Epiphany III (Year A) [Matthew 4:12-25] (26-Jan-2020)

This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Semaphore, 8.45am, and Good News Lutheran Church, Albert Park, 10.30am.

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

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Prayer: May 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 our reading is taken from the second half of Matthew chapter 4, and tells us about what Jesus was doing early on in his ministry. But before we look at our text today, let’s go back and have a look at what comes just before. A couple of weeks ago, our reading was about Jesus being baptised. We read about how Jesus came to John at the River Jordan and the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This is an incredible event in the life of Jesus, where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are so clearly presented to us.

Immediately after the baptism of Jesus, we read at the beginning of Matthew chapter 4, how Jesus went was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We read about how Jesus was fasting for 40 days and nights our in the wilderness, and how the devil came and tempted Jesus to prove that he was the Son of God, by turning stones into bread, and jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. Also, the devil tempted Jesus to worship him, in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. However, in each case, Jesus overcomes the temptations with a simple word of the Scripture, where Jesus says, “It is written…”, “it is written…”, “it is written…” And at the end of this passage, we read: Then the devil left [Jesus], and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

You can see, then, that there were many incredible things happening before the events in our reading today. Especially, we see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed clearly and powerfully at the baptism of Jesus. And we see Jesus, the powerful Son of God, in all his weakness, overcoming the devil, and being ministered to by the angels.

Now, we come to our reading for today, which says: Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. We read here that John the Baptist was arrested. John had been preaching and baptising there at the River Jordan—but it seems as though, when Jesus comes along, that he is immediately taken out of the picture. In John’s Gospel we read that John the Baptist said: He must increase, but I must decrease. John had baptised Jesus, and in a sense, John’s earthly work was now done. He is arrested by King Herod, and kept in prison until that time when he is executed at the time of the king’s birthday party.

When Jesus hears about John’s arrest, Jesus decides to move to Galilee. Now, this is a very interesting thing. Why does Jesus move? Is he scared of what might happen to him? No--there’s no indication in our reading that he does anything out of fear or because he was frightened or scared or frightened. It’s simply that it is not the time for Jesus to be arrested too. That will happen later. It also shows us that Jesus does not purposely put himself in harm’s way. This is important for us too. Sometimes Christians find themselves attacked or persecuted or arrested or even killed for their faith, depending on which part of the world they live in. Jesus speaks many encouraging words to his people for situations like this. But at the same time, we shouldn’t go looking for persecution, or putting ourselves purposely in harm’s way, but instead should quietly go about doing the work which God has given us to do. So let’s say, that you have someone you work with, or in your family, who attacks you because of your Christian faith. That doesn’t mean that every time you see them, you should provoke them, or tease them, so that they make some anti-Christian remark. Just quietly do what you need to do, and let them find you out. That’s the kind of attitude which we see in Jesus in our reading—he is not aggressive or confrontational. He simply has work to do, he simply goes about and does it, and when the time for attack or persecution and even his death comes, then he deals with it at the proper time.

So we read: When [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.’

We read in the Gospels that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but most of his childhood and early adult life, he lived and grew up in Nazareth. You might remember that after Jesus was born, his family had to flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s ruling that all the baby boys in Bethlehem should be killed. After they returned home from Egypt, they settled in Nazareth. And Nazareth was such a significant place, that Jesus came to be associated with Nazareth, and identified with this place. Even on the cross, Pontius Pilate put a note above his head which said, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Now, in our reading, we read that Jesus began his ministry in Capernaum, which was a fishing village near the Sea of Galilee.

Now, we read here about Zebulun and Naphtali… If we go right back to the Old Testament, we read in the book of Genesis about the patriarch Jacob. Jacob was the one who received a blessing from his old father Isaac in place of his brother Esau. He was also given a new name by God—Israel, and had twelve sons, including his favourite son, Joseph, to whom he gave a special coat. Jacob, together with his twelve sons, all moved to Egypt, and then after Jacob died, his sons and their families were the people who were rescued out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and eventually these families entered into the promised land. Two of Jacob’s sons were Zebulun and Naphtali—we don’t read much about them, and they don’t show up as very prominent characters in the book of Genesis. But when the Israelites came to the promised land, the families of Zebulun and Naphtali were given as their land this particular area near north of Jerusalem called Galilee.

Now, later in the reading today, we read about Peter and Andrew, James and John, who would have come from these tribes. Also, this region had a lot of Gentiles living there. And the people in Jerusalem, then, looked down and were a bit snobbish towards people from Galilee, because they had a lot more to do with Gentiles, people outside the Jewish faith.

And so we read: And leaving Nazareth, [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

You can see here that God doesn’t reject the people from Galilee, but it is a very special thing that Jesus goes and lives there and spends time there. Even though they live in darkness, Jesus is the light of the world, and he comes and brings us light.

And this a great comfort for us too… we are also a people who live in darkness. Many people all throughout the world are not open to the Christian faith, or listening to the words of Jesus. They only listen to their own sinful hearts, and do whatever they like. They think they know everything, but in actual fact, they don’t know anything. When they come across something in the Christian faith or in the words of Jesus that upset them or annoy them, they want to silence Christians and the bible. Maybe you think that over your lifetime, Australia has become more of a godless nation than it once was—that’s an interesting thing to consider on Australia Day! However, we also need to realise that this attitude that we see in people like this is the same attitude that is at work in us, because we have the same sinful hearts as they do. How often Jesus shines his light into our lives, and we so often want to cling to the darkness!

However, Jesus does not reject people just because they live in darkness. Instead, he comes and lives right in the middle of it all. He went and lived among the Galileans, and he also comes and visits his church all throughout the world today, wherever there are two or three people gathered in his name. He even meets us today in his word and sacrament—we hear the living and active word of God, and we come here to receive the body and blood of Christ. And even in the midst of our dark world, in the region of shadow of death, Christ comes and shines his light on us. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.

So, what does Jesus do that shines such a great light in the region of Galilee? We read: From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

First of all, let’s take notice of the fact that Jesus is preaching. Jesus actually says stuff, and speaks, and talks. He’s not a dumb puppet who says nothing, he’s not a cardboard cut-out, and he’s not a stone brick. He’s a real living person, with a mouth, and he talks. The reason why I say this is that many want to have Jesus, but they want to hold onto the darkness. They do this when they have a silent Jesus. They say things like: I respect Jesus as a great teacher, but they have no interest in what he actually says. Or people might have a picture of Jesus in their own minds, but they don’t actually read about how the bible describes him, or how Jesus even talks about himself. Or they might say—and this is a really fuzzy one--“The Words of Jesus are not important, because Jesus is the Word. It’s not important to listen to what he says, but only to have a relationship with him.” Can you imagine a student going to school and saying to their teacher, “Teacher, I’m not interested in learning any maths or English from you; I just want to have a relationship with you.” To the Principal’s Office! Or can you imagine if a husband says to his wife, “Darling, I don’t want to listen to you. I just want to have a relationship with you!” Slap! You can’t have a relationship with Jesus without listening to his preaching and his teaching. If we fashion our own silent pretend Jesus in our own hearts, then all we do is create an idol, a dead god, a golden calf. Then, we end up staying in the darkness, and the light doesn’t shine on us.

