First Sunday after Christmas: Audio Sermon (27-Dec-2015)

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First Sunday after Christmas [On Christian Martyrdom] (27-Dec-2015)

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

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

Text: (Matthew 23:34)

Jesus says: I will send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.

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

Today I’m not going to focus on our Gospel reading, but we’re going to focus on a particular topic, which is Christian martyrdom. And you might think, Why am I discussing such a topic so soon after Christmas?

Well, in our church calendar, this is exactly the way things are ordered. You probably know the Christmas carol, “The twelve days of Christmas”. What are these twelve days of Christmas? They’re not the days leading up to Christmas, they are the days from Christmas Day up until the 6^th January when we remember the wise men coming to visit the baby Jesus. The visit of the wise men is called Epiphany. We’re going to celebrate Epiphany next Sunday.

Between Christmas and Epiphany, we have what’s called the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. So today, being the 27^th December is the third day of Christmas.

In the historic church calendar, the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th days of Christmas have always been dedicated to remembering three different people. Yesterday, the 26^th December (which we often call Boxing Day), is a day to remember Stephen in the New Testament, who was the first Christian martyr, the first person to be killed because of his faith in Jesus.

Today, the 27^th December is often a day to remember John, who was one of the twelve apostles. And tomorrow, the 28^th December is often a day to remember the innocent martyrs, who were the baby boys in Bethlehem who were killed by King Herod when he was trying to find the baby Jesus.

I’ve chosen to talk about martyrdom on this particular Sunday, because it is becoming a big issue for us Christians today. There have been more Christians killed for their faith in the last century than any other period of church history. With the rising up of ISIS in the Middle East in the last 18 months, we have heard some horrific news come from those areas. Many Christians have been killed for their faith, and many Christians even today are in great danger.

So what do we make of all of this?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, during the Advent season, I preached a sermon about John the Baptist’s preaching, where he calls his hearers a “brood of vipers”. In this sermon, I mentioned particularly about how some Roman soldiers came up to John the Baptist and asked him what they should do. John said to them: Do not extort money from anyone by threats of by false accusation, and be content with your wages.

John doesn’t tell them to stop being soldiers, but to be good, honest soldiers, soldiers that don’t bully people around, and who are happy with their pay. Notice here that John doesn’t tell these soldiers to abandon their posts, or to give up their weapons. This is very important for us to understand. We have a number of people in our congregation, as do many Lutheran congregations, who are or have been in the armed forces. And these people need our prayers and our support.

Sometimes soldiers and police have to use the weapons that they have been given to protect the wider community or the country. I’m not a policeman, I’m not a soldier, and so I’m not allowed to kill anyone. But if a person poses a threat, as in Paris recently, where terrorists went in and started killing people, it’s a policeman’s and soldier’s duty to do something about it, maybe even kill the terrorists. The terrorists committed murder, the police and the soldiers didn’t.

At Christmas time, the angels came down and sang: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. Yes, they sang peace on earth. And we know that the fifth commandment says: You shall not murder. But the New Testament clearly teaches in Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 that a soldier or member of the police can use lethal weapons, and also at the same time be a good Christian, with God’s blessing. They are protecting and serving their country. This is so important for us, because even though we Christians want to do everything to build each other up in love and to serve our society and community in a peaceful and loving way, we have no right to look down on people in the armed forces. They are also doing good work, just like anyone else. We live in a sinful world, that needs order and peace. Being a solider or a policeman is good work that needs to be done, and it is godly work.

However, in a conversation following on from my sermon a couple of weeks ago, someone said that the terrorists in Paris probably justified their actions in the same way. But let me explain what the difference is. The terrorists in Paris were private citizens, and they had not been given any right by the country of France to use their weapons in the way they did. They were murderers. The police and the army of France did have a right to use weapons, not in service of themselves, but in service of the country of France, in service of the state. And governments, states, nations, are also wonderful gifts from God and they need to be defended. There are some people, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Christians in history, who don’t believe that Christians can be soldiers. What this means is that if another country comes and wants to invade and take over, they expect all the unbelievers to do the fighting for them. This isn’t honest, and it’s not fair—we Christians are citizens of this country too, and someone has to do the hard work.

Now, let’s come to the word: martyrdom. What’s a martyr? The word “martyr” is a Greek word that means a “witness”. In the church, a martyr is someone who has been killed because of their faith.

We hear the word “martyr” in the news quite a lot, which is used in a different way. It seems as though some of the people who have been committing acts of terrorism in the name of Islam in various parts of the world go into these situations thinking that if they are killed, or even if they kill themselves, then they are martyrs. So for example, if a terrorist goes somewhere with a gun, and kills people, knowing that he might be killed by the police for doing this, then he would be a martyr. Or, if a person goes somewhere with a suicide vest and blows himself up, then he would be a martyr. Now, this is not what a martyr is. You can’t become a martyr by committing the crime of murder, or by killing yourself. That’s not martyrdom.

However, sometimes it happens that in certain places it becomes a crime to speak the name of Jesus, or to speak his words, or to tell the truth about him or what he said. If this happens, Christians must still speak the truth—the Christian faith must still be carried on whatever the cost, and Jesus promises to walk with his own people through these dark times. And when a person is killed for being a Christian, then they are a martyr.

Now, we don’t think too much about this issue, because it’s quite unlikely in Australia, that we would be killed for our faith. I don’t know about you, but I don’t live in fear at night for my life because of my Christian faith in this country. However, many Christians throughout the world do, and we are all part of the same Christian church, and part of the same body of Christ. And St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12: If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.

Jesus prophesied many times during his life that Christians would be persecuted. And I read at the beginning of our sermon today: Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus predicts the way in which Peter, his disciple, would be killed. He says: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) We know from history that Peter was also crucified, just like Jesus—his hands were stretched out, as Jesus says, when he was old.

What about you? What would happen if you had to choose between Jesus and staying alive? Would you reject Jesus? Many people fall away from the faith in our country simply because they don’t want to look bad to their atheist friends. What about you? Have you ever had a time that you stopped coming to church or stopped praying or reading the bible for a silly reason? Have you denied your Lord? How many times have you denied him? In the parable of the sower, Jesus says: Some [seed] fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it… The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in a time of testing fall away. We are often such weak Christians—we fall away and deny Jesus for such silly reasons. I have heard so many stories in our wider church about people who one day think that the sun shines out of their pastors, or a Christian friend, but as soon as they disagree with him on some ever so minor point, then they say he’s an idiot, and chew him up and spit him out like even unbelievers would be ashamed to do, and they can’t physically hear him and the word of God he speaks anymore, and sometimes even fall away from the faith. People really do fall away for such silly, petty reasons. But also remember that there is forgiveness if this happens. Peter denied Jesus three times, but then after Jesus rose from the dead, he comes to Peter. He doesn’t tell Peter off, and tell him what a disappointment he has been, but he simply asks Peter three times, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Peter denied Jesus three times, but Jesus also encourages Peter with this question three times. So also we need to be tough Christians and to prepare ourselves to speak a good word when we’re asked—we should take our opportunities to speak when we can. Jesus says: When they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. But if we chicken out, and deny Jesus, we shouldn’t despair—Jesus knows our weakness, and he forgives us. Peter’s times of denial strengthened him for the future when he clung to Jesus right to the end, even to the point of death. The Holy Spirit didn’t need his confession of faith earlier, but he gave him a wonderful confession of faith later.

