Advent IV Year A: Audio Sermon (18-Dec-2016)

Click title for link

Advent IV Year A [Matthew 1:18-25] (18-Dec-2016)

This sermon was preached at Calvary Lutheran Church, Glandore, 8.45am, and St Mark's Lutheran Church, Glandore, 10.30am.

Click here for PDF version for printing.

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

All this took place to fulfil what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us’.”

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, we have a wonderful prophecy from the prophet Isaiah about the birth of Jesus. And we are also told the history of how this prophecy was fulfilled. So in our sermon today, we are first of all going to look at this prophesy, and how it came about. Then, we’re going to look at our Gospel reading and how it was fulfilled.

The prophecy goes like this: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.

These words were spoken by God at the time of the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz. Ahaz was one of the Kings of Judah, and he was from the family of King David. He is not a king that we think about too much—normally we think about the famous kings like David or Solomon. But it’s important for us to know a little bit about him so that we know about the prophecy that was spoken to him.

King Ahaz was actually one of the worst kings that Judah had up to that time. Often the bible talks about the kings by saying, “He did right in the sight of the Lord” or “He did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Ahaz was one of those kings who did evil. And the reason why he did so much evil is because for him everything was subjective, everything was about his feelings, and what felt good. It didn’t matter whether something was good, or right, or true.

Let me gives a couple of examples of this. King Ahaz had gone to meet the King of Assyria in Damascus. You might know the city of Damascus from the news today—Damascus is one of the oldest capital cities that still exists. Today it is the capital of the war-torn country of Syria. King Ahaz went to Damascus and went into a pagan temple, and he saw the altar in there and he thought it was…nice. He must have thought, “Wow—these people in Damascus really have a good sense of taste. They must be really spiritual people to have such nice things like this altar.” And so King Ahaz commanded the priest in Jerusalem to build an altar for God just like it, and to replace the altar that was in the temple in Jerusalem. Now, what’s wrong with that, you might say? Well, God had actually given the exact measurements of the altar, and had specified exactly what it should look like to Moses. If you read the book of Exodus, after all the things about the history of the people being lead through the Red Sea, there are pages and pages where God outlines exactly how the altar, the lampstands, the bowls – and all kinds of things – should be built, and how they should be laid out. God didn’t leave these things to people’s imaginations; he himself gave specific instructions.

And so, what did King Ahaz do? He replaced the altar which God had planned, with some altar he saw in Damascus, just because he thought it looked pretty and it made him feel good. And the priest back in Jerusalem did everything the king said without batting an eyelid. Since when did the people in Damascus have better taste in architecture and interior design than God?

But also, we read in 2 Kings 16, that King Ahaz did some other things as well… He must have gone to the temple and saw all the things that were going on there. He saw the priests there doing what God had commanded them to do—they were offering their burnt offerings of lambs, and doing everything they do, and he thought… all this is a bit boring, isn’t it? And then he went for a look around and he saw how the Canaanites worshipped their gods, and they weren’t sacrificing lambs, but they were sacrificing their own children. They would burn their children with fire and offer them to their god Moloch.

And then King Ahaz thought, “These people are really spiritual—they are really devout. They are really on fire for their god. Maybe we could do the same thing too.” And so King Ahaz did exactly that and burnt his own son as an offering with fire.

Can you see that all this happened because King Ahaz didn’t listen at all to God’s word, but just did what he felt was right? He listened to his own heart, instead of to God.

As soon as we listen to our own hearts and only do what feels right, then we have no need for God, but God has a word to speak no matter how we feel. God’s word and our feelings are not the same thing, as King Ahaz thought.

But you know, we are living in times when people also are thinking like King Ahaz. There are plenty of Christians who go around and look at what the pagans do, and how they pray, and they think, “Those people are much more spiritual that we are, let’s do what they do, and make it Christian, and then we can be really spiritual too.”

For example, take yoga. Yoga is the heart and centre of the Hindu religion. Hindus believe that everything is god and that god is in everything. And so they practise yoga, and perform all kinds of exercises, to connect themselves with all kinds of spirits, and to awaken the snake spirit in them. And then Christians see these people doing this, or they see these healthy-looking young women sitting cross-legged in their active-wear, and they think: “Look how peaceful they are. If only I did the same, I too could be as spiritual as they are.” And so, people think, if I do all the same things, and empty my mind, and say “om, om, om” for half an hour, and repeat some mantras, instead of meeting the snake-spirit, I can meet Jesus inside of me and the Holy Spirit. – It doesn’t work like that. Just because it feels good, doesn’t mean that God wants you to use it to worship him or to find him.  