Bus also, let’s look at what Jesus actually says. He says: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let’s take those words especially to heart: Repent! Repent means to change your mind, to turn your heart around. It means: You’re walking in the wrong direction. Walk in the right direction. One of the main differences between Christianity and other religions is this whole teaching about repentance. For example, in many Buddhist countries, you see all kinds of local customs and spiritual practices that have nothing to do with Buddhism. Even here in Australia—let’s say you meet a Buddhist from Malaysia. What’s something that you’ll probably see in their home? They’ll usually have a photograph of their dead relatives on a shelf with offerings in front of it. Now worshipping ancestors—as far as I can tell—doesn’t really have much to do with the central teachings of Buddhism. I suspect too, that before Buddhism came, people probably already worshipped their ancestors. But when Buddhism came, it simply took this practice under their wing, and made it their own thing. However, when Christianity comes to a place, new Christians turn away from their old practices. They can keep their family and cultural traditions, as long as they don’t conflict with Jesus’ words and teaching.

However, today, many people even in the church don’t want to listen to the message of repentance. And when this happens, the church stops being the beacon of light, and instead, it just collapses into the darkness around them. Every time there has ever been a great movement in the church of life and vitality, it has always had at its heart the message of repentance. Just think, for example, of the Reformation. What was the thing that started off the Reformation? We often think about it as Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517. But what was the first of those 95 Theses? It was about our reading today. “When our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Repent”, he meant that the whole of our life should be one of repentance.” The Reformation was a call to repentance. Our whole life should be one of repentance. Of course, our whole life should be, because every time we look to Jesus we should see how perfect he is, and how imperfect we are! He is the true vine, and we are the cheap plonk. His holiness shines light, our hearts are full of darkness. And so, every day should be a day of searching our hearts, and bringing our sin to Jesus, and placing it on his shoulders.

But also, there is another word that Jesus says. He says: Repent. But he also says, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is here, because the king is here! The king enters his palace, and let’s the citizens of his kingdom come and meet him! But sometimes when we hear the message of repentance, we think: because my heart is sinful, I can’t enter that kingdom. Yes, you’re right, you are sinful, and you can’t enter it because of anything you have done or whatever. But you can enter it, because of Jesus and because of what he has done. He is the Saviour of the World, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has won for you the forgiveness of sins, and that forgiveness is the door which lets you enter into this kingdom. So when Jesus says: The kingdom of heaven is at hand, he is saying, “I am the door for the sheep! I am the way, the truth and the life! I am opening this door for you right now. I will let you in through the forgiveness of sins.”

Sometimes, we might think—but hang on, doesn’t Jesus forgive us without conditions? Why do we need to repent? Isn’t that earning salvation by our works? Well, no it’s not. Just think about how Jesus raises people from the dead—he does this apart from anything that they have done. Nobody contributes to their own rising from the dead—Jesus does it completely by himself. But if you are going to be risen, there is a prerequisite—you need to be dead! And yet, it’s not as if being dead makes you risen or contributes to it. The same with repentance… Repentance is simply the acknowledgement that spiritually you are dead. Sometimes, people think that repentance is cleaning up your act. No—repentance is when you want to clean up your act, but you realise that you don’t even know where to start! It is the killing off of your prideful sinful self. And so, the fact that Jesus forgives you has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with him. And yet, there’s no forgiveness of sin for you, if you don’t believe you have any sin. If you’re not a sinner, why would you even want forgiveness? So Jesus says: Repent, because he wants you to wake up to yourself and despair of yourself and your own abilities and your own heart. But then he says: For the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because he wants to comfort you and point you to himself, the Lamb of God, who has died for you and forgives you, and bring you into the wonderful kingdom.

Now, we look at our reading again, and we see Jesus doing just that. He brings people into his kingdom. First, he brings in Peter, Andrew, James and John, as his apostles, and calls them to fish for people. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And after this, we see Jesus going around the whole of Galilee and preaching, and teaching, and healing people from all their diseases, afflictions and problems.

But there’s something very interesting about Jesus’ words: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let’s come back to John the Baptist, who we were thinking about earlier, because we read that he was arrested. What do you think he was arrested for? Actually, we read that he was also preaching: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He even told the King that he should repent too, because he was living with his brother’s wife. And so they arrested him to silence him. And then, we read that once John is arrested, Jesus goes around saying the same thing. If John has been arrested, what do you think will happen to Jesus? Yes, he’s going to be arrested too, and he was arrested when Judas betrayed him with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane. If John has been killed, what do you think will happen to Jesus? Yes, he will be killed too, he will be crucified, and die for the sins of the world.

How do you think the first apostles are going to fish for people, how do you think they are going be fishers of men? Jesus told them after he rose from the dead, that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. And many people are not going to like it—and will kill these apostles too. But instead of the church dying, the church grows and grows over the centuries, because we have a living Jesus, who is risen from the dead.

So let’s commend ourselves with all our troubles and sins, our weakness, our failings to our Lord Jesus. He has called us to repent, to change our minds and to turn around from wherever we were walking and follow him. He calls you even by your name, even today. And yet, he also comes and opens the door of his kingdom for us today, and forgives us all our sins, and shines his light into our darkness. Let’s leave all of our nets, and follow him, because nobody in the whole world shines brighter than him, no kingdom is more glorious than his, and there is no Saviour who is as trustworthy, loving and faithful than him.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light! We thank you for calling us to repentance, and calling us to live in your kingdom. Send us your Holy Spirit, so that we may repent and turn to you each day, and rejoice in your living words of forgiveness and peace. Amen.

Baptism of our Lord (Year A) [Matthew 3:13-17] (12-Jan-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park, 10.30am.

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

Behold, the heavens were opened, and [Jesus] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Prayer: May 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, on this particular Sunday, we remember the Baptism of Jesus Christ. Now this part of the church year is called Epiphany, and this word Epiphany means, “showing”—it’s a time when we particularly think about the fact that God shows himself to the world in Jesus Christ. Now, sometimes when we have a difficult time in our life, we might think to ourselves, “Where is God in all of this?” “Why has he hidden his face from me?” “Why doesn’t he open the heavens and show himself?” People think like this particularly when some tragedy happens in their life, or some terrible, traumatic, sad event. I could only imagine that many people who have been caught up in the bushfires in our country at the moment must feel something like this.

I think we all know what it’s like to wish that God would just come out from behind the clouds and make everything right. We know very well what it’s like to ask questions like this. God’s answer is what this time of Epiphany is all about: God actually sends his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, who shows himself to us. So, last week, we focussed on the Three Wise Men coming to visit the baby Jesus. God shows himself to these foreigners, these strange people with their strange gifts—he reaches out to them, and leads them to Jesus, through an amazing star and through the words of the Bible which send them from Jerusalem to the small town of Bethlehem. At this time of the year, we sometimes also remember that occasion where Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Jesus, when he was twelve years old, and they end up finding him in the temple. He says: “Did you know that I would be in my Father’s house?” Jesus shows to Mary and Joseph, that Joseph is not his true father, but that God the Father is. And also, at this time of year, we often think about when Jesus turned the water into wine, and performed his first miracle at a wedding in the town called Cana. Jesus shows his glory to his disciples and they believed in him. Today, we read about the Baptism of Jesus, where we read, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Now, this event is just such an amazing, wonderful thing. This event is no fairy-tale—the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, make a special point to let you know that what happened on that day is true, that it is a fact of history, that is really happened, just as truly as you walked in here into this church this morning. And in all those times, when we long for God to tear open the heavens and come down, we can remember this event, and say to ourselves, “Yes, God has come down—he is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—he has baptised me, I am his beloved child together with my Lord, Jesus Christ, and he will never let me down.”

