Pentecost VII (Proper 9 B) [Mark 6:1-13] (8-Jul-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am (lay-reading), and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 9am.

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

A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.

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 in our Gospel reading, Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth, where he grew up as a boy, and he is goes to the synagogue and he preaches there. And instead of being welcomed with open arms as their local boy, he is rejected and kicked out. We read: They took offense at him.

And Jesus says: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.

And we read also: [Jesus] could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

I’d like to focus first of all on what Jesus says: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. What’s Jesus talking about? Well, obviously, he’s talking about himself, in that here he is, as a prophet, coming to his own hometown, but he is not honoured at all. Jesus is also hinting that when a prophet comes from a faraway place, people receive the prophet well. Maybe they think, “Here’s someone from a faraway country, and they’ve got something new and exotic to say.”

It’s strange how someone from a faraway place often has more authority than a local person. If someone came and said something wise to us, and they happened to be from an exotic, ancient culture with all kinds of strange customs, we might listen. But for a lot of us, if it were our mums that said the same thing, we might not take any notice.

And so, what Jesus says is true: often someone from another place holds more weight or more authority. But this is not exactly what he is talking about. He says: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown. Here Jesus is speaking about prophets, and he refers to himself as a prophet.

So what exactly is a prophet? Well, Jesus is often referred to as a prophet. But of course, he is much more than simply a prophet, like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Daniel. He is also the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. Even so, Jesus is called a prophet. When John the Baptist was preaching and baptising, there were some Jews that went up to him and asked him, “Are you the prophet?” And John says: No.They didn’t ask John if he was a prophet, any old prophet, but the prophet. They were looking forward to a particular prophet.

Now, to work out what they were talking about here, we have to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Here we find Moses giving a sermon to the people and he says: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen… I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. And so from this passage, we see that the Jewish people were looking for a particular prophet, who could come from their people. God says that they must listen to him. And God is going to put his own words in the mouth of this particular prophet, and if people don’t listen to him, they will be cut off from God’s people. You can see that whoever this particular prophet is going to be, it is going to be very important that people recognise him when he comes and listen to him.

In the New Testament, in the book of Acts, in two different places, we read that this prophet was actually Jesus. This is preached by Peter in a sermon, and also by Stephen in a sermon. We know then that this prophet is Jesus himself, it is to him we should listen. The words that Jesus speaks are God’s words, and whoever does not listen to him will be answerable to God. Moses says: It is to him you shall listen. We read in the Gospels about that event in Jesus’ life, called the Transfiguration, where he is standing on the top of a mountain together with Moses and Elijah, and the face of Jesus shines with bright radiant light. We read that on that occasion a voice came from heaven in a cloud. And what did he say? This is beloved Son. Listen to him. Do you hear that? Listen to him. Here God the Father himself is telling us that this Jesus, His only Son, is the prophet that Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy where he said: It is to him you shall listen. Even God Himself confirms this and says: Listen to him.

And so, back to our reading, here is Jesus, and he is in his own hometown. He is with his friends and family and relatives. Moses said this would happen: The Lord God will raise up a prophet from among you, from your brothers. And yet the people are so blind, that they can’t recognise Jesus as the person who fulfils the prophecy of Moses. And they take offense at him. Now this is a frightening thing, because Moses also says that if they don’t listen to this prophet, it will be required of them of the Lord. And so Jesus gives a testimony about what is going on. He says: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown. What a sad day this must have been for Jesus, that he should be rejected in his own town. And yet, the people are too busy remembering his childhood. They say: Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? You can almost hear an old lady in the crowd saying: “I changed his nappies.”

On the other hand, Jesus’ words are so full of grace and power. One word from Jesus has the power to forgive each one of our sins and promise us eternal life and an open door of heaven. And he actually does promise each of us this. He baptises us and writes his name on us, and puts his cross on each of us. We belong to him and we are his. And he writes our names in his book of life. And week after week, and day after day as Christians, we learn more about this wonderful Saviour that we have—and the more we learn about him, the more we learn about how much he forgives us and loves us. Jesus is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and he is so much greater than any prophet who has ever lived, that every word that he speaks is full of grace, full of love, full of joy, full of hope. Listen to the prophecy he speaks to you: Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Or what about the prophecy he speaks to the thief on the cross: Today, you shall be with me in Paradise. Who would want to reject such a wonderful prophet like that?

Today, people often misunderstand what a prophet is, though. People often think that it is the same thing as a fortune-teller. People think, “a prophet tells things about the future”, and so does a fortune-teller, so they must be the same thing. Jesus speaks life-giving words—he doesn’t read palms. And then, many people don’t really believe in fortune-tellers, so they don’t really believe in prophets either. But there’s a great difference between a prophet and a fortune-teller, and we have to know the difference. In the chapter from Deuteronomy which we read from before, where Moses prophesies that there will be another prophet, Moses talks about a whole lot of forbidden practices: interpreting omens, sorcery, mediums, and this also includes fortune-telling. Moses says: These nations which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. You can see here that fortune-telling is completely forbidden. But instead, what does Moses call us to listen to? He says: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. We should listen to Christ, not a fortune-teller. And Moses here plays off these fortune-tellers directly with Christ. They are in direct opposition to each other.

Now this is important for us too, because sometimes in the church we might encounter someone who claims to be a prophet, and they claim to bring a word from God. Or sometimes, even Christians get involved in some New Age stuff, and go and visit someone who they think can tell them the future. We need be discerning and to ask the question: Is this from the Holy Spirit?

Well, in the book of Acts, we read an example about this. In Acts 16:16, we read: As we [that is, Paul and Silas and Luke] were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” Do you see, here is a girl who is a fortune-teller, possibly like some kind of New Age person in our time. And we read here that she actually tells the truth about who Paul is. It’s true: These men really are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. But then we read: Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

So you can see here that even though this fortune-teller was telling the truth about Paul and Silas, Paul told the spirit to come out of her, and rejected her. You can see here that this is not prophecy of the Holy Spirit, and this kind of occult stuff cannot be used in the service of Christ and of his kingdom. It is forbidden, and God rejects it.

This is so important for us—because often when we look at a situation like this, like fortune-telling, two different opinions will come about. Some will say: That’s a load of rubbish! Fortune-telling doesn’t really work. And on the other hand, some will say: Maybe it does it work. But the important thing for us as Christians, is not whether it works or not, but where the power is from. This also applies to all kinds of spiritual stuff, and pseudo-spiritual stuff. The question is not whether it works, but where the power is from. Even if it works, it may still be from the devil. A fortune-teller is not sent by God—a prophet is sent by God and speaks with all the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is not to fortune-tellers we should listen. But it is to the true prophet, to Christ, to Jesus, that we should listen. He is even better than all the prophets put together, because he promises to you the forgiveness of sins. He has paid for all of your sin with his own suffering, with his own death, with his own blood. And now he is risen from the dead, he is seated at God’s right hand and he now brings all of his power and all of his promises right here to you. And he even breathes out upon you the Holy Spirit so that you can hide yourself in his wounds, so that you can place your body and soul into his arms, and so that you can rest him until that time when he draws you to himself in eternity.

