A, Post-Pentecost 14 Proper 17 - Exodus 3:13-15 "The I AM Full Stop"

Exodus 3:13–15 (ESV)  Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Our world is full of information!  Everyone wants to tell us something!  Who is it that you listen to?

Social media, YouTube, the internet, broadcast media, talkback radio, the bloke over the back fence, politicians, comedians…  There are so many from which to choose!

Perhaps you choose not to listen to anyone!  You have been hurt by bad advice and look for answers within yourself, your own understanding of things!  What you judge to be good and what you judge to be evil!  There’s so much noise out there, so you withdraw to your thoughts within.

Or further still, maybe you just like not to think about anything.  The noise of society tires you, so you try to retreat into a place of perfect silence.  Like the ten thousand, in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, not wanting to disturb the sound of silence!

Our world is full of information!  To whom do you listen?  What is it that informs you?

The great danger of listening to the many and various sources of information out there, is that more than not, you will be misinformed!  Whereas, listening to what’s within, there’s a danger of being ill-informed!  And not listening to anything or anyone, you will find yourself uninformed.

So, we need information, immediate life without it suffers, and without information we cannot seek eternal life!  But the trick is getting the right information?  But how to get it and from whom?

If we look within for information about life, the answers we get will seem like they give us life, but the life we find will ultimately destroy life elsewhere!  The life of our feelings and mood can destroy the life of our physical being or mental health.  Within the heart one seeks life, but there, one finds, “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19 ESV)  The information we get from our own good and evil ill-informs us!  It’s information that leads to illness, dying, and eternal death.

Okay, so we don’t want to be uninformed or ill-informed!  But neither do we want to be misinformed either.  There are so many charlatans and con artists out spreading misinformation and causing heartache today.  And it’s growing!  Inside and outside the church!  It’s here there’s the temptation to go scampering back into the self.  But this is not the answer that gives life.

Moses was a Levite living in the court of Pharoah.  But he was on the run after murdering an Egyptian whom he witnessed beating a Hebrew slave.  He thought he had covered up the murder after burying the Egyptian in the sand.

However, “When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”  He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”  When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.”  (Exodus 2:13–15 ESV)

The information Moses had from within and from without, told him to run.  And it’s after running and settling in Midian he has a strange encounter with a burning bush that burned without being burnt.  Curiosity got the better of him, so he stopped to see what was going on.

God speaks to Moses out of the bush.  God informs Moses that he has heard the cry of his people in Egypt and, through Moses, was going to deliver them from the hand of Pharoah and the Egyptian taskmasters.

But like us today, all the information known to Moses makes him question what God says to him.  God says, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,  and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey… Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:8-9a, 10 ESV)

Moses is hesitant to go back into the melting pot that’s Egypt.  But God’s call does not leave Moses ill-informed, despite the death sentence that loomed if Moses returned to Egypt. 

Nor is Moses uninformed!   He’s promised, God will be with him, and informs him he will bring him with the Israelites, back to the mountain, to serve God. 

Neither was this misinformation!  Moses’ credibility before his fellow Israelites would be backstopped by God.  Moses was given God’s name!  Not just a name of an unknown God, but the name of the God of Israel’s Fathers; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God’s name is beautifully simple, but profoundly complete!  This name comes from the simplest of verbs, in any language, the verb “to be”, “I AM”. 

His name captures the eternity of his existence.  What God and his name tells us is that back in the past, “I AM”, right now “I AM”, and in the future “I AM”.  In other words, God was, is, and will be, present in name, word, being, and promise! 

God’s being to Moses was a full-stop.  He is the source, middle, and end of all information.  The be all and end all of all existence!  Moses was completely informed by God in the simplicity of his name.  The great I AM in Hebrew, is from the verb, to be, hâyâh, from where we get the name Yahweh, or Jehovah.  In most English bibles when this name used, it’s usually printed as Lord (capital “L” with small capitals “ord”).