So let’s go now briefly through three small readings about Stephen, John and the boys from Bethlehem, and see what it teaches us.

St Stephen’s Day was yesterday, the day after Christmas, the 26^th December. Of course, I kind of like this day, because my name is Stephen, and because of that, I have a bit of an interest in St Stephen! In the book of Acts, Stephen was appointed and ordained as a pastor, together with six others by the twelve apostles. The twelve apostles needed to share their work, and to delegate part of the great load that they carried. Part of duty of the apostles (and still today of all pastors) was to visit the poor and the sick and the needy. However, the apostles found that this charitable side of their ministry was taking away from their ability to pray and study God’s word. So they enlisted some others to help, to share the work. Jesus himself sends the apostles out two by two, so right from the beginning, it was always seen that apostles and pastors don’t work as lone rangers, but together with others.

So Stephen was one of these new assistant pastors, sometimes called a deacon. It turns out that Stephen was arrested and then he was brought before the Jewish high priest, and he gave a defence of his faith in Jesus. When he had finished speaking we read: Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

This passage from Acts 7, is just wonderful, and I often read it at deathbeds. If you find yourself with someone who is going to die, you might like to read them this passage. Even when Stephen is faced with the angry mob, what happens? Does Stephen find himself left alone without Jesus? No—he sees Jesus standing right there with him, in heaven, standing at the right hand of God. You can see this is such a wonderful fulfilment of Jesus’ words where he says: I am with you always to the end of the age. Also, we see Stephen ask Jesus to receive his spirit. And even when Stephen is confident that he is going to heaven to be with Jesus, he also has the strength to pray for his enemies, these men who are killing him at that very moment. Lord, do not hold this sin against them. We might think about this each time we go to sleep. We can say: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Look after me through the night, just as I know you will look after me when I die. And as I look back on the day, who has sinned against me? Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And then right at the end, it says: He fell asleep. He fell asleep, because we know that when he dies, it is not the end, but that Jesus will wake him up to see him face to face in Paradise.

Even Stephen’s prayers for his enemies came true, because it says: The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul…And later it says: And Saul approved of his execution. Now, later in the book of Acts, we read that Saul’s sins were not held against him, but that Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, and he became one of Jesus’ apostles and took the name: Paul. Paul became a wonderful missionary to the Gentiles. And then Paul wrote many letters in the New Testament, and especially, Paul gives some of the clearest testimony in the bible about why his sins were not held against him, as Stephen prayed, and why for all baptised Christians our sins are not held against us.

So what a wonderful passage of Christian encouragement! In Stephen’s situation, he preached, and he was killed for it.

But now, let’s read about John. St John’s day is today, the 27^th December, the third day of Christmas. John was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, and he even wrote one of the four Gospels, and what a wonderful gospel it is! John also wrote three letters in the New Testament, which we call 1 John, 2 John and 3 John, and he also wrote the last book of the bible, Revelation. Now, as far as we know, John was not a martyr. He wasn’t killed for his Christian faith. But he was exiled. In Revelation 1:9, we read: I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Patmos is an island that is part of Greece, and is one of the Greek Islands, where many tourists today go for holidays and cruises. But in those days, Patmos was a very isolated place—and John was sent there by the Romans to get him out of the way.

So John wasn’t killed or martyred, but he preached, and he was punished by being sent away. And history is full of people like this. There are a lot of people who have been sent away by governments into the wilderness, the desert, to a desert island. We might think of Soviet Russia where many people were sent to concentration camps called Gulags, including many Christians. It was forbidden to speak about Christianity during communism, and those who did were sent to Siberia. Also, sometimes in the church, people and sometimes good pastors and good Christians fall foul of church politics and are sent away to some remote place as a kind of punishment to keep them out of the way and not cause trouble.

But then we read about the baby boys in Bethlehem. They are called the Holy Innocents, and Holy Innocents’ day is tomorrow, the 28^th December. We read about them: Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he ascertained from the wise men.

These baby boys were not killed because they preached like Stephen or John, but they were killed because the king was trying to kill Jesus. What a tyrant! We have heard of stories in Iraq in the last 18 months where little babies and toddlers have been killed by swords or even crucifixion because they Christian babies and toddlers, part of Christian families.

So we see three different types of martyrdom with these three: Stephen preached and was killed, John preached and sent away out of sight and out of mind, and the innocent martyrs didn’t say a thing and were killed anyway.

And yet, in all of this, Jesus is there, wiping away the tears of his faithful ones and encouraging them. It’s not like our Gospel reading today, where Mary and Joseph can’t find Jesus. No—in these situations, Jesus is not absent, he’s not missing. He’s right there in the midst of it. When people persecute Christians, they persecute Jesus himself. When Jesus appeared to Paul, he said: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And to the church, he says: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

Just to conclude our sermon today, I want to tell you about a martyrdom that took place this year in Libya. On February 15 of this year, 21 men were kidnapped and killed in Libya by members of ISIS because they were Christians. It so turned out that these men were all from Egypt, and were members of the Coptic Orthodox Church. However, when they first released the names, they only had 20 names. So who was the missing one? It so turned out, that there was a man called Matthew Ayairga who was actually a Muslim from Chad, and wasn’t an Egyptian Christian like the other men. But when he saw the faith of the others, and the terrorists asked him if he rejected Jesus, he apparently said, “Their God is my God”, knowing full well that he would be killed. Let’s also pray like Stephen: Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Can the fighters of ISIS even become Christian missionaries like St Paul? Nothing is impossible with God.

This reminds us of when Ruth said to Naomi: Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. And so, let’s thank God for wonderful birth of his Son in Bethlehem. This wonderful birth is so full of light and encouragement and joy. This is good news of great joy that will be for all people. The angels sing: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. And so let’s also thank God for gathering so many people to come and kneel around the manger of Jesus, some of whom have knelt down around that manger with great danger to their lives.

Jesus says: I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Amen.

Dear Jesus, as we remember your parents today trying to find you as a twelve year old boy, teach us to remember that in our darkest moments, you are never missing, and that you have always been with your people even when they have been killed because of you, because you have died and risen and have won the victory over death. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among those with whom he is pleased! Amen.

