C, Post-Pentecost 18, Proper 23 - 2 Timothy 2:8-15 "Chewing the Fat of Faith"

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “chewing the fat”. This is what people do when they sit round the campfire, the bar with a beer, or at the kitchen table — killing time, talking, perhaps gossiping, or just discussing the day’s events in a bid to overcome boredom. One chews the fat by having a chat with someone else. Chewing the fat is usually done with friends.

But from where did such a saying arise? Is chewing the fat a healthy thing to do, or not? Or is chewing the fat neither good nor bad — just a way of remembering and reminding, a mental regurgitation, coughing up what was once buried deep within the mind?

There are a number of legends that seek to explain how the phrase “chewing the fat” entered common speech. However, in recent times there’s an army of health experts warning people off eating fat. To eat lean, they say, is to live a serene, healthy life. One must deny oneself fat, let alone chewing the fat.

Yet this is what soldiers would do to pass the time of tension and boredom before battle broke out. They would chew on tough salted meat or fat to distract the mind and socialise with one another — in the calm before the storm, to keep calm.

Or “chewing the fat” may have been a saying that arose from people doing so in times of food scarcity or on long voyages across the ocean, chewing the fat to get every last morsel of goodness out of a limited supply of food. Even so, it was still a communal activity.

Another possibility is that the saying came from a Native American cultural practice where, during peace talks, “chewing the fat” was a ritual.

Another possible derivation is that “chewing the fat” may have come from another saying, “chewing the rag”, where musket ammunition was kept in paper or cloth soaked in animal fat, which was bitten off when loading the musket. It is thought that the bitten‑off ends of rag or paper soaked in fat would then be chewed to reduce nerves amid the battle. Here again, chewing the fat was a communal exercise amongst comrades.

Saint Paul calls himself a soldier bound in chains as he encourages Timothy also to be a good soldier. He says to Timothy, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:3,8–9 ESV)

Chewing the fat, like chewing gum, requires muscle memory. Paul encourages Timothy to chew over the word of God, which is not bound as he is bound. Remember Jesus Christ, remember his resurrection, remember he is the offspring of David, remember my preaching of these things — which is my gospel, for which I am suffering. Make it yours too! Chew over the word of God, remember the word of God.

Although “chewing the fat” of God’s word is not literally tearing pages from the Bible and eating them, the symbolic saying does bring to light an issue from Old Testament law. The fat was the most valuable part of a sacrificial animal; eating it, let alone constantly chewing it, was forbidden. The fat and the blood belonged to God:

“And the priest shall burn them (that is, the fat on the entrails, together with the kidneys, the liver, and the fat covering them) on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the Lord’s. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.” (Leviticus 3:16–17 ESV)

There would be no literal eating or “chewing of the fat” in Jewish practice. Yet today we eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. We remember what Christ did to be our Saviour at the cross as we eat his physical and spiritual body and drink his physical and spiritual blood, hidden in the elements of bread and wine. In this we gather as congregation to remember Jesus Christ, to chew the fat, one could say!

Paul, imprisoned, encourages Timothy to share in these things with him despite being separated by prison bars and fifteen hundred kilometres as the crow flies — and further if on foot. Likewise, we gather not just here, nor just at this time, nor just as a parish, nor as a Lutheran denomination, but with angels, archangels, and the whole company of heaven as we are faithfully gathered by the Holy Spirit to “chew the fat” of God’s word, and his Word made flesh in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

This is a mystery that takes Holy Spirit‑given faith to grasp, and it also takes Holy Spirit‑given faith to pass on to others so they too can “chew the fat” of this faith mystery and receive salvation.

Paul also reminds Timothy of this, since he is a minister of these mysteries at Ephesus. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul lists what is required of Timothy and others who serve, saying: “if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15 ESV)

Then Paul calls Timothy to chew over the following trustworthy saying: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3: 16 ESV)

Now in his second letter he gives Timothy another piece of truth to chew over as he says: The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11–13 ESV)

On hearing this saying at first you might hear the law of God, as Paul says, “if we deny Jesus, Jesus also will deny us.” This certainly is a dire place to be! I imagine none of us want to be denied by Jesus Christ. Chewing the reality of being Christless is more hopeless than an Anzac assault from the trenches of Gallipoli.

