Pentecost V: Audio Sermon (13-Jul-2014)

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Pentecost V (Proper 10 A) [Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23] (13-Jul-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And we read from his gospel:

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understand it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

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

In the book of Revelation, we read a wonderful passage where St John writes: I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

The gospel is an eternal gospel. It isn’t a temporary word, but it is an eternal gospel. This means that it is a gospel that will last forever, but it also means that it is gospel that call to us out of eternity. We who live on this earth with our everyday existence, which most of the time seems pretty ordinary, are called by Jesus from eternity to join him in eternity.

You might know the story of Lazarus and the rich man: there is a poor, miserable man Lazarus who lives at the gate of a rich man who daily sees him there and ignores him. But in the next life, Lazarus goes to heaven to the bosom of Abraham, but the rich man goes to hell. Then the rich man has a conversation with Abraham, pleading with him, but it is too late for him. Eventually, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. But Abraham says: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And [the rich man] said, “No father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

Now what does this all mean? We can see Abraham from the other side of the grave to listen to the eternal word of Moses and the Prophets. Now, we have even more than that: We have Moses and the Prophets, but we have the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ, who has come back from the dead and has given to us his word. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus calls it the word of the kingdom. What kingdom is this? It’s the kingdom that the thief on the cross knows about: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. We are called by an eternal gospel to join our eternal risen Lord Jesus in his eternal kingdom. Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

And so Jesus tells a parable about a sower. And he tells this parable because he wants to warn us how we can hear the gospel wrongly, and to encourage us by to hear it rightly. Jesus describes the seed as falling on four different types of ground: the path, the rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil.

Jesus says: A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. And Jesus gives the explanation: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

Jesus tells us of the sower sowing seed, but it falls along a path. The sower here is Jesus himself, but also each person who goes out to sow the word of God together with him, provided that they are actually sowing the word of the kingdom and not the word of their own personal kingdom. But wherever pastors and missionaries and evangelists and Christians anywhere are sowing the word of God, they are sowing it together with Jesus.

This is a very important point, because often people talk today as if it depends on us as to whether the church grows. We have this thing called the “church growth movement” which puts it on us individual Christians and pastors to follow various steps and formulas to grow the church. And this wrong understanding is seriously killing our church’s pastors, and crippling the joy of our ministry. And this comes from a weak understanding that Jesus really is here in the flesh with us in the church. So if people don’t believe the real Messiah is with us to the end of the age, then they make their pastors, or the writers of the latest book here and there, into the Messiah instead. Now, of course, don’t get me wrong: we all want the church to grow, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we have to recognise that we only sow the seed.

(Sometimes it has happened to me that when a church had a poor attendance one week that people would blame me for it. But the people who weren’t there had their reasons—travelling, or a baptism or celebration at another church, or whatever. It wasn’t my personal fault that those people were missing. But also, sometimes it has happened that when there is a full church, I am complimented! And I’ve had to tell people that I’d never seen any of these people before, and it wasn’t my doing and my invitation that brought them!)

The Holy Spirit is the one who gathers the church around the words of Jesus. St Paul says: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants not he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Now, in the parable, Jesus here makes a very interesting comparison. He compares the devil with birds that devour the seed that has fallen on the path. The path refers to those who have no understanding and don’t receive the word of God—it hits their ears and bounced off. And so what happens to the word of God? The devil feeds on it, like a bird picking at the seed.

Do you know that all of the devil’s power comes from feeding on the word of God? Sometimes we might go out at night and see a street light with moths flying around it. That’s what the devil’s like: he is attracted to the light, and is obsesses over the light of the gospel.

Even right in the beginning of the world, we read how God gives Adam and Eve a command not to eat the tree in the middle of the garden otherwise they would surely die. But the devil then comes and feeds off this word and says: Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And when he feeds on the word of God, he snatches it away and twists it into something that isn’t the word of God anymore. So the devil tells Eve: You will not die.

Or think about the devil when he tempts Jesus in the wilderness. He even quotes the bible to him and twists it around to tempt him with a false comfort.

From this we realise that the devil is doing his most powerful work not outside the church, but within it. Those who don’t receive the Gospel already belong to the devil, so he doesn’t need to work as hard with them. But because we hear the word of God, the devil wants to come and feed on it. So if you feel as though the devil is giving you a hard time, it’s not proof that you are far away from Jesus, but that you are close to Jesus.

Now Jesus goes on to say: Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Jesus explains: As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Here Jesus is talking about people who get excited about the word and recognise that there is a certain charm or majesty or power that comes from the word, but only in a kind of worldly sense—they haven’t recognised the gospel as an eternal gospel yet.

So sometimes people come to a funeral and they say: Thanks, Pastor, for your comforting speech. It’s nice to hear that the art of public speaking isn’t lost. (It’s nice to see a young person with some passion.) But a funeral sermon is not an exercise in the art of public speaking – this is the eternal gospel. And so the next day, or the next week, or the next month, they’ve forgotten everything.

Or we go to a wedding, and people read 1 Corinthians 13, because it’s such a powerful-sounding passage, and people love to hear it read in Shakespearean sounding voice. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And so, once they’ve had their little token bible-reading they go on to try and live a marriage as if God’s blessing and his word are nothing.

Or sometimes people think: “Jesus’ words are brilliant! I’m going to go now and change the world, and change our society.” And then people don’t listen to them, and they get despondent, because they think that the word of God doesn’t have any power after all.

This kind of despondency, apathy, quick highs and long lows are a real temptation for us. So beware, when the hardship, tribulation, persecution, depression comes your way. In those times, all worldly charm and empty rhetoric will dry up and wither away. The reason for your hardship is not because the word of God doesn’t work, but because the word of God is working powerfully: it is tribulation or persecution on account of the word.

Then Jesus says: Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Jesus explains: As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Here we see the situation where people might understand the word of God a bit better than the rocky ground. They are not as superficial as they are. But nevertheless, they put the word of God on an equal plain with all kinds of worldly philosophies.

So as a pastor, it’s interesting to see a row of books on people’s shelves. You have “Rex Hunt’s Guide to Fishing”, “Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess”, “Aunty Margaret’s Herbal Remedies”, “The Illustrated Karma Sutra”, “How to raise toddlers”, “How to succeed in business without really trying”, “How to win friends and influence people”, “The power of positive thinking”, “The idiot’s guide to reiki or yoga”, or whatever else idiots are looking for guides for, and in the midst of that lot you’ve got a dusty old King James version of the bible. Now is that your bookshelf? Do you treat the bible as some kind of self-help manual among many?