Advent III: Audio Sermon (13-Dec-2015)

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Advent III Year C [Luke 3:7-18] (13-Dec-2015)

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

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send us the Holy Spirit so that by your grace we may believe your holy word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Here we all are in the middle of our Advent season, preparing for Christmas—there are Christmas carols in the shops, Santa Claus is supposedly coming to town, the Christmas lights are up—and yet, here we are in church today, and our Gospel reading starts how? With John the Baptist, our hairy bug man, yelling out: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

What do we make of this? You know, today we live in what is often called a “post-modern” world. And what is often meant by this is that people don’t believe there is such a thing as truth. This is a real shame, because Jesus says: I am the way, the truth and the life. Instead of believing that there is such a thing as truth, people say: What’s true for you is not necessarily true for me. People say, We need to be accepting of other people’s opinions, and not make them feel uncomfortable. In fact, the worst thing one can possibly do is to tell someone else that what they believe is not true.

Many people claim to be tolerant, loving, respectful, but as soon as someone comes into a room and says: Christ is risen! and actually believes the thing to be true, they are cut off from conversation. People are often not as tolerant as they often make out.

But because people don’t believe in truth, they often judge a person not on whether their opinions are true, but whether they seem to be nice and not offensive. In today’s world, and sometimes even in today’s church, the worst thing is not to speak error and to say something which is false, but to offend someone.

John the Baptist would certainly be rejected outright in this kind of situation. Imagine someone coming into our church today and saying: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

“That person has an anger problem!” we would say. “He’s rude”, we would say. “He hurt my feelings”, we would say. “I don’t like being spoken to like that”. “I feel threatened, persecuted, and unsafe!”

Sometimes there are pastors or prominent people in the church who are bit like John the Baptist. They don’t have good social skills, they are not necessarily polite or respectable, and yet what they say is true. And when people reject such people because of their bad social skills, or bad hygiene, or bad eating habits, they could even reject the very voice of the Holy Spirit himself. This is the beginning of our reading today.

So what is John saying to these crowds? John knows that the baptism which he is carrying out is only for sinners—not pretend sinners, not sinners in name, but sinners in truth, real hard-boiled sinners. And if you’re not a real sinner, you’re not welcome.

So John sees in the crowd some people who are pretend sinners. Maybe they think: Yes, I did sin once when I was rude to a tele-marketer. Or: I’ve lead a pretty good life, but I know I’m not perfect. Or: I’ve done my best, but I could do with a good dose of spiritual lift.

John says: Stop mucking around! That’s not repentance—that’s self-righteousness dipped in honey. Get out of here! Go home! says John. This baptism is for real dirty sinners—and there is no self-righteousness welcome here.

John says: Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. What does this mean? The word repentance means “turning around”. We are walking down an alley and we come to a dead end, and we realise that we were walking in the wrong direction. What do we do? We turn around. We often walk down a path in life which is not God’s, but then we realise that we were wrong and God was right. And so we turn around. And we say to God: God, you were right and I was wrong. Forgive me.

That’s repentance. Now when we say this, we can’t then keep turning around and going back towards our dead-ends again. God wants to find fruit on the tree he has planted. We should do good works, not because they will save us, because they are good—good works are good. God actually doesn’t need our good works, but the people around us do. We want the Holy Spirit to work in us good works, so that our lives produce a fruitful harvest.

But what was happening with the people who were coming to John? John says: Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The people thought, “I don’t really need to do anything, or to change my ways, because I have a good family lineage. I’m a Jew, and I’m from Abraham’s family. I don’t really need to repent.” John says, no. “If you don’t repent, God doesn’t need you to be part of his kingdom. He won’t leave it empty. He will find some other people—some Gentiles, some non-Jews—to come and be part of his kingdom. He will take other cultures that have been bowing down and worshiping statues and stones, and whose hearts are like stones, and he will make them beat with blood and with energy. But if you don’t repent, your heart will turn to stone. And if your tree doesn’t bear good fruit, then the axe is laid at the root of the tree.”

John is really encouraging us not to be lazy, but to offer ourselves constantly for God’s service, and continually to look for opportunities to do good for other people. The Jewish people could not rely on their family heritage—all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. But Christ died for the ungodly. He died for sinners. And if you know that you are a real hard boiled sinner, then you can be absolutely certain that you are precisely the kind of person for whom Jesus died.

Now, just about family lineages—in the church, we still sometimes have a problem with this. I remember meeting a woman who asked me what I do for a living. When I told her, she said: “A Lutheran pastor, hey? Well, I’m Latvian!” Many people in Latvia are Lutherans, but the fact that this lady was Latvian, but no interest in the Christian faith, didn’t give her some kind of automatic passport into heaven.—Many a time, we might be standing in a Lutheran church narthex and we hear a conversation like this: Hello, my name’s John Jackson.—Jackson, hey? How does a man with a name like Jackson end up in the Lutheran Church?—Well, my mother was a Frozenschnitzel, from Eudunda.—Really? my grandmother’s maiden name was Frozenschnitzel too, but she was from Kapunda.—Well, there were actually three Frozenschnitzel brothers who came out on the boat from Germany, one settled in Eudunda, one in Kapunda, and one in Tanunda.—So we’re related then?—Yes, but my mother was one of the eleven children of Pastor Siegfried Frozenschnitzel who was the pastor at Gnadenberg for 45 years… And so the conversation goes on! Anglicans, Catholics, Uniting Church, Presbyterians, Baptists all have similar kinds of stories.

To be part of a family, and to have a proud long family lineage is a wonderful thing. It’s a good thing. To be a physical descent of Abraham is a great honour. However, all of that does not give us any right in the church, as if we have some kind of ownership to it, or as if we don’t need to continually examine our hearts, and repent. The church is not a family club. It if that’s what we want it to be, then the axe is already laid at the root of the tree. The church is a hospital for sinners. The devil himself has bashed us up and left us on the street, and the Holy Spirit has brought us into the emergency ward of Jesus himself, where he bandages up our wounds and pours out his own medicine. What a wonderful privilege is it to receive all of these wonderful gifts day after day, week after week, year after year, from our wonderful doctor, our wonderful Jesus, who knows everything, and has a medicine and a cure for everything. The most wonderful cure will be when he finally raises our bodies from the dead so that we will be perfect and sinless like him.

The next part of our reading tells us about different people asking John what they should do. We want to bear fruits worthy of repentance, but what are they? Where should we start?

So we read: And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

This is a wonderful encouragement to all of us. We should look around and see who God has put in our path. What do they need? Can I help them? How can I and the things that God has graciously given to me be of service to them? St Paul says in Philippians 2: Let each of your look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let love start small, and let the Holy Spirit flame it into a large fire which burns brightly.

Sometimes when it comes to charity, people say: “Well we have government welfare—I don’t need to help people. If people still need help, it’s their own fault.” That’s rubbish. Jesus says: You always have the poor with you. There is always someone who falls between the cracks, and needs help. Wherever the gospel is preached, the devil is never far away, attacking people, stripping people of their rightful possessions, and laying them in the dirt. Paul says in Galatians: They asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. God has lavished his mercy and his grace upon us, sending his only Son to die for us, and forgiving each and every single one of our sins. If this is what God has done for us, what can we do for others?