However, I want us to hear the inclusive language of Paul to Timothy: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11–13 ESV)

One might think the last statement, “he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself”, is not inclusive. However, Paul wants Timothy to chew over the richness that has been given to all: to him, Timothy, the congregation at Ephesus, and to us as well. Even though Jesus can deny us when we deny him, and leave us to our own devices, to discipline us, he will always be faithful to us, because the Holy Spirit has been planted in us in baptism. The Holy Spirit reminds us to remember and endure — or remain — in Jesus Christ, and to chew over the truth that allows us to reign with Jesus. Although it is hidden and only seen by faith this side of our physical death and resurrection.

Where Paul calls Timothy to remember Jesus, his works of denying and being faithful, now he encourages Timothy to continue being faithful to his call as pastor at Ephesus, saying: “Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:14–15 ESV)

Paul calls Timothy to rightly handle the word of truth, by remembering and reminding. Like a cow chewing its cud, Paul remembers and reminds as he “chews the fat of the faith”. He calls Timothy to do so too. And Paul does this so the church can continue to be gathered and pass on the faith, chewing the fat of God’s richness in Jesus Christ, given and shed for the salvation of souls, so people might participate in the reception of God’s peace.

As we hear Paul speak to Pastor Timothy too, we’re called to chew the fat of faith for our eternal peace as well. We’re called to remember and remind others of God’s faithfulness to us. To gather with our friends and family, our colleagues and neighbours, to chew the fat of our faith and peace. Be it sitting round a campfire, at the bar with a beer, or at the meal table — killing time, talking, demonstrating our desire to glorify God, as we discuss the day’s events in the light of our salvation from sin as we patiently wait for Jesus’ return.

Amen. 

C, Post-Pentecost 17, Proper 22 - Luke 17:5-10 "Faith in Flying Trees"

Luke 17:5–10 (ESV)  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

It is an amazing thing to see a tree flying through the air. Dad, my brother, and I had great faith that the tree would fly that day, as we stood out in the middle of the cultivation. We were careful in our preparation; we drilled a hole deep down into the base of the tree as Dad prepared an inch piece of gelignite with a detonator and fuse wire. Now, this would not lift anything out of the ground, let alone a forty-metre-high gum tree. But it did make a nice reservoir down inside the base in which we could deposit the motherload of explosives.

My brother and I had great faith that the tree would fly that day as Dad slid stick after stick, down the inch hole into the reservoir, surgically giving each a prod with an old broom handle. I lost count after the twelfth stick of gelignite was delicately poked into the hole. Finally, Dad got to the last piece—another inch piece of gelignite, with detonator embedded and enough fuse wire running from it to ensure a safe escape once lit. We had great faith the tree was going to fly that day.

Dad fumbled with the matches. He must have known what havoc he was about to unleash in the quiet valley, only broken by the occasional aark-aark of an old black crow. He got a match to burn, grabbed the end of the fuse wire, and held the flame just under it. The yellow plastic around the fuse began to melt, and then all the sudden the wire began to hiss, warning us that the spark was on its way to the motherload. With great faith, Dad sprung onto the back of our old 1954 Land Rover and yelled, “OK, let’s get out-a-here!” He had great faith the tree was going to fly!

I turned on the key and hit the starter button—click click went the starter motor, and then nothing. My brother’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as I repeated the process again, only to hear the same click click. Just out of the corner of my eye, the hiss of the fuse disappeared down the hole, like a brown snake retreating down its hole. The fact that the fuse was now only three feet from its destination was not lost on the others as Dad alarmingly yelled, “Give her one more go and then we’ll have to run for it!” He had great faith the tree was going to fly!

I, on the other hand, didn’t have much faith in the old Land Rover. This old farm bomb had been through the wars—and a number of gates—when the brakes had failed to work. But there was no problem with stopping that day; rather, the problem was starting. This old farm bomb was about to go boom if we couldn’t get her to move.

But with the tension of an action Hollywood movie, I hit the starter button and two of the four cylinders sprung to life. I shoved her in gear and gave her a gutful of juice as I slammed my foot on the accelerator and took off. We had just enough time to get down the paddock, turn the Land Rover sideways, jump out and take cover behind it. With eyes wide, we watched—an almighty sonic boom reverberated up the valley as the tree began to defy gravity and lift from the ground like a spaceship taking off for the moon. We saw the tree fly. It was only for a moment until gravity took over once again and limbs, leaves and trunk came crashing back to earth. It was over. Now we had the tiresome task of picking up all the sticks scattered like shrapnel across the cultivation. But we were not disappointed! In fact, we were relieved that we lived to tell the tale of the tree that flew.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

The poor apostles, bewildered as usual, asked for an increase in faith. And why did they ask for it? Well, just before this text, Jesus tells them about the rich man and Lazarus, whom we heard about last week, and then he instructs about sin by saying to them, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Then the apostles said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:1–5)

This must have put the fear of God into them. In fact, Jesus gave them the law and it scared the living daylights out of them. The law showed them who they were; it showed them they were trapped in their old vehicles of sin, not going anywhere, while the fuse of life was burning to its end.