The name of our Great I AM is our full stop.  So simple, pure, complete, and eternal is God’s name that God calls Moses to take off his shoes and not come too close to the burning bush, from which God spoke.  Not only is his name pure, complete, and eternal but so too is the presence of God whose name most perfectly defines him.  Our God who says, “I AM” is holy in presence so in the presence of Moses and in the burning bush that did not get burnt, Moses is called to the most holy full stop in Almighty God.

God and his name are so holy that the Israelites feared saying his name for fear of desecrating it.  Matthew’s Gospel being a catechism for Jewish believers of Jesus Christ differs from the other Gospel in that “the kingdom of God” is referred to as “the kingdom of Heaven”, so as not to offend Jewish ears.

Jesus offended Jewish leaders when he came not denying himself as the Son of God.   John’s Gospel account gives testimony to Jesus as the “I AM”.

He says, “I am the bread of life, that came down from heaven.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)  “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12, 9:5)  “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7, 9)  “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14) “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) “I am the way the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)  “I am the vine.” (John 15:1, 5)

John also records Jesus’s direct reference to God and himself as the “I AM”, making the Jews want to stone him for blasphemy. 

Jesus says to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”  So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”    (John 8:56–57 ESV)

Jesus is our I AM!  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  (Hebrews 13:8 ESV) He is eternally present with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.  Three persons in the one I AM full stop!   This is our God, your God!  The I AM, who is, who was, and who will be. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8 ESV)

God is the I AM of your being, your soul!  Because he is your full stop you can deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him, the I AM!  You will lose your being carrying your cross, but you have received a new being, you are receiving a new being, and you will receive a new being, a new existence in the I AM, Full stop!

In an age of misinformed, uninformed, and ill-informed information, inside and outside the church, do not just hear and believe what someone says, what I say, or any pastor says!  Open your bible, and confirm what is said, is what the I AM says! 

Pray, the Holy Spirit leads you in submission to what is written in its pages, so you do not mishear the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Pray, so the word of God is not corrupted into a piece of ill-informed knowledge of good and evil within.  

Let the full stop of the I AM, be not a passing comma in your life!  Rather stop, be still and know that I AM is your God!  Let the full conjunction of your being be infused with the I AM.  Give thanks and call on his name!  Make known the deeds of the Great I AM; sing to him and praise his name!

God “is”, so you “are”!  Call on his name, and he “will”!  Into every situation you enter, the I AM is there waiting for you to call on his name!  Amen. 

A, Post-Pentecost 13 Proper 16 - Matthew 16:13-20 "Son of the Living God"

Living post-resurrection, we lose the enormity of Peter’s confession that Jesus of Nazareth is both the Son of God and the Christ.  In our ears we hear Jesus, Christ, and Son of God as a synonymous confession of the same man, and rightly so!

But to understand the magnitude of what Peter confesses we need to realise in that in his day Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, and son of God were not perceived as one and the same person.  In fact, one claiming someone as the Son of God was considered as blasphemy!  It is only after the resurrection that confession of Jesus as the Christ and as the Son of God became one in the Early Church.  Judaism still considers this to be blasphemy.

In Matthew’s Gospel it is the devil who’s recorded as first addressing Jesus as the Son of God.   Twice he temps Jesus, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3 ESV) 

And second, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”(Matthew 4:6 ESV)

If the devil, who succeeded in tempting the first man, Adam, into sin, can succeed in tempting the Son of God, born as the Son of Man, to put right the sin of the first man, then he would have been able to stop God’s plan of salvation for humanity.

But Jesus who his both Son of Man and Son of God, is not tempted into sin despite being hungry and humiliated by the devil.  “If” Jesus is the Son of God, is not even a matter for question.  Not, “if” he is the Son of God, rather, Jesus “is” the Son of God, born to be the Son of Man.

Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man.  It’s only recorded in John’s Gospel that Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God.  The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) very deliberately record others as confessing him as Son of God.