The self-help manuals won’t get you past death. Beware of the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches. They will be useless to you eventually. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of God remains forever. The weeds around you need to be plucked up sometime. Sometimes people say after a hard time in life, that their faith helped them to get through it – and that’s a wonderful thing. But remember, that your faith isn’t first of all for you to simply get through something – you need to get through death, and through to eternal life with Jesus. Then you’ll say, God, the word of God, my faith got me through. This is the word of the kingdom of Jesus, the eternal gospel, that we’re talking about.

And finally, Jesus says: Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear. And Jesus explains: As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Here we see Jesus putting such enormous emphasis on the fact that the seed bears fruit and yields. You see, right from the beginning of the world, God said: Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. God created the whole world to be fertile and fruitful and with such wonderful variety. It’s only when sin comes into the world, that God says: Cursed is the ground because of you. So if there’s some barren land, some hardened concrete paths, some rocky ground, some thorny paddocks, it’s not God’s fault, but it’s our fault. Because without sin, these things wouldn’t exist.

And in our parable, God has sent his word into our hearts so that it would be fruitful. And if it’s not fruitful, it’s not God’s fault, but it’s ours. We shouldn’t read this passage as if it’s talking about predestination or fate, and we think: Well, I must be a path, I must be rocky or thorny ground, and there’s just nothing I can do about it.

That’s not true. Jesus’ words here are a warning to us, where he gives us insights into ways we can hear his word wrongly. But he tells us these things to encourage us to hear it rightly, and so that we can bear fruit. The gospel is never just for ourselves—if we have the gospel only for ourselves, we probably haven’t understood the gospel yet.

And it’s amazing how some people are still bearing fruit even today, even though they are dead. People can read a sermon of Martin Luther, for example, and still be encouraged by it. Or even, think of the apostles, and St Matthew who wrote our gospel reading today – he’s long dead, almost 2000 years ago, and yet the word that was planted in his heart is still bearing eternal fruit in our lives today as press forward as members of Jesus’ eternal kingdom, together with our crucified and risen Lord and King, our living Jesus Christ.

So as we hear the Gospel today, let’s pray to God to send us the Holy Spirit to give growth—germination, sprouting, full growth, deep roots, maturity, budding, fruitfulness, ripeness. And may that word of God multiply and bear fruit not just in this life but ascending high and mightily into eternity with our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of your word, and we pray that you would richly pour out your Holy Spirit on each of us. Send us your power from on high as you did with your first disciples, and help us to bear living fruit in our lives. Amen.

Pentecost IV: Audio Sermon (6-Jul-2014)

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Pentecost IV (Proper 9 A) [Matthew 11:25-30] (6-Jul-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And we read from his gospel:

Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send to all of us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Christians over the centuries have always given each other very helpful advice when reading the bible of praying to the Holy Spirit for his help to interpret it. And this is very simply advice, but wonderful, profound advice. Sometimes someone might send us a letter or an email, and we’re not quite sure what the person means by something that he or she wrote. So what do we do? We write back to the person, or we ring them or talk to them face to face and we ask them, “What did you mean?” We ask the person who wrote the letter, because only the person who wrote it knows what it means and how to interpret the words.

So also, with the bible, the author is the Holy Spirit. In 2 Timothy, St Paul writes: All scripture is breathed out by God. And St Peter writes: men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

St Matthew is dead, and we believe that his soul is kept safe with Jesus in heaven together with all Christians who have died in the faith. So we can’t ask him to show us what he meant. But the Holy Spirit is still alive, still exists, and will always exist, together with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, and so we can always ask the Holy Spirit for help, because he also is the author of the Scripture and knows what he’s talking about even more than St Matthew. And when we ask for the Holy Spirit’s help, he promises to lead and guide us and explain to us exactly what these words mean.

However, the words of the bible are clear. In some sense, we shouldn’t really need any help, because we should just take everything at face value, not needing any help to explain what the bible says. We need all the help of the Holy Spirit that we can get, not because the words of the bible are unclear, but because we the readers—who are corrupted by sin—are so completely unable to fathom the power and the majesty of all the words that we read in the bible.

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In our reading today, Jesus says: I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

These words are such a wonderful, powerful mystery! There are two mysteries here: the first, that God the Father has revealed his judgments and his gracious will to little children. But second, he has hidden these things from the wise and understanding.

First, let’s listen to these words in Jesus’ prayer and meditate on them: You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding.

Some people say to pastors: “Listen pastor, I’m a simple person. I know that Jesus loves me and that’s all I need to know.” Often this is a big fat excuse for people not to read the bible, not to pray, and not to learn anything new. When a person thinks it’s time to stop learning something new from the bible and from Jesus, they’re probably on their way to hell, because only the devil wants us to stop learning the words of Jesus.

On the other hand, there are some people who think they are so educated, that they always try to put the Christian faith out of other people’s reach. And they say, “Yes, Jesus died for you, but there are many aspects to the Christian faith that are difficult for you to understand, and simple people like you won’t know.” St Paul has a thing or two to say about that. He says: Since we are justified by faith, we have access by faith into God’s grace. If we try to make the faith inaccessible, then people can’t have God’s grace and access to God.

I knew someone who once said that a person should try to educate themselves in the faith at least according to their level of education in other areas. And it’s true: I’ve met many people with Master’s Degrees and PhDs who have never learnt anything about Jesus since Sunday School. All those brains wasted on earthly things and worldly hypocrisy and never used for the service of God and for the church!

Jesus says: You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding. Often it has happened in Christian mission fields that missionaries have translated the bible into a new language, and this is the first time that this language has ever been written down. This happened a lot with aboriginal languages in Australia. The missionaries, before they translated the bible, had to invent an alphabet, and then teach it to the people so that could read it.

For many, many Christians around the world, there is only one book that is published in their language: the bible. So they want their children to go to school and to learn how to read. Why? For only one reason—so that they can read the bible.

And here we are in the English-speaking world, with so many books, so many magazines, so much trash, so much rubbish, to read. Ask yourself: can you read? Are you able to read a sentence and work out what it means? OK—have you ever read the entire bible? More than once? In the last 5 years? Have you a good prayer book or a good devotional book to read?