So, they asked for an increase in their faith as if this would cure all their problems. As if faith was an antidote for sin. Their faith was not one which saw the tree rip out of the ground and plant itself in the ocean; rather, their faith was one which foresaw the tree ripping from the ground and killing them. Their faith was a faith in their own ability to get themselves going and avoid ruin from the flying debris of sin. Just as Dad, my brother, and I put our faith in an old faulty Land Rover to take us out of the path of an exploding gum tree, they sought to place their faith in the faultiness of their sinful natures.

In Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians (Rom 3:28, 5:1; Gal 2:16, 3:24), he talks about being justified by faith. What is being justified by faith? And weren’t the apostles seeking to do just that—to be justified by faith, to be made right by an increase in faith? Many churches today speak of being justified by faith but, like the apostles, lose sight of what this faith actually is, its source and destination, and what the word of God says about it. In fact, it is your problem too! So often our faith is one in which the mulberry tree—or the gum tree—is removed from the ground through the action and genius of me and you. Where is the faith in God?

Jesus knew the apostles’ wonky ploy; he saw their desire for justification through faith—but without grace. Jesus saw their desire for self-righteous justice rather than mercy through the grace of God. So, he showed the apostles, his right-hand men, the servants that they are, and replaced their question for an increase in faith with a servant’s plea—begging for mercy.

We don’t ask for faith that makes us powerful over sin. The speck of faith God gives us is enough for us to do the work he has called us to do and then look to him as servants still in need of mercy. The speck of faith God gives to us may be smaller than that of a mustard seed, but it enables us to look to God and trust in his grace.

In Ephesians 2:8–10, God’s word tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We are justified by a faith not of our own, given to us as a gift by the Holy Spirit when we hear God’s word, and true faith always points us to the foot of the cross—our tree of life, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners (Gal 2:17); we are unworthy sinners; we are unworthy servants. However, through his power, we are severed from sin and are planted in the waters of baptismal life, where we can continually live by mercy in this stream of God’s grace. Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 16, Proper 21 - Luke 16:19-31 & 1 Timothy 6:12 "Remember and Repent"

We have all done things in our lives that, the moment we’ve done them, we regret. In a second everything changes. Over and over in our minds we remember with such clarity, bit by bit, blow by blow, what occurred—but now it’s too late. It matters not how much we replay in our head how the events unfolded; we can’t take them back, nor the consequences, which after the fact cause so much torment in our remembrance. If only I hadn’t done this, then that wouldn’t have happened! The remembrance of deeds done wrong, whether deliberately or accidentally, makes the pain all the more hellish.

Jesus tells a parable about a nameless rich man and a remembered poor man, Lazarus—named and remembered by God, the angels, and Abraham. This parable reveals heaven and hades, before and after death; before and after the moment death stops us doing anything. In that second, we give up the fight and everything we once had control over.

Today we hear Saint Paul’s words to young pastor Timothy at the church in Ephesus. This is a church that is being tempted to return to Judaism and the synagogue, to the rigours of the law and circumcision, to put off the Holy Spirit and forget the work and reproach of Jesus Christ—to return and remember human works once again. But it’s also a church aroused by pagan Ephesian society, tempted to rethink the faith in Jesus Christ, to believe it is missing out on something, so it flees to the ways of the Greek goddess Artemis (or the Roman goddess Diana) and the temple priests who encourage female worship and idolatry.

To Timothy, Paul says: “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12 ESV)

One can fight for the faith, or fight against the faith. Similarly, one can flee to the faith, or flee from the faith. This is the plight of all human beings, as God watches to see if we remember and allow ourselves to be daily returned to the way of Jesus Christ and the cross—before that moment or second in time when our body can no longer take a breath and we take our last.

Picture your life as it is today. Now imagine your country, your town, your home being invaded by an aggressor. Everything you have, in the blink of an eye, becomes someone else’s property.

You no longer have control over yourself. You are taken by force and, having lost your identity, you are given a new one. It’s impersonal: a number is tattooed on you for identification. Your identity has no name, no gender—just a number in a vast expanse of other numbers. You’re used for whatever purpose your controller sees fit.

Your life today is gone in the blink of an eye; in an instant it is different. Freedom is gone. No longer rich or poor, you are someone else’s possession.