The title Son of Man is a term from the Old Testament, first used by Balaam when God gave him his word to respond to Balak.  God says, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?  Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.” (Numbers 23:19–20 ESV)

Job is told by Bildad the Shuhite, “Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.  Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes;  how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”  (Job 25: 2,5–6 ESV)

In Psalm eight which is taken up in Hebrews chapter two we hear, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?  You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour,  putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”  (Hebrews 2:6–8 ESV)

In addition to this, Ezekiel is named “son of man” as he is called to serve both the Israelites and gentiles with prophecy.  God says to Ezekiel, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”  And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.  And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.” (Ezekiel 2:1–3 ESV)

If we ponder the first son of man, we think of Cain.  Adam and Eve expected Cain to be the great successor who would crush the serpent under his heel, but he wasn’t!  Instead like Adam, Cain was driven out by God after he killed Abel. 

Interestingly, Cain and Abel are not named as sons, even though they were sons of Adam and Eve.  But it is only Seth who is named son.  We hear, “Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”  (Genesis 4:25 ESV)

And again, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”  (Genesis 5:3 ESV)

Seth was the substitute for Cain and Abel, and it is through him that God would substitute the sin of Adam with the righteousness of the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, for us all.

Jesus is the Son of Man as the fulfilment of what Daniel saw in a vision, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14 ESV)

Jesus came as the Son of Man, to serve man as a son serves his father and family.   For Jesus to do this he had to put his divinity aside to serve as we are told in Philippians two, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:6–8 ESV)

Jesus’ servanthood is one of peacemaking.  At the Sermon on the Mount he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  (Matthew 5:9 ESV)

As with all the beatitudes they are fulfilled in the servanthood of Jesus, the Son of Man, who became poor in spirit and was persecuted for righteousness’ sake so we could have the kingdom of heaven.  Who mourned over sin that we could be comforted, who became meek in order that we inherit a new earth, who hungered and thirsted for our righteousness, to satisfy God’s requirement of righteousness.  And who made peace being the servant Son of Man, so we can be called sons of God.

But all this was yet to happen at the cross.  Peter and all the other disciples had witnessed the demons in Legion cry out to Jesus, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God?  Have you come here to torment us before the time?”  (Matthew 8:29 ESV)

It took two turbulent trips across the Sea of Galilee, feeding the five thousand, healings, and being sent out as apostles, for the disciples to see the unhidden truth and confess Jesus as the Son of God.

But now, in the text for today, Jesus askes the disciples who the Son of Man is?   Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:16 ESV)  He says this after the other disciples tell Jesus who others think he is. 

But Peter has not learnt this from others, nor from within himself, but from God.  Jesus says to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17 ESV)

It is God the Father himself who has led Peter to confess Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, as the Christ, and as the Son of the living God.  The Living Father brings about a living confession from Peter, that hidden within Jesus of Nazareth, is the living Christ and Son of God.

In next week’s reading we hear how Peter’s confession from God the Father is replaced by his rebuke when the Son of the Living God tells the disciples he will be the Christ through his death and resurrection.

Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ anointed to serve humanity as the Son of Man, humiliated as if he was a maggot or the worm of humanity.  In this three-fold role he is our living sacrifice, resurrected from the dead.  He did not lie; he did not change his mind; he fulfilled what he was sent to do on the cross!  Now raised in victory over his sinless death, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.”  (Philippians 2:9 ESV)

Paul says we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, not to be conformed to the world.  How do we do this?

Just as Peter’s confession was not of his own, our service as living sacrifices is not of our own.  Our work of living as a sacrifice is anchored in Jesus Christ, our Living Sacrifice.  He put his divinity aside and was carried along by the Holy Spirit who rested on him in his baptism.  For us to be living sacrifices for him, we too need the Holy Spirit, so we can have our sinful nature put aside and substituted for a new spirit, a spirit that trusts in Jesus despite the cost.

We now live and move and have our being because Jesus of Nazareth is the resurrected Christ, the living Son of God.  Now that we are sons of God through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have freedom to be servants of humanity, serving others with forgiveness and confession of, how and what God has forgiven us.  Amen.

