jesus doesn’t want us to do these things so that we can be noticed by other people.

He says: “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” Notice Jesus choice of words here and let them sink into your heart and convict you: Beware! You will have no reward!

With governments, service clubs and other organisations, they always want it the other way around. They want to be seen. They want people to notice them. They don’t realise that ultimately they are answerable to God: instead they make people their judges and only do what they can do so that they look good. You don’t have to go very far in Gippsland to see the enormous social dysfunction, broken families, hurting people: and most of the time, nobody does a thing to help these people, but instead perpetuate the problem. The government does nothing, service clubs do nothing, and most of the time, churches also do nothing, because it’s thankless work and nobody sees it. Governments only invest in what will give them votes, and other organisations will only invest in what will continue their funding.

I’m not saying that governments and service clubs like Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary and such like don’t do a lot of good things. Of course, they do a lot of good things. But they do it to be seen. And so on the last day, there will be no reward for the Australian government, Lions and such like. They already have their reward.

There are a lot of people in the world who want to do good and help people, both inside the church and outside the church. But there is always so much back-patting that goes on – we did this, we did that, and aren’t we good! Beware! You will have no reward!

Jesus says: When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

If you want to help people and do something good, do something that won’t be seen, that no one will know about, because then you can be sure that God himself sees it. If nobody will know about it, then you can be sure that God is shining his light on it for you and saying to you: Go over there, and help that person.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Now when it comes to prayer, Jesus tells us the same thing: You must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

There is one thing to pray in public together – and often when we do come together in public in prayer, we pray set prayers that everyone can join in with: psalms, songs, hymns, the Lord’s prayer, or else the pastor prays and we all add our responses and “Amen” at the end. But all of this is so unflashy! How people love to criticise prayers out of the book, and say “It needs to come from the heart!” What people really mean when they want public services to be full of “meaningful”, “heartfelt” prayers is that there are few people that have been longing for their whole life to put their prayer-life on a stage, on the street corners. And so we have churches all over the world now, where people have to feign sincerity by waving their hands in the air and perfecting this pious look on their face as if they’re passing a kidney stone. And then they look with disdain on other churches who pray out of a book, and say: It’s not from the heart.  You shouldn’t pray out of a book.

Rubbish! When it comes to set prayers, what about the Lord’s Prayer and the book of Psalms, not to mention 151 examples right there? Then we don’t have to put up with everyone’s “heartfelt”, “show-offy” pretences of prayer. Don’t be embarrassed because you are a good old Lutheran who doesn’t know how to pray in front of other people. Ecclesiastes 5 says: God is in heaven and you are on earth, therefore let your words be few.

Jesus tonight lets you off the hook with pretending to be a Pentecostal prayer expert and says: go to your room, shut the door. Forget about your kidney stones, and your pretences. Stammer and stumble and lisp all you like. Fall asleep during your prayer, and wake up again. Cry and sigh all you like. Your heavenly Father understands that language, and he listens, and he cares. St Peter says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer doesn’t have to be some long-winded affair. But it is a secret affair.

The same goes for fasting. Fasting is not an excuse to make ourselves look miserable, and putting a guilt trip on everyone else for not being as miserable as we are. For us, fasting is a joyous preparation to receive the gifts of God, like the message of Christmas and Easter, or the Lord’s Supper. Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism: “Fasting and bodily preparation are indeed fine outward training.”

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Hear these repeated words tonight, like a repeated chorus to a song: Your Father who sees in secret, your Father who sees in secret, your Father who sees in secret.

It takes great courage to do something in secret, to do something purely because God will see it and no one else. That will be the strength of Christianity: not doing things to be seen, but doing good things for people in secret, praying in secret, fasting in secret. Because when something is done in secret then it is done together with God alone.

Giving to the needy teaches us to be generous, and that all our daily bread comes from God. Prayer teaches us that all our time comes from God. And fasting teaches us that our bodies come from God.

But doing these things in secret teaches us to trust in God, and to learn from experience that in actual fact is our judge and no one else. And in the meantime we will live in this broken world and say to our heavenly Father, “Lord, how long?” But don’t you realise that his work is being done in secret?

 Christians and pastors might think: what’s happening to the church? Why can’t we make a bigger noise? Why are people turning away?