This very thing has happened throughout history as nations invade nations. It doesn’t even need to be annexation by another country. It has happened within countries where culture convulses and a revolution in ideals changes everything in a second. Last century the Bolsheviks overran Russia, and Fascists overran Germany. People lost everything—their property, their identity, and their freedom. Jews in Germany and Christians in Russia were considered second-class citizens, or worse, lower human lifeforms. Picture this against yourself, your time, and your possessions today. Would you survive?

The rich have a lot to lose. If the thought of loss like this frightens you, then perhaps you might consider yourself to be like the rich man in Jesus’ parable. He was tormented, having lost his riches in hades or hell. He was caused to remember what he had, what he lost, and this caused him to be tortured with torment. In that moment he went from wealth to wanting, from succulence to suffering, from delight to desperate desire—making it all the things hell and hades are: remembering in eternal separation. The eternal, “if only I had done that, then this would not be the reality!”

This is the picture of the rich man in the parable who eternally remembers and cannot repent, nor cross the chasm to comfort.

Opposite the rich man in the parable is Lazarus. Lazarus is known by the rich man, because he names him as he cries out from hell. But the rich man didn’t sustain Lazarus in his sumptuous and succulent lifestyle, even though he knew Lazarus was just outside his gate. Lazarus now stands with Abraham.

Abraham is the rich man of the Old Testament. Yet his wealth was more than his many possessions and people.  Rather, Abraham’s true wealth was his faithfulness towards God.  So, Lazarus stands in richness with Abraham who once was rich towards God but is now in God’s eternal richness. Abraham sought the kingdom of God and received it and more while he was alive.

Abraham calls the rich man to remember everything changes once death is in place. What carried the rich man while alive does not carry him anymore. His aggressive nature bound in human sin and self-centredness was not put aside to trust, give thanks, and supply those in need. Now he has an eternity, to remember the earthly opportunity he had to repent, to remember with regret that he chose not to repent, and to eternally remember his separation from God and God’s word of salvation and peace.

So how do I not become like the rich man with all the gifts God has given me? How do I become like Abraham, who trusted more the richness of God than the possessions he had? How can I be eternally comforted like Lazarus?

Notice the reality of Lazarus! Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate. He could do nothing for himself. He desired what fell from the rich man’s table but lay outside without access. He was covered in sores, and they were licked by dogs.  He was doubly unclean. This poor Jew had no way of working his way into the richness of the rich man.

But not only notice Lazarus—notice you have need like Lazarus too. Despite the many riches you have, using them for security in this life or the next makes you doubly unclean. Like the rich man in the parable, trusting your earthly riches and not remembering from whom they came makes you poor.

Remembering and repenting now is better than remembering with regret in hades that “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:3,6 ESV)

Today we all have many possessions, choices of identity, and ways to spend our time. All of them tempt us to build our own kingdoms, full of unclean idols leading to eternal death. How does one prepare themselves so there is no regret once death comes and our earthly choices are translated into an eternal and holy reality?

We return to what Paul instructed the Ephesians to do before Timothy was sent to be their pastor. He says: “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:11–13 ESV)

Like Lazarus, who lay at the gate unable to do anything, Paul calls the church to stand in the active victory of Christ, in God’s armour. He continues: “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:14–18 ESV)

God gives you the privilege to remember, reflect in his richness, repent, and stand in his armour before death comes and all is eternally set. Instead of failing in your poverty for eternal sustenance, allow the Holy Spirit to dress you with armour, allowing Christ’s victory to do its work. We stand in the good fight already fought and won at the cross.

With the active sword of the Spirit—the word of God—let the Holy Spirit help you see, like Lazarus, your helplessness, so you remember Jesus Christ now; so now you remember his victory for you; so in these days before death you allow the Holy Spirit to put you in good standing with God for peace through repentance.

There are no eternal regrets remembering and repenting this side of death. Amen.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, together with your Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, you are the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. Therefore, to you, Lord God, let us give honour and eternal dominion. Amen. 

C, Post-Pentecost 15, Proper 20 - Luke 16:1-13 "Management Mastery"

Luke 16:1–2 (ESV) Jesus also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’”

We hear about mismanagement every day. We experience mismanagement in every facet of life. We see mismanagement occurring everywhere around us.

Fraudsters seem to have their fingers in every pie these days—Internet scams, overpricing, double-dipping, half-truths, con artists painting false pictures of the real situation, and political pork-barrelling to get votes and seize power.

We only have to look at our roads, the debt governments have incurred, and the increasing profits of multinational companies, executives, and politicians. We don’t have to look too hard to hear, see, and experience mismanagement in the Western world.  Managers not managing to manage!