We receive all the wonderful gifts of our prophet Jesus, simply by trusting in him, and believing in his word. We know that his words never lie. They are completely reliable and trustworthy. We read in our reading that when the people were offended by Jesus, that Jesus could do not no mighty work there… and he marvelled because of their unbelief. He only performed a few healings for some individuals, but not for the benefit of the whole town. On the other hand, when we hear God’s word, we should pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit so that He will create a living faith in us, so that we trust in Jesus’ words. Who knows what wonderful work Jesus can perform among us when we simply trust in his living, prophetic word? Jesus is the one who gives the gifts, faith is simply the hand which he puts them in.

Now, even today here in the church, we join Jesus in bringing his prophetic ministry to the world by testifying about him, and speaking his words. We read in the book of Revelation: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When we speak about Jesus, either I as a pastor in sermons and in pastoral work, or you wherever you happen to be among your friends and family, you speak with the spirit of prophecy when you speak the truth and testify to Jesus. And isn’t it so often the case that prophets are not welcome in their own hometown? There are so many parents that worry about their children falling away from the faith, and if we parents spoke to our children about Jesus, their hearts only get harder—of course, they know too much about us! Often I’ve seen this at funerals, where an old Christian person has died, and then all the children are organising the funeral, and they’re not Christian, except for one. And the burden of trying to arrange a church funeral for their Christian mother or father seems to lie on this one person, and the rest of the family just comes up with one silly idea after another. There’s the old expression: You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family! Well, Jesus wants to encourage us by his words and by his example here in our reading. He says: I know what it’s like. I had an earthly family too. I grew up on a certain street, in a certain town, in a certain place—and then when I spoke the truth to them, they rejected me. And Jesus says: Do you think it was my fault they didn’t listen? Of course not! So be encouraged. We are living in a time where so many people don’t want to hear the truth, and don’t want to change their mind about anything. And then we think, if we speak too loudly, or speak out of place, we’re just going to get our heads chopped off, and have some angry person come at us and ram it down our throats. Be encouraged! Jesus came to his own people, and his own people did not receive him. They threw him out of town, he suffered, he died. And 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, for so they persecuted… (who?) the prophets – (the prophets!) – who were before you.

Being a faithful Christian can be a lonely walk sometimes, a lonely way. But Jesus always walks it with you, and he wants to encourage you. He will open your mouth at the right time, and when it is the time to close it, he will keep it closed. But in the meantime, he will send you the Holy Spirit, and he will teach you his word, and he will build up your faith.

Even now, Jesus has placed us under his authority, and has spoken to us the forgiveness of all our sins—our sins of speaking when we shouldn’t have and giving the faith a bad name, our sins of not speaking when we should have spoken. Jesus walks with us, he takes us with him. We read in our reading: Jesus went about among the villages teaching.

Let’s thank Jesus for also coming to our church today and teaching us his word! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we have so often not given you the honour you deserve, and we have taken offense at you, and hardened our hearts. We ask that you would send us your Holy Spirit, forgive us, and we ask that you would take charge of our spirits and place them under your authority. We commit ourselves into your hands for your service and as you would use us for your kingdom. Amen.

Pentecost IV (Proper 6 B) [Mark 4:26-34] (17-Jun-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

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.

In the Book of Judges, we read about Gideon. Gideon was one of the judges whom God raised up, and he defeated the Midianites in battle. When Gideon was gathering together an army, God kept telling him that he had too many soldiers. We read: The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Eventually God kept on reducing the number of the army from 32,000 men down to 300 men. If 32,000 men won a victory, they would congratulate themselves. But if they could win the victory with only 300 men, then they would give glory to God for helping despite such bad odds!

In the Book of Judges, we also read before the battle, how God sends Gideon down into the Midianite camp to listen to what they are saying, and he overhears a man telling his fellow soldier a dream. He says: Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. Here we head about this man having a dream where a bread roll rolls into the camp and knocks over a tent. The other soldier says: This is no other that the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. And so we read that Gideon with his measly 300 men, wins the victory over the Midianites. From a human point of view, it seems so unlikely and so impossible, but God is on their side. It is as unlikely as a bread roll knocking over a tent!

And so, also in our Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us about seed scattered on the ground, or a mustard seed being planted. From a human point of view, these seeds look so small, so insignificant, so useless, but actually, they grow up and become useful plants, and large bushes and trees. The seed here in the reading is God’s word, and the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God. It looks so small and insignificant, just like a bread roll, or Gideon’s army of 300 men. But when the seed grows, it flourishes and blossoms and flowers and produces fruit. God’s word, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God have all the power in heaven and earth to destroy all the strongholds of the devil and to crush him. When God is the one at work, then a little bread roll can knock over a whole tent, and Gideon’s army of 300 men can defeat the Midianites.

So in our reading we read about two parables: the first is about the seed scattered on the ground, and the second is about the mustard seed.

Jesus says: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle.

This is an amazing parable. Here the seed is the word of God which is scattered, and grows into the wonderful kingdom of God. And in the Gospel of Matthew, we read where it says: All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world”. Here Matthew quotes this prophecy from Psalm 78: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

In the parable of the scattered seed, it brings us back to the foundation of the world, back to Genesis chapter 1, where we read about creation. Here we see God creating the world, but he doesn’t just sit down and set about doing it, he does it in a particular way and with particular means. God creates the world through his word. He speaks and it happens. He says: Let there be light, and there was light. And so we see how God’s word has this wonderful creative power in it. It does things, and it brings things about, and brings new things into existence. It’s really quite an amazing reality for us to think about!

But we also read about the creation of plants and seeds. It says: Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

So we see here how God’s word produces plants, but then that these plants yield seed. And these seeds fall to the ground and produce more plants and more seed. God creates nature to be continually fruitful, and productive.

And so we also read in our reading today, how God created seeds and plants to reflect the way in which the word of God, and the kingdom of God works, and how they grow, and produce, and are fruitful. God created seeds to work in a similar way to his spoken word. Just as his word brings things into existence, so also seeds bring forth rich harvests, bountiful crops, fruitful vines, bushes, and abundant trees. Jesus says: The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

What is so important in this parable is that the most important thing is the seed. And this tells us something about mission. We are living in a time when we are seeing a great decline in churches all throughout the western world, and it is something that can sometimes make us depressed and worried. We can worry about our congregation and parish finances. People start to think, “how can we bring more people in”?