After this, we read: Tax collectors also came to be baptised and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorised to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

Here we have to different group of people who had particular callings, particular vocations, in life, and they wanted to be baptised. They want to know what they should do. The same question should be on our minds. We are baptised people—what should we do? How should we live? The forgiveness of sins should not be an excuse for us to sit around on our backsides. After all, Jesus paid for your sins with his own blood and his own death. Isn’t there something you would like to do in thanks to him?

John doesn’t tell the tax collectors to give up their jobs. He doesn’t tell the soldiers to leave their posts. He only asks them to be good, honest tax collectors. Tax is good thing—and collecting it is a good thing. But if you have to do it, do it properly. Do it well. Do it as if you are serving God, and not people.

The same with soldiers—it’s not a bad thing to be a soldier. And sometimes people think: But soldiers sometimes have to kill people, and the commandments say, “You shall not murder.” However, there are numerous passages in the bible, where God allows certain people with certain callings to have weapons, and if necessary, to defend their country and its citizens, like soldiers and police. It’s a good thing to protect a country and its citizens. It’s even a good thing for a policeman to shoot someone who is threatening to harm others. Throughout my ministry, here and in Gippsland, I have always had people in almost every congregation who have served in the armed forces, and we should pray for them and encourage them, and assure them that God is pleased with their work. As a private citizen, you are not allowed to kill anyone. The terrorists in Paris did commit murder, but the police and soldiers who shot the terrorists to protect the people did not commit murder. God allows soldiers and police to use arms in his service, and in service of others, and this is work that Christians can do with good conscience. Romans 13 says: He is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

So in the same way, John doesn’t encourage the soldiers to leave their posts, and to throw away their arms, but to be good soldiers: Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.

Now, we might think: What is my calling? What is my vocation? What are the temptations of my calling? These are the kinds of things that with the Holy Spirit’s help, we should fight against, and seek to be good and honest citizens in whatever we do, and wherever God has placed us.

In the last part of our reading, we read: As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, “I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

When pastors preach, we have to preach two things: God’s law and the Gospel. The law is when we point to you and to your sins and call you to repent. But the Gospel is when we point to Christ and to the complete and total forgiveness of your sins because of his death and resurrection. This is what John does. He has told the people what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. He has called them to repent and to bear fruits worthy of repentance. He has struck terror into the hearts of his listeners, and made them aware of God’s expectations, and their great failings.

But now, there is something else to talk about—there is one coming after him. He is a Saviour. He will die and pay the price for your sins. He will send you the Holy Spirit in full measure, he will cleanse your heart with fire. And he will gather you like wheat into his barn. He will also see those who think they don’t need to repent, who don’t need to learn the bible, or to seek a Christian life—he will burn them like chaff in the fire.

Maybe you worry that you are not good enough for Jesus. Maybe you worry that your life has not borne enough fruit. Maybe you think that you’ve tried to live a good life, but you always let yourself down. Let me tell you something—your worries, your struggles, your disappointment with yourself already shows that the Holy Spirit is at work in you. You already know that you are a sinner. That is a wonderful fruit of the Holy Spirit. And now, it is time for you to stop looking at yourself, because you won’t save yourself. Look to Jesus—he has baptized you, he gives you his body and blood to eat and to drink, he has forgiven you all your sins. He doesn’t forgive you only if you have succeeded a little bit to lead a good life. If you are a complete failure and you know it, then his forgiveness is precisely for you, like a glove on a hand, like a hat on a head.

So let’s place ourselves into the hands of this wonderful Jesus, the strap of whose sandals we are not worthy to untie. He comes down and unties our sandals and washes our feet from all the dust and dirt of our lives. Let’s trust in him to send us the Holy Spirit through his word, and to encourage us in all of our efforts to live a Christian life.

Come Lord Jesus, come! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we are yours. We belong to you. Work in us the fruits of your Holy Spirit, the fruits of repentance, and make our hearts alive and joyful with the wonderful good news of forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. Amen.

Advent II: Audio Sermon (6-Dec-2015)

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Advent II Year C [Luke 3:1-6] (6-Dec-2015)

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

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

The word of God came to John the Son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send us the Holy Spirit so that by your grace we may believe your holy word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Luke chapter 1, we read about an amazing event where Mary goes and meets her relative Elizabeth. Mary is pregnant with the baby Jesus, and Elizabeth is pregnant with her baby John. At first, this doesn’t look like a very strange event at all—no different than two pregnant women today getting together for afternoon tea. But actually, in God’s eyes this is the most important thing happening in the world at the time.

If we had been alive back then, at the time of the birth of Jesus, what do you think would have been in the headlines on the news? Certainly not Mary and Elizabeth greeting each other and spending some time together! And yet, Luke tells us about this in great detail: Mary goes into the hill country to Elizabeth, she greets Elizabeth, the baby John leaps in his mother’s womb, and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks a prophecy about Jesus and Mary. And then we read where Mary speaks a wonderful prophecy too, which we call the Song of Mary: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. Sometimes this song is known by its Latin name: the Magnificat.

Anyway, listen to those words: He has looked on the humble estate of his servant. The most important aspect of this event is that God looks on them. What a wonderful thing it is to be looked upon by God! Today, we might think that we have come to church to look to God and to look to Jesus, however, the greatest blessing is that God actually looks upon us. The Lord blesses us and keeps us. The Lord makes his face shine on us and is gracious to us. The Lord looks upon us with favour (he lifts up his face towards us) and gives us peace.

What a wonderful blessing! Our lives would be nothing, our lives would not be worth living at all if God did not look upon us. And yet we have so many promises in the Scriptures, where God looks upon his people.

Let’s have a look at our Gospel reading today. We read: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitus, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

We have here a list (we might think a very uninteresting list!) of all kinds of people who were in charge of the known world and its affairs. We read about the emperor (the Caesar), the governor of the local region, the tetrarchs of the nearby regions (which is also a governor), and the high priests. We might think about if they had newspapers and news reports back in this time, who do we think might have been in the news every day? Maybe these world leaders? What do you think? And yet right at the end of this list of names, we read: the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

After listing all of these world leaders, Luke shows us who God was looking on at that time: our old friend, the hairy bug-man, John the Baptist.

Now, why does Luke mention all these people? Well, because in many people’s eyes, they probably were the important people at the time. Luke wants show us that John the Baptist was not some kind of mythical figure, dancing around with the pixies playing a flute. He actually conducted his ministry at a certain time, when certain world leaders were ruling.

This teaches us something very important: that worldly glory, and worldly power, is something very short lived. Who do you think are the most important people alive today? Who are the big names? Who are the big players? Barak Obama, Vladimir Putin? Or what about in our own country – Malcolm Turnbull? And yet, the people who are important in the world’s eyes are very different to the people who are important in God’s eyes.

We might look back at the last hundred years in Australia—I don’t know about you, but I certainly can’t tell you the names of all the Australian prime-ministers during that time. Many of them are almost forgotten, and yet during their prime-ministerships, they would have been in the newspaper every day.

