Reformation: Audio Sermon (27-Oct-2013)

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Reformation [Acts 2:42] (27-Oct-2013)

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: (Acts 2:42)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

[Kä cua lo̱ckiɛn la̱th ŋi̱i̱cä jaakni kɛnɛ matdiɛn kɛ mi̱eth kɛ̈ɛ̈l kɛnɛ pal.]

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.

 

Right at the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus says to the apostles: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. [Kä yɛn bia buɔ̱m jek mi wä Yiëë in Gɔaa in Rɛl Rɔ ben kä yɛ. Kä bi yɛn a nëënkä kä Jɛ-ru-tha-lɛm, kɛnɛ rɛy Ju-dia kɛɛliw, kɛ Tha-mɛ-ria kɛnɛ pek ɣɔaa kɛɛliw.]

The apostles were called to be witnesses [nëën]. And a witness is someone who has seen something and testifies to it. When someone is taken to court, and the judge wants to know something, a witness is brought forward to tell people what happened. So the apostles were chosen by Jesus and sent for this purpose: they had seen Jesus risen from the dead and they were be witnesses.

Judas was also one of these witnesses, but before Jesus died, he betrayed Jesus, and then went and hanged himself. So after Jesus ascended into heaven, they gathered together to elect another apostle to replace Judas. Peter said: So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. [Kä ɛnɔ bi ram kɛl kä nɛy tin ci ja̱l kɛɛl kɛ kɔn gua̱thni diaal mëë te Yecu rɛydan, a tookɛ jɛ nikä la̱k Jɔ̱ɔ̱n amäni gua̱a̱th ëë naŋkɛ Yecu nhial kä kɔn. Ɛn ram ɛmɔ bɛ la neen kɛɛl kɛ kɔn amäni jiëcdɛ kɛ rɔ li̱th.] And so they chose Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. [Kä cua jɛ mat kä jaak da̱ŋ wäl wi̱cdɛ kɛl.]

You can see that the most important thing here is that Matthias saw Jesus and his resurrection. He was a witness, an eye-witness.

On the day of Pentecost, after Peter preached his sermon, we read that many people were converted. We read: Those who received his word were baptised, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. [Kä cua nɛy ti bathdɔɔri da̱ŋ diɔ̱k ma̱t kɛ ɛn cäŋ ɛmɔ.] Now, what did these 3000 people do? We read: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [Kä cua lo̱ckiɛn la̱th ŋi̱i̱cä jaakni kɛnɛ matdiɛn kɛ mi̱eth kɛ̈ɛ̈l kɛnɛ pal.]

Notice that none of these new Christians became witnesses of Jesus. Instead they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. [Kä cua lo̱ckiɛn la̱th ŋi̱i̱cä jaakni]. The apostles were the witnesses, everyone else devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

What does it mean that they devoted themselves? First of all, it means that they trusted in what the apostles said. They trusted that the apostles were faithful witnesses, and that what they were saying about Jesus was true. They had heard a little bit about Jesus on the day of Pentecost and they wanted to continue to learn, they wanted their faith to increase and grow and strengthen. So they trusted that the apostles’ words were true.

Also, the early Christians also taught the apostles’ teaching. This is the second meaning of the words: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. In the church, pastors teach the apostles’ teaching. In homes, parents teach their children the apostles’ teaching. Older people teach the apostles’ teaching to younger people in Sunday Schools or in Christian schools.

But also, there is a third meaning: They confessed the apostles’ teaching. They heard the word of God, and then they spoke God’s word back to him in psalms and prayers. They also confessed God’s word in the presence of the angels, and also before the whole world. Many times also in the book of Acts, Christians (both the apostles and others) were called to confess the faith in courts and before kings and governors.

St Paul says in Philippians: And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. [Kä bi lëëp diaal ɛ lat ɛn ɣöö Yecu Kritho ɛ Kuäär].

The word confess means to “speak together”. When we confess our sin, we speak together with God and we speak the truth about ourselves which he already knows. When we confess our faith, we confess the same thing that has been said by the church for centuries. We say the same thing as the apostles, the same thing as Christians before us.