Now, we are living in times that are dominated by buying and selling. Everything is for sale, and it seems like everyone is trying to sell us something. Sometimes we can easily fall into the trap of thinking like this as Christians too, and we start to think, “How can we grow the church, so that we can pay the church’s bills?” No wonder people are suspicious sometimes of Christians, if they think we’re just after their money! So there’s a real danger of treating the church like a business, and people like consumers.

The problem is that we focus on the harvest, instead of the seed. We often want to see the church full of people, we want to see the church as successful, and productive, and flourishing! But every farmer knows that if you want a harvest, you have to plant your seed. Unbelievers are not customers—they are empty ground in need of the seed of God’s word. We could share the word with them as we are able, we could pray for them, we could invite them to church, or make friends with them and help them, and treat them as we think a Christian should treat them. God has placed us in particular homes, in particular areas, workplaces, or families, and we all have our different gifts—some in speaking, some in serving, some in helping, or however. What Jesus calls us to think about here is not the harvest – let God sort that out. He calls us to focus on the seed. And the seed here is the word of God—it doesn’t look like much, but it has incredible power to produce a very rich harvest indeed.

Now, in the parable, we read something quite amazing. It says: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.

Here we see that the power to grow this seed belongs to God and not to us. The seed grows and sprouts even while the farmer is asleep. Now there is a very famous quote of Martin Luther about this passage. He says: I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. (LW 51:77).

You can see here how confident Martin Luther was knowing that he has simply preached the word and sowed the seed. He could go to sleep now, and have a beer, because he knew that the Gospel was now doing its work. Now, Luther was not saying that once he had preached the Gospel, he could now have the other six days of the week off! But he was saying that while he slept, while he drank his Wittenberg beer, the word of God was working, it was changing people, it was growing a harvest. And so the glory did not belong to him, but to God who was doing the work.

In 1 Corinthians, St Paul talks about how people were playing him and Apollos off against one another. We suspect Paul was not a particularly good public speaker, but Apollos was known to be eloquent. And even though Paul was the apostle, and Apollos was not, people started to prefer Apollos because he was a better speaker. But in the church, we are not simply sowing the seed of public speaking and rousing speeches; public speaking and rousing speeches can whip people up for a while. Even Hitler knew how to put on a good speech! We are sowing the seed of God’s word, and the glory belongs to him. So St Paul says: What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. The glory belongs to God, not to Paul and Apollos.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes: Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Paul and me and you are nothing but insignificant bread rolls – the power to knock over a whole tent belongs to God.

Sometimes, we might look at ourselves and our weaknesses and our insecurities and our failings and all of the things that we wish we had or we wish we could do or we wish we were, but in reality we don’t have, we can’t do, and ain’t – then it’s time for us to look to Jesus’ words in 2 Corinthians 12, where he says: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul writes: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And so Jesus says, while you sleep, while you are weak, while you are useless, while you are completely out of the way, the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

Now we come to the second part of the reading, about the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus says: With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is grown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Now, there is a wonderful passage in the book of 1 Kings, where Elijah is feeling very miserable for himself. There is a terrible king on the throne, King Ahab, and Elijah thought he was the only faithful follower of God left. But God says to him: I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal. Elijah feels like he is the only one left, like he is just a little mustard seed, a little black speck on white sandy beach. But God knows how to grow a large tree from a mustard seed.

We might even look at the life of Jesus. He lived in a time when he was the only one who preached the message that he did. His own people didn’t receive it, and every single nation on earth did not know the God of Israel. He was just a small mustard seed – but here we are, over 2000 years later, on the other side of the world, part of that mustard tree, part of his branches.

But then, sometimes in the church, we can often find ourselves as small insignificant people in a big world, where nobody cares about us or what we’ve got to say. But we speak the same word of God, we plant that same Gospel, even if no one in the whole world cared for it or not, even if no one in the whole universe listened to us. Because when it is God’s word that we speak, then we know that his power is able to make that mustard seed turn into a large bush, a large garden plant, and put out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

At the end of the reading today, we read two little verses, that look very insignificant, like two grains of mustard! It says: With many such parables [Jesus] spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

The amazing thing about the way Jesus teaches here, is that as we think about these parables, and churn them over, we find new insights and new discoveries that we never thought about before. The pictures that Jesus plants in our minds of the seed and the mustard seed produce fruitful and rich thoughts in our minds. Sometimes we don’t understand the parables, and we think about them, and think about them, and push and push, but we don’t seem to get it.

Now, just imagine if we were reading some Shakespeare, or something, and we didn’t know what he meant. And all the Shakespeare scholars don’t really know either. If Shakespeare were still alive, we could ring him up, or write him a letter, and ask him just what he meant.

But the Scripture is different, because for every book of the bible, there are two authors. We have the person who wrote the Gospel, whether it is Matthew, Mark, or Luke, or whoever – and then we have the Holy Spirit. Now we can’t ring up Mark or John or Ezekiel what they meant, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are still alive. The problem is not that the word is not clear, it’s that our minds are not clear. Sometimes there are people who think that the bible is just a dead word, and not the voice of the Holy Spirit. So no wonder when they talk about the bible, it sounds like a coroner’s report. However, Jesus is alive, the speaker of the parable has risen from the dead, and if we ask him, he will teach us and send us the Holy Spirit, and explain to us what the parable means.

So we read: With may such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. By nature, because of our sin, we are simply unable to hear the word, until the Holy Spirit comes and opens our ears. It says: He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. To the outsider, nothing that Jesus is saying makes sense. But when Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding, then it makes sense. It’s similar to when the apostles found themselves very busy in the book of Acts, and they appointed some helpers to share their work. And they said: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. These two things go together: prayer and the ministry of the word. They go together because they can’t do the ministry of the word without Jesus’ help, and so they continually ask him for help.

So let’s commend ourselves to him, to Jesus, who died for us and rose again from the dead, to win the forgiveness of sins for us and the promise of eternal life. This word of God doesn’t look like much, maybe like a little seed, but it grows and produces, and puts out branches, and brings about a wonderful harvest. Amen.

Dear Jesus, plant your saving and powerful word in us, and let your kingdom grow. Send us the Holy Spirit, that we may hear and understand your word more and more. Amen.

Pentecost II (Proper 4 B) [Mark 2:23-3:6] (3-Jun-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.

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 in our reading, we have a very important passage, which speaks of two events where the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. The first part of the reading is where Jesus and the disciples were plucking grain and the second is where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.

Now this reading actually has many very important things in it, and many things that are very relevant for today.