So when we read our reading today, we might find there a very uninteresting list of names, but we have to realise that when Luke was writing this, he was telling his readers about all kinds of people that they would have known, and known vividly, and known well. These were the important people of the day. And yet, in God’s eyes, they were nowhere near as important as one man eating locusts and honey out in the desert near Judea.

The irony is, of course, that here we are 2000 years later, and what’s happened? Well, John the Baptist is a more well-known person that any of those people now. When they were all alive, John the Baptist would have been considered just another nuisance. But now, the tables have turned. The most significant thing about Tiberius Caesar is that he was the emperor at the time of John and of Jesus. The most significant thing about Pontius Pilate was his involvement in the life of Jesus. And we could go through the rest of the list.

History doesn’t revolve around world leaders. It revolves around God. God is the one who raises up leaders, and brings down leaders. Many world leaders have come, and many world leaders have gone. But also many world leaders, who were the most famous people in their day, have been forgotten. And yet, God’s word is not forgotten. God has not forgotten his people. God has not forgotten his faithful followers. He still looks upon them, and shines the light of his face upon them. In Isaiah we read: Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Tiberius Caesar might have engraved his face on coins, but what is a greater honour: to have your face engraved on a coin, or to have your face engraved on God’s own hands?

But now let’s look at what Luke writes about John. He says: The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

In Matthew and Mark, we read a whole lot of detail about how John dressed and what he ate. But Luke doesn’t focus here on any of that stuff at all. He simply focusses on his preaching and on his baptising. But we read that he was in the wilderness. He didn’t live in luxurious palaces of the days and in a comfortable home: he lived out in the bush somewhere.

Actually, a couple of chapters earlier, we read about John after he was born: The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. Here was a child who has elderly parents—in fact, his whole birth was a miracle. He was like Isaac, who was a miracle child to old Abraham and old Sarah. John was a miracle child to his parents too, to Zechariah and Elizabeth. And yet, it seems as though quite early on he ended up in the wilderness. Maybe his parents died when John was still a child, which meant that John had to fend for himself. This might explain why John looked as though a mother hadn’t cared for him for years! And yet, here he is, dressed in his camel shirt, eating locusts and wild-honey.

We read about John in our reading today: The word of God came to John. This whole passage is not really about John, it’s about the word of God. And where the word of God comes to a person, where the word of God is preached is the most important place on earth. When the word of God comes to a person and a place, then all of a sudden that place becomes the most luxurious palace on earth, the most wonderful place to be—it becomes a Garden of Eden, a paradise! If only we saw things as God sees them! If only we valued God’s word and knew just how precious a thing it is—wouldn’t we run to hear it? 

We read: He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

We know that John didn’t do this work dressed in a nice tailored suit. We know that he wasn’t considered polite or respectable. And yet, God uses him in a wonderful way. In fact, Jesus says: Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

The work that John is called to do is completely against the grain, it is completely against the culture of the day. And the same goes whenever the church takes its message out to new places. The gospel is always new, it is always different, it always goes against the grain.

I remember hearing a story about a Christian man of strong faith who had a flat-mate. The flat-mate said to him, “Living with you is like living with an Old Testament prophet!” The flat-mate meant is as an insult, but the man took it as a compliment!

We always have to realise that God has created all kinds of people, with all kinds of different personalities, with all kinds of unusual aspects. And yet God can use all of these things. There is a special ministry for the church when it is goes against the culture, and against the grain.

We often make a mistake in thinking that outreach and evangelism, for example, all rests on us. But in actual fact, it doesn’t rest on us at all—it has to do with the word of God. Sometimes it is said that the most important thing about outreach is “relationships”. But what about John the Baptist? Did he have meaningful relationships with people? It doesn’t really seem like it. It seems to me that he was a loner, who just said what needed to be said. Of course, we should make friends with people, and seek to be kind to people. Relationships with people are a good thing. But we also shouldn’t beat ourselves over the head, thinking that it will be the quality of our relationships that will convert people. If I look back at my own life, some of the most profound spiritual conversations I have had with people have been with people I never saw before and I will probably never see again, sometimes on planes, or buses, or in strange places. The reality is that, just like John, God will use us where and when he wants to use us. God will arrange the time and the place.

But you see, even in our reading, none of this rests on John. It’s got nothing to do with John. The important thing in our reading is not that John was in the wilderness. The important thing is that the word of God came to John in the wilderness.

So Luke writes: As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

John’s ministry is a wonderful ministry. What’s so important about what John says is that he cuts straight to heart. Every word he speaks is a sharp arrow. Every word goes straight for the jugular. This is the way God speaks to us. He prepares the way for the Lord—he cuts right to heart. When the Gospel comes, it comes in through a straight path.

We might think about the freeway which goes past Mt Barker. The most important part about a freeway, it that it takes you where you need to go with no obstacles in the way. I was in Crafers recently, and someone was telling me about when the freeway first went through there—it had to go right through the town and chopped it in half. It was quite traumatic for the people that lived there.

Sometimes this is what repentance is like. God has no regard for the quaint little villages that we build in our hearts that are not built for him. He simply comes along with his dynamite and his bulldozer and goes right to heart of our sin. He makes the rough places straight. What thing in your heart needs to be bulldozed? Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Or have you ever noticed a train-line going through the hills? Sometimes there is a hill and the train-track goes straight through it, but then just around the corner, there is a little valley, and the train-track is built up, the valley is filled in. Even though the hills go up and down, the train keeps going in a straight line wherever it needs to go.

This is how God’s word is with us. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways.

Sometimes, when God wants to build a freeway and a train-track, it can seem very painful for us. We don’t want to acknowledge our sin. We don’t want God to change our hearts and our lives for the better. But once God has built his freeway, then he sends his Gospel to us faster than 110kms an hour. God sends us his forgiveness, he sends us the blood of his son Jesus, he sends us the Holy Spirit. We are the destination for God’s grace, and if there are hills and valleys in the way, then God will simply cut through them to apply his medicine, his comfort, his peace to us.

We read about John that he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance isn’t for nothing—God works repentance in us in order to apply to us the forgiveness of sins.

Psalm 147 says: God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Deuteronomy 32: See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. We also read in Job: He wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.

Maybe you have entered a time in life, where you feel as though God is bulldozing you and cutting you down. Don’t despair. The only reason why God does it is to make a straight path for his gospel and his comfort. Trust in him to give it to you. He will deliver it to you! The banquet is already prepared for you, and it is already on its way. Heaven is already prepared, and your foretaste of it is arriving so incredibly soon! Welcome Jesus as he comes to you on his wonderful highway! Welcome him as he comes to you via the fastest route possible!

Blessed is who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you that you shine on us people who are insignificant in the eyes of the world. But we know that like John we are precious in your eyes and that is the only thing that matters. Send us the Holy Spirit, and all of your precious comfort, and send it to us by the fastest route possible! Amen.

Reformation Day: Audio Sermon (25-Oct-2015)

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Reformation Day [John 8:31-36] (25-Oct-2015)

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

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, 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. Amen.