Jesus died. He rose. He baptised people. He forgives your sins. He gives you his body and blood. But these things aren’t flashy, and so churches throughout the world – and even Lutherans in this country, Australia – are exchanging their birthright for lentil stew, making any old excuse to get backsides on seats and then patting themselves on the back for supposedly doing God’s work for him and making themselves supposedly look good with strategic plans, competency indicators, and all things which that devil would like us to call “being practical”, all at the expense of being faithful to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says: Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

The Word of God taught – The sacraments administered rightly -- It’s a lonely road. It gets no praise – only persecution and every scheme of the devil against it. But you should lay up for yourselves these heavenly treasures. Lay up for yourselves the clear words of the Holy bible, holy baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. For where your heart is, there your heart will be also. Lift up your hearts! We lift them up to the Lord!

And the rest of it God’s working in secret, and he calls you to work with him covered in the holy and precious blood of Jesus Christ – in secret.

Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Amen.

And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Transfiguration: Audio Sermon (19-February-2012)

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Transfiguration [Matthew 17:1-9] (19-February-2012)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralagon (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: (Matthew 17:1-9)

And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

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 the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world”.

Now when we hear these words of Jesus, what do we hear? Do we hear him talking about physical light, or spiritual light?

But I think it’s actually not good for us to separate spiritual light and physical light too much. Jesus truly is the light of the world, as he says. And this is very true in a spiritual sense that gives to us the light of the Holy Spirit.

But what about the physical light? What about light in a physical sense? In our reading today, about the Transfiguration, there doesn’t seem to be any distinction between spiritual and physical light. We read: He was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white and light.

Many ancient cultures worshipped the sun, and they acknowledged that the sun was where life came from. Where there was sun, the plants grew up, the flowers budded, there’s warmth, and happiness. The sun makes people feel good. If people are depressed and have a deficiency in vitamin D, this is fixed by going out into the sunshine.

But the light that we receive from the sun is only a small part of the light that flows from God. God is the one who dwells unapproachable light. In the book of Genesis, we read that light was the first thing that God created when he set about shaping and forming the earth. In fact, many people throughout the centuries, and people who call themselves “scientists” who are not really true scientists, since they think they can look at God under their microscopes, have ridiculed Genesis, because they think it’s silly that God created light on the first day and the sun and the moon and the stars on the fourth day. How can you have light without the sun?

But you see, light comes from the nature of God’s being. God is the one who dwells in light, who then creates light for the universe and the world, and then who appoints the sun, the moon and the stars to give light, which is his gift.

The sun doesn’t bring plants and things to life. God does, making use of the sun and his instrument, his means, his tools.

And so, at the beginning of the world, there is light, with no sun. At the end of the bible, we read that there is also no sun. St John says: “I saw so temple in the [holy] city, [the new Jerusalem], for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

In our reading today, we learn and recognise a profound truth, which no one else could possibly learn or come to know outside the church, and outside of the word of God: That light and life does not come from the universe, it does not come from nature, it does not come from created things, but it comes from God.

We have learnt that there is a God, the Father Almighty, who made heaven and earth. No pagan, no outside to the faith could possibly know this. They only believe in what they can see with their eyes: they don’t believe there are things both “seen and unseen” that God has created.

But there’s one more thing that we learn in today’s reading. This light does not simply radiate out of heaven, from the clouds, from burning bushes, or however God would choose to reveal himself. This uncreated pure clear light radiates from the flesh of Jesus Christ, it streams from his face, and it even shines out through his clothes.

This is a profound mystery of the faith which we need to come to terms with and consider very deeply in our hearts. This man, Jesus Christ, is the light of the world. All light and all life comes from him. It is not the sun that brings things to life, but it is Jesus Christ himself who brings things to life. Jesus is not a sun-god. The ancient Egyptians and the Incas believed in a sun-god. We can laugh at this, but we should also remember that these were great civilisations, that achieved great things. And they were right in a sense because they worshipped what they thought gave them light and life. People today think that light and life comes from their own reason and will-power. That of course is a false god.

Christians also worship the person who gives light and life to the world: but it isn’t Rah, the Egyptian sun-god, or Inti, the sun-god of the Incas. We worship Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who was in the beginning, who was with God, and who is God. As we say in the Nicene Creed: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, GOD FROM GOD, LIGHT FROM LIGHT, TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; [and then it quotes John 1:2]: through him all things were made.” John chapter 1 says: All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

And so in our reading today, we read about this miraculous event, where the three apostles, Peter, James and John were allowed to see the uncreated light of God, shine through Jesus face.