Or we might think of the way in which young people, teenagers, are manipulated, by bringing them altogether and hyping them all up, sugaring them all up, and then right when they feel vulnerable and emotional, and softening them up with the right kind of music, then we tell them to give their lives to Jesus. – This isn’t Christian conversion. Just because it feels good, or feels a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the Holy Spirit.

Or remember King Ahaz wanting to build an altar like the one in Damascus. And there’s plenty of people who have holidays in Bali or Thailand or Japan or China, and see the lovely green gardens with statues of Buddha, and think how peaceful they are. So they think, maybe I should put a Buddha statue in my garden too! – Why? It’s a statue of a god that doesn’t exist and that you don’t worship.

God’s word is God’s word. And often people think it’s a bit boring, or it’s a bit “blah-blah”, or it’s all a bit the same. This is what King Ahaz thought, and instead he just did what felt right. And in doing so, he was one of the worst kings Judah had had up until that time.

Now, there was a time during King Ahaz’s reign when Jerusalem was going to be invaded, and King Ahaz was worried. But God sends his prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz to tell him not to worry. After all, even though King Ahaz was a terrible king, he was still from the lineage of David. And God had promised that David’s line would continue forever. God says to David: Your throne shall be established forever.

And so we read in Isaiah: Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves… thus says the Lord: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. [God says: Don’t worry. I am a faithful God and I will defend my own people.] For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus of Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. [What’s he talking about? He’s saying: He says: Don’t worry about them. They’re just men, and they have nothing but mere men in charge of them. But I will fight for my own people! And then he says:] If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.

What wonderful comforting words! God encourages Ahaz to be firm in faith. He wants Ahaz to remember his promise to King David that his throne will continue forever, and to trust in that word.

But then God does something very special for King Ahaz. He says: Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. God says to King Ahaz, I am going to give you a sign that will confirm and strengthen you in faith so that you can look at it and remember that I am faithful. Tell me what you want! Choose a sign, any sign, and I will do it for you!

But you see, Ahaz hasn’t been a follower of God for a long time. He has been bored with God’s word, and he has been following his feelings. And so he says: I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. What’s wrong with you, Ahaz? God just gave you the greatest offer ever! Why are you turning him down?

It’s like those people who come to church and say, “I would never dare to presume that my sins are forgiven.” What are you talking about? God actually sent you a pastor to speak that forgiveness to you, and give you that forgiveness in his name, and you’re too holy to believe it? What’s wrong with you?

And so the prophet Isaiah says to Ahaz: Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Sound familiar? Yes it does! We hear these words every Christmas! We have heard them in our Gospel reading today.

What’s going on though is God is saying: King David’s throne will continue, and it will continue forever, and it will continue in a marvellous and miraculous way. And yet, the kings of Judah, and the kings of Israel, will fail miserably. Don’t put your trust in princes. They will worship idols, they will burn and kill their babies, they will destroy the worship in the temple that God had set up. But I will remember my promise to King David.

And so, what happened in history? There were many kings, and many terrible kings. And eventually, God put an end to the kings, and the people of Israel were sent into exile to Babylon, and when they returned, eventually the Romans took them over, and it looked like God had not kept his promise, and that the kings had all finished. Until the event we read about in our reading today.

Our gospel reading today tells us about how this prophecy was fulfilled.

If you open up a bible and read the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the beginning of the New Testament, what do you find there? You find Jesus’ genealogy. And one of the people in Jesus’ genealogy is King David. And if you keep on reading you also come across King Ahaz.

Now, after all of that, this is what we read: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Now, in those days, before a couple would become married, they would become betrothed. This is much like when a couple become engaged. They have made a commitment to each other to get married, but they are not married yet. And they would not sleep together before they were married. And in those days, an engagement would often last about 9 months. Why? Well, 9 months of engagement would prove that the woman was not carrying someone else’s child!

And so, if a couple was engaged, and all of sudden, the woman was found to be pregnant, it would be of great shame, of course.

And so, it says: When his mother Mary had been betrothed, before they came together, she was found to be with child. But Matthew tells us very specifically, that this child was not from another man, but from the Holy Spirit.