Today we celebrate 498 anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. Before we get to our today’s Gospel reading we will take a brief look at what the Reformation was and why would we still celebrate it here is Australia even 500 years later.

Many Christians today are confused. Many Lutherans are confused. However, one doesn’t need to look too far back in history to see that this is a relatively recent thing. It is and always has been a glorious thing when the path we walk is clearly marked—either you follow it or you don’t. There have always been times throughout history when Christians, and also we Lutherans, knew exactly what we had to believe and what we had to do. Such times always come from a firm belief that the word of God is clear. If we don’t believe God’s word is clear, then nothing is clear, faith is unclear, and life is unclear. When we believe God’s word is unclear, then we live in slavery—slavery to ourselves.

People often misunderstand what the Reformation was. Some people think that since people are always getting smarter and smarter, that the reformation was about something along the lines of ever-continuing progress. This is not true.

Some people think that Martin Luther was some kind of revolutionary, liberating people out of oppression of all those rich hypocrites in the Catholic Church, so that people can do whatever they want. This is not true.

One of the most dangerous misunderstanding of the reformation is when some say that the Church needs to be reformed all the time. What they mean is that the Church needs to change all the time, that Christ’s Church needs to catch up with the times, to be on “the right side of history”, to invent “new models of doing church”, to get rid of all the boring stuff we don’t understand. This isn’t true either. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is only one truth—we either stick with it or we lose it. Either we stick with God’s agenda for his church, or the devil’s. The church can’t keep up with the times, because the church does not compete with the pagan world. 

The best way to understand what the Reformation was, is to look at its very opposite, which is – deformation. Reformation is when you reform, restore back something that has been deformed.

In the case of the Lutheran Reformation it was the message of Christ that was deformed. The Church had become so much like the world around it, it had been bringing itself up-to-date for so long, that the unique message of Jesus Christ was almost completely lost.

There was a man, chosen by God, and called to recover the true message of the Bible. His name was Martin Luther. He didn’t mean to become a reformer. He didn’t plan to start the greatest revival ever. He didn’t mean to launch the Reformation and to change the course of history. When Luther begun to read the Bible, when he begun to abide in Christ’s words, trying to be Jesus’ disciple, the words of Christ revealed him the truth and the truth set him free.

Listen to that word: Free. Freedom. This is what Martin Luther obtained. True freedom which comes from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through His Word. And as Luther proclaimed and taught this freedom to others, the world was changed.

This is what the Reformation was about: Returning to the Word of God, abiding in the Word, restoring the pure message of Christ, learning the truth and letting its transforming power to set us free.

I think that most people really like this word ‘freedom’. Unfortunately, what we often understand as freedom is something very, very different than what Jesus had in mind and what the Reformation rediscovered. 

How do we, or at least how does the culture around us understand what freedom is? I think that we all are influenced by the fairy tale that we can’t be truly happy unless we are totally free to choose who we are and how we want to live.

This idea, this story has been around for so long and is still actively promoted. Let me give a few examples of this kind of thinking, of how people understand this freedom, and I’m sure you will recognize most of them. 

People say: ‘I want to be free to do whatever I want. I want to be free from all restrictions, from all authorities and responsibilities, from all obligations that I haven’t chosen myself. I want to be free to define who I am. I want to be free to define who God is and what to do about it. I want to be free to decide myself what is right and what is wrong. I want to be free to call the reality around me what I want.’

I’m sure you can recognize examples of this false freedom around us in our culture, even among people close to you, may be even in your own thinking. So many people today are captivated by this false idea of freedom even not realizing it.

What is significant about this false freedom is that all of this is about… about whom? Yes, it is about me! This false freedom assures that I am the centre around whom everything else revolves. It’s obvious that this isn’t true.

It takes just a minute to recognize that we are not creators of our lives, we didn’t decide when, were and with what genes we will be born. We didn’t choose our talents and weaknesses, we didn’t choose our relatives and opportunities that we have. We didn’t choose most of our relationships and responsibilities which define who we are. All of this was given to us.

And still people want to assume that I am the beginning and the end. That it is all about me. Of course, no one can make the entire world to revolve around them, but at least we do our best according to how much power and influence we have.

The irony about this false freedom of ‘me’ is, that, in fact, it is the greatest tyrant that enslaves us. We are enslaved to focus mostly on ourselves, to think and care mostly about ourselves, to worry about our future, we are bound to follow our desires, and we are tricked to believe that if we do it, this is freedom. When in fact this false freedom doesn’t allow us to be who we are created to be, to live and enjoy our lives in their richness.

In ancient Greek devil was called diabolos, which literary means, one who mixes things up, creates confusions, deceives. This is what he has done, he has persuaded us that our slavery is freedom, so that we would demand more of it.

And don’t be fooled thinking that we as Christians are immune to this kind of deception--Not at all!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Jesus tells us what it means to be His disciples and what blessings it will give us.

Now let’s reflect on our own thinking. Do we really want to allow Jesus Christ to determine what it means to be a Christian, or we want to determine it ourselves?

I see it again and again that people want to define themselves what it means to be a Christian, because—you know—we all are such mature, sophisticated, educated adults and we should make up our own minds, and how to go about this business of “faith”.

Some people choose to believe that to be a Christian mainly means that you need to show up in church as often as you can. On the other hand it doesn’t matter much how you live your life between Sundays, as long as you have been to church.

Others choose to believe the very opposite. They believe that coming to church really doesn’t matter for that’s what these first, these hypocrites do. What matters for them is how good you are in your daily life! (Of course, good according to our own criteria of goodness!)

Some chose to believe that they can be good disciples of Christ if they live as nice and loving persons, and try to help others. There really is no need to focus on the Bible and what it teaches, it doesn’t really matter. Just be a loving person. For at the end, they say, all religions are the same, aren’t they?

Some believe that to be a Christian means that you are self-satisfied and don’t need much. Then you can look at others who strive for more from this world, and condemn them, for you are not like them. You are happy and content with what you have. We could continue this list on and on…

I’m sure we can recognize that these ideas live not only among people we know, but also among us. The bottom line again is the same – it is all about me. It is ‘me’ who is going to decide what God should expect from me. At the end it is about what I myself choose, about my false freedom.

If we ask where people get these ideas… there is no answer. “I decided, I choose to believe this way!” This is not freedom—it’s slavery: slavery to self, to the self which continually rebels against true God and wants to be like god.

This is why we have such apathy to the Word of God, this is why we don’t  want to read it, or to study it, to listen to it, or to understand. For if you listen to the Word of God, our false freedom is taken away. Then we stand before the Creator and Redeemer as His little rebellious creatures.

It is much harder to admit that all is not about me, that I can’t re-define reality or determine what is right and what is wrong, but God the Creator does it and I’m supposed to listen to Him and live accordingly. We all are so, so deformed in our hearts. We are born this way and as we grow we get only worse. This is why we confess: “I, a poor helpless sinner…” Deformed.