They see this marvellous vision. And not only that but this light reveals the presence of the company of heaven standing there with Jesus: Moses and Elijah on either side. And then we read: “Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

What a marvellous event that took place here!

We read: “When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.”

We should take notice of this, because we realise that being in the presence of God, and seeing the light coming from Jesus’ face sheds light on our sinfulness, and our unworthiness to be there.

Often in the bible, sin and darkness are spoken of together. And we shouldn’t think of this purely in terms of some “spiritual” darkness, but we should think about it very concretely and physically. Many places in the bible it says things like this: “You are not in darkness brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

The fact that people do shameful things, sinful things, at night, rather than in broad daylight is a testimony to their bad conscience. If you want to rob a shop or a bank, why not do it where everyone can see it? If you want to get drunk and beat someone up in the middle of Melbourne, why not do it at lunchtime? If you want to have an affair and cheat on your husband and wife, why not do it in their presence where they can see it?

Sin and darkness go together. If you want to examine your conscience, ask, what am I ashamed to do in broad daylight? Sure, there are things that a private, and don’t belong in daylight, but what do I hide from others, so that I intentionally hide from others?

Of course, nothing can be hidden from Jesus Christ. And when we are in the presence of Christ, when we are baptised, when Jesus walks into our life, he turns on the light, and shines his light over all the mess. And it’s shameful for us when he does this. But he shines the light on it so that it can be forgiven. John says: God’s Son did not come into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through him.

This light comes through God’s Word. It’s God’s Word that shines over everything, to reveal the sin and to forgive it. Notice in our reading today, that the apostles fall down on their faces, when God speaks to them from the cloud.

But here’s the great mystery of the reading: At the end of the reading we read: “Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

See the forgiving, gentle hand of Jesus, and his loving words! He doesn’t shine his light to terrorise people – but once we are terrified in his presence, once we do recognise our unworthiness and sinfulness in his presence, he comes and he touches us, and he says: “Rise and have no fear.”

You can see here that our worthiness, our holiness, our purity, doesn’t come from our works, and our efforts. It comes purely through Jesus kind words and his effort to come and touch us, and reach out to us.

But now, what did they see when they looked up? They saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

They saw no one but Jesus only. No light. No Moses. No Elijah. No cloud. No voice of God. Just Jesus.

It’s as Jesus says: “Trust me! You know that I am true God of God, light of light – now will you still believe that I am the same Jesus when I am surrounded by darkness?”

It’s so easy to think that with Jesus we will have this rosy, hunky-dory life, where nothing goes wrong. But Jesus calls us to believe that he is the light of the world, especially in those times when we can’t see it.

At the transfiguration, Jesus is bathed in radiating light, surrounded on either side with Moses and Elijah, and the voice of God says: “This is my Son.”

And on Good Friday, the sun is darkened, Jesus naked body is clothed in blood and sweat, a thief on either side, and instead of God’s voice from heaven, we hear the words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And it’s the same Jesus! It’s the same God of God, Light of Light!

It’s the same transfigured Jesus. And Jesus is the light of the world in the strongest way, in the most powerful, clearest way, when he is offering up his body and soul as the one true sacrifice for sin. That’s where Jesus light shines most clearly for us!

And so it’s no wonder that the church on earth is one that is clothed in self-doubt, shame, despair – but Jesus wants you to trust that baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper are filled with the same life and light that shone at the transfiguration. The transfiguration gives us that hope that one day the things we believed by faith will be shown to us by sight on the last day, just as Jesus rose from the dead, showed his hands and side to Thomas. It was then that Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!”

So, let’s remember the words of St Peter today! "Lord, it is good that we are here!" Remember what Jacob said when he saw the vision of the ladder: “This is none other than the house of God, and this is gate of heaven!”

It’s good to be here! It’s good to be in the presence of Jesus! It’s good to have been baptised by him! It’s good to be spoken to by him, and forgiven by him! It’s good to be here! It’s good to eat and drink his body and blood given for us for the forgiveness of sins!

Lord, it is good that we are here!

And we read: “Jesus came and touched them saying, “Rise, and have no fear!”

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we place ourselves, our hearts, our minds, our bodies and our sin into your marvellous light. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for you are with me! Bless us with your Holy Spirit, teach us to be children of the light, and to follow you faithfully though the darkness. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief! Amen.