Now, can you imagine what Joseph must have thinking? We read: Her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Joseph, we are told, was a just man. We could say, he was a “righteous man”. We might say, he was an honest chap, he wanted to do the right thing. And it is a wonderful thing for a person to be like this. St Paul writes to Titus that we should live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. “Self-controlled” refers to how we conduct ourselves, “upright” refers to how we treat others, and “godly” refers to how we live before God. Matthew is telling us here that Joseph was this kind of person: he was self-controlled, upright and godly. He wanted to do the right thing by God and by other people. He was a just, righteous man. We might say, he was “conscientious”. He thought things through. And he thought through this whole situation, and he carefully churned it all over in his mind, and he came to the conclusion that he would call off the engagement quietly. He didn’t want to make a big fuss.

Sometimes we also find ourselves in a situation where we’re not sure what to do. We don’t know how we should move forward in our life, and we think about it and we think about it, and then we work out what we think is the best idea, even if we’re not entirely happy with it. And yet, we still worry, we still anguish over it. And then we remember those words of Jesus: Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? In other words, Jesus says, let me worry about it. And just when we think we’ve got it all sorted, Jesus comes and changes the whole game, and sends us completely where we didn’t expect.

Remember the women going to tomb on Easter Day who get halfway there and think, “Hang on a minute! How are we going to roll the stone away?” And then they get there, and God has sorted the whole problem out for them. He has sent his angel to roll away the stone.

And in the same way, Joseph is worrying and anguishing, and he’s got it all worked out. He says, “I’m going to divorce her quietly. It’s the only way I can get out of this bad situation. It’s the best thing I can do. It’s the best thing for everyone.” And right at that very time, when Joseph is thinking this, what do we read? Well, this isn’t about Joseph, this isn’t about Mary. This is about God and his word, and his prophesies being fulfilled. And so God sends his angel to come to Joseph in a dream. It’s amazing how we read about Joseph, about his desires, about his mind ticking over, and about his conscience. Now we read about his dream. How closely God involves himself with Joseph! And the angel says: Joseph, son of David, [very important! He is from the same family as King Ahaz!] Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, and for he will save his people from their sins.

Do you see how everything so closely follows the prophecy? That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. That fulfils the words: Behold, the virgin shall conceive. The angel says: She will bear a son. This fulfils the words: The virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The angel says: You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. This fulfils the words: They shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us.

Now, why is it that Jesus is called Jesus and not Immanuel? Well, the prophecy is not fulfilled in such a way that we should think that that this baby Immanuel is going to be just another king like Ahaz. We are not talking about any earthly king, but we are talking about a king who will save! And this is a king who will not simply save his people from their earthly enemies, but who will save his people from their sins. This is what the name Jesus means: he saves. And so it says: You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Think of the many sins of king Ahaz… of King David… of King Solomon. All of Jesus’ ancestors are full of sin. And yet, Jesus comes to save his people from their sin. And at the same time it’s not just that he is simply called Immanuel, but he really is true God with us. His father is God the Father, and so Jesus is true God. But his mother is the virgin Mary, and so he is a true man, is truly one of us. He is our Immanuel, God with us. Jesus has God as his father, and a true human mother, and so he is both God and man in one person. And this Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is the God who is with us, and who will eventually go to the cross and die for the sin of the world. He will save his people from their sins.

Think about the thief on the cross. He is a sinner, and he is being punished for his crime by the Romans. And yet Jesus saves him. He says: Today you will be with me in Paradise.

And so we read, that after the angel had put Joseph on the right track, and intervened in his life and in his thinking and put his worries and anxieties to rest, we read: When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

I like it in this reading how even though Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus, he is given a very important task to do. Mary will give birth, but the angel says: You [Joseph] shall call his name Jesus. Joseph is commanded to name the child. Actually, when the angel Gabriel goes to Mary, he also says to her: You shall call his name Jesus. The prophecy from Isaiah confirms this, and says: They shall call his name Immanuel. This shows a beautiful unity in the marriage between Joseph and Mary, and this unity comes from God’s word. The angel tells both parents to call their baby “Jesus”. Can you imagine the joy when they realise this, and tell each other?

You remember that when John the Baptist was born, everyone was arguing about what he should be called. And Zechariah, John’s father, had to come in and put his foot down, and settle the matter, and write down: His name is John. With Mary and Joseph, there’s no disagreement, but perfect unity. But not unity that comes from them and their strength, but from God’s word and his power. Let that be a little encouragement to those of you who are married. I for one know what it’s like to sit and have to work out what to call to a child! If only my wife and I had it so easy as to be given the names straight out of heaven by angels!

