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.

Pentecost XV (Proper 17 B) [Mark 7:1-23] (2-Sep-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.

This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

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 our Gospel reading today, we read particularly about a discussion that Jesus has with the Pharisees. In fact, he accuses the Pharisees right at the centre of the reading with the words, and says: Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

So why does Jesus say this to them? We read in our reading: Now when the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. Now, it’s not an unusual thing for people to wash their hands before they eat – we might even think that this is a sensible thing. We might say that it is hygienic. Some countries around the world are particularly fussy about this, especially if they are people who don’t normally eat with cutlery, like knives and forks or chopsticks, and have to eat with their hands. But you see, the Pharisees did not say that the disciples simply had unwashed hands, but that their hands were “defiled”. They were saying that washing your hands made your hands holy for the meal, and not washing your hands made your hands “unholy”. Do you see? This was not simply a matter of hygiene, but it was a matter of holiness. This hand-washing was a special ritual that they would perform before the meal.

In the Old Testament, there was no law that people had to do this. But when the priests entered the temple, there were various instructions to them about washing. For example, in the book of Leviticus, we read about how before Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons to be priests, they had to be washed. They also had to wash their clothes and bathe their bodies in water before performing sacrifices and various things. So the Pharisees wanted to apply these kinds of things to everyday life. So it became their tradition that they should perform a special ceremony or ritual of washing their hands before they would eat. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but they saw it as a matter of holiness. They thought that washing your hands made you holy, and that not washing your hands made you unholy. This is not taught in God’s law, and so they were inventing laws about holiness that were not from God.

We read: The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

So when they ask Jesus why his disciples did not hold to these traditions, Jesus says: Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

This is a very important passage, and there are many things here for us to learn from that apply to us today. First of all, Jesus calls them hypocrites. We often think of a hypocrite as someone who doesn’t practice what they preach. They say one thing, but do something else. But it’s probably best to see this word as being like an “actor”. A hypocrite is someone who wears a mask—they put on a good front, but behind the mask there’s nothing there. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus describes this a bit further. He says: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

When we watch the TV or movie, and see an actor playing a part, we can almost start to imagine that the actor is actually the person they are playing. But they are not. So also, people might act holy and righteous, but that doesn’t make them holy and righteous. What makes a person holy and righteous is not how they act in public and what kind of a front they put on, but God’s word.

One thing that can be a real cancer in the church is when people are always worried about what the church looks like, whether we’re talking about the church building, or the people themselves. Sometimes we think of the church like a business, and we think of things in terms of marketing, and say: “We have to do things like this, or like that, otherwise what will people think?” Sometimes if we don’t know some hymn or some song, we might need to practice it before church. But some people might say, “We can’t do that. What will visitors think if we’re all messing around, looking like we don’t know our stuff?” It’s OK – sometimes we need to do things like this. We don’t know everything, and sometimes we need to learn things, and that’s OK. It doesn’t matter what they think.

Now, at the same time, it’s a good thing that things in the church are well-ordered, well-structured, that the church building is clean and well cared for. This is all good. But the most important thing about the church and its people, is not how things look like, but how things really are. Do you understand that? The most important thing is not how thing look, but how they really are.

And so Jesus in calling the Pharisees hypocrites is saying to them that they think they look holy and righteous, but in actual fact, they are not. How they appear is not the same as how they really are. So Jesus says: This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They look like their honouring good, from the outside, but inside, they are not honouring God at all.

What Jesus says here we should also direct to ourselves. Do we simply care about what people think of us from looking at the outside, or do we care about what God thinks about us?  Are we just trying to put on a show, or do we really desire to hear God’s word and to receive his forgiveness? When we come to church, do we just go through the motions, and then think we’ve done our bit for the week? Or do we really take notice of what we’re saying, and take everything very seriously? Do we just honour God with our lips, but meanwhile our hearts are a million miles away?