Often today, many Christians think that they have to witness. They think that they have to tell people what Jesus has done in their life. But Jesus never asks you to witness to him—that is the apostles’ job. They are the ones who saw Jesus.

This might sound strange because so often Christians have been told that they have to give a witness. And if we’re not called to witness to Christ, what are we called to do instead? Confess the faith. If someone asks you what you believe, say what Christians have always said: quote something from the creed, or a bible verse, or something like that. Say the same thing that Christians have always said.

No-one is going to be saved because they heard about what Jesus did in your life. People are only going to be saved because they have heard about what Jesus did for both yours and their life on the cross.

The confession of the faith doesn’t belong to you personally. It belongs to all Christians, and we confess the faith together. The apostles say: we saw the Lord Jesus risen from the dead. We say: I didn’t see him, but the apostles saw him. This is the difference between witnessing and confessing.

So the first Christians devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. They believed, taught and confessed what the apostles taught them. We are also called to believe, teach and confess this same faith.

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Now in the Book of Acts, a very strange thing happens. In chapter 1 of the Book of Acts, we read about Jesus ascending into heaven and we read where the eleven apostles elected a new apostle, Matthias. In chapter 2, we read about the day of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit was poured out, and the first Christians were baptised. In chapter 3, Peter and John heal a lame man.

We read: Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [Cäŋ kɛl cu Pi-tɔr kɛnɛ Jɔ̱ɔ̱n wä luaak Kuɔth kɛ gua̱a̱th palä kɛ bua̱k ca̱ŋ.] Notice that Peter and John were going to the Jewish temple. The Christians didn’t start their own churches straight away. They went to the place of worship at Jerusalem.

However, what happened to Peter and John? Did they convince everybody of what they said? No. Some people believed them and some people rejected them. In fact, we read in Acts 4: As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. [Kä min ruac Pi-tɔr kɛnɛ Jɔ̱ɔ̱n kɛ naath cu bööth palä kɛnɛ kuäär yiëëni luaak Kuɔth kɛ ji̱ Thɛ̈d-du-thii ben kä kɛ. Cɛ lo̱ckiɛn waŋ kɛ ɣöö ŋi̱eeckɛ naath kä latkɛ jiëc nath li̱th kɛ Yecu.] And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. [Kä cukɛ kɛ käp kä la̱thkɛ kɛ luaak yieenä amäni mëë ruɔ̱n, kɛ ɣöö ci ɣɔw ku thuŋ a thiaŋ.]

This sort of thing can happen in every church every Sunday. A pastor may speak the truth of God’s word: some people will believe it, and some people will be annoyed by it. In this situation, it is the Jewish leaders who are annoyed: the rulers and elders and scribes, and the high priests.

We read: On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. [Mëë ruɔ̱ndɛ cu kua̱rkiɛn kɛnɛ di̱t, kɛ ji̱ gɔ̱rä rɔ̱ dol kɛɛl kä Jɛ-ru-tha-lɛm. Te A-nath bo̱o̱th palä in di̱i̱t, kɛnɛ Kay-pɛth, kɛ Jɔ̱ɔ̱n kɛnɛ A-lek-dhan-der kɛ nɛy diaal tin la ji̱ dhɔaar bo̱o̱thä palä in di̱i̱t.] Annas and Caiaphas had also put Jesus on trial and sent him to Pontius Pilate to be condemned to death.

So they ask Peter and John: By what power or by what name did you do this? [Ɛ buɔ̱m in mith kiɛ ciöt in mith ɛnɛ cia lät ni mɛmɛ ɔ?]

Peter says: Let it be known to you that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. [Ŋa̱cɛ jɛ yɛn diaal…ɛn ɣöö wut ɛ cuŋ nhiamdun ɛ ca jɛ jak kä gɔaa kɛ ciöt Yecu Kritho raan Na-dha-rɛth, mëë cia pua̱t jiaath, kä ci Kuoth ɛ jiɛc li̱th.]