At the beginning of our reading today, it says: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him. Now, let’s just think for a minute about this person John. It’s amazing when we think about John the Baptist, and what kind of a person he was. There was a miracle at the time of his birth—his parents were old, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the Angel Gabriel came and told Zechariah that his wife would be pregnant at the time when he was serving as a priest in the temple in Jerusalem. Because Zechariah didn’t believe the angel, he became dumb, and wasn’t able to speak until the time when John was born. John then when he was older, went out into the desert, into the wilderness—maybe his parents died when he was young, and he had to go out fend for himself. He had to feed himself on what we call bush-tucker—he only ate locusts, and wild honey. He wore a shirt of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He was a pretty wild-looking fellow! A real bush-whacker!

We also read in the Gospels that he preached fiery, wild sermons, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near! You brood of vipers! Flee from the wrath to come! Today, if we met a preacher like this, we might think he were a bit of a crazy-man! But this aspect to John’s life has a very powerful message for us. When we hear the word of God, we never know who God will send to speak it—and we should always be careful not to reject the Word, because we reject the person. Perhaps, we are posh—and we think that all the good preachers in the world need to be posh too. Or perhaps, we’re rough as guts—and we want a down-to-earth preacher. Never mind—many times God sends us his Word, through someone who is nothing like us—a complete foreigner, someone who has had a completely different life from our life. If this happens, and they speak the word of God, and a particular word of God that we don’t necessarily like, we need to be careful, that we don’t reject the word, because we don’t like the preacher. God chose to send a rough-as-bags, scruffy, bug-eating man to carry out this duty in our reading today—the most holy duty ever to be performed: the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in our reading today, it says that Jesus came to the Jordan. Let’s just have a think for a moment what’s significant about this place, the Jordan. We all know that Aboriginal people here in Australia like to think about the significance of a particular place. This place, the Jordan, was also a significant place. It had a history. The Jordan is a river. And all throughout the world, rivers often form a boundary between two countries or something like that. For example, in Australia, if you cross from Victoria into New South Wales, you have to cross the River Murray. The Murray River forms the boundary between those two states. Now, also, the River Jordan forms the boundary between the promises land of Israel, God’s chosen people, and the land of the Gentile people. Many years before John the Baptist and Jesus were there, the people of Israel crossed over the Jordan into the promised land with Joshua. In fact, the priests stood with the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the river, and the water stopped on either side, so that God’s people walked through on the dry ground. So, we can see, that the River Jordan was a very special, significant place. In fact, it’s almost like, when people were coming to John to be baptised, they were entering the promised land all over again—not the land of Israel, but a new, heavenly country—Paradise, Heaven, the New Jerusalem. And when Jesus is baptised, we get a picture of this, because it’s not the water that splits apart here, it’s the heavens, the sky, the clouds, that split apart, showing us that when we are baptised, we don’t enter the promised land, but we enter into the promise of heaven and eternal life.

So we read in the Gospels that all these people were coming out to John to be baptised. And what do we read that they were doing? It says, that they were confessing their sins. Now, along comes Jesus… what sins do you think Jesus had to confess? None. He hadn’t sinned at all, he had no sin, he was sinless, he was completely and totally without any sin, any guilt, any fault, any stain or blot whatsoever. So why does Jesus come to be baptised?

Actually, even John is a bit confused about it all. He says to Jesus: I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me? He is thinking: Hang on a minute! Jesus, you are the sinless one, you are the holy Lamb of God! I am a sinner. Shouldn’t I come in all my sin and be baptised by you, who are totally pure and holy and sinless? Why is it, that you, the perfect one, come to me, an imperfect one? Why is it, that you, the sinless one, come to me, a sinner? Why is it, that you, the holy one, come to me? A wretch like me?

And Jesus says to John: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. And we read: Then John consented. So how does Jesus and John fulfil all righteousness by doing this? Well, the only people who were allowed to be baptised here were sinners. If you didn’t think you were a sinner, John sent them away. But Jesus, who is not a sinner, wants to come and be with sinners. He wants to show that in baptism, he takes their sin, he takes their impurity, he takes their guilt, and also in baptism, he gives sinners his righteousness, he gives us his forgiveness, his holiness, his purity. We might look at ourselves, even though we are baptised, and think, but I’m not holy or pure! Yes, you’re not, but you’re with Jesus, and he covers over all of that, so that when God looks at you, he doesn’t see your sin, he sees only the holiness and the perfection of Jesus himself, because you are with him.

And so, Jesus takes our sin, and he gives us his righteousness. He fulfils all righteousness. St Paul says in 2 Corinthians: For our sake, [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. When we realise our sin, and when God allows us to see it for what it is, we might just want to pluck some piece of our body out and leave it on the ground somewhere. If only we could get rid of it! If only we could undo the past, and fix it, so that we hadn’t done that thing or that thing. But Jesus stands there in the River Jordan and he says to us: Listen, I know your sin even better than you know it yourself. And when you look at your sin, don’t see your sin anymore there, see me. Because I have died for your sin, and I have risen again from the dead, and now I clothe you with my forgiveness and my righteousness. I have fulfilled all righteousness. That’s what’s happening here in Jesus’ baptism.

Now, we come to the last part of our reading which says: When Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This is such an amazing event, which shows to us the three persons of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We see the Father speaking his clear voice from heaven, the Son being baptised in the water, the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove.

Now, in the Christian church, we believe that there is God, but that he has revealed himself as three persons. We believe that there are not three gods, but one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now, when we say “person”, we don’t mean a flesh and blood human being like you and me. Only Jesus, the Son of God, took a human body. The Father and the Holy Spirit are spiritual, divine beings. They are without bodies. But Jesus too is true God, so that he lives and dwells with the Father and the Holy Spirit as one God. Remember how we say at the end of our prayers: We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. That’s a wonderful confession of faith that we make each week, and we shouldn’t take it for granted.

Sometimes, this stuff about the Trinity can sound very complicated, and it can do our head in a bit. And maybe to explain all of this further is a job for another day. But anyway, let’s remember that when God does something, it is always the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who do it together. For example, when God created the world, it is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who created it. When God baptised you in this church or another church somewhere, it was the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who did it.

But at the same time, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have different personalities, and they are not all the same. So, at the baptism of Jesus, we see God the Father speak from heaven, we see Jesus there in the water, and the Holy Spirit come down on Jesus in the form of a dove.

So, what is special about the way in which Jesus, the Son of God is revealed here? He is a man, a human being just like us, who takes on the weight of all the sin of every single human being who has ever lived in the whole history of the world right up until the present time, until this very minute and second, and right up until the end of time. And he fulfils all righteousness by taking human sin on himself and giving us the perfect righteousness and holiness of God as a complete and total free gift. He does this by forgiving our sins, and this forgiveness belongs to us simply because we believe it. We believe it and it is ours. And Jesus delivers this forgiveness right into your lap, and right on top of your head, when he baptised you.

What is special about the way the Holy Spirit is revealed? He is revealed as a dove—a peaceful, gentle, white bird. It was a dove that showed to Noah that the flood was over, and that everything was now safe and at peace. In the same way, when God sends us the Holy Spirit, we are at peace with God. There is no more flood, no more anger of God, because all is forgiven. And Jesus is the one who sends out the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit comes and lands and stays on him. Jesus breathes out the Holy Spirit, he speaks to us his Spirit-filled words, and sends us the perfect peace of God. And so, at the baptism of Jesus, we see the Holy Spirit revealed in the form of a dove.

And what is special about the way the Father is revealed? He is revealed as a voice from heaven. We don’t see his mouth, we don’t see his face, we don’t see his body. We only hear his voice. And this is a very important lesson for us: we should always remember when we hear God’s voice, we never see his face. The Bible, for example, is God’s Word, God’s living voice, but we don’t see God’s face. When a pastor preaches God’s Word, we hear the living Word of God, but we don’t see God’s face. When we’re baptised, we hear God’s voice, “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”,  but we don’t see his face. When we receive the Lord’s Supper, we hear God’s voice, “This is the body of Christ”, but we don’t see God’s voice.