Remember: there are all kinds of people all throughout the world who have no magazines—no comic books, no Women’s Weekly, no Mills and Boon, no biographies of their favourite sports’ stars—and yet here we have all these things, we have the education coveted by the rest of the world who are desperate to hear the good news of Jesus, and yet, we who are perfectly capable won’t read the bible.

And so, here we are in one of the most affluent countries in the world, in one of the most literate countries in the world, we who can afford to buy a bible in 500 different versions and we who have the ability to read them all, and yet here we are in one of the most godless countries of the world, a country which daily rejects anew its Christian heritage and laws. And all at the same time, we think we know everything. We think we’ve got something to give to the rest of the world. And yet there are people now in our country who are missing out on even hearing the story of Christmas anytime during their childhood.

And Jesus knew and prophesied that this would happen. And he said: You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding. 

And yet, Jesus says: And you have revealed them to little children.

Here is a passage in the bible that teaches us to value children, and every single child in the world, and all the little people in God’s kingdom. Mother Teresa once said: “How can there be too many children? That’s like saying there are too many flowers.”

Let the little children come to me, says Jesus, and do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Think about the things you believed from the bible when you were a child. Do you believe in angels, miracles, in heaven and hell? Do you believe that you are Jesus’ little lamb? Would you thank God for your wings if you were a butterfly? What about the atoning power of Jesus’ blood? What about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Do you still believe in that like a little child? Or have you grown up? Have you become a bored, rebellious spiritual teenager? Do you say, “Well, obviously Jesus didn’t actually mean that, or say that”?

You must become a child again. And through the forgiveness of each and every single one of your sins through the blood of our Lord Jesus, our Father in heaven restores our innocence, and gives to us that pure, beautiful innocence of his forgiveness that is even more perfect that the tiniest newborn child.

Isn’t it wonderful what deep, profound lessons we learn as they are blurted out by little children in such simplicity? Isn’t it amazing how the tiniest child can break the pride of all of us and make into fools we who think we are so important?

But also, remember those other little people around the place: the disabled, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the sick, the abandoned, the poor. Why does God allow these things to happen? They are all a reminder to all of us that we are all disabled, handicapped, mentally ill, sick, poor, much more than we realise, and we need these people to remind us that we will be completely able-bodied, without blemish, clothed and in our right minds, completely healthy, completely at home, completely rich, in Paradise, in Jesus’ eternal heavenly kingdom. When I am old, I hope there are still some people with Down-Syndrome in the world left to teach love to us who think we have some kind of Up-Syndrome. If only we knew the depths of our neediness before God. We can’t shut God’s little ones out—they must be our teachers.

The church is not a club for like-minded, wise and intelligent people. It is God’s crèche for infants, baptised babies, broken sinners whom God looks after and saves and raises from death. And when we are risen from death, then for the first time we will realise what it really means to be an adult, to be a grown-up, because we will be God’s children, God’s infants, the lambs in the arms of Jesus, the Lamb of God who was slain.

Will you sit in Jesus’ lap, and learn from him, like a little child? Will you learn your spiritual alphabet and your spiritual times-tables from scratch, one word at a time?

Jesus says: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Choose us, Jesus, as you have promised, and reveal your Father to us!

You know, the closer you come to Jesus, and learn from him, the more the world will want to wear you out, and burden you. Because those people outside the faith, outside of salvation, those people without the Holy Spirit, will entice you and seduce you to be “wise and understanding” like them. They want you to have a Master’s Degree in Jesus-hating and call it “love”, a PhD in teenage rebellion and call it “progress”. Beware—if you can read and write, then this temptation is very much on your doorstep. Just like the devil tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he wants us to eat the world’s fruit and use all of our book smarts, all of our education, against Jesus. The devil says: You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so Jesus says: When the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. In Acts 14, it says that St Paul was strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

And so Jesus also in our reading wants to encourage us, because he doesn’t want us to be put off. He wants to show us all the hatred of the world, all the apathy, all the indifference, all the people who hear the news of Jesus’ resurrection and are bored by it, and then encourage us and say: My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. It is a yoke fit only for a little child, a burden heavy enough only for a baby to carry.

Martin Luther wrote: If we will approach Scripture with earnestness, we will find to our heart’s great joy that we perceive Christ rightly, how he bore our sins, and how we shall live everlastingly with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if only we remain simple students and fools… There’s no room, therefore, for a smart intellectual and disputer when it comes to this book, the Holy Scripture. God gave other disciplines—grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, philosophy, jurisprudence, medicine—in which we can be judicious, dispute, dig, and question as to what is right and what is not. But here with Holy Scripture, the Word of God, let disputing and questioning cease, and say, God has spoken; therefore, I believe.

And so, little children, little lambs, little babies, listen to Jesus’ encouragement to you: Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, there are so many things in your word that are hidden from us because we are so arrogant and filled with pride, and we think that we are wise and understanding. Send us your Holy Spirit, and teach us to repent, and the value and treasure each word in the Scripture like a little child collecting stickers. Give us rest in your word, Lord Jesus, we who are weary. Forgive us, strengthen us, and purify us, and give us pure, heavenly rest for our souls. Amen.

Mission Sunday: Audio Sermon (29-Jun-2014)

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Mission Sunday [Luke 24:44-54] (29-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Luke. And we read from his gospel:

Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send to all of us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Our Gospel reading today is one that we’ve already heard in the last few weeks, since we read it at our Ascension service not so long ago. And here in the reading today, we read about Jesus speaking to his disciples before he parts from them and is carried into heaven.

In the first part of our reading, Jesus teaches his disciples. We read: Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I saw still with you, that everything written about me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

I don’t know if you can imagine what it must have been like to have been there and to hear Jesus open up their minds to understand the Scriptures. But in actual fact, Jesus does come to us even today and opens our minds to under the Scriptures. He sends the Holy Spirit to each one of us and interprets the Scriptures to us, and strengthens and comforts us according to each of our needs.

As a pastor, I can’t plan how the word of God is going to affect you. I can only preach the word of God, but I can’t prepare how the Holy Spirit might comfort you. Sometimes, when I’m preparing a sermon, I might think: That verse will be a real comfort for so-and-so, and I’m going to make sure I really make a special emphasis on that passage just for them. And then, when I get to my point, I look over and the person I have in mind has fallen asleep. Or I think: this text really speaks to that person, because they are a real hardened sinner, and they could really do with a shake-up. And then it so turns out that that person I’m thinking of isn’t at church that day for some reason.

