B, Pentecost 14 Proper 17 – Deut 4:9, James 1:17-18, Mark 7:21-23 “A Gift for God the Father”

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What do you get for a father who's got everything? This morning in Australia and New Zealand fathers have been unwrapping gifts and hearing from their children and grandchildren. Because some fathers have what they need, some kids might buy a knick-knack of some sort – a puzzle, a card that makes silly sounds when you open it, or a new fandangle gizmo for the shed. Then again some receive the obligatory box of handkerchiefs, socks or box of chocolates.

But what kind of gift have you given God the Father, this morning? The unseen dad in your lives! Now I'm sure he's got everything. I reckon he might also not have much use for new handkerchiefs or a card that makes fatherly sounds when you open it. What do you get for God the Father, who has literally got the whole world in his hands?

In the Old Testament times one would make sacrifices to God at the temple in Jerusalem. You'd take a goat, sheep, or a beast to the Jerusalem and have it slaughtered and burnt on the altar. This would be a pleasing aroma before the Lord as the priests atoned for your sins. Or, perhaps one would make a fellowship or thanksgiving offering for what God had done in the course of their lives in recent times.

Yet the Psalmist, King David, pondered and sung before our Heavenly Father very similar questions.

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted… Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. (Psalm 40:6 ESV)

And again David says… For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. (Psalm 51:16 ESV)

In Isaiah we hear what God thinks... "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats." (Isaiah 1:11)

Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. …When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. (Isaiah 1:13a,15-17)

God makes it quite clear he wants us to be perfect in his perfect presence, to hear him and respond appropriately. But how can we cleanse ourselves and be clean if any sacrifice we might make to God is unacceptable to him? This was the dilemma the Israelites faced when their sacrifices became inadequate before God. But it's also your problem if you still strive to make sacrifices or give gifts to him and not listen to what he really requires of you.

And what became impossible for the Israelites under the Law was made ten times harder to obtain when Jesus revealed what is really hidden in the heart, saying, "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." (Mark 7:21–23 ESV)

What gift do you get God the Father who has everything and needs you to be every bit as holy as he is? How good is should one be to be good enough in the sight of God? None of us can be good enough, because we must be holy as God is holy!

It's at this point in time many just give up giving a gift to God. Where our earthly Fathers' Day falls once a year, our Heavenly Father's Day is every day! And it begins and ends each week in this one hour or so on Sunday. Or in any time of confession, absolution, hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament of Christ's body and blood. The gift God requires is to believe and receive – to believe I am a sinner and receive forgiveness of sins, and life and salvation in his gifts.

Hear our Heavenly Father again from Isaiah… "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 1:11–20 ESV)

So the greatest gift we give to God is to listen to him and trust what he says and does for us. And listening to him means you allow yourself to hear his word so by his Word made flesh, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, your heart tainted to the core with scarlet sin is made as white as wool, like that of the Lamb of God. This is the one time sacrifice on the cross of Calvary that is the one and only pleasing atonement sacrifice to God the Father!

In James we are told… Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:17–18 ESV)

God has given us the most perfect gift, in his Son Jesus Christ. And he continually brings us into the presence of Jesus' forgiveness by the power of the Holy Spirit, making us the first fruits of his creatures in his creation. And he does it by the word of truth, when we allow the Spirit to open our ears and hearts.

Like King David we might come to ask and realise, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem." (Psalm 116:12-14, 17–19 ESV)

Therefore, on receiving the gift of Jesus' perfection from God our Father and the Holy Spirit, what should we do with it? As Fathers and Mothers of children, and as grandparents of grandchildren, there is no greater gift and joy than giving. To pass on the gift of God's word so our children too might receive it and believe they too are children of God.

"…take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—(Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV)

These things our eyes have seen are God's action in our lives and the power of God's word in our souls which places in us the greatest gift — the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation! Why would we want this gift to depart from our hearts, and our children's and their children's hearts too? Let's remember God's word and make our sin forgiven hearts constantly known to our children and grandchildren. Amen.