We are all hypocrites, but Jesus is no hypocrite. With Jesus, things are exactly as they are in reality. He is a real Saviour, who died on a real cross, and really rose from the grave. And so he doesn’t offer pretend forgiveness to pretend sinners, he gives real forgiveness to real sinners. And so we might look at the church, and find it full of sinners. But we have a pure word from God, that speaks the wonderful forgiveness of sins over us, so that things are not simply how they look, but they are how God sees them and how he himself says that they are. He looks at his church, and he doesn’t simply see a bunch of sinners, but he sees the blood of his own Son covering over all that sin, and he speaks to us from heaven that that blood applies to us and that he has forgiven us personally. This is the real thing in the church—we learn this from God’s word, not from simply how things look.

Now, this also brings us to another thing, which is tradition. The Pharisees had many traditions. Now tradition is an important thing, and many times it is a good thing. We have many traditions not just in the church, but in our everyday life and in our homes. For example, when it is someone’s birthday, we often have very strict traditions about how things are done. We make or buy a cake, and put candles on it, and then we all sing “happy birthday”. Even the song from a musical point of view isn’t the best song ever, but it’s tradition, and nobody can change it without messing a whole lot things up. But then there are local traditions: different families have their own versions of things. Some people clap their hands for the number of years, or they have an extra song, like “Why was she born so beautiful”, or “For he’s a jolly good fellow”, or something like that. Now, when we have a birthday, we all know what’s going on, and we can all join in.

In the church, we also have various traditions too, and many of these things are good things, and give good order to things so that everyone knows what to do and how things are going to happen, and we can all join in.

There are some traditions that God actually commanded us to do, for example. Take preaching or the Lord’s Supper. Jesus actually commanded pastors to preach. Also, with the Lord’s Supper, he said: Do this in remembrance of me. It’s something that we do every week, and it’s a tradition, we might say. Our forefathers did it, and we now pass it on to our children. But it comes from Jesus himself.

There are all kinds of things that we do in the church, which are not specifically commanded by Jesus too, that we do simply because they are good things. For example, the Creeds are not specifically written in the bible, but they are good, because they summarise the bible. There is no specific example of a baby being baptised in the bible, but we baptise babies because Jesus told us to baptise all nations, and the promise is for our children, so we baptise them. I could go on and on.

The problem is when we put human traditions, things that were not specifically commanded by God, and we turn them into laws, that if we do them it makes us holy or righteous or saved, and if we don’t do them we are not holy or righteous or even saved. This then becomes idolatry, because we can take God’s law and replace it with human rules. We are in danger of replacing even God with ourselves.

And so Jesus gives an example in our reading of how the Pharisees were taking God’s law, and replacing it with their own laws. He says: In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Now this is one of the reasons why it is so important for us Christians to hear God’s law in the church. Now, there are two things in the bible—two doctrines or teachings which summarise everything. We have God’s law, which shows us our sin, and finds sinners and exposes them. And we have the Gospel, which shows to sinners their Saviour, and makes them new. The Gospel is the wonderful message of the free forgiveness of our sin, because of what Jesus has done for us in his death and resurrection, and we receive this gift without any contribution from ourselves, or because of anything that we have done.