But Jesus has descended from heaven as our God! And so it’s only natural that the angels should follow him! He is our Immanuel! And he is our Jesus, our saviour from sin! And all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet!

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those with who he is pleased! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, our Immanuel, our Saviour, come and descend among us with your powerful word of forgiveness, and fill our hearts and lives with the joy of your coming. Enter into our lives and into our every thought, and when our last hour comes, save us from this sinful life and take us to yourself in heaven. Amen.

Mission Festival: Audio Sermon (20-Nov-2016)

Click title for link

Mission Festival [Luke 24:44-53] (20-Nov-2016)

This sermon was preached at St Stephen's Lutheran Church, Rainbow, Victoria, 10.30am.

Click here for PDF version for printing.

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

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.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It’s a wonderful thing to be gathered here today to have a Mission Festival. It’s strange that today every organisation seems to have a mission statement: some kind of statement that describes what the organisation is there for.

Now the church is not a company or an organisation. It is the living body of Christ. And the church actually has a mission. It has a purpose for which it exists on this earth. We also live in confusing times where people use words to mean a whole lot of different things which they didn’t always mean.

When you think of the word “mission” what do you think of? What is the church’s mission? Well, sometimes people talk about mission as being charitable work, either here or overseas. There might be a program to dig a well for a poor village or to put a roof on a school. Some people might go overseas to help with a project like that. Now, something like this is very helpful—it’s work that needs to be done, but it’s not actually the mission of the church. This is work that Christians can do, but it is work that Christians can share with all kinds of other people too. It’s not a distinctively Christian thing to do.

Or sometimes there are situations where Christians might bring medical supplies to people, like penicillin or syringes or eye-glasses. This is very useful work to be done, but providing health services and medical supplies is not properly the mission of the church. This is work that Christians can do, but it is work that Christians can share with all kinds of other people too.

But in talking about mission today, we have in our Gospel reading a very clear word from Jesus. Jesus is talking particularly about the Gospel being preached to all nations. This is what the church is: it is the place, or we might say, it is the people whom the Holy Spirit gathers, to hear the Gospel. So let’s have a look at our reading.

We read where Jesus says: These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

                                                               

This Gospel reading for today comes right at the end of the Luke’s gospel. It describes the events after Jesus has died and risen from the dead and where he meets his disciples after all those things had happened. In fact, right at the end of our reading, we read about where Jesus ascends into heaven.

In the book of Acts, we read that Jesus appeared to his disciples during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. In the church year, we commemorate this time by celebrating the Easter season. We celebrate Easter, and then forty days later, we have Ascension, where we remember Jesus ascending into heaven. But in the bible itself, there is very little written down about those forty days.

But Jesus says here: These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. Isn’t this a strange way to speak? Jesus is obviously there with his disciples, standing there, talking to them, and yet at the same time, he talks about another time while I was still with you. This is as if Jesus is saying, I have finished my teaching before I died – I have no need to teach you anything new. There are many things you didn’t understand before, but I taught you all those things anyway. Now that I have risen from the dead, it is time for you to learn what I have already told you again in a new light, with a new perspective. Sometimes there are certain events in history, where we might look back and think just how different everything was beforehand. In the sixties, people might have thought about the first man walking on the moon, or when President Kennedy was shot. In the recent 20 years, we might ask people: where were you when Princess Diana died, or where were you when September 11 happened? You can remember what a great impact those things had on the world, and those events change the way you look at certain things that happened before. Well, can you imagine listening to Jesus and being one of his disciples, but then, what does he do? He dies for the sins of the world, and then he rises again from the dead. What happened now changes everything that happened beforehand.

So Jesus says: These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Jesus talks here about the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. By doing this, Jesus is actually talking about all the books of the Old Testament. The Law of Moses refers to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In German bibles, these books are simply called the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth books of Moses. And then in the Bible, we have the writings of various prophets: for example, we have Samuel, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and all the minor prophets. And then Jesus mentions the Psalms. Jesus is probably talking about the Psalms to stand for all the books of Poetry in the Old Testament, like Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Jesus mentions the psalms though as a particularly important book. Of all the books in the bible, it is probably the one book which we read from every single Sunday in the church.