A, Post-Pentecost 12 Proper 15 - Romans 11:29-32, Matthew 15:10-28 "Mercy for Sinners"

Text     Romans 11:29–32 (ESV)

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,  so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.  For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Sermon

Can a person measure their faith?  How do I know whether I’ve got great faith, or fragile or unstable faith?  Really, should one seek to measure faith?

In Romans 10:17 we hear that faith comes from hearing the gospel preached. 

Today we have heard in the Gospel (Matthew 15:10-28) Jesus finds himself in two places and receives two very different faith responses as he, the Word made flesh, moves, teaches, and preaches amongst the people of his day.

In fact, when confronted by Christ and his Word, the reality of God in my presence quickly reveals just who I am as well as what I think, do, and feel. 

Usually one of two things happen, sometimes both things happen at the same time.  Either I become proud, arrogant, and conceited, or I become crushed and confused, and sometimes even both, somehow at the same time.

Indeed, even in the bible readings we have heard this morning, my mind races and makes me feel certain things and makes me want to do certain things too. 

The first thing that jumps to mind in the readings is from the second half of the Gospel reading.  I see the way Jesus approaches a Gentile, a Canaanite woman who has heard the word and approaches Jesus with faith.  I struggle with the fact that Jesus does three things before the woman that for me, seems a bit harsh.  He ignores her, then refuses to speak to her, saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”  And finally, when he does speak to her, he calls her “a dog”.

Two things happen in me as I hear God’s word, I question and then doubt.  Surely Jesus is a God of love; why does he do this?  I am tempted into doubting God’s word and seek to alter it to suit me, making it a little less offensive.  And once this happens then the threat of either conceited arrogance or crushing confusion hangs over my head.

It seemingly appears that his Word is not completely true as far as my thoughts and feelings are concerned.  It seems if I were to evaluate my faith at this moment, I might be in danger of not finding any!  Or would I?  Or perhaps, instead of faith, I realise disobedience is working within me!

Then I think about the first half of the Gospel reading.  Those wretched Pharisees: what right have they got to be offended at my God?  If I was there, I wouldn’t doubt Jesus for a minute; I am so much better than them! 

But just when I become proud of my pharisaic ways over the Pharisees, Jesus’ Word rings in my ear, ‘Are you so dull?’  He tells me the things that come out of my mouth and heart are the things that make me unclean; evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. 

Then depending on the day, I respond with pride, “I don’t do any of those things”, or I justify myself with a big “yeah-but” and change God’s word to suit me, so I mightn’t have to address the things I’m doing in my life, and the things I’m not doing as well. 

Or, on the other hand, at other times I see Jesus lift the bar of the law, that much higher, so there is no way I can jump over it, and utter shame fills my heart, “how can I go near God when I am such a bad sinner?!”

Either way, I have become my own authority on good and evil.  My own goodness renders God unnecessary.  And my inability to be perfectly good makes me unable to work my way out of the death my deeds deserve. 

The point is: you and I are inherently sinful.  Sin is not just what I do, it is who I am!  When presented with a model of Jesus’ life I see that there is no way possible for me to make it to heaven by my own efforts.  In fact, my efforts push me further and further away from God, every time. 

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.  (Romans 11:32 ESV)

In fact, God hands us over to see our sinfulness so that the gift of Christ is recognized for what it is: the greatest gift anyone has ever received.  God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 

Even in the midst of so much sin and selfish behaviour God continues to have mercy on us.  My sinful nature, with all its doubt, worry, and pride, is continually being exposed by the light of God. 

The closer we are drawn to the light of God the brighter the stain of our disobedience stands out next to the brilliance of Jesus Christ.  I am not able to wash the disobedience from my clothes.  I need the blood of the lamb to cleanse me once and for all! 

But I also need the Holy Spirit to remind me of it, so I am reassured of my cleansing, as more and more disobedience within comes to light.

It is Jesus who has kept the Sabbath holy, so much so by the will of God the Father, he truly rested in death in the grave on that Holy Sabbath Saturday, between Good Friday, when he died, and Easter Sunday, the day of his glorious resurrection. 