The reality is that God’s face, God’s form, his shape, his figure, what he looks like, is just too much for us. We wouldn’t be able to endure it. Deuteronomy says: Our God is a consuming fire. So if we can’t see God the Father, if we can’t see his eyes, his mouth, his face, his form, how do we know what he thinks about us? How do we know if we are acceptable to him? If he loves us, or hates us? If he wants to destroy us, or if he wants to bless us? How do we know?

He tells us. He tells us. That’s why we have God’s Word! And at the baptism of Jesus, God the Father doesn’t stay silent, he speaks. And he says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. He says what he thinks about Jesus twice. He is not just his Son, but he is beloved, and well-pleased. He says the same thing in two different ways—he loved his Son, and he is pleased with this Son—because he wants us to be doubly sure. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are not three people who live together and bicker all day long. They live together in perfect love and unity.

And so, when we are baptised too, and made part of God’s family, God also shares his love with us. It is because of his love, that he sent his Son into the world as a human being, to die for our sins and to rise again. It is out of love, that he forgives us. And so, when we are baptised, God sends us his Holy Spirit. When we are baptised, we are made children of God together with Jesus Christ his Son. When we are baptised, God says to us: You are my beloved son and daughter, with you I am well pleased. 

People who don’t acknowledge their sin and their sinful life and their sinful condition have no interest in going to Jordan and listening to the preaching of John. They have no interest in meeting the real Jesus there, and seeing his Father and the Holy Spirit. This whole event is of no value to them whatsoever, but is just a joke.

However, if you know your sin, and realise you are completely helpless before God, then run to baptism, be baptised, or comfort yourself with the fact in history that you were baptised at some point in your life. This baptism is God’s gift to you, so that you look to it, and trust that the forgiveness of sins has been poured out on you. Remember that you are baptised together with Jesus, and a swap has occurred. Your sin is on him, and his righteousness and holiness are on you. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been shown to you, revealed to you personally, and Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness. Amen.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful gift of baptism. Send us the power of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, so that we may live as your beloved children on this earth, and finally enter the promised land of Paradise, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Advent I (Year A) [Matthew 24:36-44] (1-Dec-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park, 10.30am.

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

But concerning that day and hour no one knows.

Prayer: May 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 we begin a new church year, and we’re celebrating the first Sunday of the season of Advent. And the season of Advent has a particular focus on Jesus “coming”. We especially look to Jesus coming as a tiny baby in Bethlehem at Christmas, all those many years ago. But our Gospel reading today has a different focus. In this reading, Jesus is talking not about when he came as a baby, or when he comes to us constantly in the church, but when he will come at the end of the world to bring the whole of world history to a close, to a finish—and when he will judge the living and the dead, and those who believe in him will share eternal life with him.

Now, before we get to our reading—it’s very important for us to have a think about what this means: that the end will end. Many people in our country and in our world today don’t really think too much about this. I think it’s also the case that they never really think that the world ever began in some way.

Now, if we go back to many ancient peoples, like the Ancient Egyptians, or the Ancient Greeks, they were people who essentially believed that the world was eternal. They believed that it never really had a beginning, and it’s never really going to have an end. I think many people today believe this, even many of us Christians in the church. But I don’t think it’s necessarily that a lot of people have any serious convictions about it – it’s just that they don’t think about it too much. For example, people might think that life as we know it as evolved over millions and billions of years, all the way back to some kind of primeval blobs, some single-celled organisms. But you know, those things were supposed to have happened so long ago, that I don’t think people really care or bother to think about whether the earth had some kind of beginning, because it something that happened so long ago. So I think that it’s fair to say, that many people in our world today, don’t really believe that world had any kind of beginning.

But also, I think there are many people who don’t really think the world is ever going to end. People think that things are going to carry on as we know it for ever and ever, and people are just going to keep getting better and better. Some people, though, who have very strong views about climate change, think that the world very well might end soon, and that the way to stop it ending is to confront the problem of pollution on a national and world-world scale. But apart from these people, I think there are many people who just go along on their every day life, and don’t really think about what it might mean that the world could have an end.

Now, if we go to the Scripture, to the Bible, this matter is dealt with very clearly. If we open to the first page of the bible, we find it speaking about the beginning of the world. If we open to the last page of the bible, we find it speaking about the end of the world. And these two events, these two facts—the creation of the world which happened in the past, and the end of world which will happen in the future—have always been a part of the church’s confession of faith. So, when we come to church and say together the Apostles’ Creed, we start by saying: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We start by saying that God existed before the world, and that he made it—the earth had a beginning. And we also say in the Apostles’ Creed, that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Now, if the world didn’t have a beginning, and if the world will have no end, then people have no choice but to believe that the world is eternal. But here’s the problem: the world isn’t God, only God is God, and only God is eternal. Mother earth isn’t the eternal God, only God is God. So we are also told in the Scripture that there is only one thing that had no beginning, and that has always existed: and that is the God who made us, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And over the whole course of the history of the world, God has been calling people into his kingdom. And so, when the world has ended, those who have been saved, who have trusted in God, and believed in his promises, will live with him in his kingdom. And what do we say about Jesus’ kingdom? We say: His kingdom will have no end.

In the verse before our Gospel reading today, Jesus says: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. He is talking about the signs of his coming: He says: Then will appear in the heaven the sign of the Son of Man. We know from what Jesus is saying here, that the world will have an end, and that when the world ends, Jesus will appear.

So Jesus says in our Gospel reading today: But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Now, this is a very important principle for our Christian faith. There have been many people throughout history, and many people still around today, who think that they know when the end of the world is going to be. So far, all of them have been wrong! How do we know this? Well, the world is still here! And Jesus doesn’t say that the when the world ends he’s going to come quietly, and we might miss it—he says, he will appear on the clouds, with power and great glory. There are some groups—like the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses—who have made prophecies about the end of the world, which didn’t then happen. When I was the pastor in Gippsland, I heard about a group of people who had moved to far-east Gippsland, at a place called “Noorinbee North”—way out in the middle of pretty much nowhere. They had thought that when the year 2000 struck, that it was going to be the end of world, so they went out there, bought property, built underground bunkers, to prepare for the end. They even built a church out there. But of course, since that time, many people have moved away, and the church has now closed, and been sold.

The thing that we must know about all these things, is that if we know someone who says to us that they know when the end of the world is going to be, we can immediately know for certain in our own minds that they are wrong, and that they are not telling the truth. How can be so sure of ourselves? Because, in our reading today, Jesus says: Concerning that day and hour no one knows. So if someone says that they do know, we know that they can’t be telling the truth, because Jesus says: no one knows.