But it’s also important for us to learn God’s law, for a number of reasons, even though the law doesn’t actually save us. First of all, the law of God provides good order to the world. It is good and it is holy. But secondly, we need to hear God’s law, because it shows us our need for Jesus. The law condemns us, and accuses us, and so we need to hear it, so that we despair of ourselves completely and look to Jesus alone to save us. But then, as Christians, we are also called to do good works, not in order to be saved by them, but out of thankfulness to what God has done for us. In Ephesians, St Paul writes: For you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Now, we know, for example, that Jesus often teaches his disciples that they should love other people, that they should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. However, what sometimes happens is that when people want us to do something that is wrong or bad or evil, they actually dress it up and make it look like something good when in actual fact it’s not. The devil is a wolf, but he is always putting on sheep’s clothing. So he often makes something evil look like it’s a good thing by making it a beautiful tradition, or something like that. He knows that something is bad, but he calls it love. Now I’ll give a very concrete example of this: take the issue of euthanasia, which is being promoted in our country at the moment. The whole push to bring in euthanasia is basically the politics of making something evil into something good. 20 years ago, there was an Australian doctor who was suggesting all kinds of terrible ways in which euthanasia could take place, and people called him “Dr Death”. But now, people call it “dying with dignity”, or showing love to someone by putting them out of their misery. The issue is much more complex than that, but what you end up with is vulnerable people who have no family simply being killed off, because they have no one to protect them. Instead of having doctors as people who try to bring healing and treatment to people illnesses, we turn them into agents of death. God actually does say in his law: You shall not murder. Now there are all kinds of issues where something is really not right, but people put nice clothes on it and try to make it into something good when it’s not. Anyway, I could make all kinds of other examples like this. What I’m trying to say here is that it’s important for us to learn what God’s law actually is, not because it saves us, but because Jesus has commanded us to do works of love, and it’s important to know what love really is in God’s eyes. We have to learn not just to love, but what love really is. There are many people in our towns and have so little love shown to them—and yet, sometimes when you try to love them, they don’t want it. They think you are showing them hate, or judging them. It can be very confusing for us to really know what we should do for people, and what we shouldn’t do for them. God is the one who teaches these things, not people. Now when we preach the law like this, we’re exposing something and bringing it into the light. Often this means that people will accuse us of being hateful, or bigots, or unloving, when it isn’t true. If we only learn what love is from the people around us, then we end up replacing God’s law with human commandments, as Jesus says: In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

In the last part of our reading, Jesus says: Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. Then he says: For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

We come back now to the Pharisees, and their rules about washing their hands. But Jesus also teaches them that it is not external things, like eating food, that make a person unclean or unholy. Food simply passes through out stomachs and out the other end. Now, we might choose to eat certain food, we might like to eat healthy food, or we might have a particular diet. Some Christians even choose to be vegetarians. And this is not a bad thing, but it can become a bad thing when they look down on other Christians or other people, because they are not doing the same thing that they are doing. Sometimes all kinds of people can be incredibly legalistic when it comes to eating food. What we eat or drink doesn’t make us unholy, but our uncleanness is already inside of us. It is already contained in our sinful hearts. Jesus gives a long list of various sins there. He says: For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things comes from within, and they defile a person.

And so what makes us clean? Nothing that comes from inside of us. Nothing that comes from any our actions, or any of our own works. In fact, nothing that we even can possibly think of, not a single one of our bright ideas, can save us. Only the ideas and thoughts and words that come from the mouth of God can do that. Only the pure forgiveness of sins can do that. Our ideas about washing hands can’t do a thing—but God’s wonderful idea of connecting his pure word to water and washing us in holy baptism is powerful to save us. Our ideas about eating and drinking can’t do a thing—but God’s wonderful idea of giving us the body and blood of his own Son for us to eat and drink for the forgiveness of our sins is a powerful thing to encourage us in our Christian life, and to give us the strength for the road ahead. Genesis 6:5 teaches that every intention of the thoughts of [our] heart [is] only evil continually. But in Proverbs 30, we read: Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

All of our thoughts condemn us, and all our ideas and plans are useless. But God’s word endures forever, and his word has all the power to save us. Amen.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and for making things clear for us. Our minds are often so unclear, and we start to make things up, and we try to save ourselves. But even though you know our hearts, you have still sent your Son to die for us, and you still forgiveness, and so we thank you, in Jesus’ name. 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.

Lent V B [John 12:20-33] (18-Mar-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 hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

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.

Next Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday, which marks the occasion exactly one week before Easter Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and was welcomed by large crowds waving palm branches, and shouting out words of praise. Our reading today tells about a conversation that Jesus had with his disciples immediately after this happened. And Jesus tells us about why he is coming to Jerusalem. He is coming to be glorified—but not in the way that people think, but through his suffering and death. And he has come to Jerusalem to kick the devil, who he calls the ruler of this world and to draw all people to himself.