It is Jesus’ perfect modelled-life in me, winning me, leading me, and forgiving me for my disobedience.  It is Jesus’ blood which covers my sinful nature yesterday, today, and tomorrow.   God does not go back on his Word!

In the gifts of baptism, the bread and the wine, and in his Word, these gifts are irrevocable, irreversible, and universal.  You are 100% sinner so God the Son can be 100% your Saviour.   

This is not an invitation to go and sin.   No!  This is a reality impressed upon all of us that before we commit a sin, we are already condemned sinners in being and nature.  Human beings, being human, whose doings fall with the human spirit of Adam within each of us.

Even in the midst of our disobedient natures God’s gift of faith will never be withdrawn.  Faith comes from God and leads us to God.  Faith comes from the Word and leads back to his Word.  Faith comes from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and God the Son, and faith leads us to Jesus Christ, God the Son, and through him to our loving Heavenly Father. 

Is there a need to measure faith?  No! God gives us the measure of faith we need, and he never breaks his promise to us.  He gives us his gifts and continually calls us!

When the Word offends you, and you become conceited like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  When the Word of God increases the depth of your sin, shedding light on the disobedience of your heart.  When the Word of God shows that you are a foreigner in God’s eyes with no way of being persuaded to follow God’s Law by your own efforts.  Marvel that Jesus himself graces your heart with his blood that makes you righteous.

Be overwhelmed that as a sinner you can be confident in his glorious presence, when you really deserve nothing but death.  Allow the Holy Spirit to kill knowledge of good and evil within and replace it with the knowledge of victory in Jesus’ resurrection from death. 

Pray for the Holy Spirit to raise this great faith within you, knowing that God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable, continually crying out to Jesus, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Amen.

A, Post-Pentecost 11 Proper 14 - Matthew 14:22-33 Romans 10:5-15 "Faith Boat Afloat"

Romans 10: 6–10, 11, 13 (ESV)  “But the righteousness based on faith says, ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Getting in and out of boats is difficult.  Anyone who has ever climbed into a canoe or kayak for the first time becomes aware of the instability immediately!   If sitting in boats is not easy, standing in them is even more difficult.  Standing in a kayak is a sure sign that one is about to get very wet.  Standing in a canoe is not much better!  Even standing in a regular small boat is problematic, not to mention moving around.  One loses their balance very easily in a boat. 

Hopping out of a boat is not much simpler, either at a jetty or at the water’s edge.  Going from the instability of a boat to the unknown of what’s under the surface of the shallows can bring a person unstuck.

Once I experienced getting out of an inflatable rubber dinghy thinking the water was ankle deep.  Awkwardly stepping over the round inflatable edge of the boat one foot descended into the water while the other stayed higher on the floor of the vessel.  At the point of no return one must throw their weight from one foot to the other.  The other foot in the salt water had not touched anything solid. The waves rocked the boat from side to side.  Straddling the inflatable side of the rubber craft meant a moment of uncertainty and lack of control as I couldn’t see what was under my foot.  So, knowing I could see sand nearby, I presumptuously threw my weight and went to stand up on the leg in the water.

I can only imagine what this looked like from the beach.  A man in a trendy blue chambray shirt, cargo trousers rolled up a bit, with sunglasses on and mobile phone on the belt clip, going topsy-turvy head-over-heels into the shallows of the surf.  Apparently, I didn’t see that hole in the sand!  

Total immersed, I stood up quickly, as you do, to see if anyone was looking.  Everyone was looking!  It was holiday time at Byron Bay, the beach was packed from frolicking families to topless tourists sunbaking, and all seemed to be watching the inflatable rubber boat come in to make land fall.  Everyone saw me fall, ego first into the drink!  Embarrassed, everyone watched me walk dripping wet, head down, away from the beach! 

The people of God, gathered to hear God’s word and receive his sacraments, are sometimes pictured as those gathered in a boat, just as were the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.  We call this gathering, church.  Church is the congregation not the building in which it gathers.  In fact, the centre section of the building where the people gather is called the nave, from the same Latin word from where we get navy!