Later on we read: So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. [Kä ɛnɔ cukɛ kɛ cɔl kä cukɛ kɛ gok ɛn ɣöö /cikɛ bi ruac kä /cikɛ naath bi ŋi̱eec kɛ ciöt Yecu.] This is where the Jewish religion starts to become something different from Christianity. Jesus was a Jew. He was Jewish. He had followed God’s law revealed to Moses, and also he went to the temple and to the synagogues to pray. But the Jewish high priests here reject Peter and John speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus.

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Now, why am I preaching on this today?

We are gathered here today in a Lutheran church. This is the church that gets its name from Martin Luther. And today we celebrate Reformation Day, and we remember the time 500 years ago, when the Lutheran church was founded.

But how did this happen?

500 years ago, there was a man called Martin Luther. He criticised the church at the time, because they didn’t teach that we are saved by grace, through faith, because of Christ, apart from our works. But none of this was Martin Luther’s own opinion. It was what was taught by the apostles.

Ephesians 2 says: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [Kɛ ɣöö kɛ puɔ̱th baaŋ Kuɔth ca yɛ kän kɛ ŋa̱th. Kä mɛmɛ /ciɛ lät yɛn ɛ muc kä Kuoth. /Ciɛ luɔt lätnikun, a thilɛ ram mi dee rɔ liak.]

By grace. [Kɛ puɔ̱th baaŋ Kuɔth]. By grace means that we are saved not because we deserve to be saved, or because we have earned it, but because of God’s mercy, because of his love. We are sinners, but God saves us by grace.

Through faith. [kɛ ŋa̱th]. Through faith means that we receive God’s gift of salvation simply by believing in it. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. He has given us his Holy Spirit, together with the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in baptism. God’s word doesn’t lie. We trust that what God says about Jesus life and the gift of baptism is true: this is what it means “through faith.”

Now many churches are happy to agree with Lutherans and say: Yes, we are saved by God’s grace, and through faith. But then St Paul says: And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [Kä mɛmɛ /ciɛ lät yɛn ɛ muc kä Kuoth. /Ciɛ luɔt lätnikun, a thilɛ ram mi dee rɔ liak.] There are no works that you can do to earn salvation. It’s completely free. Unlike what Pope Francis has said recently, atheists cannot be saved through their good works. Jesus died for atheists too, we know that, but we don’t receive the benefits if Christ’s death by our own doing, not a result of works.

It says: It is the gift of God. [Kä mɛmɛ /ciɛ lät yɛn ɛ muc kä Kuoth] What is the gift of God? It is Jesus death and resurrection, which is given to you in baptism. None of that is your work. It’s completely free.

We are not even saved because we have made a decision to follow Jesus. So many Christians today say: When did you make a decision for Jesus? These Christians believe they are saved by grace, and through faith, but they believe that their faith is their own doing, and it a work. So they go around and boast about it. We are also not saved because we can think we can see the Holy Spirit working good things in us.

Instead, St Paul says: This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast. [Kä mɛmɛ /ciɛ lät yɛn ɛ muc kä Kuoth. /Ciɛ luɔt lätnikun, a thilɛ ram mi dee rɔ liak.]

In the year 1521, Martin Luther was cast out of the Catholic Church for teaching what the apostles taught. In the year 1530, Lutherans were gathered together by the king (Emperor Charles V) to hear their case. Their case was rejected. In the years 1545—1563, the Catholic Church held a council, called the Council of Trent, where the Lutheran faith, the teaching that we are saved by grace through faith because of Christ apart from works was rejected. And so today, we have the Lutheran church.

Also, we need to remember that Christianity does not reject Jews. We pray for Jewish people to receive Jesus as the Messiah that many of them have rejected. There are also many Jewish people who did become Christians then and there are many who have become Christians today. Also, there are many faithful Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. Lutherans have never said that there are no Christians in other churches. However, on an official level, the Jewish people rejected Jesus, and the Catholic Church rejected the gospel of free grace apart from works.

So where to now? Well, today we are called to confess the faith just like we have always done. And where we have been weak in confessing the faith of the apostles, we must repent and devote ourselves the apostles’ teaching once again.