So let’s look at the first part of our reading which says: Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. I remember these words very clearly from when I was a child, when I used to attend the Lutheran Church in Magill in Adelaide. There were some very artistic people in that church, and some who did calligraphy. Sometimes after church we might have found ourselves playing hide and seek, and if we hid inside the pulpit, we would read these words written in calligraphy as a bold message to the pastor: Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

These people coming to Jesus were Greeks. This gives us a little foretaste of the fact that the Gospel was going to go out to all nations. Already at Jesus’ birth the exotic and mysterious foreigners had arrived to present Jesus with strange gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Already Jesus had healed the children of a Roman centurion and a Canaanite woman. And Jesus says: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Jesus knows that there is a time coming when not just a handful of individual foreigners will come to Jesus, but a whole host of foreigners. And it happens because Jesus is about to die not only for Jews, but also for foreigners, and the whole world.

Jesus says: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. The gospels often show us very clearly that Jesus is both true God and true man. Here we see that Jesus knew exactly who he was and what was going to happen to him. He knew he was the Son of Man. And he knew he was going to be glorified. Peter once said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus praised Peter. Jesus knew Peter was telling the truth. Even when Jesus was a 12-year-old boy, he knew who he was, and said to Mary and Joseph: Why were looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

But how is Jesus going to be glorified? Jesus gives a little picture: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus talks about a grain of wheat dying. Now the funny thing is that a grain of wheat doesn’t die. You can’t murder a grain of wheat. We don’t hold funerals for grain and say: “Here’s lies the late Mr Spelt.” But Jesus compares planting a seed to burying a person. When people die, we bury them in the ground, much like a seed. Jesus says that a seed only produces fruit, if it dies, meaning when it is buried in the ground.

Jesus shows here that he is going to die and be buried. We read about two wealthy men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, giving Jesus his funeral, with the traditional customs and the traditional spices: myrrh and aloes. And they gently lay this dead Jesus in a tomb. And now that Jesus has died and has been planted like a seed in this tomb, now see what’s going to happen. The hour has not come for the Son of Man to fail, but to be glorified. This death is no failure, but the payment for our sin, our ransom, our atonement. It is a glorious thing! And Jesus rises from the dead, and the wonderful fruit of the gospel goes out to all the world.

This picture first of all refers to Jesus himself, but Jesus also gives this picture as a kind of general rule for everyone. The same thing applies to us—like a seed being buried in the ground, our sinful self, our old ways, must be put to death. Jesus then says in our reading: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Jesus says: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Just think what would have happened if Abraham had wanted to keep his old life in Mesopotamia, and had rejected God’s call upon him to go to the promised land?

Jesus often calls us as Christians to go through difficult times, and leads us into uncertainty, where the future seems dark. He wants to sharpen us and tempt us and entice us to good. Often if we are going to bear fruit, some part of us needs to die, and be buried in the ground. We experience hardships and trials as Christians also because that old sinful person we carry around with us needs lots of killing off. But also, when God creates something, he always creates it out of nothing. And so sometimes he has to make us nothing. And also Jesus said to St Paul: My power is made perfect in weakness. And so of course, sometimes God has to make us weak.

There are many passages in the Scripture that speak about this. In the book of Acts, we read about Paul and Barnabas preaching from town to town in cities called Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Also, the apostle James begins his letter by saying: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Peter also writes in his letter: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

The picture of the wheat dying also shows that our trials and hardships won’t last. They will be short, just as the time of Jesus’ suffering was also short. A seed won’t stay hidden and dead in the ground for long, before it bursts forth into an amazing work of God’s creation, with leaves, flowers and fruits. St Paul writes: God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. He promises to lead you through the trial and out to the other side of it. Psalm 30 says: Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Think about the example of Joseph in the Old Testament. He experienced so many trials and hardships. He was sold to slave-traders by his own brothers, he was falsely accused of raping his master’s wife, he spent a number of years in prison, and when he had the opportunity to get out—when one of his fellow prisoners was going to put in a good word for him to Pharaoh—he forgot about Joseph. But then when Pharaoh had troubling dreams, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer who had been with Joseph in prison, remembered him, and Joseph became the second-in-charge over the whole of Egypt, and organised a rationing program that saved the whole country, and even his own family back in Canaan from starvation during a famine.