But perhaps, someone might be particularly spiritual—you know, a real guru, a real holy person, someone with great spiritual insights. And this person says, “Listen, I had a very significant dream the other night, and an angel said to me that the world is going to end on such-and-such a day.” What do we made about this? The person claims that an angel spoke to them about it! Well, Jesus says: Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven. If an angel did speak to the person, it can’t have been an angel of heaven, but an angel of hell instead, an evil spirit trying to trick the person with lies. Remember, St Paul says that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Perhaps, someone around the time of the apostles went around saying that they had met Jesus personally, and that Jesus himself had told him personally, that the end of the world was such-and-such. Maybe, someone claims to have met Jesus himself on the side of the road one day, just like Paul had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Well, Jesus says: Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Now, why am I making such a big point of this? Throughout my ministry as a pastor, I’ve often come across people who think that the world is going to end on such-and-such a day. Often people come to these conclusions from astrology—from trying to predict the future from looking at the stars. They think, there’s a strange moon on this day, Mars or Jupiter is going to be in a special position in Aquarius, or something like that. It takes up so much of people’s energy and time, and it’s such an embarrassment to them when nothing happens. There is such a simple answer to this: it’s all rubbish, because Jesus has told us ahead of time, that it’s all rubbish. No-one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Now, there’s a little question that comes to our mind when we hear these words, which says: “Hang on, I thought Jesus was true God, and I thought God knows everything. If Jesus is true God, how come he doesn’t know?”

This is a very good question. In many passages, Jesus is said to know all things. For example, Jesus says: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. In John, it says that Jesus knew what was in the heart of man. Well, also remember, that Jesus is alive, and is the giver of life, and he is the Resurrection and the Life! But then he also dies. He is the King of King and the Lord of Lords, and yet, in the wilderness, he experiences hunger and thirst and weariness and temptation. So also, Jesus really does know everything, but he also during his earthly life is limited in his knowledge.

You see, Jesus came from heaven as true God, to become a human being. And even though he knew everything, he chose, by becoming a man, not to know some things. For example, he didn’t know how to talk, until Mary and Joseph taught him, and yet he was still God, and knew all things. As he grew up, he only spoke his mother tongue—he didn’t know or speak English, and yet he was still God, and knew all things. In stooping down to our human level, and becoming a human just like us, he also chose to put away certain knowledge from himself.

So for example, let’s say, a father buys some chocolate for his kids, and the children say: “Dad, dad, give us some chocolate.” The dad puts the chocolate away at the back of a shelf, and hides it. Then he says, “I don’t know where it is.” If the dad tells the children, “I’m not telling you where it is”, then the children would just keep pestering him, and say, “Come on, dad! Tell us!” until he gives in and tells them.

Now, in a similar way, Jesus says: No one knows…not even the Son. He has every right to know, but when he became a man, he chose to put certain knowledge away from himself. It’s a bit different from the dad with the chocolate, because the dad would be telling a little white lie. But Jesus is not telling a lie, he is telling the truth—he has chosen not to know this, by virtue of having become a man. And also, imagine if Jesus had said, “I do know, but I’m not telling you.” This would either make the apostles and the disciples sad, as if Jesus didn’t think they were any good, or they would think to pester him. Remember the Canaanite woman who asks for a healing for her daughter, and Jesus says: It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. Here Jesus is treating her almost a bit mean, but not because he doesn’t want to heal the woman’s daughter, but because he wants to draw out from this lady her great faith for the benefit of everyone, so that we can all learn how to pray like her. But when it comes to the end of the world, it’s as if Jesus says that this is an issue that you’re not going to know, if you ask me, I won’t tell you. If you ask me, and you think that I did tell you, then you know it wasn’t me, but the devil pretending to be me. No one knows.

Even though no-one knows the day or the hour, there are certain things that Jesus does let us know. He says: For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the one left.

What is Jesus teaching us here? He that before he comes, things will be like the days of Noah. Well, have a think—why did the flood happen, and why did Noah and his family have to go on the ark? Was it because everything was going so well in the world? No—absolutely not! Everything was going terribly. The world was corrupt, it was evil, and people were doing terrible things to themselves and to others. Now, in the same way, as the world gets older, and we get closer to the time when Jesus will return, do you think the world is going to get better or to get worse? Many people think that the human race is always evolving and getting better. It’s not the case at all! The human race is only getting worse and worse. The world is only getting worse. And as the world gets worse, we are called upon to ask ourselves: who are our friends? Do we want to be friends with Jesus, or the world around us? Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but the world is corrupt, and decaying, and is just getting worse and worse. There will come a day when there will people next to each other—one will be taken and the other left. Perhaps it means that one will be taken up to heaven to be with Jesus. Or perhaps it means the one will be swept away, just like the evil people at the time of Noah.

Also, at the time of Noah, people scoffed at him, and mocked him. They thought he was an idiot. So also, as the world gets older, and we come closer to time of Jesus’ return, people will scoff at Christians, and mock them, and call us idiots for believing in that old-fashioned stuff. They will say: we are so much more enlightened than they are! We know better, we are not so stupid! One will be taken, and one will be left.

So, if you see around you and feel that the world is getting worse, then don’t be discouraged, but it means that you are coming closer to seeing Jesus with your own eyes—either when you die, or if you live long enough, to see Jesus when he returns. Jesus says: Straighten up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near. If you see around you a constant pressure from people not to be a Christian anymore, and to give up on Jesus, because people are mocking you, or scoffing at your beliefs, or calling you an idiot, also, don’t be discouraged, because again it means that you are coming closer to seeing Jesus with your own eyes. Jesus says: Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

In the last part of our reading, Jesus says: Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

So, what do you think it means when Jesus says, “stay awake”, or when he says, “you must be ready”? What does it mean to be awake and ready?

Sometimes, I think people often think about this as being busy. We can’t rest, and we must always be active. We must always be doing good works, and working really hard. It’s like, if a mum says to her child, “sweep the floor before I come home”. Then the child forgets about it, and when they hear mum driving up the driveway, they get the broom, and pretend as though they’ve been working for hours!

Well, actually, we Christians should be busy with good works without even really thinking about it! If there’s someone in need, we should help them—and all that kind of thing. But actually, to be awake and ready for Jesus, simply means to trust in him for eternal life. It means to completely despair of our own actions, our own thoughts and words, and to completely despair of ourselves and all of our efforts, and to trust completely in him for everything, because he is the one who has taken the burden of every single one of our sins upon his shoulders, and has died for it all on the cross, and has risen again on the third day. We can trust in him for everything, and we are awake and completely ready when we have the total forgiveness of our sins. And we can be sure of this, because Jesus has said it, and has promised it.  He says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but have eternal life. Or as Peter says it in his letter: Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

So, be encouraged, friends. Don’t worry about when the end will come, because no-one knows. It could come at any time, like a thief in the night. Therefore, we should always be ready to meet Jesus. Don’t be discouraged by the world getting worse in which we live, or by people mocking or scoffing at you. Stay awake and be ready to meet your Lord, and trust in his wonderful mercy and forgiveness which he won for you, and which he pours out into your lap even today. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for coming to this dark world as a tiny baby so many years ago. We thank you for the way in which you still come to us today—speaking to us in the church through your word, through preaching, through the absolution and forgiveness—coming to meet us and save us through baptism, coming to encourage and strengthen us with your body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. And we also look forward to wonderful and joyful day when you will bring this world to an end, and bring us to be with you in your kingdom. Amen.

Pentecost XVI (Proper 21 C) [Luke 16:19-31] (29-Sep-2019)

This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Semaphore, 8.45am, and Good News Lutheran Church, Albert Park, 10.30am. 

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

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.

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

This passage from the Gospel of Luke that we have as our Gospel reading today is just such an incredible reading, and it is such an amazing story that Jesus tells us. It has so many amazing things and incredible lessons for us to learn – it puts eternity before us in a very stark way which, actually, for our sinful hearts, for our sinful flesh, is very unpleasant. But it also puts before us an incredibly powerful comfort about what it means to be a Christian and to be saved.

So in our sermon today, I’m going to pick out of this text a few different topics. Firstly, let’s talk about poverty and wealth, and what it means as a Christian to be rich or to be poor.