The first thing that we’re going to talk about is what we call law and gospel. In our reading today, Jesus and his disciples are accused of breaking the law. The Pharisees say: Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? The whole of the Scripture can be divided up into two basic doctrines or teaching: the law, and the Gospel. Both the Law of God and the Gospel are God’s eternal perfect word. The law teaches us what we should do, and what we shouldn’t do. The law threatens punishment for those who break the law, and the law promises rewards for those who keep the law. But we human beings are sinners, and we are unable to keep the law perfectly. And so the law also shows us God’s wrath and judgment against sin. Jesus says: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. He says: Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever relaxes one the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. James writes: Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. The law doesn’t make sinners, but it finds sinners and exposes them, and shows us who we really are.

Now, on the other hand, there is also in the bible another teaching or doctrine, which is called the Gospel. The Gospel teaches us not what we should do or what we shouldn’t do, but points us to Jesus and what he has done for us. Jesus entered into the world, he suffered, and died, and he took the weight of every single one of our sins and failures and weaknesses upon himself, upon his own shoulders, and he made a complete and perfect payment, and sacrifice, and atonement for every single one of our sins, and for our entire sinful condition. And he defeated the power of death by rising from the dead on Easter Sunday. And this word of the Gospel is spoken on earth in the church to us right in the midst of this life, in holy baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, in the words of absolution or the forgiveness of sins spoken by the pastor, in the pulpit when pastors preach the gospel, and in all of our Christian conversations where we encourage each other and speak the message of Christ to one another wherever God places us. This Gospel is received by us completely without any works, without any contributions on our part whatsoever, and is given to us completely and totally freely. The Gospel doesn’t find saints, but it makes people saints through the word of the forgiveness of sins. When God looks at us, he sees all of our sins covered over by the righteousness of his Son.

Now, when we talk about Law and Gospel, we’re not talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament has both Law and Gospel in it, and the New Testament has both Law and Gospel in it. But also, Law and Gospel is not “nasty talk” versus “nice talk”. When we say that we should love another, that’s nice, but it’s law—it’s not Gospel. The fact that Jesus has shown his love to us by dying and rising for us to give us eternal life—that’s Gospel, not law. But the death of Jesus is nasty stuff, it’s not very nice, but it saves us.

Now, I’d like to come back to the law. There are three things that the law does. Firstly, God gives his law for the well-being of human society. The law stops the world from being completely crazy and falling apart. People know that they shouldn’t steal, shouldn’t lie. They sip their hot drinks, or they will burn their tongues. They drive on the appointed side of the road or they will have a car crash. This is just the rules, it’s the way the world works.

But also, God’s law shows us our sin and it accuses us. The law is like a mirror, and we look into it and we see where we have failed. The law shows us our need for forgiveness.

And also, God’s law is a guide for our Christian lives. It shows us how we should live as Christians, and what the Holy Spirit’s will is for our lives.

So we have these three ways in which the law works. Sometimes we call them the three uses of the law: for the well-being of society, to show us our sin, and to guide us in our Christian life.

Now, in the Old Testament, we read about Moses going up to meet God on the top of Mt Sinai and God gives him the Ten Commandments. Now, if you’ve read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, you’ll find there a lot of laws that we no longer keep today, for example, laws about sacrifices, about what to eat, and all kinds of laws about worship, and so on. And we might think: “I thought, Jesus said that not one dot will pass from the law. Why don’t we do those things anymore?” The reason is this: when Jesus came, and when he died, and rose, and sent the Holy Spirit, there were many things that were no longer applicable or needed. For example, we don’t sacrifice lambs and bulls and goats anymore in a temple, because Jesus sacrificed himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

It’s a bit like someone who keeps all their food in a small esky. If they are keeping food in an esky, there are certain laws they have to keep in order for the food to be fresh. For example, they will have to go and buy some more ice regularly and replace it every day, otherwise everything will get warm and wet. But then the person buys a fridge, and so they just don’t need to buy some ice every day to keep their food cold. He has something better than an esky now, he has a fridge! In a similar way, when we say that those old Jewish laws are no longer needed, it’s not that we don’t care about the law, it’s just that Jesus has fulfilled the law, and he has given us something better.

And so in the Old Testament, there are two types of laws: there are laws about ceremonies, or ceremonial law, and there are laws about how we should live, or moral law. So all the things about eating, and worship, and sacrificing, are called “ceremonial laws”, and we Christians don’t follow these laws anymore, because they are not needed. But then there are also moral laws, like honouring parents, not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying – these things are about what right and what’s wrong. And as Christians, we should seek to do things that are right.

An example of this for today is homosexuality. People often say that Christians are hypocrites because on one hand the Old Testament says that a man may not lie with a man as with a woman, but it also says that people shouldn’t wear clothes with both wool and linen in them. The first law is moral—it has to do with right and wrong—and the second law is ceremonial—it has to do with the distinctiveness of the Jewish people. And so the New Testament also forbids homosexual acts, but the apostles don’t forbid clothes with mixed cloth!

So, we’ve talked about law and Gospel—how God shows us our sin through the law, and also shows us our Saviour Jesus in the Gospel. We’ve talked about the three ways in which the law works: the law gives order to society, it shows us our sin, and gives us a guide for our Christian life. And also, we’ve talked about the difference in the Old Testament between “moral” and “ceremonial” laws, between the laws which have to do with right and wrong, and the laws which have to do with Jewish worship.

All this is very important when we’re looking at our reading today, because Jesus is accused of breaking the laws of worship, the laws concerning the Sabbath.

Now, in the 10 Commandments, we have a commandment there about the Sabbath. This is the third commandment, which says: Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. In Exodus it says: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Now in the Old Testament, the Sabbath day is Saturday. Saturday is the seventh day of the week. And today, most Christians don’t worship on Saturdays, but they worship on Sundays instead. And we might look at this commandment, and ask, “Why don’t we keep it anymore?” Well, the answer is, that the commandment does apply still, in that it is part of God’s law that we should come together and worship God and hear the word of God. But the command that we are still required to hold to the particular day is part of the Jewish ceremonial law. We don’t worship on Sundays because God said we have to worship on Sundays—we do it out of freedom, as a commemoration of the day when Jesus rose from the dead. So we see in Act 20, that the disciples gathered on the first day of the week to break bread. The first day of the week in Sunday. And also when there was a dispute about these things in the early times, Paul wrote to the Colossians: Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

So Luther writes in the Small Catechism and explanation of this commandment about the Sabbath, where it says: We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. The reason why the Jewish people had to keep the Sabbath and not work, was so that they could worship and hear God’s word and the preaching of God’s word. And so, now that there is no need to keep the Saturday, it is still required of us as Christians to come together, hear the preaching and the word, and learn it. So in Hebrews it says: Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Today, the Seventh Day Adventists insist that Christians still have to worship on Saturdays. But then also they feel a need to keep other old ceremonial laws, like not eating pork, and shellfish, just like the Jews, and then there is no end to keeping all these various laws. We believe that the Jewish food regulations, the observance of Saturday, the sacrifices, circumcision, all belong to the ceremonies of the Jewish people before the Holy Spirit came. But now that Jesus had risen from the dead and poured out the Holy Spirit on the church, there is no need for the old ceremonial laws.