Looking back on his hard life, Joseph then says to his brothers: You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive. The same goes for us in difficult times. We don’t understand what’s going on at the time, but later we realise that Jesus was with us all along. At the time, we feel like a very small seed under a pile of mud and manure. But later, when we see the fruit, we understand.

In our reading from a few weeks ago, we read: When [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. At the Last Supper, when Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet, Jesus said to him: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Jesus tells Peter to wait, be patient, and then you will understand. In the Book of Job, he describes his experience of feeling cut off from God in his suffering. Job says: Behold, I go forward, but he 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.

So it’s a wonderful comfort that Jesus gives in our reading: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Then Jesus says: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. One of the most difficult things to break is our sinful pride. We don’t want to change our lives, but because of Jesus’ great love for us, he sometimes pushes and pushes on us until it feels like we’re breaking. His call upon us feels too great for us. We want to keep our life, but Jesus wants us to lose it and to give us a completely new one.

There are many wonderful examples of this in the bible too. Think about King Josiah. For many years, the bible was hidden, and then when Josiah hears it read out, he begins to hate his own life, as Jesus says, and tears his clothes. But God says to Josiah: I also have heard you, declares the LORD, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place. Or when the prophet Jonah after running from God, got vomited up by a fish, and went to Nineveh, and the king commands all his people to turn back to God. And we read: When God saw what he did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster.

Remember the tax collector who was praying in the temple: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus says: This man went down to his house justified. Jesus says in our reading: Whoever hates his life in this world will what? He will keep it for eternal life. If the Holy Spirit could create faith in us through the word, then the Holy Spirit also will protect us in [our] great weakness against the devil, the world, and [our] flesh. [The Holy Spirit] will rule and lead [us] in His ways, raise [us] again when [we] stumble, comfort [us] under the cross and in temptation, and [also] preserve [us] and keep our life for life eternal. What a wonderful promise of Jesus in our reading.

Jesus then goes on in our reading: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him. Maybe someone wants to serve Jesus, but not go where Jesus wants us to go. When I was a child, I might have been happy to help my parents, but not necessarily to wash the dishes or clean my bedroom or take out the bin. So also Jesus says: If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am there will my servant be also. Jesus sometimes moves, and when he does, we must go to meet him. Jesus also promises: If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.

Jesus continues and says: Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. If Jesus’ disciples should follow him, where is Jesus going? He is going to the cross. And then he will rise, and then he will send his apostles out into the whole world, and they build up the church in preaching the word of forgiveness and baptising people and giving them Christ’s body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus soul is troubled because of the great suffering that he is about to go through, but he says: For this purpose I have come to this hour.

Then an amazing thing happens. Jesus prays a little prayer to his Father. Father, glorify your name. This is much like the Lord’s Prayer, where we say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. We read: Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him”. This thundering voice of God speaks a wonderful message. God’s name has already been glorified. Jesus had already existed from eternity with his Father. And now Jesus has taken on human flesh and he will make atonement for our sins. And in doing this, God’s name will be glorified again.

This is exactly what we read about earlier in our reading where Jesus says: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. To the unbeliever, the naked Jesus, bleeding and wounded on the cross on Good Friday, will look like one of the greatest tragedies and failures of history. But it is nothing of the sort. That terrible place, Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, where Jesus will be nailed to a cross with two criminals is the place where the Son of Man will be glorified. This is the place where God will glorify his name again. It is for this purpose that Jesus has come to this hour. This is the glory of our Christian faith: Christ crucified.

And so Jesus shows the wonderful victory and the wonderful glory that occurs as he sets his face to the cross. He says: This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself. We also read: He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. Here the devil is called the ruler of this world. Jesus says that his death on the cross is the place where the devil will be cast out. He will be kicked in the guts, and his time will soon come to an end.