In our Gospel reading, we read: There was a rich man who was clothed with purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. Later, we read that this particular rich man went to hell, but this particular poor man, Lazarus, went to heaven. And Abraham says to the rich man: Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

Now, we can sometimes make the wrong conclusion from the passage, as if Jesus is teaching us that rich people are bad, poor people are good, rich people are all going to hell, poor people are all going to heaven. But that’s not quite true. When Lazarus went to heaven, we are told that he went to be with Abraham. Now, in this earthly life, was Abraham rich or poor? Let me read you from the beginning of Genesis 13: Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Interesting—it turns out that not all rich people automatically go to hell. If all rich people were in hell, why is Abraham in heaven?

So let’s read about the good things that this rich man had. We read first of all, that he was a rich man—he had lots of money and possessions. We would assume—as well—that he had a very nice house. But what he also had was earthly comforts—he had nice clothes, and he was able to eat nice food every day. We often think about wealth simply in terms of a person’s money—but Jesus wants to draw our attention especially to his clothes and food: He was clothed in purple and fine linen and he feasted sumptuously every day.

Now, let’s read about the bad things that Lazarus had. We don’t read at all about Lazarus’s clothes. We read that he was poor—he didn’t have any money, or a home, because he was laid at the rich man’s gate. We read that, instead of being clothed with fine linen and purple cloth, he was covered in sores. He was sick, and infected with some kind of terrible skin disease, that must have caused him no end of itching and annoyance. The only comfort he received was the dogs who came and licked his sores. And what did he eat? Well, not much—but we read that he desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table.

Now, what is Jesus trying to teach us here? Well, first of all, we should realise that in this life, money, a home, good health, clothes and food are all good things, good gifts from God. Actually, Jesus even teaches us to pray for these things, when he says: Give us today our daily bread. When we have these things, we should thank God for it—because they are good things.

And when we see someone—and especially one of our fellow believers, our fellow Christians—who is particularly in need, and doesn’t have the things that they need, and is going hungry, or is sick, or homeless, or doesn’t have enough clothes to wear, our hearts should go out them in compassion, and we should do what we can to help them. Think here about the parable of the Good Samaritan, where he comes and sees the half-dead man on the street, and helps him. And Jesus says: Go and do likewise.

Now, I often think that sometimes (maybe, particularly in our country) in the church, we don’t see enough of this Christian charity at work. Now why is this? Sometimes, I think there are many of us who think we’re a lot poorer than we really are, and so we don’t thank God for what we have, and we don’t think to share it, because we think someone else should be sharing with us. Or, maybe we think because of Centrelink and government welfare, that there really isn’t anyone who really needs our help. If someone needs something, people think, they’ve probably brought it on themselves. Sometimes, we know, it isn’t easy to help people—for example, you can’t just give a drug addict money, if you know they’re just going to go and buy more drugs. They need a different kind of help, and sometimes the kind of help they don’t want. But the fact is with Lazarus: he was in need, and the rich man who was able to help him, didn’t help him. And so, Jesus teaches us here, very simply, if we see someone in need, we should help them.

In fact, this is how Jesus views us—he saw us from heaven in our need, and in all our sin, and in all our helplessness, and he came down from heaven, to share his riches with us. Now, these are heavenly riches—the forgiveness of sins, the promise of everlasting life—but he shares them with us, like a rich man, and let’s us not just eat the scraps off his table, but to feast with him. And so, Jesus wants to create in us a compassionate heart, a heart which reaches out to other people, to share what we have with them. When someone is burdened by guilt and has sinned, we can share the forgiveness of sins with them, and the message of everlasting life with them. And also, when we see someone in some kind of physical need of the body—if they are poor, sick, homeless, hungry—we can also reach out to them and share with them what we have.

Now, let’s leave this topic about being poor or rich, and what it means to be charitable, and let’s come to another topic that this reading talks about, which is the Scripture. When the rich man is in hell, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. Instead, Abraham says: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

So we learn that on the one hand, we have a rich man and a poor man—from our earthly point of view, from the point of view of physical eyes, it looks like the rich man is blessed, and the poor man Lazarus is cursed. The rich man has money, health, house, expensive clothes and expensive food. The poor man has nothing. But there is something much more important that the poor man has, that the rich man doesn’t have. The poor man heard the Scripture—he listened to the words of Moses and the Prophets—and when he heard this message, and he trusted that there was going a Saviour who would die for his sins, the Holy Spirit went into his ears and created a living faith in him. And as he sat at the rich man’s gate, he knew that even though he had nothing in the eyes of the world, he had a God and a Saviour who loved him.

The rich man, on the other hand, also had the Scripture—he had Moses and the Prophets—but he didn’t listen to them. Why would he need to listen to them, when he already has everything that he needs? Instead, the rich man pushed the voice of God away from his heart, and hardened his heart to God, so much so that he couldn’t even have compassion on the man covered with sores at his gate.

And so, it’s just like what God said to the prophet Samuel when he went to choose the young King David to anoint him as the king. He said: The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

So, in the end, Lazarus has nothing except the word of God. The rich man has everything except the word of God. In eternity, what this means, is that is Lazarus who has everything, and the rich man who has nothing.

Now, why did the Word of God—why did Moses and the Prophets—give so much to Lazarus? Because, this is the same Word of God that brought the entire universe out of nothing—and so it is more powerful than any money, houses, clothes and food in the entire world. This is simply the most important thing that we could learn in this life—it is so simple, and yet so many people—like this rich man—miss it, and harden their hearts to it, because it doesn’t look like much. It doesn’t look like the wealth, the spectacle, the glamour, that the rich man has. And so just as the rich man treated it all like nothing, so many people treat it like nothing.

Even in the church, this can also be the case. The Lutheran Church is here not simply because of Martin Luther, but because we claim to be a church of the word. Now, many churches can claim to have all kinds of things, but if they don’t have the word of God, they have nothing, and they are leading people on the wrong path. And it’s not like we Lutherans are immune—in fact, the devil is constantly at work trying to take the word of God away from us. And replace it with what? Well, sometimes the word of God can be replaced by traditions, by wealth, by spectacle. Sometimes, the word of God can be replaced by our own reason, our own intellect, our own thinking. Sometimes, the word of God can be replaced by experiences, visions, miracles, ghosts, spirits, and feelings.

Even this happens in our reading. Abraham tells the rich man in hell that if his five brothers have Moses and the Prophets, they have everything they need. What does the rich man say? He says: No—father Abraham—but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. The rich man knows full well that his brothers are all a bit bored with the word of God. It would really shake them up if the ghost of Lazarus gave them a talking to. No—it doesn’t work like that. And so, we have an incredible warning in this reading. When we have the word of God, we have everything. When we don’t have it, we have nothing. So—don’t be bored with it. Savour every opportunity to hear it, and to read it, and to think about it. We have Moses and the Prophets, and we have the apostles, and we actually do have Jesus physically risen from the dead. What excuse do we have? The day of salvation is now, and Jesus is calling you. Don’t reject him when he walks by.

Now, I’d like come to another topic in our reading—and that is the whole question of salvation, about heaven and hell. Now, a lot of us pastors don’t like to preach too much about hell, and there’s probably a good reason for it. Sometimes, people talk about the old days, like the only thing any pastor every talked about was “hellfire and brimstone”! You can go and read books of sermons from all kinds of times and you can see that that isn’t true.

However, when topics comes up in our readings, we should talk about them. And this passage today is one of the most vivid descriptions that Jesus gives about hell. The rich man lifts up his eyes and sees Lazarus far away and out of his reach. He says: I am in anguish in this flame. He wants his tongue to be cooled by a drop of water. He calls it a place of torment. Abraham says: Now, you are in anguish.