In our reading, the Pharisees accuse the disciples and Jesus of doing work on the Sabbath, because it says that on the Sabbath they should do no work, like they do on the other six days of the week. But then the Pharisees—and many Jews even today—get very fussy about what is defined as “work”. So, for example, in Israel, the regular elevators don’t work in building on Saturdays, because it involves the use of electricity. Some Jews won’t turn on a light switch on Saturday. And in our reading, the disciples were hungry and decided to pick some grain, and rub it between their hands, because they were hungry. But the Pharisees all of sudden see red, as if they have a little alarm goes off, that says: Work! Work! Work! Even in the reading, Jesus was about to heal a person. And the Pharisees’ alarm goes off, which says: Work! Work! Work!

But Jesus points out to them that when it comes to needing to eat and drink, there is still a certain amount of work that we need to do. Every day, we still need to cook food, and wash the dishes. Jesus says: Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how they entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him? The Sabbath laws don’t mean that we should starve, and not eat. Also, when it comes to helping people, like when Jesus healed the man in the synagogue, you don’t need to wait until the Sabbath is over. In old times, many Christians often went visiting on Sundays, which is a good thing. It requires some work to go down the street or get in your car, but they are doing something nice for people. Jesus says that if they had a animal in a well on the Sabbath, they would have to fetch it out and rescue it. That requires work, but the job needs to be done, otherwise the animal would die. We pastors do our biggest work on Sundays, as did the Rabbis and priests on Saturdays in the Jewish times. Some people think we pastors only work on Sundays, and have six days off!

In one of my previous parishes, there was a dairy farmer who lived near a highway. A couple of times, his cows ended up on the road on Sunday, and he had to go and get them all. But he was very apologetic about not being at church. But as we see in this passage, sometimes even on Sunday, when it’s time for church, there are some emergency things that just need to be done.

The other thing we need to realise about the Pharisees is that they were trying to be very diligent in keeping the law. And that is a good thing. But then they started to be so particular, that they then thought that helping someone or even eating some grain was breaking the Sabbath. The reason for not working on the Sabbath, was so that they could hear the word of God. It wasn’t so that people would turn to statues on one day of the week. Sometimes Christians have fallen into this kind of legalistic thinking too. At one time, there was a dancing craze that started up, and back in those days, dancing was just about the only occasion when a man or woman would physically touch someone else’s husband or wife. And sometimes, there were some affairs, and scandals, that came about because of it. But then some Christians began to forbid all dancing, including some Lutherans. They went over the top. In some times and places, there have big problems with alcoholism and drinking. But then some Christians have forbidden all drinking of alcohol, as if drinking alcohol is a sin. But it’s not. Jesus himself even turned water into wine at a wedding.

Now in our reading, Jesus says: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. Here we see that there is a wonderful gift in keeping the Sabbath day. Going to the synagogue or the church to hear the word of God is not a burden, but it’s a wonderful blessing. It’s a joy—it’s a privilege. The word of God saves us, and feeds us, and strengthens us. This is what it means when Jesus says: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

But then Jesus also says: The Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. All throughout Jesus’ life, Jesus kept the normal laws of the Jewish people, like everyone else, even though he didn’t need to. He did this not to cause offense, and to fulfil the law. But Jesus is actually the Lord of heaven and earth. He created the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and he was the one who rested on the seventh day at the end of the creation of the world. So Jesus is Lord also of the Sabbath. He is in charge of the Sabbath, in fact, when we come to church, we come to hear him speaking his word to us. And it makes no difference to our faith, whether we hear that word on a Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday, or whenever.

In fact, there is a tendency among people who want to keep Saturday as the Sabbath and all the Jewish laws to also deny that Jesus is truly God. That’s because you can’t be justified by grace through faith on the one hand, and also be justified by Saturdays on the other hand. It’s easy to forget that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and the make the Sabbath more important than even him. These people end up trying to copy Jesus’ life as a Jew, rather than living in the wonderful freedom of the Gospel that Jesus won for us when he died to fulfil that law. Yes, Christians should do good works, and out of gratitude to Jesus, seek to live a Christian life, and try to live according to the Ten Commandments. But even our good works need the forgiveness of sins.

And so, let’s remember the wonderful fact that Jesus is lord even of the Sabbath. Let’s praise him for coming to meet with us here in this place, on this day, to speak his word to us, and to feed us with his body and blood. In worship, we don’t do the work, we just sit there, but he works constantly. He is working to heal and bless and forgive and encourage, just as he did for the man in our reading with the withered hand. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you that you are the Lord of the Sabbath. Fill us with the Holy Spirit, and teach us to fear and love God, so that we may not despise preaching and his word, but gladly hear and learn it. Amen.

Pentecost [Acts 2] (20-May-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am (lay-reading).

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

Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, breathe out upon us all your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Today we’re celebrating the Day of Pentecost. So what happened on this day? We read about these wonderful miracles that happened: first of all, we read about something that everyone could hear—the sound of a mighty rushing wind that filled the place where they were sitting. And we read that this sound came from heaven. Secondly, we read about something that that everyone could see—divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And then we read about something that everyone could both see and hear—They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now on this particular occasion, we also have described for us exactly what this speaking in other tongues means. It says: There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

Can you imagine this? Here are a group of people who happen to be there in Jerusalem, and they all come from different countries, and they all speak different languages, but when they listen to Jesus’ disciples, they can hear them speaking in their own languages. And we might think: What an amazing thing! Is this really what happened?

Just to make sure that you fully understand that, yes, this is exactly what happened, we are also given some of the conversations that people were having on that day. We read: And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,(these people were from the area that is now Iraq and Iran), Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia (except for Judea which is in modern-day Israel, all these places are in modern-day Turkey), Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, (we still have the countries of Egypt and Libya today in North Africa), and visitors from Rome, (all the way from Italy), Jews and proselytes (this means not just people who were born as Jews, but also people who were converting and preparing to become Jews), Cretans and Arabians (Cretans were from the Greek Island of Crete, and the Arabians were from the area anywhere on the Arabian peninsula, where today we find countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen)—you can see there are so many different people from all kinds of areas who in those days had travelled very long distances to be in Jerusalem. We read that they said: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

So what’s actually going on? What’s the point of all of this? Well, before Jesus had ascended into heaven, he already promised that this would happen. In the beginning of the book of Acts, we read that Jesus while staying with them ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And at the end of the Gospel of Luke we read: 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.

Can you see? Jesus promises to baptise them with the Holy Spirit, and to clothe them with power from on high. But why?