On one hand, Jesus judges and casts out the devil. On the other hand, he draws all people to himself. The whole history of the world will now rotate around Jesus, and whether we believe in him, or whether we reject him and are offended by him. If we side with the ruler of this world, we will come under judgment. But when we look to Jesus lifted up from the earth, dying on the cross, then Jesus draws us to himself, and into his loving arms. This is the wonderful promise of our reading. We know that everything that Jesus has done for us is not in vain, but is his wonderful and amazing victory. And anything we endure—whether it is hardship or temptation or troubles—is also not in vain, because Jesus is with us through the valley of the shadow of death to forgive us and strengthen us and lead us through it. He is not a failure, and neither are his Christians. Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen.

Heavenly Father, glorify your name. We thank you for glorifying your name in the death of your Son on the cross. Make your power perfect in our weakness and in our weak lives, and keep and preserve us for eternal life. Amen.

Ash Wednesday [Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18] (14-Feb-2018)

This sermon was preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, Tuesday 13 Feb, 7pm, and St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, Wednesday 14 Feb, 7.30pm.

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

Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

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.

Tonight for our Ash Wednesday service, we read a very helpful reading from Matthew 6. This chapter is from what we call the Sermon on the Mount, which takes up all of chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount has many well-known passages and verses, which many of us will know well. And tonight we’re going to focus on the three topics which Jesus talks about:

I.                   Giving to the poor.

II.                 Prayer, and

III.              Fasting.

However, before we get there, let’s just go back and see what Jesus is talking about before our text tonight so that we understand the context. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus particularly preaches very strongly the law of God. Much of what Jesus says is what we should do, and what we shouldn’t do, and how God threatens to judge people who don’t think, speak and act according to his will. A few weeks ago, we were talking about how Jesus went out and said: Repent, and believe the Gospel. We have two things here: the preaching of the law, when Jesus says, “repent”, and the Gospel, where Jesus calls us to believe in it. Much of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is a call to repent.

Jesus says many things in the Sermon on the Mount, where he cuts his knife right into people’s hearts, and shows them the very depths of their sinfulness. He says: I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And then Jesus goes on to preach the law of God right in the hearts of people, to jab in that sharp knife and twist it. He preaches about anger, lust, divorce, speaking the truth and taking oaths, about vengeance and retribution, and about loving even our enemies and those who hate us. He shows us the very depth of our sinful condition and wants to lay us complete bare before God’s judgement. Now this is what the season of Lent is about and Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. It is a call to repentance, as we remember Christ’s suffering and death, and look forward to the celebration of Easter.

Now, before we look at what Jesus teaches about giving to the poor, and prayer and fasting, let’s remember the words that Jesus says: I have not come to abolish [the law and the prophets] but to fulfil them. Now, how did Jesus fulfil the law? What did he do? He made a complete, perfect, sufficient sacrifice on the cross for us, and he has made atonement for every single sin that anyone has ever even conceived and thought of in the whole world. So because of Jesus, and what he has done for us, there is absolutely nothing that we can do to earn God’s forgiveness. Everything has already been paid for, and there is absolutely no reason for it to be paid again by you. Everything is given to you completely and totally freely, without any of your works. Jesus preaches the law and he shows you your sin because he wants you to know how much you need him. If you don’t know that you are a sinner, why would you need a Saviour? And so, Jesus has taken every single sinful thought, word and deed on his shoulders, and he has died for all of it, in total, in full. And so when you look to him and put your salvation and your trust in him, then it’s all yours. You have done nothing, he has done everything, just as he raised Lazarus by the dead and spoke to him. Lazarus did nothing because he was dead—Jesus did everything because he is the giver of life.

And so—as Christians, there are certain things that Jesus teaches us about, and what we should do. Now that we believe in him, and he has given us the Holy Spirit, we are made free, and we have a wonderful opportunity to do all kinds of good things for people. But we do all these things, not because we are trying to earn God’s grace, or because we’re trying to get God to notice us, or because we’re trying to twist God’s arm to do what we want. The sacrifice for sins has already been made and now we do all kinds of good works freely, without condemnation, without needing to be afraid of messing them up.