The disciples were having a hard time of it in their nave as they struggled through the night to cross the lake.  They were in the vessel having been made to go without Jesus, while he dismissed the five thousand and went to pray. 

Jesus was alone praying while they were alone at sea.  It was the last watch of the night, the hours between three and six A.M.   This is restless time, the witching hours of the night, when one dreams or has nightmares, or just cannot go back to sleep!  Awake, or dreaming a nightmare, one has their aloneness impressed upon themselves.

So too the disciples as they fought exhausted by the turbulence all around them.  It appeared no one was around to help them!  Then someone does appear, walking towards them.  “Walking!  How can this be?”  Terrified they’re spooked by a phantom, an apparition of calm light walking through the nightmare towards them.

Jesus immediately calms them with his word, saying, “Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid.”  (Matthew 14:27 ESV) He tells them, “Have courage, be bold, dare not to be troubled, within themselves, with their situation, with the wind or the waves, and with him!”

Peter is invited with a single command by Jesus, “Come!”  But on entering the water and seeing the wind and waves he doesn’t trust Jesus’ word over what is within him, he sinks and sings out to Jesus, “Lord save me” (Matthew 14:30 ESV) Jesus rescues him from the two-timing faith within himself, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31 ESV)

This is the second time Matthew records the disciple’s faithlessness on the Sea of Galilee.  In chapter eight Jesus was amongst his disciples in the nave of the boat.  While the disciples were nauseated by the thoughts of perishing, Jesus slept.  The fishermen woke Jesus calling him to fish them out and save them from this stormy situation.

Little did they understand these were previews of the greater seismic event of the cross when they would all be faithlessly scattered in fear.  But even before going to the cross Jesus tells of troubled waters ahead where the church will be shaken.

Jesus tells his disciples, “See that no one leads you astray.  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.  And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.  “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.  And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  (Matthew 24:4–14 ESV)

So, we continue to gather in Christ, knowing trouble is coming, but so too is the end.  If it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit, we would soon forget that Jesus Christ is the ballast in the boat.  We like Peter would quickly revert and return to trust our own spirit, what we see, hear, and feel!  If it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit, we would not know Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us! 

God the Father’s church is one of Law and Gospel!   We are in a community of commandments and faith.  One in Christ, believers gathered as one by the Holy Spirit!

Jesus is the ballast in the boat, having fulfilled the commandments.  The Holy Spirit gives us our balance in the boat, having made us righteous with the ballast we need to remain upright in the Father’s eyes.

Saint Paul paints a picture of those gathered in the nave of Christ’s presence.   Those gathered as church by the Holy Spirit in faith do not ponder in their hearts, “who is going to heaven and who is not going to be saved.”  When one does this, they expose their double-timing faith, falling out in fear, and temp finding out just how deep the hole is they’re presumptuously stepping into!

Wondering who has faith and who hasn’t, immediately excludes you from faith as well!  Why?  Because the only way anyone has faith, is through hearing the word of faith.  While one wonders and ponders, the ears fail to hear, and the mouth is mute and unmoving!

So, what do you hear?  And from it, what do you believe and confess?

We hear that Jesus is in the boat!  Not only that, but we hear he’s the ballast having borne the burden of fulfilling the commandments and our failure to fulfil them. 

Those in church who appear as “good people”, we no longer believe are going to heaven because of their goodness.  That dethrones Jesus from heaven!

Those in church who appear as “not very good people”, we no longer believe are condemned by their deeds.  That brings Jesus up from the dead as if he was never raised in victory over sin and death.  Your sin and death or any other “not very good people’s sin and death”!

No!  Those very people with which you and I are called together, by the Holy Spirit, are called to confess with our mouths that, Jesus is Lord, believing he is in the boat, and we are with him in it.  The Holy Spirit gives us balance in the boat.  That balance is faith, trust in Christ our ballast!