Every day there is some new idea popping up in the church. Every day there is some new prophet, some new visionary, some new person who wants to take us away from the apostles’ teaching, away from Jesus, and point us to our works. We must confess the faith. As it says in Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. [Ɛ niɛ min cä la̱r ji̱ i̱ kämni lɔcdu buɔ̱m, kä /cu bath, kɛ ɣöö bä te kɛɛl kɛ ji̱ gua̱thni diaal ɣän Kuothdu ni Kuoth Nhial.]

Look at the example of Peter and John before the high priests and be encouraged. Take heart! Look at the Martin Luther and the early Lutherans before all the kings and representatives of the pope and be encouraged. Take heart! Who are those who try to silence the gospel today? Who are those who want to forbid us to speak in the name of Jesus? Who are those who want us to be saved by our works today? You can see that there have already been attempts to silence the pure gospel in the past, and there will be attempts to do it again.

As it says in Psalm 119: I will speak of your testimonies before kings, and shall not be put to shame. [Kä bä rieetku lat nhiam kua̱ri, kä /ca ɣä bi jak kä po̱c.]

So devote yourselves to the apostles’ teaching. As King David said: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [Ruacdu ɛ lɛmbär kä ɣä, kä ɛ buay ciöknikä.] Why? Why should you? What will find in God’s word? What will you find in the apostles’ teaching? You will find Christ there. You will find your Saviour there. You will find his grace there. You will find your works there too—but you will find each and every one of them condemned. But you will find Jesus your Saviour—who saves you purely because of his work—not because of you—by grace, through faith, and completely apart from your works.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your death for our salvation, and for your resurrection from the dead. Take away from us all our trust in our works, and increase our trust in you and your holy precious word. Help us to be faithful confessors of your truth, and strengthen us with your Holy Spirit, that we may never be afraid. Amen.

Trinity 21: Audio Sermon (20-Oct-2013)

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Trinity 21 [John 4:46-54] (20-Oct-2013)

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 4:46-54)

They said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

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 today begins by saying that Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.

In the Gospel of John, it says that the miracle where Jesus turned the water into wine was the first of his signs. At the end of our reading today, it says: This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

So you can see that these two miracles are connected. They are also quiet miracles, they are not showy. Jesus changes the water into wine, but out in the back room: many of the people at the wedding might not have known that there was a shortage of wine. It says in the reading that his disciples believed in him, but not necessarily anyone else. Also, in our reading today, Jesus promises a man that his son will live and then he goes home and experiences the wonderful joy of the miracle when Jesus is not even there. So often, when we think of miracles, we think of some great meeting, with thousands of people in attendance, and people one by one being carried up the front in wheelchairs. We forget that Jesus performed his first and second miracle, quietly, with very little fuss, with very little show. The benefit was completely for the people, and the glory was completely for God the Father.

So we know that Jesus had already once visited Cana to attend a wedding, at which he turned water into wine. In our Gospel reading today, he returns to the same town, to Cana, to strengthen them in their faith and to build on the work he had already started.

It’s strange how a lot of what has happened in the Gospel of John up to this point has been in the background, and behind closed doors. In chapter 2, Jesus goes to the wedding at Cana and out in the back room changes the water into wine. In chapter 3, Jesus has a wonderful conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus doesn’t meet Jesus in the middle of the day, but comes to him secretly, quietly, at night-time. Then in John chapter 4, Jesus goes and has a conversation with a woman from Samaria—Samaria being a place where Jews didn’t like to go very much.

So far, Jesus has been in Galilee and Samaria—not much has been happening in the big city, in Jerusalem. Jesus has been doing wonderful work, but working in quiet corners.

So we read: Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

Cana and Capernaum were two towns that were about 35kms apart. Jesus turns up in Cana, and nevertheless, in Capernaum, a man hears about it.

Notice here that even though Jesus is doing quiet work, people are always talking about it. Maybe people are talking about him because they like him—this is often how we imagine it. But also, there were many people who didn’t like Jesus—otherwise Nicodemus would have met him in the daytime. That’s why he came to Jesus at night. So it’s amazing that Jesus’ reputation spreads all around, sometimes through the people who like him, but probably even more through the people who hated him and wanted to get rid of him. The good news of Jesus always spreads under the cross and through the cross.