And so in our reading tonight, Jesus says: Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Here, Jesus is addressing the whole group of people, altogether. And what he’s doing here is setting before them the final judgment. In the creed, we say that we believe that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. Our life and how we have conducted ourselves on this earth will be judged by God, and for everything we have done well, he will reward. For everything that we have done badly, Jesus has died for. And so, what Jesus is telling us is that just because he has died, doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter what we do anymore. If a prisoner has been let out of jail, it matters what he does when gets out, because otherwise he’ll go back in. And so in the same way, when we are set free from sin, from the devil, from punishment, from hell, what are we going do? Are we going to enjoy our freedom and use it for sin, or are we going to fight sin and use our freedom for good?

And so, Jesus puts this question to us: who do we want our lives to be judged by? By people, or by God? How we answer this question will completely change the way we act. God watches everything we do, but people don’t watch everything we do. Even the people with whom we live don’t watch everything we do. And so, Jesus says: if we practice our righteousness only when other people are watching us, then we are basically saying that God doesn’t exist. If God exists and if he judges our works and if he will reward us, then we should live our lives to be pleasing to him, not simply to please people at the expense of our faith and in such a way that we ignore God.

And so, Jesus talks about three things: giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. By themselves, these things don’t accomplish anything before God. Because there can be bad giving, bad prayer and bad fasting. Jesus wants to show us how not to give, how not to pray, and how not to fast, so that he can show us how to do in a way that is pleasing to God.

The bad way to give, the bad way to pray, the bad way to fast is when we do it to earn our salvation, and to earn favour and grace with God. Jesus has already accomplished this, so if we do these things to earn salvation with God, then we kick Jesus out of the picture. We don’t need him as our Saviour, and we make people our Saviour instead, and we make them our judge.

And so let’s first of all look at:

I.                   Giving to the poor.

Jesus says: When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Many Christians don’t help the needy at all, or don’t think they need to. Here Jesus tells you that you should, and that it’s a good thing. But in Australia especially, people think that the government should help people in need, and that if they’re poor, it’s their own fault. But your sins are your own fault too. What if God took that attitude with you? Jesus says: You always the poor with you. There is always someone who falls between the cracks. There a lot of people in our community who are in desperate need of help, and I’m not talking about money. Sometimes money doesn’t help people at all—like drunks, or drug addicts. Money can sometimes fuel their addictions.

But here’s something for you to think about. As Christians, we often give the impression to the community that we are poor and we need their money. But we have been given heaven and earth by Jesus himself who is the Lord of heaven and earth, and the resources of the whole world belong to him. He knows how to solve every single problem of every single person in our community. The government doesn’t know these things, but Jesus does. We often write people off and think they’re beyond help—especially drug-addicts or ice-addicts, and people like that. But what if we placed these people into Jesus’ hands, and asked him how we can help them, and what we can do for them? I don’t know the answer, but we have a Saviour who can do everything.

Many people make a big deal out of the all the good things they do for the poor and for the needy. It’s common for people to say what a good person they are, because they fund an orphanage in Asia, or they give to World Vision, or they work at a charity, or whatever. But any pagan unbeliever can do these things. Doing things like this doesn’t make you a good person. A good Saviour makes you a good person. He’s the one who cancels your sins—you can’t do that yourself.

And so, Jesus shows us another way. He says: When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus shows us just how easy it is for us to think we’re so good because we do something good. Our hand goes into our pocket to pull out the wallet, and then afterwards we give ourselves a big tick and a pat on the back with the other hand. Don’t even let that other hand even know about it, says Jesus!

Some people think also that what makes a good work good is their good intentions. That’s not true—people do all kinds of stupid things with the best of intentions. The thing that makes a good work good is that it’s done by a person whose sins have been taken away. Then every good thing they do has been scrubbed clean. And Jesus has taken your sins away, because he has died for the sins of the whole world, and that includes you.