That faith fills our hearts and our mouths so the faithful confession of those gathered to be forgiven and fed the Word of God, as it’s preached, prayed, sung, confessed and consumed, will fulfil the full cycle of faith.

Let us persevere in this holy faith feeding faith, even when we experience trouble and restlessness in the last watch of the night, seemingly falling out of the boat topsy-turvy head-over-heels.  Let us not walk away from the boat ashamed of the Gospel.  But rather let faith empower faith.  Let the Holy Spirit balance the boat and keep you afloat! 

As the Holy Spirit inspires the Romans through Pauls words of faith at the beginning of his letter to them, let it empower you as you hear his confession of faith, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  (Romans 1:16–17 ESV)

It is the last watch of the night!  Faith reveals Jesus in the boat.  Faith waits for Jesus’ return.  Faith hears Jesus say, “Surely I am coming soon.” Faith says, “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!”  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen”.  (Revelation 22:20–21 ESV)

Those who have ears, let them hear!  Amen. 

A, Post-Pentecost 10 Proper 13 - Genesis 32:22-31 "Struggle"

Genesis 32:28,29c–31 (ESV)  Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Today’s sermon is for everyone who’s ever had conflict with anyone else.  Who feel they have been unfairly treated.  Who’ve got the rough end of the deal.  Who believe they’re not the “be all and end all” of humanity, but believe they deserve better treatment than what they’ve received.  You might be this person who sighs in exasperation, “if it’s not one thing it’s another!”

One thing after another keeps occurring.  You might feel your limping along through life, thinking things could be better!  If you are I invite you to hear and ponder the story of Jacob as your story.

Over the last three Sundays, we’ve heard about Jacob in the readings.

First, we heard about his birth, holding onto his brother’s heel.  A sneaky individual who steals Esau’s birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. (See Genesis 25: 19-34)

Second, he has a dream, and in it sees a ladder coming down from heaven.  Angels were ascending and descending the ladder and from the top God spoke to Jacob and promised to give him land and offspring. (See Genesis 28:10-19a)

Third, in last week’s reading, Jacob arrives and works for his uncle, Laban, his mother Rebekah’s brother.  The deceiver is deceived by his kin.  Jacob thinks he is working for seven years to receive Rachel as his wife but is given Leah.  After a week he is given Rachel for another seven years’ work.

The reading today has Jacob journeying back to Canaan.  He is fleeing Laban but returning to Esau, whom he fled after stealing his birthright and blessing. 

Here is a man surrounded by trouble.  In front of him is uncertainty.  God has called him to return to his people.  The only problem is his brother might try to kill him for stealing his birthright.

Behind him is his father-in-law, Laban.  Disgruntled by Laban’s changing terms of employment, Jacob schemes Laban out of his best livestock.  In this deceit, amongst others, the relationship falls ill between Jacob and Laban.  Jacob and his cohort attempt to flee but Laban catches him.  A covenant of peace is made between Laban and Jacob, and they depart.

Jacob was being blessed as God had sworn to him at Bethel.  He came with nothing except for God’s promise and now he was leaving Laban having been given, wives, offspring, and livestock.  But to where would he go and settle?

As he journeyed towards home, he heard Esau was approaching with four hundred men.  Jacob knows what he has done to Esau, he expects the worst, to be attacked, have his family and livestock killed.  He divides his people and livestock. 

Acknowledging his fear, and the trouble he was in, Jacob prays, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’  I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.  Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.  But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”  (Genesis 32:9–12 ESV)

Jacob then decides to present five gifts to Esau in the hope of appeasing his brother.  These were separate gifts of two hundred and twenty goats, two hundred and twenty sheep, thirty camels and their calves, fifty head of cattle, and thirty donkeys.

Two things are made explicit to us with this large five-fold gift.  The first is Jacob was now a wealthy man having been blessed by God.  The second thing is he feared his brother having wronged him.  Jacob’s spirit was terribly unsettled by the predicament in which he had gotten himself.

After sending these gifts, he sends his wives, his two concubines who served them, and their children, over the river.