If there’s one thing that seems to be destroying the Christian faith everywhere today, is this whole idea that at the end of the day, “everyone’s going to be alright, Jack.” Many Christians today think that there really isn’t a hell, and that there’s nothing really wrong with anyone, and so, we’re all going to be saved anyway. We might think this for good reasons—we might see other people we know and love who care nothing for Jesus and his word, and we don’t want to have to think about them in eternal torment. It’s a thing that should make us incredibly sad and worried for them. So people sometimes fall into a trap, called “universalism”. “Universalism” means that in the end, everyone is going to be saved anyway, no matter what.

Now, this is not what the bible teaches, it’s not what Jesus taught, and it’s not what he says in our reading today. And it’s a teaching which dries up our love for people, and which makes our zeal for mission dry up—it even makes our thirst and our love for Jesus himself dry up.

At the time of Martin Luther, this was a very important issue, because many Christians believed in purgatory. Purgatory was basically half-way between heaven and hell, and if you paid off your sins in purgatory, or if your loved ones on earth helped pay them off for you, you could eventually go to heaven. But this reading today, teaches us that purgatory doesn’t exist. Abraham says to the rich man: Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner, bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.

Do you see this? Once our life is ended—we either go to heaven or to hell. There’s no half-way. Either we are saved by the blood of Jesus, or we’re not. Now, when Jesus teaches us this, it might grate at us a bit, it makes us very uncomfortable. But you see, Jesus wants us totally for himself. He doesn’t want us to be half-hearted, or half-baked in our trust and love for him. And when we die, he wants to welcome us into his kingdom, with Abraham and Lazarus, and all those who have died believing in him. And so, when we think about eternity, we shouldn’t be lazy in our thinking, we shouldn’t be apathetic or blasé about it. We should be black and white about it—and set very clearly before our eyes only two options: heaven and hell. And Jesus promises that all who believe in him have eternal life. And we set our eyes and our hearts and our minds very clearly in the direction of heaven.

Now, the last thing to talk about today is the Gospel. In the Scripture, we have two teachings—the law and the Gospel. The Law shows us our sin, and shows us the threat of God’s judgment. There are many things in our reading today that put God’s law and his judgment very seriously before our eyes—and some of what Jesus teaches here is quite frightening.

However, at the same time, we also have the Scripture a completely different teaching, which doesn’t show us our sin, but which shows to troubled sinners their wonderful Saviour. This teaching is what we call the Gospel. Now, we know that Jesus entered into this world to take upon himself all of our sin, and he died for it on the cross, made a perfect sacrifice and atonement for you, and he rose again from the dead on Easter day. And now, he gives to you the forgiveness of sins here in the church, through your baptism, through the absolution spoken by the pastor, through the preaching, and through the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And these things are then given to you as a kind of down-payment of the wonderful promise of everlasting life, eternal salvation, and at the end of this world, a resurrection from the dead, where your body and soul will be so completely transformed and transfigured, that you will be glorified to be like the angels and even Jesus himself.

Now, what’s this got to do with our reading? Who was saved? It was Lazarus who was saved. It didn’t look like he had anything, but in the end, the angels themselves carried him to Abraham’s bosom, placed him on Abraham’s lap, and he was received into eternal life. Why Abraham? Because Abraham believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteous. Abraham is the father of faith—Jesus says, that even God can raise up stones to be children of Abraham. And if we believe in Jesus, and trust in his blood and his death, we also are children of Abraham, and will be carried from this life by the angels.

But then the devil wants to tempt us. He wants to say: But look: that rich guy doesn’t believe in Jesus—look at the house he’s living in compared to you, look at the food he’s eating compared to you, look at the happiness he has compared to you. You’re not a real Christian.

Well, it’s at times like this, you can tell the devil to “tick off”, because you have the word of God, you have Jesus risen from the dead, therefore you have everything. You might not have the perfect house, you might not have lots of money, you might be sick all the time, you might have lots of troubles and worries, you might have lots of sadness, you might be lonely, you might be cold, you might be hungry. When we’re struggling like this, we start to think God has abandoned us, and there’s something wrong with our faith. Rubbish! What do you have? You have a Jesus who died for you, a heavenly Father who loves you, and a Holy Spirit who encourages you. You have the word of God—you have Moses and the Prophets, the apostles, you have Jesus. And if you have these things, then you have everything, and you have more than all the gold and the treasures in the whole world. So be like Lazarus—sit at God’s gate, and trust in him. Jesus will never let you down, and finally he will raise you up from the dead to be like him. Amen.

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

Friday after Pentecost [John 15:1-11] (14-Jun-2019)

This sermon was preached at the Australian Lutheran College Chapel, North Adelaide, 9am.

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

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

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

At this time of the church year, we have been celebrating the festival of Pentecost, which is really such a wonderful time of the year to be alive, and such a wonderful time to be part of God’s church. We hear of this absolutely event, where the disciples were gathered together 50 days after Easter, and the place where they were was filled with a mighty rushing wind, the disciples had tongues of fire appear on their heads, and they began speak in other tongues. We read that the people there were amazed and said: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. We are also gathered here today to declare these mighty works, and to confess the mighty works of God, and even to partake of the mighty works of God, as he enters here with his Holy Spirit even today. We might be a little bit less amazed by it than those people were on the day of Pentecost, but nevertheless what we are doing today happens with no less power.

Our reading today comes from another wonderful occasion, and one of those incredible occasions where it would have been such an honour and a joy to be just a fly on the wall. Our reading today comes from John 15, where Jesus speaks about himself as a vine. And this passage comes from the middle of quite a long sermon which Jesus gives to his disciples on Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday, of course, is that incredible night on which Jesus was betrayed, that night which is the only day specifically mentioned in the Divine Service every Sunday, when the pastor says: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. Our reading from John 15 comes after Jesus has celebrated the Passover, that amazing event in history where the angel of death passed over the people of Israel and they were rescued from Egypt and from Pharaoh. Jesus had transformed this Passover meal into something completely new—he gave them new food and new drink, not just a feast of lamb, and bread and wine, but of his holy and precious body and blood, given and shed for them for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and he also sends Judas out to go and organise his arrest. This is the occasion where Jesus spoke the words we are reading today. So why are reading them today after Pentecost? Because Jesus gave his disciples some of his most powerful teaching on the Holy Spirit on that night, on which he was betrayed. Only a few verses earlier than our reading in chapter 14, we read where Jesus says: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So what a wonderful privilege it is then to learn and remember these words of Jesus, knowing that it is not us who is doing this, it is not our work, but it is the Holy Spirit who has gathered us here, who has orchestrated this whole event, and who teaches us all things and brings to our remembrance all that Jesus said to his disciples.

So Jesus says: I am the true vine, and my Father in the vinedresser. Why does Jesus say here: I am the true vine? For example, is there a false vine? Well, actually, if we go back to the Old Testament, to Isaiah chapter 5, we read there about God planting a vineyard. He is talking here of his chosen people, the people of Israel. It must be quite an effort to go and plant a whole vineyard. And as we read in Isaiah 5 about the Lord’s vineyard, we read that this vineyard was an incredible disappointment. It was a failure of a vineyard. We read: When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? This is not the story of the Barossa Valley, with multiple award-winning wineries. This is the story of cheap plonk. We read: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Jesus, on the other hand, is no cheap plonk. He is the choicest vintage of grape-vine. He is the true vine… the vine which is the only vine in the vineyard, which grows in such an abundant way that only one vine is needed to fill the whole vineyard. We human beings, we Jews or Gentiles, or whoever we happen to be, have been planted here on this earth by God, who has created us. But unfortunately, we are all cheap plonk. We have all sinned, and fallen short of God’s glory. If people were grapevines, every human who has ever lived on this earth would be a rotten, sour disappointment, except Jesus Christ, the true vine. And if we are to be saved, and be fruitful in his kingdom, we must be connected and grafted into him, and him alone.