So as Jesus turns up in Cana, it doesn’t take a very long time for an official, probably one of King Herod’s officers, to find out about it 40kms away. And it doesn’t take the man very long to travel this distance to go and meet Jesus himself.

In Greek, this man is called a “royal” man. He was either royalty himself, and was part of the royal family of King Herod, or else he worked for the king, and was kind of “public servant”.

So we read: When this man heard that Jesus had come down from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

From a human point of view, it looks like this man is a strong believer. He must have heard about Jesus, and he hears that Jesus is 35kms away, so he makes the effort to go and meet him, and ask him to come and heal his son.

And nevertheless, Jesus says to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

Now, why did Jesus criticise this man? Why didn’t Jesus commend and encourage this man for his faith?

Maybe this man had a weak faith, a lukewarm faith, or a cold faith, but Jesus treats this man as if he had no faith at all. It’s almost as if Jesus treats him as if the only reason why he travelled all that distance was to get him to put on a show. It’s as if the only reason why this man came to Jesus was to put him to the test and then to sit back and watch what he could do.

Jesus says: Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

There are a lot of people today who are like this: and maybe you think like this too. People say, “Where is God today? If God would come and speak to me personally out of a burning bush, I would believe him.” Would they really? Or maybe instead, they would believe simply in the burning bush, and not in Jesus himself! Listen to Jesus words: Unless you see. People say, “Seeing is believing.” But this is wrong – this isn’t the way Jesus works.

Some people also base their entire faith on what they can feel. “If I feel good, then Christianity must be true.” But is the faith built on Jesus and his word, or on the feelings of their own heart?

We need to ask ourselves and examine our own hearts: Are we just wanting Jesus to perform some kind of magic trick for us?

So Jesus points us away from the miracles. He almost wipes them off as if they are insignificant. Instead, he points us to his words. He also teaches this man a valuable lesson: not to trust in miracles, but in him, in Jesus himself. Jesus wants the people not simply to watch him and see what he does, but he wants them to listen to him, to listen to each of his words and taste them, one by one, and to get to know his character, his heart, his longing for each sheep to be part of his flock.

So the man says to Jesus: Sir, come down before my child dies.

Don’t come because of me, don’t come because of the prestige it will bring me and my house, don’t come because of the honour and glory people will give me, don’t come even to perform a sign or a wonder or a miracle. Just come because of my child. I’m desperate: give me some hope. I’m helpless: come and give me your help.  

Later in the gospel of John, Martha and Mary say to Jesus: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. That’s true. But at the same time, Jesus can raise the dead. And it’s true: if Jesus would go to Capernaum with the official, his son would be protected from death. But even if the child died, Jesus could still raise the child.

Parents will do anything for the health of their children. People often ask why children sometimes have to suffer in this life. People often ask why children sometimes die, and why parents sometimes have to bury their children. These are the sorts of thoughts that were probably going around this man’s mind. He wants to try everything to help his child.

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

What a powerful word Jesus gives! What a simple word he gives, but a word that is spoke both simply and also with authority!

Jesus shows here that, in some sense, when he is invited to a place, he is present there, even if he is absent. The official invites Jesus to his house, and even though Jesus doesn’t go there, the power of his word travels back to Capernaum much more quickly than the man had travelled to Jesus. Jesus didn’t yell or scream in such a way that his voice could be heard 35kms away, and yet the word of Jesus is heard back all the way back in Capernaum.

Jesus fixes the problem in a way that only God can fix a problem. He fixes it with his word. The human solution is for Jesus to travel to Capernaum and fix the problem in person: but Jesus fixes the problem simply with his word. He says: Go; your son will live.

Here we get a little taste of what will happen when Jesus ascends into heaven. Jesus sits at the right hand of God, and this right hand of God is everywhere. This means that every time the words of Jesus are spoken, at any one time all around the world, Jesus is there, in person, speaking them himself. And today, there are two churches in Cana and in Capernaum. And if two people were baptised in both of those churches at the same time, Jesus would be in both of them performing the baptism himself, with his own hands and through his own word. If two pastors in both of those churches were preaching the word of God in a sermon, we know that Jesus would be in both of those places at once. If both of those churches were celebrating the Lord’s Supper at the same time, we know that Jesus would be in both of those churches, feeding both groups of people with his own body and blood at the same time.