I told a story once to the women’s fellowship about when I was here at vicarage, when I preached a sermon on John 11, where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And I particularly focussed on the words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And I said something along these lines: “Sometimes we might say to Jesus: Lord, if you were here, we wouldn’t have this earthquake, or tsunami, or drought, or flood, or famine, or family problem, or whatever.” When I was shaking hands at the door, a lady came up to me and said, “Thanks for your sermon on the drought. I’ve praying asking Jesus for years, Why don’t you sent us rain? If you were here, we wouldn’t have this drought.” And she interpreted the whole sermon in terms of her experience with the drought. The only mention of drought was when I listed those various disasters in a big list. And so we can see that Jesus was here interpreting the Scriptures just for her, and the Holy Spirit was preaching just the right sermon that she needed to hear.

I have spoken to many pastors, who have recounted the experience where they have been shaking people’s hands at the door, and someone says, “Thanks very much for saying this. It was a real comfort to me.” And then the pastor sits there and thinks, “I don’t remember saying that at all!”

And so we read in our reading today: Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Now at the end of our reading, we read about how Jesus takes his discipels out to the Mount of Olives, lifts up his hands and blesses his disciples. And we read: While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. I often think about this passage when we finish our service and I have to give the blessing. And just as Jesus lifted up his hands and blessed the disciples, the pastor imitates Jesus’ gestures and lifts up his hands to bless the congregation before we part for another week. And just like the disciples, we can return to our homes with great joy, with Jesus’ blessing resting upon us for the week to come. In fact, the blessing of Jesus lasts much more than a week, but extends right into the next life as well, right up to the last drop of eternity. And to think we come and receive this blessing each time we meet together!

But I would like to make a few remarks on the middle part of our reading, which says: Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

For the rest of history, this is going to be the church’s job. We are going to tell people that the Christ suffered and on the third day rose from the dead. And also, as Jesus says, repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

And wherever these things happen all throughout the world right until the end of time, that’s where Jesus builds and strengthens his church. He creates light out of darkness, he creates a new city and sets it on a hill. And as Jesus says: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

And what is it that Jesus says will be proclaimed? Repentance and forgiveness of sins. You know this is the same thing that John the Baptist was preaching. He said: Repent and believe the Gospel. And the Gospel is the good news of the forgiveness of sins, but not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

Now, once Jesus was baptised, and went around performing his ministry and healing people and performing miracles, Jesus was also preaching the same thing: Repent and believe the Gospel.

Now John the Baptist, got his head cut off by King Herod, and Jesus had just been crucified. And now, Jesus sends out his apostles and says, I’m going to send you out into the world, and I want you to proclaim: Repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all nations.

And what do you think might happen to you? People all throughout the world might very well block up their ears and throw stones, and fire bullets, and wield axes. As we were talking about last week, I think it’s true to say that over the last century, more Christians have died for the faith throughout the world that any of the previous centuries.

But Jesus doesn’t want to leave them in despair. He wants them to know that work is going to have a point even when they feel like their head is on the chopping-block. He wants them do this work with joy and with confidence, because actually, it’s not their work. It’s going to be the living work of Jesus, and Jesus will use them to his purposes and to his glory. How is Jesus going to use us to spread his light into the darkness of the world this week, this month, this year?

And so, instead of leaving them in despair, he says: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Don’t worry about what you’re going to say. You’re going to have to tell people to repent of their evil ways. You’re going to have to tell them that they need a Saviour, that they need me, and they’re not necessarily going to want me. But on the third day, I was risen from the dead. I had the authority to lay down my life, and I had the authority to raise it up again, and now all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, so that I can be with you always to the end of the age.

And Jesus says to them: You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you clothed with power from on high. Jesus says: You have seen me risen from the dead, and that’s going to be all the confidence that you need. And you are going to do this work, not in your own power and strength, but with the power from on high that I will send you from my Father, the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so when this repentance and when this forgiveness of sins, what happens? Well Jesus comes himself and he opens people’s hearts and minds to understand the Scriptures, and he creates faith there. And this faith blossoms and grows, and produces many fruits. When faith listens to all the many promises of God’s word and waits for these promises to be wonderfully fulfilled, then hope grows out of faith. And if faith shares its blessings with a friend, with a neighbour, then love grows out of faith. If faith has to endure the cross and a time of testing, then patience grows out of faith. If faith beings to sigh and groan under the cross, or when it gives thanks to God for the blessings it has received, then prayer grows out of faith. If faith compares its struggles with the wonderful power of God and submits to God, then humility grows out of faith. If faith becomes worried and realises what a terrible thing it would be to ever lose this faith, then the fear of God grows out of faith.

Even all the work that is accomplished through Australian Lutheran World Service all throughout the world is a fruit of Christian faith, as people have heard the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and have thought, “What can we do to help those in the world who are less fortunate than us?” And so, out of faith grows Christian charity and love.

So you can see how all the fruits of Christianity all come from faith, and this faith is created and produced by the Holy Spirit when repentance and the forgiveness of sins are preached in the name of Jesus to all nations.

And so, let’s give thanks to Jesus this morning for the wonderful gifts that he has given to us, and especially for feeding us with his living Gospel even up to now. And let’s continually pray to our Lord Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, to send out labourers into his vineyard. Amen.

Lord Jesus, we know that whatever work you have given us to do is nothing unless it is your work. And we know that you have given us to share only a little part of your work wherever you have called us. Let us work together with you, so that your light and your love and your truth may be spread into whatever dark corners you send us. Strengthen us each day in the practice of repentance and also in the great comfort of the forgiveness of sins. Amen.

Pentecost II: Audio Sermon (22-Jun-2014)

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Pentecost II (Proper 7 A) [

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And he was one of the disciples who was sent out by Jesus and instructed with these words:

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sorrows.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send to all of us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Last week in our Gospel reading, we read about how Jesus was sending out his eleven apostles, the twelve disciples minus Judas who had killed himself, into the world. And Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”

Today, we have a wonderful passage from Matthew 10 where Jesus sends the 12 apostles out on a special mission. And our Gospel reading today comes from a sermon that Jesus gives to the twelve apostles as he sends them out to encourage them in their work.