When we read this text, from John 15, we see that Jesus presents to us an incredibly sharp picture of God’s judgment. Actually, on the day of Pentecost, we see a kind of judgment occur there: some people received the apostles’ words and miracles gladly, but some others thought they were drunk. Jesus teaches about a separation between those who believe in him and those who don’t, even within what we might call the outward, external fellowship of the church. For example, in 1 Timothy, the church is called God’s household. But in 2 Timothy 2, St Paul writes: In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver and also of wood and clay, some for honourable use, some for dishonourable. Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a field, where both wheat and weeds grow. He teaches that it is like a dragnet in the ocean, which draws in good fish and bad fish, which will then be separated on the sea-shore. John the Baptist speaks about a threshing of people, between wheat and chaff. Jesus speaks about a wedding banquet, where the one without a garment is thrown outside. He also speaks about a wedding where there are 10 virgins, 5 who are wise and prepared, 5 who are foolish and unprepared, and who cannot come into the wedding banquet. In Matthew 25, Jesus speaks of the final judgment where the sheep will be placed on his right, and the goats on his left. In our reading today, Jesus also speaks in a similar way: Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away… If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. Now, why does Jesus say this? He teaches us that there is no universalism, no purgatory, but rather there will be judgment, and there is a heaven and a hell. Your life matters, what you believe matters, how you live matters—and after you die, there will be a judgment, a judgment that will be based on this life. So, it’s as if Jesus wants to say to his disciples, and to you, the words from Psalm 95: Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart.  

Now, Jesus speaks to us an incredible mystery in this text. He says: Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Actually, the word for prune, is the word for “clean”. Every branch that does not bear fruit he cleans. Pruning here is cleaning. He takes the branch, and he scrapes all the dead bits off so that it is clean. And so then, Jesus says: Already you are clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you.

This is just such a wonderful comfort to us. When Jesus has spoken his word to us, we are clean. It’s no wonder that the means by which we are saved and brought into God’s kingdom is Holy Baptism. Jesus cleans us with his word, and just to make sure we understand this, he wants us to be cleaned with water too. And Jesus cleans us through and through from every single speck, every single thought, word and deed, every single sin, fault, transgression, you name it, everything that we didn’t even realise was sin. It has all been placed on him, he has shed his blood for all of it, and died on the cross for it, and now this word is spoken to us, and we are clean. Jesus says: Already you are clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you. Jesus says: Your sins are forgiven. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Now, here’s a question. Jesus says: Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes (or cleanses), that it may bear more fruit. Why does God, the vinedresser, need to keep cleaning the branches, and pruning the branches, if Jesus has already made us a clean through his word? If we’re already clean, why does God need to keep cleaning us?

The reason is that Jesus wants us to live by faith. Jesus says: Already you are clean, not because you can see it, or not because you experience it, or not because you in the deluded prideful world in your mind said so, but because of the word that I have spoken to you. You still carry your sin around with you, you still sin, you still fail, but there’s a difference. Jesus has covered your sin, your failings, your whole heart, your whole self, with his blood. And you know this because of his word. And he wants you to believe this word.

But you are going to have incredible temptations as a Christian. The devil doesn’t like the fact that you belong to Jesus, and he wants you back. Unbelievers don’t want you to be different to them, and they will be happy not to feel judged by you simply because you are you. You have a sinful nature, a writhing and restless evil continually at work in your heart, which would rather you just curse God and give him the finger.

God on the other hand wants you to bear fruit for him, so in order to do this, he will scrape off the dead stuff, and clean you. But this is incredibly painful for us, because our sinful flesh is so corrupt that it likes death rather than life. Our sinful heart cries out: hey, don’t cut that bit off! In fact, so often, we think that when we’re going through these times of cleansing, and scraping, we think that this is a time when God is showing us that he really hates us. And we accuse him: God, what have I done to deserve this? God, why don’t you love me? God, why have you forsaken me? God, I understand. Why do I have to go through this? Why do I feel no joy? Why do I only see darkness? Why do I experience no happy days? Jesus says: Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

It’s the same as when Job says: Behold, I go forward, but [God] is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

Do you see? He wants to boil you in his smelter, not because he wants to see you burn, but because he wants to impurities to bubble and rise to the surface, so that they can be scraped off. You remember on the day of Pentecost, those who heard Peter’s sermon were cut to the heart. We are also continually cut to the heart by the work of the Holy Spirit through the word, throughout our whole lives, so that we may bear more fruit.

Now, Jesus knows full well the pain that we are going to experience in all of this, simply because he knows just how idolatrous, how corrupt, how twisted our hearts really are. He knows, and so he wants to encourage us, just as David was encouraged so many years ago, when he said: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

And so Jesus wants to say to you: Don’t run away, even though life will seem painful sometimes. Don’t be put off by it, don’t be offended by the cutting, don’t be disgusted by the pruning. So he says: Abide with me, and I in you. A the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. Stick with me, says Jesus, you can trust me. Many times you will want to run away from me, and you will run away sometimes, just like Peter ran away, and denied Jesus three times. Jesus still says: Abide with me, and I in you. Draw your strength from me. Everything is forgiven in me. Jesus says: for the joy that was set before me, I despised the shame, I endured the cross, and now am seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

This is the encouragement that Jesus extends to you, and to which he calls you, and exhorts you, and pleads with you. He says: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.

Now, Jesus here reveals two things. Firstly, He reveals our complete and total helpless. Apart from me, you can do nothing. He doesn’t say: apart from me, you can only just get the ball rolling, and get the thing started, or get half-way there. He says: Apart from me, you can do nothing. But the second thing is, He reveals his Divinity, and his total and incredible power in everything. He says: You can do nothing apart from me. When you have me, you can’t imagine how fruitful you can possibly be. He says: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Jesus shows us his true Divinity here, because everything will be done, if we abide in him. He also says: and my words abide in you. My words are the living and active words of God, because I am God. And whatever you ask will be done, because when you ask me, you are asking God, because I am God, who listens to your prayers, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

So when we go through difficulties and trials and temptations, Jesus calls us to stick with him, but specifically, to stick with his word, and to run from it if it seems difficult to us. And when things are difficult, we should ask him for what we need. And this is exactly the kind of fruit that Jesus wants us to produce. He says: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

So let these wonderful words of Jesus today be your encouragement. You were a useless vine producing sour grapes, but you have been grafted on to Jesus, the true vine, who speaks to you a living and life-giving word. You have been baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You have been made clean by the word which Jesus has spoken to you. I forgive you all your sins. Let him strengthen you and encourage you with his special heavenly food which he gives you for your journey: his body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. He imparts to you his forgiveness, but also his strength, his power, his energy—not necessarily as you think you need it, but as he knows better than you how and when you need it—just like the juice which flows from a vine into its branches. He is your God, your Saviour, your strength, your Rock, your faithful friend, who feeds you, who strengthens you, who forgives you. As Jesus says: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Amen.

Dear Jesus, you know how much help we need every minute of every day. We thank you for speaking to us your word and for making us clean. Help us each step of the way as we follow you as your Christians. Come and abide in us, and help us, and you have promised, dear Jesus, our Lord and our God. Amen.