Jesus said: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The Lutheran Reformation started with the Word of God, with Luther abiding in the Word. In these few words Jesus reveals what is the recipe for true reformation.

Every true reformation should start with the clear Word of God. When we are willing to listen to our Lord, instead of being like little gods ourselves. We don’t read the Bible to study God. We read it for this is how our God speaks to us. When you read and meditate upon the word of God, at home, in church, or in bible studies, Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself speaks to you. He send the Holy Spirit together with His words to enlighten you, to show you the truth and to set you free.

Only when you come closer to Christ through His word, you begin to see the truth, about yourselves and about this world. Sometimes we think that mature Christians are those who don’t sin, or sin just a little. Mature Christians are those who understand the truth about our sinfulness and total dependence of God’s grace. The more you abide in the Word, the more it shows the darkness of our hearts, and the more we can rejoice and appreciate what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Everything we receive from Him is totally underserved. If God was only just, we would all be condemned to hell and destruction. God is not only just, but he is also gracious and merciful. It is because of His incomprehensible grace and love, it is because of Jesus sacrifice, that we have our hope. And what a hope it is! God has chosen you for eternal life All your sins are forgiven! The Holy Spirit has created you a new heart! He has made you a child of God the Father! You are an heir of God’s eternal kingdom! The truth is that we don’t deserve any of this.

The truth is that God loves each of you so much that He gives His life in exchange to yours, so that only He could be with you. So that only He can have you in His presence in His eternal Kingdom. This is our hope, this is the truth. This is the truth which Jesus reveals to us in His word, and this truth sets you free.

Jesus sets you free in two ways. First, He sets you free from something and second, He sets your free for something. First, most importantly, He sets you free from the false freedom of self. The Holy Spirit enlightens you and helps you to see that this is not all about you. We are free to turn our eyes from ourselves to Jesus and to our neighbours.

Second, Jesus sets you free for something. He sets your hearts free, so that you desire what is truly good. He sets you free to trust the you are created in God’s own image, that Jesus Christ has died and risen so that you can live eternally. He sets you free to trust the your God loves you and cares for you, and there is nothing to worry about. He is your rock, and your shield. Jesus sets you free to enjoy your humanity.

To live in joyful and fulfilling relationships with your Creator and Redeemer, and because we trust that He provides for us, we are also free to live for our neighbours, sacrificing ourselves. We are set free from all deformation, and we are set free to be reformed and restored, to be prepared for all good works.  This is what the Reformation was about, and this is why it is still as important for us, as it was for the people five centuries ago. We all need to abide in the Word of God as much as we need the air. We need the Word to reveal us the truth and to set us free. This is why we always need to be reformed.

Today we still are blessed, we still have the same Word of truth being preached, but don’t take it for granted. Abide is this Word, learn the truth and be set free, or as Jesus said: “Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.” (John 12:35) So happy Reformation Day!

Amen.

Dear Jesus, enlighten us by your Holy Spirit, and set us free from the slavery to ourselves. Open our eyes, and keep them fixed on you, and help us to trust in your clear word of truth. Amen.

Pentecost XXI: Audio Sermon (18-Oct-2015)

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Pentecost XXI (Proper 24 B) [Mark 10:35-45] (18-Oct-2015)

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

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, 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. Amen.

In the book of Revelation, we read a wonderful verse about prayer. It says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. We often have the wrong understanding that prayer is simply asking God for stuff. We think that when we pray to Jesus, that we are the ones who are in charge, who are going to twist Jesus’ arm to make him do what we want him to do.

But in actual fact, that’s not the case at all. Jesus is standing at the door and he knocks. He already has something prepared to give us and he already is ready to give us what he wants. And then when we pray, we simply welcome him in to give that wonderful gift. So we read: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. We are not the ones who are sitting there twisting Jesus’ arm, playing games with him, as if we could trick him into giving us what we want, if only we said things right, and if only we asked the right thing. No – when we pray to Jesus, we simply welcome him, so that he can have access to all of our needs and shower us with whatever blessings he had already prepared for us.

So everytime we ask Jesus for something, he was already there beforehand, knocking on our hearts, prompting our minds by his Holy Spirit, willing and ready to give us something which he already knew that we needed beforehand. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John. James and John were part of what we call the twelve apostles. These twelve apostles were there all throughout Jesus’ life and after Jesus rose from the dead, these twelve were the ones who were sent by Jesus to bring the Gospel to all nations. James and John, together with Peter, were often chosen by Jesus to witness some special things. When Jesus went up on the mountain, and was transfigured—when his face and clothes shone with the bright holy light of God and was found standing there with Moses and Elijah—Peter, James and John were chosen as the only ones to see it. Also, on the night before Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, we read about how Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, and prayed. Once again, Peter, James and John were chosen to come and pray with Jesus.

So you can see that James and John, who are mentioned in the reading today, were particularly close to Jesus. They also happened to be brothers, the sons of a man called Zebedee.

Anyway, we read that they come up to Jesus and ask him: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Now, sure – Jesus wants us to ask him for things, he wants to hear our mouths open up and talk to him, and pray to him. But Jesus also knows what we need before we ask. But already before they have even asked Jesus for anything, they already sound a bit suspicious. Could you parents imagine what would happen if your children came up to you and said, “Mummy, daddy, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you.” I think most parents, even though they like to do nice things for their kids, would possibly start to smell a rat, and get a bit suspicious, and might say to them, “Well, it depends what it is that you want!”

On the other hand, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could go to Jesus and say to him, “Teacher, we want to do for you whatever you ask of us.” Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed: Father, if it be possible, take this cup away from me. But nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Your will be done. We all know that this is often a difficult prayer for us to pray. We don’t really want Jesus to have free reign over our life—we would rather have what we want, to do what we want, and to get what we want. And so, we often ask Jesus for the wrong things—even these two disciples even had the wrong attitude. But Jesus is happy to listen anyway, and is happy to teach us, and to lead us gently on the path that he wants us to walk, the path to eternal life. As Jesus says: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.

So we read about James and John coming up to Jesus and they say to him: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Jesus doesn’t tell them off, but he simply takes them as they are, on their own terms and he says to them: What do you want me to do for you? We read: And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.”

To our ears, this is a very strange request, but you know, but it is also a prayer that is close to home for many of us. James and John recognise that there is something wonderful about Jesus. They love him and they want to follow him. But at the same time, what they ask Jesus for is really “all about them”. They are the ones who want to bask in Jesus’ glory—they are the ones who want to be heaped with honours and prestige.

So what does Jesus say when he hears this request? They say: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.”

James and John really don’t what they are asking. They don’t understand what Jesus’ glory really is—maybe they still thought that Jesus was going to go into Jerusalem, and kick King Herod and the Romans out of town, and establish his own glorious kingdom there on earth. And then, once the battle had been won, and all the enemies had been finished with, then James and John could sit next to Jesus. They would be dressed in royal robes, sitting next to King Jesus, with them as his princes, being his right hand men. Maybe it’s something like this that James and John are asking for.