Now, how is this possible? Because Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, and God’s right hand is everywhere. If God himself can be in both places at the same time, so can Jesus Christ in his human flesh. And how do we know that Jesus is here? Through his word. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Jesus gives us a little taste of this in our reading, where we see that even though he was in Cana, he heals a man in Capernaum. And this miraculous healing happens, through Christ’s word.

So we read: The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. What great faith this man has now! He doesn’t bother Jesus any further. He doesn’t beg him to come and lay his hands on him. Jesus’ touch isn’t needed, when he’s got his promise! The promise of Jesus is his touch! Jesus’ presence isn’t needed, when he’s got his powerful word. Jesus is always present together with his word!

We read: As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better.

Even though Jesus had promised this to him when he left Cana, the man still wanted to know whether or not it had happened by accident or by chance. Was his son healed simply because nature took its course, or because of the word of Jesus?

They said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

The seventh hour is a very unusual time. On our clocks, the seventh hour is 1pm. So the servants give him a very precise time. They don’t say: at lunch time, or after lunch, or early in the afternoon. They say: Yesterday at the seventh hour. Then, we read he believed.

We already read that he believed Jesus when he left Cana, but now that he comes home, it says he believed again. The man’s faith becomes stronger each day, and Jesus gives him a new encouragement for the new day. This man’s faith was weak, it grew stronger, and it reached maturity.

Sometimes, Christians are also encouraged by these little coincidences. Maybe it comes into our minds to pray for someone for no apparent reason, or to ring them, or visit them. And then we realise later, that this person needed our prayers at that precise time, or was in some desperate need of a friendly voice when we called them, or was helped in a specific way by our visit. Jesus arranges the timing of these events, and he wants us to be encouraged by them. We cannot begin to imagine how generously and how miraculously and how wonderfully Jesus is coordinating our life and blessing us and protecting us through all sorts of little things, which we think are pure coincidence!

Think about Jesus’ words: Do not be anxious about tomorrow. How often it is so hard for us to believe these words when we find ourselves in a pickle! And how often we find out that we didn’t need to worry as much as thought we needed to! For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Remember the promise in Proverbs: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

So be encouraged by the word of Jesus! Be encouraged and strengthened by each little good nugget he throws our way! Jesus will not send you home empty, and even if you have travelled a long way and for a long time to meet him, he will give you his word of promise, his words of forgiveness, his words of everlasting life into your lap. And when we go home with nothing but Jesus’ words in our pockets, we have everything we need.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, come and strengthen us today and keep us firm in your word and in faith. Encourage us and protect us this week. Give healing to our bodies and to our loved ones, if not in this life, then in the next life. Increase our faith and help it to grow each day anew and afresh. Amen.

Trinity 20: Audio Sermon (13-Oct-2013)

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Trinity 20 [Matthew 22:1-14] (13-Oct-2013)

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 22:1-14)

Tell those who are invited, See I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 

Our Gospel reading today comes from Matthew 22, which is a very special part of St Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the donkey on Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, and in Matthew 26, he is betrayed by Judas and arrested. So our reading today comes between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, during Holy Week. This sets the mood and the character for what Jesus tell us today. Today’s Gospel is spoken by Jesus right before he goes to the cross: he knows he’s going to die at the end of the week, and yet he dedicates himself to feed his hearers with his teaching.

 Right before our Gospel reading, Jesus tells another parable about the tenants. Here we read about a master of a house who planted a vineyard and leases it out to tenants and goes away. Then he sends his servants to come and collect the fruit, and the tenants treat all the servants badly. However, when the master sends his son, they kill him and throw him out of the vineyard. So Jesus explains this parable by saying: Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

 
After this we read that the chief priest and the Pharisees were seeking to arrest him.

 

Now, since Jesus had said the kingdom of God will be...give to a people producing its fruits, he tells the parable of the wedding banquet in our reading today. He wants to describe to us what sort of a people this is.