Right at the beginning of the chapter, we read: [Jesus] called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

You can see that Jesus gave to them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out. In our culture today, I don’t think many people really understand what an unclean spirit is. An unclean spirit can be a demon, but we can also call the spirit of any human being that is tainted by sin and has not been received into salvation an unclean spirit—it is the unclean spirit of a particular person. Any spirit, whether it is good or bad, good or bad, angelic or demonic, is something created by God. Either we are talking about a pure angel or a fallen angel, a demon. Either we are talking about a pure, or purified spirit of a person, or we are talking about the fallen, unclean spirit of a person.

When we baptise a person, we often say: Depart from [so-and-so], you unclean spirit, and make way for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not created by God, but is the spirit of God himself. The Holy Spirit is God’s own spirit, the spirit which Jesus Christ sends to people from God the Father.

Anyway, Jesus gives the twelve apostles authority over the unclean spirits. We so often want to win friends and influence people. We want to influence people’s spirits. But here, Jesus doesn’t give them any influence over them, but he gives them authority over them.

So who were these people that Jesus gave this authority to? It says: The name of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. We’ll recognise many of the names there in that list! Some of those people we don’t much about—and probably in 2000 years most people won’t know much about us either. In fact, people will probably know more about these disciples we don’t know about that they know about us! Now, that’s a humbling thought! So we read: These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them. And at the end of Matthew 10, when Jesus had finished giving these instructions, it says: When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there. You can see that this passage in our Gospel reading is very clearly spoken by Jesus to his twelve disciple, the twelve apostles.

We often don’t think too much about the twelve apostles, and who they really were. But the number twelve is significant, because in the Old Testament there were twelve tribes of Israel. The whole Jewish nation was divided into twelve families. And now in the New Testament, Jesus sends out 12 new leaders for his church. These 12 were with Jesus throughout his ministry and then were witnesses to his resurrection. Then Jesus sent them out to carry the gospel into all nations.

Anyway, we read that he gave them the authority to heal every disease and every affliction. Jesus gives them power over nature. We even read in Jesus’ sermon where he tells them: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast our demons. Isn’t it amazing that the twelve disciples had this particular gift to even raise the dead?

We have to remember that on the day of Easter, that Jesus sent his twelve disciples with the most brilliant power of all. He says: If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

And you see, when Jesus gives his twelve disciples the authority to forgive sins he is actually giving to them the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast our demons. The power to perform these miracles goes together with the authority to forgive sins.

You might know about a passage in the bible where Jesus goes and heals a lame man, and he says: Your sins are forgiven. Then when people criticise him, Jesus says: Which is easier to say? “Yours sins are forgiven” or “Take up your bed and walk”? You can see that Jesus heals the man through the forgiveness of sins. And so in the same way, Jesus gives to the 12 apostles the authority to forgive sins and also together with it the power to heal.

Now, you might think, it’s all very well that Jesus should say all of this to the twelve apostles, but what’s all this got to do with us? (Come on, Pastor Stephen! Why don’t you preach to us something that actually relevant to our lives?!)

Well, the only reason why you know anything about Jesus at all is because of the twelve apostles. Everything that we know about Jesus was written down by the apostles or their close friends. And when we come together into church each week, we come to listen to the writings of the apostles. Even after the day of Pentecost, we read all the Christians were dedicating themselves to the apostles’ teaching. That’s what we’re here to do today—we dedicate ourselves to the apostles’ teaching.

In a minute, we’ll get to our Gospel reading. But we need to remember that these words apply to the apostles. And then, they apply to us pastors who preach the word of the apostles. And also, they apply to you Christians because you believe and confess the teaching of the apostles. Do you see how it works? Jesus gives this sermon to the apostles: but he also gives this encouragement to me as a pastor because I’m here telling you the same thing that the apostles said, and he also gives this same encouragement to you because you believe and confess with your own mouth and your heart what the apostles also believed in their own heart and confessed with their own mouths.

And so, in the creed we say that we are together as one group throughout the last 20 centuries or so as one holy, Christian and apostolic church. That word “apostolic” means that we believe, teach and confess the same thing as the apostles.

And this word of the apostles has authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal every disease and every affliction. It has the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast our demons. On the last day, each and every Christian who has remained faithful to the end will be healed of every single sickness in such a way that not one drop of sickness will be left, they will we raised from the dead in such a way that they will never die again but will be alive together with Jesus, will be cleansed of all leprosy and will be given skin that shines bright with heavenly light, and all demons will be cast out—not one demon, evil spirit, will walk into heaven with us, because all sin will be forgiven, and every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. Sometimes, where Jesus allows it for the glory of his name that the church should receive a special gift of healing for a time. But most of the time, for most Christians, that is not the case—it only happens when and where Jesus allows us for the benefit of his church. But we have to realise that the complete transformation of our bodies and our souls will be so much better than any of Jesus healing miracles on this earth. In some sense, the reason why Jesus performed these miracles was to show us that he will perform these miracles in each of us when he calls us into eternal life.

So all this is given to us through the word of God, through the forgiveness of sins, through the testimony of the apostles. And so St John, one of the apostles, writes: We [the apostles] are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So if Jesus is going to perform such wonderful miraculous healings on our bodies when we finally enter perfect and sinless into his kingdom, it’s no wonder that in this life, Jesus wants to protect us not just in our souls, but also in our bodies! Don’t you think that’s amazing?

He says in our reading: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more value than many sparrows.

Can you imagine the apostles in their time, how so many of them were killed because they preached about Jesus? And do you know there are so many people all throughout the world who are killed for their faith even today? In Somalia, I heard about a 14 year old girl who was made an example of and shot dead in public in a street simply because she owned a bible.

And Jesus says: Do not fear them. Do you understand the power and the encouragement of Jesus’ words here? He says: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Notice the word: can. Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Of course, we know that God could destroy our bodies and soul in hell, if he wanted to. But to Christians, that is impossible, because Jesus says: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life. Sometimes some Christians really worry that they might be going to hell after all, because they simply have too much sin. Listen—only the Holy Spirit wants you know your sin. The devil doesn’t want you to know about it. But once you do know your sin, the devil wants to take away from you all the comfort. And Jesus died for all sin, and he never wants this comfort to be taken away from you. So if you know your sin, good—but don’t despair. The only people that can go to heaven is sinners, because they are the only people Jesus died for.

Now listen to these words: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more value than many sparrows.