But what actually happens to Jesus? Well, he does enter into Jerusalem to set up his kingdom. But comes in gently, on a donkey. And he doesn’t establish his kingdom by kicking out King Herod and the Romans—instead, he is kicked out by them. He is sentenced to death, he is whipped and beaten, and he led out of the city and nailed to a cross. And there he dies, there he breathes his last breath.

But when this happens to Jesus, this is not his failure. This is him in all his bleeding, naked glory, establishing his kingdom. This is him laying down his life for the sin of the world. This is him giving his life as a ransom for many, as he says at the end of our reading. This is Jesus, our king, in all of his glory.

But who is on Jesus left and right on that day? Two criminals. We often say they we robbers, but they are more highway robbers, rebels, than petty criminals who might have stolen a loaf of bread. Is that what James and John want? Are they really prepared to take their place at Jesus’ right and his left?

And so Jesus says: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? Jesus speaks here of his suffering as a cup that he drinks. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, before he went to the cross, he also spoke to his Father in the same way. Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me. If you can imagine all the sin of the world being put into one cup, this is what Jesus was required to drink. God took all the sin, all the filth, all the pain, all the abuse, all the heartache, all the suffering, all the darkness, every last scrap of it, and he put it all in a cup—and Jesus then drank it. He drained it for the dregs, and he did it for you.

But also, Jesus speaks about his suffering as a baptism. In the church, Holy Baptism is that wonderful thing where God makes us his own child, through water and the word. Jesus was also baptised by John in the river Jordan. And it’s not as thought that baptism, or any baptism, is an empty ceremony, but it means something. For Jesus, he was baptised in the river Jordan, and his baptism was finished when he died on the cross. In fact, just before he died, he said: It is finished. It is accomplished. It has been done. My baptism is finished.

But where would we be is Jesus hadn’t drunk that cup to the dregs? Where would we be if Jesus hadn’t finished his baptism and hung on cross until his last, final breath? We wouldn’t have the forgiveness of sins, because our sins would not be paid for. We wouldn’t have eternal life, because it wouldn’t have been secured for us. We wouldn’t have heaven, because Jesus wouldn’t have opened the doors for us. All this happens because of Jesus’ terrible, bitter sufferings and death. But because all of this was done for us, it is not a bad death, it’s actually not a terrible thing, even though it looks terrible to our eyes. It’s actually a glorious thing, a wonderful thing, because Jesus achieved so much. This is not Jesus’ failure—this is Jesus glory.

Did you think that James and John knew this? And yet, Jesus asks them, “Are you prepared for this?” Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they said to them, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

You can see here, that James and John asked for something glorious. But they didn’t know what they were asking. Their prayer is not answered as they wanted. But Jesus knows that for his disciples, life is not going to be easy. Do we think that if we were living in those times that we would have done things any better than the disciples? Would you have expected Jesus to suffer and die on a cross? And yet, when Jesus is risen from the dead, and sends his disciples out, he knows that they are going to have hard times. He knows that they are going to suffer too. Jesus is going to continually remind people of his own suffering, through the suffering of his followers. In the bible, we read particularly about St Paul, and his suffering. Jesus said about him that he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells about all kinds of things that happened to him. Five times received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Did James and John know that this was the kind of thing they were asking? And yet, Paul also says: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Why does Jesus let his disciples suffer like this? Is he cruel? No—of course he is not cruel, but he shows us just how evil the world really is so that he continually rise up our eyes to heaven, look forward to the prize at the end of the race, and so that he can do his work through us through his own strength. When we are weak, then Jesus can come in and be powerful through us, and work his mighty power through us.

Let’s read what happened to the apostles in the book of Acts: When [the Pharisees] had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Do you think then that they left disheartened and discouraged? Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Can you see how is not to their shame when they suffer, but they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for Jesus’ name? May the Holy Spirit work that kind of faith in us!

Are you prepared to drink the cup that Jesus drinks? Are you prepared to be baptised with the baptism that he is baptised with? James and John said: Yes. But they really didn’t know what they were in for. We do know what happened to them now. And yet—what a joy it is to be with Jesus! What a joy it is to follow him! Any rubbish that people want to throw at us along the way is nothing compared with what Jesus has prepared for us!

Sometimes as a Christian you will find that people chew you up and spit you out for no good reason. Sometimes you will find that no matter how hard you try to be friendly and loving to people around you, they just have it in for you and what to bring you down. Sometimes you find that if people know that you are a Christian that they completely ignore and ridicule almost everything opinion that you offer on almost any topic. Never mind! They would do the same to Jesus. In fact, they are doing it to Jesus, because Jesus is in you. You are a baptised child of God, and Jesus has promised to be with you (personally and with his whole church) always to the end of the age. It’s a wonderful privilege to suffer together with Jesus. He already knew what he wanted to give to us. He said: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you… I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

We should be careful of course of thinking that everytime we suffer, we are suffering for Jesus. Jesus was not a sinner, but we are sinners. We do many things that are wrong—we mess up all kinds of things, and people around us will know it. There are times when we suffer and it is completely our fault. But also, we realise that if God had made us suffer for every single thing we had every done wrong, we would have to look back at our lives and say that God has been very gracious to us, and he has been very gentle with us. But God doesn’t punish us for our sins, because he had already laid every sin upon his own Son, Jesus, the Lamb of God. Jesus has drunk the cup right down to the dregs. But we also know that when everything has been said and done at the end of the day, there are many things that have happened to us, that would never have happened if we weren’t Christians, if we weren’t followers of Jesus. There are many things that Jesus himself has allowed us to suffer, not because he wants to punish us, but because he wants us to be a living witnesses to his own suffering, and when he gives us something like this, it is a wonderful privilege that he should choose us to bear it.

Of course, our flesh doesn’t like it. But then when true Christian suffering and persecution comes our way, then the Holy Spirit can comfort us and strengthen us and give us the comfort of God’s word which our flesh would never have imagined.

At the end of our reading, Jesus says: You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Do you realise that Jesus asks us to come to him here in the church today not first of all so that we can serve him, but so that he can serve us? When we hear Jesus’ word and hear it preached, this is Jesus coming to serve us. When we hear the wonderful news of the forgiveness of sins, this is Jesus coming to wash the dirt off our feet. When we come to receive the Lord’s Supper, this is Jesus himself coming to serve us with his body and blood.

But isn’t it something, that Jesus serves us in a way that we so often don’t recognise and so often don’t appreciate? Our flesh has no idea about this. Our flesh wants to puff itself up and say, “I am a great person. I am going to worship God in an amazing way that all people around me will look at me and give glory to me.” And yet, Jesus comes gently and serves us. And this is the way he sends us out wherever he has placed us—not ruling it over people, not exercising force, but serving others. And whenever Jesus asks us to sacrifice some part of our life, it is a small reminder and a small witness of that one, perfect sacrifice which he made, giving his life as a ransom for many.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, give us your servant heart and lead us wherever you would have us serve. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may do for whatever you ask of us. Amen.