Our Gospel reading also starts by saying that Jesus answered and said to them in parables. There are all sorts of places in the gospel where it says Jesus answered people when nobody asked him any questions. However, Jesus knew that the high priests and the Pharisees were seeking to arrest him. So he gives an answer to their hidden thoughts. Jesus is the only one who answers the secrets of our hearts and the plans of our minds. He is our Rock and our Redeemer who tests the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts.

 

Jesus tells us the parable of a wedding banquet. In this life, the wedding banquet is speaking about the church. We are all invited to the supper. But in the next life, the wedding banquet is speaking about the company of heaven. Now there is a difference between the church on earth and the church in heaven, in the sense that there are always false Christians who like to enter into the church in this earth, but in the next life, no one will be able to enter under pretence, or by paying God off with a bribe at the gates. We are not saved by church membership, but by faith in Jesus Christ. You can see that there is a difference between the church in this life and in the next life in our parable, because once everyone is invited, there is a man who is thrown out into the darkness, for not being dressed in the right clothes. He is not dressed properly.

The king said to him:

Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?

 Let’s take this warning of Jesus to heart with all seriousness.

The whole of the Christian faith is a wonderful wedding banquet! Everything is a banquet, a delightful feast. All the food comes out of the oven, course by course, and as the waiters bring each course into the room, the smell fills the air and goes up into the nostrils, and each guest can’t wait to put on their napkins and tuck in! Think of each course part by part: we have God’s marvellous creation of the world. We have God’s wonderful protection of his chosen Jewish people. We have the conception of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, when the Angel Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary. We have the miraculous birth of Jesus, when all the angels filled the dark night with the sort of harmony and music that could only come from heaven! We have the suffering and death and burial of Jesus. We have his resurrection on Easter morning. We have his ascension to his father’s throne! In the future, we still await to feast on some more banquets: the return of Jesus at the end of the world, the resurrection of our bodies, the enjoyment of his everlasting kingdom!

 Taste and see that the Lord is good! How sweet are your words to my taste!

 What a wonderful banquet we have to enjoy as Christians!

We read:

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

 What a wonderful king we have, our heavenly Father, who reigns over the kingdom of heaven! What a wonderful Son he has, Jesus Christ, who shares his kingdom with him! What a wonderful thing it is to be part of this kingdom, as servants and guests, together with the angels and archangels, the royal armies and legions!

[The king] sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast. God our heavenly Father, the king of heaven, sent out all through history his servants to call people to enjoy the great wedding banquet for his Son. Just think of all the different people God sent: Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, all the prophets, the Apostles: Peter, John, James, St Paul, the evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John… then think of all the thousands of pastors and evangelists he sent out into the world all through history carrying on this apostolic faith. As we say in the Nicene Creed: I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic church. We could also say instead of “Christian” the word “Catholic”, which means the church of all places, of all times, of all peoples. For us today, it’s often hard for us to use to word “catholic” without thinking of the Roman Catholic Church. However, right from the day of Pentecost, we read about the first Christians that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. This is what it means to be a truly apostolic church: to be devoted to the faith of the apostles. And for every pastor in history, we seek to fulfil the words of St Paul where he said: I delivered to you...what I also received. The living church passes on the living eyewitness of the apostles who saw the living and resurrected Lord. And so the king of heaven, our heavenly Father, always continually sends out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast.

 

However, we read: but they would not come.

 

The king of heaven doesn’t give up though. Just as he commands and encourages all of his servants not to become weary in doing good, God himself does not grow weary in sending out his messengers. Because those who were first invited would not come to the wedding banquet, he sends out a second invitation. We read: Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have ben slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' He tells them not just that the wedding banquet is happening, but he tells them about what they can expect: the best Texan barbecued brisket! The best roast beef fresh out of the oven with potatoes and parsnips and all those delicious roast vegetables with all the gravy to cover your plate! The best eye-fillet steaks, with pepper, and delicious sauces, and tasty condiments--you name it! See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Just think about how each year, we go through the cycle of the church year of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and all the wonderful church festivals! Each Sunday is like another course! Each Sunday is like another roast dinner of the word of God. God is the one who prepares the dinner, and the Holy Spirit goes out from it like the tasty smells--smells to our ears, not to our noses!