It’s one thing that Jesus comforts us, but Jesus doesn’t only give us comfort, he also gives us help. And I think in the church today, lots of people pray for comfort, and are happy to be comforted, but don’t ask Jesus for any help, or at least don’t expect Jesus to help. So they think, I’m a sinner, and I’m forgiven. Good. But also, I’m sick, I’m depressed, I’m sad, I’m miserable, I’m broken, I’m desperate, I’m poor—and people think, Jesus can’t do anything about any of that. That’s wrong! Don’t you ever give up on Jesus, who has never given up on you. Don’t despair of his comfort, but also don’t despair of his help. If he has redeemed your soul, don’t you think that he can’t also help you in your physical need? The hairs on your head are all numbered. Think about this. Jesus will help you, and he gives to you every gift that you need each and every day. He doesn’t give what we think we need, but he gives what he in his divine love knows that we need. Be still, and know that he is God.

And so Jesus says: Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. Don’t deny Jesus because you’re worried about what might happen to you! Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth and he knows everything, he knows the very depths of your heart, all the dark corners of your soul, and he pours his light and his grace and his forgiveness over all of it.

Just think when a person is baptised, how not just your soul is enrolled in the Book of Life in heaven, but also your body, and each individual hair on your head. Just think that when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we are not just receiving some spiritual food to help our souls, but this is the body of blood of Christ that will strengthen and preserve us in body and soul until life eternal. This is a down-payment of the complete transformation and resurrection of our human bodies, together with all the hair on your heads.

So, do not fear, you are of more value than many sparrows. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send your angels to guard and shield us in all situations of our life, and give us the boldness and confidence to confess the witness that your apostles have given to us in the church today. Strengthen and preserve us in body and soul until life eternal. Amen.

Holy Trinity A: Audio Sermon (15-Jun-2014)

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Holy Trinity A [Matthew 28:16-20] (15-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And he was one of the disciples who was there when Jesus spoke these words:

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, come and be with us, in my preaching and in our listening today, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes we might ask children: What would you do if you were in charge of the whole world? What would you fix?

And in our Gospel reading today, this is exactly the situation that Jesus is in. He says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It’s difficult for us to imagine exactly what kind of authority is given to Jesus! If we think of all the world leaders, like the President of the United States, Barak Obama, or the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, or the United Nations, or whoever—none of these people are given authority over the whole earth. In fact, the President of America is not given absolute authority even over America—he only has authority to fulfil his duties as president. As President, he can’t break the law, for example. We might think that someone like him has absolute authority, but really he doesn’t.

But Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He doesn’t just have authority over one country, but over all countries. And not only does he have authority over all nations and over the whole earth, but also over heaven as well. All authority in heaven and on earth. And the leader of a country can only influence people from the outside, but doesn’t have authority over people’s hearts. But Jesus has been given all authority. Even in our own homes, or workplaces, or wherever we find ourselves, wherever we have been given a little bit of authority over someone else, we realise that that authority has been given to us by Jesus, and that we are allowed to share Jesus’ authority. Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

When Jesus was going to the cross, and was on trial before Pontius Pilate, we read where Pilate says to Jesus: Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”

So here we see Jesus with all the authority of heaven and earth in his hands. In the book of Revelation, when John has a vision of heaven, he describes this power and authority of Jesus, by saying: In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

It’s important for us not to think of this authority as not simply belonging to Jesus because he was true God. We believe that Jesus is true God and that he was there right before the beginning of the world, and created the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But then at Christmas time, we learn how Jesus took on human flesh for the first time. He became a true human being, a real man, with real flesh and blood. And now all the authority in heaven and earth is given to this one man, Jesus Christ. And his human body is now capable of doing things that most human bodies are not able to do.

Just remember that in each Christian church all around the world today, Jesus is present himself in the flesh in each one of them, speaking his word to each Christian personally. Now no other human being can do that. But to Jesus is given all authority in heaven and earth.

So what does Jesus do with all this authority?

He gathers his disciples together and he says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

First of all, Jesus wants to make sure that his church throughout the whole of its future history is always going to have a plan, a job, a certain task. There should never be a time when a church looks at itself and says, “We don’t know where we’re going or what we’re supposed to be doing.” Right here at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we see that Jesus gives his disciples all the direction they will ever need. He gives them a strategic plan, a strategic direction, and he says to them: Go! Go in this direction, follow this path, this way. And we know that Jesus says to his disciples: I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now, Jesus says, I’m going to send you in a particular direction where I choose, but I’m going to give to you and all Christians and the whole church now a purpose and a goal.

So he says: Go and make disciples of all nations.

Listen to those words: all nations. Jesus has just shed his blood for the sin of the whole world. And even though people throughout the world may have different coloured skin, they all have the same coloured blood. And so Jesus pays for the sins of all nations and of all peoples with his blood. Jesus commands these disciples to go wherever he sends them and wherever they find themselves to make disciples. And they are going to have to make disciples out of people that are nothing like themselves. They are not simply to go to their friends and family, but to new places, new countries, new cultures, wherever they find people with red human blood. Sometimes in the church we might feel that the people here are not really like us, and we like to go to a church where we find people just like ourselves. But Jesus never made the church like that—it was always to be for all nations, all ages, all temperaments, all personalities, all stages of life, all levels of education, all nations.

And so, what are the things that Jesus wants these disciples to use in order to make disciples of all nations? He says: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

We might sit around and think of all the different ways in which we might like to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples of all nations. But Jesus actually has already thought this through exactly, and gives two simple tasks. He says: baptise, and teach. And all our work of mission as Christians boils down to these two things: we bring people to be baptised, and we teach them everything that Jesus said.

So what do you need for a baptism? We need two ingredients: water and the word of God. So when we baptise a person, we put water over them and say: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus says in this passage today. How much water do we need? Jesus doesn’t specify. Sometimes people are baptised by being immersed in water, sometimes people have water poured over their head, and sometimes people are sprinkled with a small amount of water. Each of these situations is a full baptism, because Jesus is the one who does the work here. The most important thing about baptism is not what it looks like or what it symbolises, but what it does. And Jesus wants to give salvation and eternal life and the Holy Spirit through it. St Peter says in his letter: Baptism now saves you. And also Jesus says in Mark: Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved.