But here’s an amazing thing: Jesus says that in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms there were all kind of things written there about him. There were all kinds of things which were prophesied, and looked forward to Jesus’ coming in the future. And there were all kinds of things that didn’t make sense until Jesus came. And there were all kinds of things that were closed and inaccessible until Jesus had suffered, died and risen.

So Jesus says: that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. We might think of Jesus’ wonderful words on the cross: It is finished. We might also say: It is accomplished, or it is fulfilled. When Jesus died on the cross, and stretched out his arms, everything that was written about him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms was fulfilled. Now, when we read the whole of the Old Testament, we need to realise that everything points us to Jesus. Jesus is hidden in the Old Testament.

And we might say: Really? There are so many things in the Old Testament that don’t really seem to be about Jesus.

Well, maybe the disciples also thought the same thing. We read: Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. The disciples’ minds were closed, and unable to understand the Scriptures, but then Jesus opened their minds. Let’s read the next part of our reading:

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and 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. 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 are clothed with power from on high.”

There’s a number of wonderful things that we read about here in this passage. Firstly, let’s think about what it says that Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. I think this kind of talk has been hijacked today. You might find that as a Christian, people call you closed-minded. People think that being open-minded is a good thing. But there was a famous Christian writer who once said, “An open mind and an open mouth should be shut on something solid.” Jesus does not simply want to open their minds, but he wants to open their minds to understand the Scriptures. It’s funny that when we come to understand the Scriptures, people say we are closed minded. That’s because their minds are closed to the Scriptures.

But also, there are a lot of Hindu and Buddhist mystics, and yoga teachers, who might say to people to open their mind. No—for goodness sake! Don’t open your mind to anything! You might not know what will come in! Jesus speaks about evil spirits entering a person like a squatter entering a house. When it says that Jesus opened their minds, we’re not talking about some strange mystical experience here, as if Jesus is a mystical yoga guru. Jesus opens the disciples’ minds here, by teaching them something. And when Jesus speaks a word, it always creates something, and dispels the darkness. Just as on the first day of creation, God said: Let there be light, and there was light, so also Jesus here, who is true God, speaks a powerful word, and the disciples’ minds are opened to understand the Scriptures.

So what does Jesus say? He says: “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. 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 are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus first of all talks about his own suffering, and that on the third day he will rise from the dead. But then he says that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.

This is such a wonderful thing for us as Christians to learn. Right at the centre of our mission as Christians is the fact that Jesus has died and risen again. But why did he suffer and die? He suffered and died to make a full atonement for the sins of the whole world. And why did he rise? He rose in order to defeat death, and to show to the whole world that the sacrifice he made was acceptable to God. If there was no resurrection, if Jesus’ bones were still in the tomb, then Good Friday means nothing. Jesus not only had to suffer and die, but he also had to rise. But then how does this event make a difference to us?

Jesus says: “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.

As Christians, we might see all kinds of people around us who are in need. And we may be stirred to show mercy to someone. But there are two kinds of mercy: there’s physical mercy, mercy for the body, and there’s spiritual mercy, mercy for the soul. Sometimes if someone has financial problems, or doesn’t have enough to eat, or to wear, we might like to help them out, and clothe them or feed them. God is merciful to all of us like this each and every single day: he clothes us, and feeds us, and gives us everything that we need to support our bodies and our lives.

But then there’s another kind of mercy, the mercy which God shows to our souls. And this is something that is completely unappreciated by the world. It is the mercy where God comes to us with his word and Holy Spirit and sets us on the narrow path. The Holy Spirit does this by leading us to repentance. Jesus in our reading talks about repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance for what? You might say. Isn’t this strange? Jesus doesn’t actually tell us what people should repent of. Well, people might have different problems. Someone might be a thief, someone else might be an adulterer, someone else might disobey their parents. Jesus calls us to repent of all these things, to acknowledge that we have broken God’s law. But you know, if someone has a pet sin, and then stops committing it, it doesn’t make them a Christian. A thief who simply stops stealing isn’t automatically saved.