Because Jesus wants them to be witnesses, and to tell the nations that Jesus had died and risen from the dead, and they had seen these things with their own eyes. Jesus says: You are witnesses of these things. In Acts we read where Jesus says: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

And so, between this time, we read about only one thing happening, that the eleven apostles elected one more person to replace Judas, who had betrayed Jesus. And we read that they put forward two men, one called Joseph or Barsabbas, who also called Justus, and another man called Matthias. And read that the disciples cast lots, and prayed that God would choose one of them, and the lot fell on Matthias.

So now, on the day of Pentecost, we read that there is a full number twelve again. And then we read about these wonderful miracles that happen: the wind, the fire and the speaking in the different languages.

But why does all this happen? Firstly, God simply wanted to send the Holy Spirit to the new Christians, and to demonstrate this publicly. But also, because God wants to demonstrate that these apostles are the ones that are sent by Jesus, and now there is a new era of history, where all people everywhere are commanded to listen to these twelve apostles. And what do they have to say? They saw the risen Lord Jesus with their own eyes, and they have come to preach forgiveness of sins in the name of the risen Lord Jesus.

Now, so what does this mean for us today?

It means that these words that the apostles have to speak to us are powerful words, and that these words come with all the power of the Holy Spirit. We see on the day of Pentecost, that as soon as all of these wonderful miracles happen, the people ask questions about what is going on. And so Peter gets up and he preaches the first Christian sermon. And from there, Peter, James and John and all the other apostles were gradually sent out to preach in all kinds of different places. The part of the bible which we call the New Testament is actually the collected writings of the apostles that were also there on that day. Later in the history of the church, Christians understood very clearly that if they want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit they have to learn and study and listen and preach what the apostles themselves said about Jesus, because Jesus had sent them out with the living power of the Holy Spirit.

So what this means for us today is that whenever we preach and learn and study the words of these apostles we are hearing the living voice of the Holy Spirit, with all the power of God. Here we come together week after week here in our little church, in our little corner of the world. And we listen to the word of God, read out loud, and preached. And when we hear these words that the apostles testify about Jesus, then we know that these words are the living voice of the Holy Spirit and have all the power and might of the Holy Spirit.

You can see what happens today on the day of Pentecost all happens because of the word of God. And we might think, is it really about God’s word? Is that really it? Isn’t it about something more than that?

Well, let’s have a look what actually happens on the Day of Pentecost. First of all, Peter gets up and he preaches the gospel. He preaches the facts about Jesus life, who he was and what he did. And he shows to the people that this was already prophesied by the same Holy Spirit long ago in the prophets. So Peter quotes three passages, one from Joel. In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. And then he preaches from Psalm 16, teaching them that it was impossible for Jesus to remain still dead in the grave. And then he preaches from Psalm 110 that Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, and now he is pouring out the Holy Spirit, just as they can all see.

Can you see? Peter is preaching God’s word. It’s the first Christian sermon. Now today, we are not called to listen to any old sermon. We are called to listen to the preaching of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The twelve apostles were called in a special way, by God directly. But they weren’t called to do nothing—they were called to preach. They had a particular calling to speak God’s word and witness to Jesus. Also in the New Testament, we read about people who were called to preach, who weren’t called directly, but were called indirectly. They were trained to preach, and tested, and then hands were laid on them, and they were sent to preach somewhere. These people are called pastors. And so, even today, in the church, pastors are trained and tested, and then they are ordained and sent out. And this also is the work of the Holy Spirit. But we have to stick absolutely to the message that the apostles also taught. If we don’t stick to these words, we won’t be teaching the words of the Holy Spirit.

We pastors are only called to preach God’s word, because this is the only thing that pastors are called to preach. Do you see? God’s word and God’s call go together. And this is also what happens with the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Peter and the other apostles are called by God and this call is demonstrated by the wonderful power of the Holy Spirit, and they are called to preach and to speak what they have been given to speak. And they are called to preach the death and resurrection of Jesus from God’s word, and to call people to repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And so, what happens then after Peter finishes his sermon? It says: Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Here we can see another work of the Holy Spirit, where he cuts to the heart. The Holy Spirit comes to these people and shows them their sin and awakens them to their need for Jesus.

And then Peter says: Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

Isn’t this amazing? Here we have these miracles about the Day of Pentecost at the beginning of the chapter, but then, how does Peter say that they should receive the Holy Spirit? He says they should repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins.

And this shows us something that is highly offensive to our culture today. We can’t believe that the Holy Spirit would make such a fuss just so that a whole group of people should be baptised. Yes, yes, people say, we know we’re baptised. We know Jesus died for us. We know he rose from the dead. But we want something more… His word is not enough, people say.

And yet, it was enough for Peter. He simply got up and preached the word of God, showed the people their sin, and told them to come and be baptised. Even today in the church, we still preach God’s word, we still preach Christ crucified, we still preach the resurrection of Jesus, we still preach about sin and our need for Jesus, we still preach the forgiveness of sins, we still baptise people. And all this happens in the church today because it was done just like this on the Day of Pentecost, and when we continue these things today, we know that this comes with all the power of the Holy Spirit just like it did on the first Day of Pentecost, when the room was filled with wind and tongues of fire.

Later, we read: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Here we see the beginning of Christian worship—listening to the teaching of the apostles, and dedicating themselves to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. We still dedicate ourselves to these things in the church, because this is what happened on and after the Day of Pentecost. I would like us to think how we can dedicate ourselves to true Christian fellowship though – and I don’t mean just holding social events and such like, but how can we build each other up in Christian love and unity, in the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Notice there that there is also the prayers. The disciple dedicated themselves to prayers. And also the breaking of the bread. This is the Lord’s Supper. And the Lord’s Supper is that wonderful place where we come to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. And as we come to the Lord’s Supper, it’s almost like a bicycle wheel—as the spokes come to the middle, they all come closer to each other. Also, as we come to learn more about the Lord’s Supper, and we draw near to receive these wonderful gifts, we draw closer to each other. This is true Christian fellowship at work, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the world still needs these things. We still need to hear God’s word, and forgiveness of sins that comes from Jesus and his death and resurrection. We still need baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is what we read took place on the Day on Pentecost. And when we still hear God’s word, and we still hear the preaching of the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus, and we still come and receive Holy Baptism and we still come and receive the Lord’s Supper, we know that all these things come to us with all the power and might of the Holy Spirit.