If we are immersed fully with water, it reminds us that the old person drowns and a new person rises to new life. If we have water poured on us, it reminds us that the Holy Spirit is poured out with all his gifts. If we have water sprinkled on us, it reminds us that the blood of Jesus is sprinkled on our hearts. But whatever way a person is baptised, the most important thing is not what the ritual or the ceremony reminds us of, but what Jesus actually gives us. And Jesus is not bound by a certain amount of water, because he speaks his word.

So who should be baptised? Jesus says: all nations. Nobody is to be excluded. Men, women, children. Some people, of course, think that babies should not be baptised. But Jesus does not say here all nations except babies. Jesus died for babies too and he wants disciples to made out of them too. He says all nations. And no matter what anyone may say, you will find no passage in the whole bible that forbids the baptism of babies. Usually the reason why people don’t bring babies for baptism is because they don’t believe that baptism is the work of Jesus, but instead that think that baptism is a human work that we need to perform, that babies are simply not able to do. But in baptism, adults, men, women, children, pastors, do nothing: all the work belongs to Jesus.

But the church’s task is not finished simply when we have baptised a person. Jesus says: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

All the spiritual authority in the church comes through teaching, and not by force. And we are commanded to teach not traditions or our own opinions, but the words of Jesus.

Of course, teaching people means that people need to learn. And basically Jesus says here, if you don’t want to learn something, you can’t be my disciple. There’s always something new that Jesus has to teach you. And Jesus says: Teach them everything I have commanded you. That’s going to take time. People are not going to become model Christians overnight, they are going to need to be taught, and taught for their whole lives. Also, anyone who knows their sin and knows what it’s like to run into temptations knows that we need to be taught again and again that Jesus died and rose again so that he could win for us the pure forgiveness of each and every single one of our sins without any contribution on our part. How easy it is to forget this! How easy it is to build up our own importance and our work, and then to forget Jesus and his work!

And yet, this teaching is the one thing that people often forget when it comes to church mission. We can think of kinds of things that the church could be doing, but teaching? This is the work in the church that gets no respect, no human reward, and no credit. But at the same time, to teach person the words of Jesus one word and one sentence at a time, that is work that Jesus considers to be so valuable. When the teaching of God’s word is going on, no matter whether Christians are gathered in a tin shed, in God’s eyes that place is a crystal palace!

And what better place to start when we teach that to tell them what baptism is? What’s it for? What does it give you? Who is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? There’s enough sermons for me for the next year at least!

And then right at the end of this passage, Jesus gives this wonderful promise: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus says that he personally, in his human flesh, will be with us always. I heard someone say during this week that when Jesus says: I am with you, it means that his spirit lives on. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Jesus is physically risen from the dead, and he says: I, he means I, and he means nothing less that I. I am with you always to the end of the age. And when Jesus is with us always in the flesh, we know that his Father is with us, because Jesus says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. And we know that when Jesus is with us always in the flesh, we know that he will send the Holy Spirit to us, since he says: I will send the promise of my Father upon you. Receive the Holy Spirit.

So yes—Jesus is with us always to the end of the age, wherever there are people being baptised and taught his word and therefore being made into his disciples. Jesus is with us always, always cleansing each of our sins with his blood, always healing each broken heart, and always binding up the wounds of each person.

What a wonderful thing it is to have Jesus with us always to the end of the age! What a wonderful thing it is to be baptised by him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! What a wonderful thing it is to be taught his word and to continually receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Amen.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for your word to us today, and we pray that you would give us everything that we need in order to be faithful to you, in our daily lives, in our homes and in our church. Heavenly Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on each one of us, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost A: Audio Sermon (8-Jun-2014)

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Pentecost A [John 7:37-39] (8-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mount Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St John. And he was one of the disciples who was there on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them with wind and fire. And we read from his gospel where he records Jesus prophesying about Pentecost:

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And St John explains these words: Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, breathe out upon us your Holy Spirit to work powerfully and mightily amongst us this morning, and to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

 

Recently, an older pastor gave me this advice about pastoral care. He said: When you listen to people, listen to what they say about Jesus. Because people can call all kinds of things a “god”, and people can call all kinds of things a “spirit”, but there’s only one Jesus.

Now this might seem like a strange thing to say, especially on the day of Pentecost, when you might be thinking, “I thought we were supposed to be talking about the Holy Spirit.”

Yes, today we’re talking about the Holy Spirit. You’re right! But do you know where the Holy Spirit comes from? This is a critical question that every Christian today needs to think about.

If we look at the creed, either the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, we can see that it’s split up into three parts: each part has to do with a person of the Trinity. The first part is about the Father: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. The second part is about the Son: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. And the third part is about the Holy Spirit: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

But these three parts don’t just show us what we believe, but it also shows us the history of the church. In the first two centuries or so, Christians were sent out into the pagan world, where people believed in many gods. At this time, when the Christian church was preaching about Jesus to its first disciples, they were thrown to the lions, because they preached that there was only one God. They preached that Caesar was not god, that Jupiter was not god, and all the other Roman gods, that none of them were God. There was only one God, who is the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. One early Christian martyr, named Polycarp, was thrown to the lions, and to give him one last chance, he was asked to “deny the atheists”. The Romans called Christians “atheists”, because Christians didn’t believe in all the different gods. So Polycarp gestured towards to Roman crowd gathered there and said that they were all atheists because they didn’t believe in any god that actually existed! So the first Christians had to fight for the first part of the creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

Throughout the next few centuries in Christian history, the big dispute was whether Jesus Christ was true God. During the third, fourth and fifth centuries there were many great Christians, who confessed what the bible says in its truth and purity about Jesus Christ. This dispute became so fierce that the emperor of Rome called the Christians together to sort this out at a council, called the Council of Nicaea. And they wrote what we now call “The Nicene Creed”, which we are going to say together today. Go and read carefully what it says about Jesus being God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God.

Now, what era of history do we find ourselves in? We Christians today need to search the Scriptures and learn from the mouth of God what he says about the Holy Spirit.

I would say one thing about all this, which I think that each one of us should think about very carefully: All the problems we have in the church today amount to one thing – people don’t believe in the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is true God, he is nothing less than true God, and is completely equal to the Father and the Son.

And nevertheless, God the Father sends us the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ and his holy, pure, life-giving words. And the Holy Spirit will not be given at all, not one little bit, through anyone else’s words. If you have Jesus and his words, his way, his truth, his life, you have the Holy Spirit. If you have someone else’s words, someone else’s way (which is a dead-end way), someone else’s truth (which of course is a lie), or someone else’s life (which is death in disguise), you don’t have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit says: thus says the Lord. The devil says: Did God really say?