When God the Father brings us face to face with God’s law and his commandments, he demands nothing other than absolute perfection. He doesn’t let us tick things off like a checklist, and say: I’m alright, Jack. He also shows us things that we haven’t done that we should. James says: Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

We are accountable for all of it. One flat tyre makes the whole journey undrivable. One slip up still lands you on the floor. God’s law, and what he demands of us, show us how much we need Christ. It shows us the depths that Christ needed to go to win us back to himself. Each blow of the whip, each nail in Jesus’ hand, each thorn into his brow shows us the extent of our sin, and just how serious it is. And so, Jesus wants repentance to be preached. He not only wants us to turn away from one or two slip ups, or one or two pet sins, but to turn away from our whole sinful existence as we know it.

And yet, Christ’s suffering also shows us something else. Jesus’ death on the cross not only shows us the depth of our sin, but it also shows us how richly and how wonderfully Jesus has paid for all of it. He has atoned for everything. He has offered his whole self, for our whole selves. And he has risen from the dead, and won a wonderful victory, and now he wants his apostles to go out as witnesses and to preach what? the forgiveness of sins in his name.

It’s done in his name, and it comes with all of his authority. And how far should they go to preach this word? To all nations. There is not one single person anywhere throughout the whole world to whom the message of Christ’s death and resurrection should not be spoken. There is not one single person who does not need repentance and forgiveness of sins. Sometimes local missions are played off against overseas missions—people say: we can’t go to all nations, because we need to look after our own backyard. The church has always done both together, and it should be a great prayer for us that our church will once again receive the zeal to go to the ends of the earth wherever the preaching of the Gospel is needed.

Those nations, though, the sinful world, so often doesn’t want to hear any of it—they often want simply to be accepted instead of forgiven. They sure don’t want to repent. The world doesn’t like this mercy for the soul that God wants to show us and to bring to us.

But if you go swimming in Lake Hindmarsh, and you start to drown, and the person rescuing you pokes you in the eye and pulls your hair on the way up, won’t you thank them for it? If you get your leg run over by a tractor, and the only way to save your life is to amputate it, aren’t you grateful to be alive? And yet, if we see someone in need, wouldn’t you help them?

Jesus knows full well that the simple preaching of his death and resurrection looks easy, but it isn’t easy. Jesus knows full well that bringing people to repentance and declaring God’s forgiveness sounds easy enough, but that people don’t really want to hear it. Jesus knows full well that when God’s word of grace and mercy and love is brought down on our heads, all the anger and the bitterness of the world is poured out on us too.

I’m sure you know what it’s like to have a friend who isn’t Christian, and yet if you said something to them about their soul, you could completely lose their friendship, and this fact really causes you some pain, and you worry about it. How do you think the first missionaries to Papua New Guinea felt when they had no baptisms for 13 years? How do you think Paul felt when he got locked up in prison?

And so Jesus says: Behold, I am sending you the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Jesus knows that his church needs help. He knows that we human beings are pretty hopeless in doing such wonderful work. So he promises to send them the Holy Spirit, the promise of his Father. And he wants them to stay and wait for the Holy Spirit. He wants them to know that none of this will be done on their own strength, but they need to be clothed with power from on high.

And the same with us—Jesus brings us his word. He shows us our sin, and he preaches to us the forgiveness of sin. He wants to place this seal of forgiveness on us, and so he baptises us. He wants us even to be strengthened in this forgiveness by eating his body and drinking his blood. And we receive these gifts, not by earning them by things we do, but simply by believing in God’s trustworthy promise. And through all of this, through the word and the sacraments, Jesus fills you with His Holy Spirit, and he prepares us to be useful in serving him in whatever corner of the world he places us. He clothes us with power from on high. Sometimes he sends us to speak, sometimes to serve, sometimes to pray. But wherever he will send you this week, you know that as a Christian your work is pleasing to God, and it is done with all the power of the Holy Spirit. And even if the world hates you, you have God’s approval.

Isn’t it a wonderful thing that Jesus should clothe his disciples with the Holy Spirit? We have been gathered by the Holy Spirit as his holy people, to hear the preaching of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to hear repentance and the forgiveness of sins preached in his name. And this is what the church is here for, and this is what the church’s mission is. Let’s pray to the Lord of the harvest, that many more people may come to know this same Jesus, and this same forgiveness, so that when they die they may enter the same heaven! Amen.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for sending us preachers and even all kinds of Christian friends to speak to us about your suffering and resurrection, and we thank you for revealing to us our sin, and also for the wonderful free forgiveness of our sin that you have won for us. Expand your church all throughout the world, and send out evangelists anew and afresh, that your kingdom may grow into a wonderful, bountiful harvest. Amen.