But do you need them? If not, why not? Jesus says that you do. And if you reject these things you reject the only way in which Jesus is going to speak to you. Our problem so often is that we look for the Holy Spirit in the wrong places. We look for him in our emotional highs, we look for him in a crowd of sweaty human bodies as if the church is nothing more than attending a Christian football match, we look for him in our plans and visions for the future rather than words of Jesus, we look for him in personalities and cult figures, we look for him in glitz and glamour and novelty, when all the way along the Holy Spirit was always to be found in the word and in the sacraments, in baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

God is doing something in our world—we must simply recognise this. Just see what has been happening within Islam during the previous few years. On one hand, many Muslims are becoming militant and engaging in terrorist acts. On the other hand, many others are becoming increasingly embarrassed at the religion they held for generations and are beginning to question it. Now, it’s not just Muslims, but all kinds of people—even here in our local area—of rethinking things, and asking what they should do with their lives. And yet, we Christians in Australia will be no use to them or to anyone as long as we think that God’s word and the preaching of God’s word is boring. We will be no use to anyone if we teach our children that God’s word is boring and increase in them a hatred for listening, a hatred for forgiveness, and increase in them a love for whatever the latest fad happens to be. As long as we think baptism and the Lord’s Supper are useless, we are no use. As long as we think prayer is a waste of time, we are of no use. We so often want to fly off and chase whatever new fad comes along, chasing false miracles and false prophets, quick fixes and emotional rushes.

And yet, all the way along, the Holy Spirit has been quietly working through the preaching of God’s word, and in the wonderful miracle of Holy Baptism, and in the wonderful miracle of the Lord’s Supper. Don’t you know how wonderful these things are? Learn these things. Learn God’s word. Learn what it means to be a baptised child of God. Learn what it means to enter into the presence of Jesus and to eat his body and his blood. Come and drink deeply from the wells of the Holy Spirit.

And this word of God does two things: Peter preaches to the people: repent. He says: Save yourselves from this crooked generation. He cuts the people to the heart. But once he has cut them to the heart, then there is a word of healing, of peace, of forgiveness for them. Peter also preaches that Jesus has died and risen again, and has won the completely and totally free forgiveness of every single one of their sins. And that message doesn’t just apply to those people all the way back then, but that same forgiveness is for you even today. And with that forgiveness comes the joy of entering into God’s presence, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of eternal life.

Let’s rejoice in the wonderful gifts that the Holy Spirit so generously pours out on us today—the gifts of his word, the gift of Jesus here in our midst today, the gift of the free forgiveness of all our sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit himself poured out on us and our children in Holy Baptism, and the gift of the body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. Come Holy Spirit! Amen.

Lord Jesus, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us today as you have promised, and that you would equip us with everything that we need to be useful in service to you. Forgive us for our many failings, and encourage us. Teach us to hear your word, and strengthen us in the calling of our baptism. Lead us and guide us, dear Jesus, wherever and however you will. Amen.

Easter V [Acts 8:25-40] (29-April-2018)

This sermon was preached at the Parish Picnic at the Lions' Park in Biggenden, 10am, and Woodgate Community Hall, Woodgate, 5pm. 

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

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

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

Today in our sermon, we’re going to take a little break from our normal focus on the Gospels, and focus on our first reading from the book of Acts, which tells about the ministry of the evangelist Philip and the conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch. It’s a very interesting and rich passage, and it’s very helpful for us today, as many Christians like us would like to see many more people convert to the Christian faith, possibly like this man in our reading.

Now we read today about Philip. The book of Acts tells us what happened in the church after Jesus ascended into heaven, and we read about many key events as the church began to grow. In Acts 6, we read about seven men who were chosen to help the apostles and share their work, so that the apostles could dedicate themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Philip was one of these men, and so was Stephen. Stephen was stoned to death, and after this time, there was a great persecution of Christians, and many people were forced out of Jerusalem. Philip was caught up in all of this, and ended up going to Samaria, and then we come to our reading today.

So we read: An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza”. And it says: This is a desert place. Humanly speaking, it doesn’t seem like Philip is about to embark on a very fruitful mission trip. Why would the angel send Philip out into the middle of nowhere? Often people think about mission in a wrong way. They think we need to plant a church in an area where there is a new booming housing development, or something like that. They think of the church like a secular business. Philip does not go to an area which is “financially clever”. Instead, he simply goes where God wants him to go.

We read: And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. We read that he was an Ethiopian…a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. Candace was the title of the queens in an area of ancient Ethiopia, on the river Nile, called Meroë. This area today would be in the northern part of Sudan. The ruins of ancient Meroë are still there. It also says he was a eunuch. A eunuch usually refers to a man who has been castrated, and in many ancient cultures, this was done to court officials and soldiers. And because of this, the man himself probably had a high-pitched voice, like a boy, which is why it was probably obvious that he was a eunuch.

So Philip comes across this strange, wealthy man from a far-away country. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus says to his apostles: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In the book of Acts, we see this start to happen. The gospel is first preached in Jerusalem, and then when the persecution happens, the Gospel moves out to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. At the end of Acts, Paul preaches the gospel in Rome. Here the Gospel was probably spread through this man back to Ethiopia. You can see the Gospel moving to the ends of the earth.

But also, in the book of Genesis, we read that Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth, and from these three sons the entire human race would have descended. The Jews were descended from Shem. But the Ethiopians, or the people from the kingdom of Cush, were descended from Ham. So as the Gospel moves from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, we also see the Gospel moving from the Jews, the descendants of Shem, to the descendants of Ham and Japheth. The Gospel is moving from the Jews to the whole human race.

So we read: The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Today it’s common for people when we’re reading the bible, not to ask, “What does it mean?” but “What does it mean to you?” Now this can be dangerous, because people think that they can twist the bible to make it say anything. But St Peter writes: No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

St Paul also says that all Scripture is inspired by God. This means that all of the bible was written by people, by human beings, but those people were all inspired by God, and lead along by the Holy Spirit. Here the Ethiopian man is reading Isaiah. Isaiah wrote this book, and it has Isaiah’s personality all over it, and it’s different from reading other prophets like Daniel or Jeremiah. And yet, the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah and Daniel and Jeremiah, and all the other biblical authors, so that their word is not just a human word, but it is the word of God. St Paul says in 1 Thessalonians: When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

So for every book of the bible, we have two authors: we have the human author, in this case, the prophet Isaiah, and God himself, the Holy Spirit. Now, if someone writes something in the newspaper or a book, and we don’t understand what they mean, technically we could write to them or ring them, and simply ask what they meant. When a writer dies, we can’t do this anymore. So here, the prophet Isaiah is dead, but the other author of the book is the Holy Spirit, and he is still alive. And so we can still “ring up” the Holy Spirit if you like, and ask him to help us understand the Scriptures. Also, many times the Holy Spirit blesses particular people with a special gift of interpretation, and this is what happens here. Philip is an experienced interpreter of the Scripture, and the Ethiopian recognises this, and invites him to help him understand what he is reading.

We read: Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. Here we see how the Holy Spirit opens the door and gives Philip a wonderful opportunity to talk to him about Jesus, and from this text.