The first way is the way of life, the second way is the way of death. It’s as simple as that.

St John says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Listen carefully to these words: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. I would encourage each of you to go and read the history of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, and take note very carefully about what Peter preaches on that day. He doesn’t actually say very much about the Holy Spirit: most of the sermon is dedicated to preaching about Jesus coming in the flesh, and being raised from the dead.

And so, have a think back to the advice I received from that pastor: Listen to what people say about Jesus. Because people can call all kinds of things a “god”, and people can call all kinds of things a “spirit”, but there’s only one Jesus. As St John says: Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist.

And so with that in mind, let’s have a look at our Gospel reading today.

We read: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Here is Jesus at this great festival, and we read that he stood up and cried out! This was no ordinary message that he wanted the people to hear. He wanted to speak it from the rooftops, to make sure it was heard loud and clear. He says: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Oh boy! Surely you know what a thirsty world we are living in today. Surely you know what a thirsty nation Australia really is today. Surely you know how thirsty and parched Mt Barker is.

Do you know this? I’m not talking about the fact that South Australia is such a dry state and we all need to have rainwater tanks. I’m talking about that great spiritual thirst. And I’m not talking first of all of all the people who are out there in the world who have never heard the gospel. I’m talking about all you thirsty people inside the church.

Maybe you think you are not thirsty. Well, Jesus says: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. If you are not thirsty, there’s no Jesus for you, and there’s no Holy Spirit for you. Jesus will only let a thirsty one come to him and drink from him.

You see, there are all kinds of lies around today which say that the whole future of the church depends on you, personally. People say: you must work, you must act, you must busy yourself until you drop dead, otherwise the whole church must fail. Wrong! The church is not built through your work, and your actions. The church belongs to God, it is built through the pure words and works and actions of Jesus Christ.

You might think that your spirituality, your prayer life, your salvation all depends on you, and your brilliant ideas. You might even be so filled up and drunk with yourself that you come into the presence of God foaming at the mouth. God will not tolerate such a thing in his presence. Everything depends on Jesus and his word and his brilliant ideas. And there is only one real Jesus.

If you want to replace Jesus and his word and his sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper with something else, the only thing that you can replace him with is human works.

Jesus says: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Jesus compares himself to a living fountain, a running river, a clear stream. Psalm 46 says: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Jesus Christ is that river. Every word that he speaks is a pure living drop of everlasting water than comes pouring out of heaven into your mouth. Why do you think Jesus pours out his Holy Spirit on us through the use of water in holy baptism? Because he wants to show us that he is living water. And how do we drink from this living water? We listen to the words that come streaming forth out the mouth of this man, Jesus Christ, who is true God. I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yours sins are forgiven; go in peace. Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Just think what Jesus can achieve with one syllable of his word. Just think what Jesus can achieve with the tiniest drop of water in baptism. Just think of what Jesus can achieve with one crumb of the Lord’s Supper. And we are given not just to drink from him in small measure, but he says: I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. Think of the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side on the cross, and then the blood and water that flowed out: think about how this fountain flowed for you, and how Jesus comes to wash you in the middle of his church today from that same fountain.

Listen thirsty one! Listen, all of you, who come here to church with parched tongues, with your dried up palates, with your tongues sticking to your gums, with your dried up jaws. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Jesus and drink.

The Holy Spirit does not proceed from you, and the Holy Spirit does not proceed from me. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That’s why in the church we seek to preach nothing but the word of God, and to preach to you Christ crucified. St Peter calls the teaching of false prophets waterless springs. It is dried up. Jesus is a fountain of the water of life. He says: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Jesus says: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Here we see what happens when the Holy Spirit draws us near to Jesus and when we come and listen to his words: We believe in him. And Jesus says: Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Here Jesus cancels all works and makes them nothing. Maybe you have tried to work hard for Jesus and you have thought that your reward may be the Holy Spirit. Maybe you exerted all your effort so that you too could receive a taste of whatever spiritual gift you saw in a friend of yours. Maybe you have sweated blood so that you could receive some gift of the Holy Spirit. Maybe even you have thought that all your getting out of bed on Sunday mornings and making the effort to simply come to church earns you the Holy Spirit, as if there’s nothing here worth hearing and nothing worth receiving from God.

It’s all cancelled! Jesus doesn’t say, whoever really tries hard, whoever passes a kidney stone for my sake. No: he says: Whoever believe in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Listen to how it says: Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This living water will flow out of you and overflow to other people. The temptation again here is to go and try and fill up on the Holy Spirit somewhere in your heart. No—don’t go to your heart for your own living water. It’s the wrong place. Go to Jesus—fill up from him. Go and drink from him. Fill up on his word, on his sweet gospel, that forgives each and every single one of your sins. This is where the Holy Spirit is to be found. Notice how in the book of Acts, it doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit increased in people. It says that the word of God increased, and the Holy Spirit is sent where the word of God increases. Fill up from the words of Jesus, and not in such a way that you’re looking to follow a set of rules, as if Jesus is giving you some magic formula. No—it says: Whoever believes in me. Yes, Jesus: I know you are not a liar. I know that what you have said in your word is truth, that you love me, and that you have all the power in your hands to carry out your work of salvation in me. As St Peter says: Pay attention to the word of God, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, until the Holy Spirit convinces you of the truth of this powerful and living word.

So what was this living water?

We read: Now this [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

We see here a wonderful prophesy of the day of Pentecost! And now: Jesus has been glorified, and the Spirit has been given. Do you see how the Holy Spirit once again depends not on our glorification, but on the glorification of Jesus? The Holy Spirit will not be given to us in our self-glory, our self-promotion—no, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church when Jesus is glorified. And we believe this happened when Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.

And so, who will pour out this Holy Spirit upon the church? Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not be manipulated by you, the Holy Spirit cannot be bought, the Holy Spirit cannot be pressured, blackmailed, coerced, or forced in any way. The Holy Spirit is true God. The Holy Spirit will be breathed out by Jesus, through his word, and he will be breathed out by no other person, through no other mouth, and through no other words.

Jesus says: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send us the Holy Spirit. Let us come to you and drink from you, we who are so thirsty, and have spent too long drinking from our own fountains and dried up springs. By the living power of the Holy Spirit, strengthen in us your word and faith until we die. Amen.