Let’s have a look at the next thing, Jesus teaches us about, which is:

II.                 Prayer.

This is a very sensitive issue. People often don’t pray because they think they can do everything by themselves. And people don’t pray because they don’t think they do it right or don’t do it well. However, Jesus tells us we should pray. But first he tells us how not to pray. He says: When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues at the street corners, that they may seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

These people don’t need anything from God—they just need praise and accolades from other people to say, “Isn’t he a holy person?” “Isn’t she a real woman of prayer?” But prayer is asking our heavenly Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit for help. We need God’s help, and often God puts us in a corner and at a dead-end so that we can see no way out. Then we can go to God and tell him about it, and ask for him to solve the problem. If God wants us to ask for his help, why are we so surprised that we so often feel so helpless?

And so Jesus says: When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Don’t make a show and tell about it—let God in on the problem, and he will solve it in his time and in his way.

Also, Jesus tells us something more about prayer. He says: When you pray, do not heap us empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. When Gentiles pray, they have techniques. They think: if I do this, I will get this. If I say this over and over again, I’ll get what I want. They pray because they think they will earn something by it, they think they can twist God’s arm to get what they want, if only they pray long enough, if only they pray enough times, if only they pray hard enough. Jesus says: Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. If God already knows what we need, why should we ask for anything? Because he wants us to pray, and he wants to demonstrate his help to you when you ask him. He wants to show you what you need, so that when you see that you need it and you can’t fix the problem by yourself, you can go to him. And if this is the case, it means that a good prayer is a short prayer. Ecclesiastes says: God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. And because we are weak, often we need to tell him our short prayers again. But we know that when we leave things in his hands, they are powerful hands and loving hands. Jesus here even teaches us the Lord’s Prayer to give us the words and the model for prayer, and even specific topics for prayer.

Lastly, Jesus teaches us about:

III.              Fasting.

Many Christians today don’t practice fasting, which means going without something, whether it be food or drink or some kind of luxury. Plenty of people can fast, or diet, or practice self-control, but it doesn’t make them Christians. Also, fasting doesn’t make us worthy of God’s grace. Jesus has already paid the price.

And so, Jesus says: When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But here is a very interesting thing: sometimes there are Christians who think that it is a holy thing to be gloomy. Now, sure: Christianity is a serious thing. The world will end, there will be a judgment, we need to repent, and Peter says on Pentecost for us to save ourselves from this crooked generation. There is a lot to be sad about in this world, there is a lot to cry about and lament. But there is nothing holy about putting on a gloomy face. Sometimes we can think: I must be a real Christian, because I look really serious and gloomy and disapproving, and my brow is really furrowed. Now remember the Pharisee who went into the temple and said: I thank you that I’m not like that tax collector. I fast twice a week.

Now, Jesus says: When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

We can fast and practice self-denial with joy and gladness, because we do not have to worry about if we’ve fasted enough. Because Jesus had paid for our account, and he has died for us, and has risen for us. And so because of this, he has given us the victory in advance, and this brings us great joy. We sometimes may really be sad and need a lot of encouragement in our Christian life. That’s fine. Sadness is a good thing and Jesus cares for us in our sadness, but having joy and happiness and gladness in the Gospel is also a good thing, and Jesus shares in our joy.

So as we begin this Lent, let’s hear the call to repentance, and let the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and show us where we are amiss. But whatever we do, whether we have the opportunity to give to someone in need, when we pray, or when we fast and practise self-denial, we are not paying for our sins, because they are already paid for. Our fellow humans are not our judge, God is our judge. He has sent his Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We have no need to fear condemnation for our sins because they have been paid for, and God who sees what you do in secret will reward you. Let’s thank God for this wonderful promise. Amen.

Dear Jesus, thank you for teaching us about our sin and your righteousness. Cover us with your blood, and set us free for a life a good works which a purified and made holy by you. Amen.