We see here how Philip carries out what Jesus had said: teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Philip teaches the man. The passage from Isaiah speaks about Jesus like a sheep led to the slaughter, not opening his mouth. Jesus is our sacrificial lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who makes atonement and full payment for all of our sins. When he was on trial, he remained silent, even though with one little word, he could have brought the whole thing to an end. We see how on the cross, his life is taken away from the earth. Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross, and breathed his last breath.

One of the most amazing things about the bible is the way in which we see such wonderful clear prophecies about the life of Jesus in the Old Testament. Two passages especially are Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, which the Ethiopian man was reading. You can’t help but read these two chapters and see how Jesus’ suffering and death is described in explicit detail. And yet, Psalm 22 was written around 1000 years before Jesus, and Isaiah 53 was written around 800 years before Jesus.

Psalm 22 says: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus prays these words himself on the cross. It says: All who see me mock me: “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him!” These are the exact words that people said when they mocked Jesus on the cross. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongues sticks to my jaws. Jesus’ mouth is parched when he says: I thirst. They divide my garments among them, and for clothing they cast lots. The Roman soldiers really did cast lots for Jesus clothes. But then if we go to Isaiah 53, it says: He had no form or majesty that we should look at him. Jesus face and appearance were disfigured through the torture he endured. He was a man of sorrows. We see Jesus deeply sorrowful in the Garden of Gethsemane. It says: He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, with his wounds we are healed. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I could read so much more of this chapter, but we can see how clearly this chapter speaks of Jesus 800 years in advance.

Philip had many opportunities to speak about Jesus from this chapter that the eunuch was reading. But then as they were travelling along, it says: they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What presents me from being baptised?” There is something very special about this Ethiopian man. He doesn’t go away to think about it, he doesn’t weigh up his world-view or philosophy. He simply believes what Philip says to him, and he wants to be baptised immediately. It’s just like when Jesus says to Matthew, Follow me, and he immediately rose and followed him. When the eunuch hears Philip speak about Jesus, he is hearing Jesus himself, just as Jesus promised: I am with you always to the end of the age. Whoever receives you, receives me, and whoever receives me, receives the one who sent me.

Today, there are many churches that just don’t care about baptism very much. And sometimes we meet Christians who have gone to church for years, and were never baptised. In the New Testament, this just doesn’t happen. The eunuch here understands that being a Christian means being baptised, and being baptised means being a Christian. Period.

Sometimes someone might ask you: When did you become a Christian? Most Lutherans would say: When I was baptised. This eunuch would have said the same thing too. Maybe he was actually converted a few minutes before, but it doesn’t matter. The problem today is that many people put all the emphasis on their personal conversion in their heart. Now it is important that we are all converted, and that we are not just simply hypocritical Christians who go through the motions. However, it is common to hear Christians say that they became a Christian when they made a decision to follow Jesus.

Now the problem with this is that our decisions always have our sinful motives all mixed up with them. A young person might go to a youth camp and drinks far too much lemonade, and then later on that night, they give their heart to Jesus. Then later, they think: was I being genuine, or was it the lemonade talking? When people look to the heart, they start to doubt. But baptism is a solid rock, because it’s not your work; it’s God’s work. If you want to become a citizen of America or Indonesia, or whatever country, you can’t just decide to become one. You have to be received by those countries as a citizen. And so in conversion, we don’t simply choose to follow Jesus, because even our choices are corrupt. The Holy Spirit has to convert our will and our choices too. In baptism, Jesus receives us into his kingdom as a full citizen, and then we know that we belong to his heavenly country. The eunuch is our passage is a citizen of his own home country, Ethiopia, and works for a wealthy queen, but then after listening to Philip, he asks to become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, with Jesus the Son of God as his king. This baptism is the solid rock then on which he builds his faith. His faith may waver and sway in strength from day to day, but Jesus and his baptism will never move.

Also, even though the eunuch was reading the Scripture, his heart was still closed to it. It was an angel who sent Philip. The Holy Spirit urged and prompted Philip to go and meet this Ethiopian eunuch. God was the one who took the action in converting this man, and without that action of God, nothing could be done. You remember Lazarus was dead in the tomb for four days. He didn’t choose to rise from the dead. It was Jesus who chose to go there, and to raise him up. The dead man didn’t exert himself at all—he was dead! So also, Philip meets this man, with a dead mind, who couldn’t understand the Scripture without the Holy Spirit’s help. And he teaches him, he baptises him, and the man is raised from the dead.

Ethiopia today, by the way, has one of the largest populations of Christians in the world. It has 40 million members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and there are even 9 million Lutherans in that country, making it the largest Lutheran church body in the world. It is often said that this Ethiopian eunuch was the first then to bring the Gospel back to his own country. A man who was physically made a slave to his queen, by being castrated, and couldn’t have a family of his own, now through the Gospel goes home and becomes the spiritual father of a large nation. The man is given a new birth in holy baptism, and is given a new identity and a new calling, a new vocation, and a new task. So it says: He commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him.

There’s a wonderful way that this reading ends. It says: And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. It must have been quite some powerful teaching that Philip gave that man! As soon as the man was taught by Philip and then is baptised, Philip is immediately taken out of the situation. The Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. I would think that Philip and the eunuch would like to have stayed friends and carried on the friendship long into their old age. But that wasn’t to be. Philip was there for one minute and then he was gone.

Sometimes when we as Christians want to talk to people about the Christian faith, we often make a big emphasis on building relationships with people. Now this is good, but sometimes we start to think that people’s conversion depends upon our relationships with people. But it doesn’t. Sometimes we meet someone for a few minutes, and we can say something that completely changes a person’s life, sometimes when we didn’t even realise it. The Holy Spirit might send us somewhere for a very brief time, and then as soon as we have been of whatever use God wanted us to be, we are removed from the situation, never to see the person again. This is what happens here too. But the Ethiopian is not sad that Philip has been taken away, but it says: he went on his way rejoicing. He has something even more wonderful that his friend Philip, he has Jesus with him. He has his Saviour, his Lord, his Redeemer, his King, with him, and if he has Jesus, then of course, he can go on his way rejoicing.

And so let’s give thanks to God for the wonderful way in which he has taught us through his Holy Spirit, brought us to holy baptism, given Jesus to us as our Saviour, who sacrificed himself for us on the cross, and made us part of his eternal kingdom. And we also pray that the Holy Spirit would use us and send us into whatever little corner of the world he chooses, however insignificant it may seem. Let’s commend ourselves to him for service in his kingdom! Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for the wonderful way in which you called this Ethiopian man to yourself, and sent out your Gospel to the ends of the earth. We are gathered here today also at the ends of the earth, far from the city Jerusalem, and we pray that the Gospel would still go further and further and bring light and forgiveness to the hearts of many more people. Amen.