 

Everything is ready, says the king.

 Everything that you need for salvation is found in my Holy Scriptures! I have prepared it all! You won’t need to bring your own drinks or sandwiches or potato salads or desserts! This is not a “bring-a-plate” event. You don’t need to bring any of your own works or fancy ideas, or family traditions. Everything is ready and prepared for you in my word. Just come and believe in it.

Come to the wedding feast, he says, not with your feet, but with your hearts, with your souls, with your mind, with your strength! Come and delight yourself at the king's expense! Lift up your hearts! Let them be lifted up to the Lord.

 

But, we read, they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants treated them shamefully and killed them.

 

There’s nothing wrong with farming, nothing wrong with business, but the time comes when the header goes in the shed, the cow-milking machine can have a rest, when the cash register’s rhythm can be interrupted, because it’s time to go to a wedding! You wouldn’t miss a good wedding! And Jesus calls himself our brother! Jesus said to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning: Go to my brothers! How are you going to explain it to Jesus said to your brother that you missed his wedding because you were out on the tractor or packing shelves at Woolworths? Life is too short to miss out on that heavenly kingdom which is not of this world.

 

It’s no wonder, then, that we read:

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The call to the wedding feast goes out to all, both the good and the bad. The church on earth is filled with both good people and bad people. There are people who feel their sin and want to be free of it, but then there are people who want the freedom to continue in sin and to enjoy their sin even more. One person will say, I hate my sin and I want to be rid of it. To this person, when they hear the sweet forgiveness of sin, it will be like a soothing lotion to an open wound, like a refreshing cool drink on a hot day in the sun. But the other person, the forgiveness of sins will just be an excuse to keep on doing what they were always doing. We’re not saved by our good works, but we can always be excluded from the kingdom of heaven if we persist in our bad works. Flee from sin into the arms of Jesus! Seek all your comfort from his precious wounds!

Just imagine if two homeless people just happened to be invited to meet the Queen of England. One of them did everything he could to borrow the best suit he could find, but the other person did nothing and showed up wearing his smelly old shirt. What sort of respect is that for the Queen! Doesn’t he know that he going to meet the Queen?

So now there comes a sifting of the wedding guests:

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The hypocrite when shown his hypocrisy is always speechless. There is nothing to say when we have spent our lives using the gospel as an excuse. There will come a time when there will be no more excuse.

When you go to a wedding, you put a good suit. You put on your best dress. Everyone knows that. How much more when we are in the presence of Jesus, and are gathered to his wedding feast, don’t we want to take a shovel out to the backyard and bury all our unfashionable ties, all our cheap plastic jewellery and wear something nice! St Peter says:

Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

In Revelation we read:

 Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!

Dear Christian friends, our Christian faith is a great banquet, a wonderful wedding banquet that we are called upon to share. Christ himself is the bridegroom, the food, and the feast. And such a banquet deserves the best clothes, the best of our Christian efforts, the finest of our Christian virtues. However, St Paul says:

All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

 But what seems shabby in our eyes, is precious in God’s eyes:

 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

The garment that we wear to this wedding is not our own righteousness, it is Christ’s righteousness. This garment is not your works, it is Christ’s works! He gives his own blood, and his own suffering, his own death to us. And through faith alone, it is ours. We stand in the wedding hall clothed in Christ himself! St Paul writes:

you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

How could you possible want to clothe yourself with yourself! How could you possibly reject this wonderful covering of all of Christ’s works given for you free of charge!

What a wonderful gift he gives to us! What a wonderful Saviour and prince and bridegroom we have! May all the praise, glory and honour be to him!

Amen.

Lord Jesus, gather us to your wedding feast, and clothe us with yourself that we may enter as worthy guests, not by our own works and merits, but by your holy and precious work on our behalf. Send us the Holy Spirit, and clean us and purify us and make us holy according to your good and gracious will. Amen.