This is no act of chivalry.  Deceitful Jacob places a buffer between himself and his enemy.  He prepares to sacrifice his least favoured possessions and people first.  One by one, lot by lot, leaving himself last behind those he has sent out to be his expendable pawns.

It’s here, by himself, this extraordinary event occurs.  Jacob struggles with a man whom he realises is God.  The irony here in Jacob’s act to protect himself, by cowardly sending all out in front of him he leaves himself exposed.  The one who grabbed his brother’s heel in birth, and in life, who struggled with his kin, now struggles with God. 

The river he sent his family over is called the Jabbok, it means to pour out or empty.  At this river he empties himself of his family.  But in his struggle with God, it is Jacob who is emptied, only to have God’s blessing poured out upon him.

In this event, the people of God born to Jacob, get their name as Israelites, after God blesses him and renames him Israel.  The name is a combination of two Hebrew names, Sarah and El or Elohim.  This is a combination of his grandmother’s and the Almighty’s names.  In Hebrew, Sarah or Sar is a person who exercises dominion or prevails with power. 

So, Jacob gets the name of Israel because he prevails with the Almighty.  This is not lost on him as he calls the place Peniel, which translates as “the face of God”, for he says, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:30b ESV)

It has all finally caught up with the heel grabber.  Despite grabbing God in this wrestle, God has grabbed him!  In fact, all with whom Jacob has wrestled has been a struggle with God.  His struggle with his uncle Laban, his father-in-law, has been a struggle with God.  But at the place of struggle God had blessed him.

Now having struggled with God, whom he first thought was a man, Jacob receives a blessing, it’s here the name Israel takes on a different tone.  Not only does Jacob struggle against God, from now on Jacob will also struggle, together with God, as a blessing.  He is fulfilling God’s initial promise to his grandfather Abraham.

There are indicators after this that demonstrate this combination of struggle and blessing. 

Practically, Jacob cannot now flee from the incoming threat of his brother Esau.  You can’t run with a dodgy hip.  At best one can hobble along.  Having sent his livestock and family before him as a buffer, now he leads with a limp and meets Esau.

We hear in Genesis thirty-three, “And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants.  And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.  He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.  But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”  (Genesis 33:1–4 ESV)

Now, he put himself before his least favoured all the way back to Rachel and Joseph, his favourites.  Yes, he still has an order that discriminates!  But now, he makes himself the least, having struggle with God and also blessed by God.   Now, Israel struggles together with God, so through Israel, God can struggle with humanity to bless them too.

The second indicator or marker is how Jacob now regards Esau, his brother, whom he formerly saw as his enemy.  Jacob now struggles with Esau in a new way, to be a blessing to him with the five sizable gifts of livestock.

Jacob says to Esau, who seeks to refuse his gifts, “ ‘No, please, if I have found favour in your sight, then accept my present from my hand.  For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.  Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.’ Thus he urged him, and he took it.’ ” (Genesis 33:10–11 ESV)

God touched his hip, not to keep a hold of the heel grabber, but to lift him up by the heel to bless all people.  He whom he saw as an enemy, in him he now saw the face of God.  What had changed?  Jacob no longer saw himself as God, but as one with whom God had mercy, and from whom  he had received blessing.

Like Jacob we have conflicts with other people.  Do you see the face of God in those you regard as enemies, or even those whom you treat with suspicion?  Jacob lived as though he had a constant chip on his shoulder.  He was a heel of a man who struggled with all through his self-righteousness, yet those with whom he struggled God gave blessing.

Jesus Christ is the Godsend of Jacob to all people.  Jesus is the blessing of Israel for humanity.  He took up the struggle of Jacob and saw the face of God in his enemies.  He saw the face of God in you when he took your struggles with God and with others on himself to the cross.  

Let the Holy Spirit wrestle your human spirit so you can see God in the face of those with whom you struggle.  Let the Holy Spirit lead you to forgive, as God has forgiven you.  Struggle, together with God, to bless as you have been blessed!  Amen.