Occasionally, we have the power to remove managers from their positions—at the polls, through motions of no confidence at meetings, or via legal proceedings. Despite this, there still seems to be a golden handshake for those who’ve mismanaged their responsibilities. So, in the scheme of it all, there’s a growing sense of helplessness in our society as “the rich get richer, and the poor get the picture.”

Today and next week, we hear about two rich men from Luke chapter sixteen. Today, the rich man is the master who removes his manager from management. Next week, we will hear about the rich man and Lazarus, who die and stand accountable before God.

So, I put this question to you: “What is being rich?” Or, “How much does one need to have to be considered wealthy?” “Do you consider yourself to be a rich person, a person of wealth?” In my experience, most people look to someone else who is rich—or richer than them. Often, we think of wealth in monetary terms or in one’s number of possessions.

Although we might consider someone else richer or wealthier than ourselves, that doesn’t necessarily mean we see ourselves as poor. This says much about the reality of our riches and how proud we have become of our wealth and possessions.

But whose possessions are they? We only need to be reminded of the rich fool and Jesus’ warning to us: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15 ESV)

I don’t believe anyone would enjoy hearing God say to you, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Jesus concludes, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20–21 ESV)

This rich fool mismanaged the possessions and life given to him. And when God required him to return the management of his life, he was found foolishly short in being rich toward God.

In the parable before us today, the manager is not the rich man, but only the manager of his master’s riches.

The master says, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” (Luke 16:2 ESV)

Just as we hear, see, and experience mismanagement by those called to manage our society today, the master’s attention is turned to the mismanagement of his dishonest manager in the parable. The master is about to end his management.

Although the manager may not have thought of himself as wealthy, he feared losing the management of his master’s wealth and becoming poor. Like the rich fool who did not recognize he only managed the riches of a greater master, the manager was about to lose his life and the riches of his master.

Humanity, from the beginning until now, has been called to manage the common wealth of God given to us in His creation. It’s always easy for us to see and point out the potholes in others’ mismanagement. But every one of us will be called upon to turn in our management and give an account.

How have you managed the riches God has given you?

In the parable, the dishonest manager takes the bill of one debtor and cuts it in half. For another, he reduces the debt so that only eighty percent needs repaying. And when Jesus tells us the master commends the dishonest manager for doing this, it’s easy for us to see the injustice and question: How can this be? Does the manager have the right to cut the master’s debt when one hundred percent should be paid back? It’s understandable that our sense of righteousness kicks in over the seeming injustice of the master’s commendation and the dishonest manager’s continued mismanagement.

Again, we can ask ourselves: “How have I managed the riches and wealth that God has given me?”

These are not just the riches of money and possessions, but the wealth of our time and our freedom too. Then there are the riches of ourselves—our talents, our relationships, our communications, our sexuality, our desires, and our deeds. Each of us can measure our management of God’s gifts by looking within to see where the glory of our management is going!

Going by our own sense of justice, shocked by the parable of the dishonest manager, one hundred percent should be given back to God for all the things we’ve mismanaged. That means every mismanaged feeling, desire, interaction with others, false witness, lustful glance, hateful thought, misuse of authority, and failure to submit to authority, requires one hundred percent repayment.

When God recalls your management at the end of this life, He requires an account. And by our own judgment, fifty or eighty percent repayment is not good enough. The debt of mismanagement must be repaid one hundred percent.

We feel the sting of our own justice bite us when we begin to contemplate the truth of our management. The reality that the removal of our management occurs in death is enough to grab our full attention. But having to give account of our management on judgement day, to receive a room in the house of God causes all to cry out over our mismanagement: “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.” (Luke 16:3 ESV) More so, digging or begging our way out of death and judgement is not possible either!

Unlike the dishonest manager who used unrighteous wealth to make friends and be welcomed into their houses, we can also use the righteous riches of God to receive others into his kingdom. We can cut the bill of others by forgiving them their sins. We can take what they owe and clear their debt.

“Clear their debt! How can this be?” you say! The manager in the parable only dropped the debt to eighty or fifty percent—not one hundred percent! However, Jesus tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12 ESV) Jesus one hundred percent forgives you your sin as you’re called to forgive other people one hundred percent of theirs.

Again, the sting of our own justice returns to bite us—or better still, the reality of our own dishonest and unrighteous management haunts us. Only having to be half-hearted or fifty percent repentant, or eighty percent forgiving, now sounds not too bad when it is our mismanagement of richness toward God at issue!

The gospel in this parable is not immediately apparent, even though the master commends the dishonest manager. Therefore, the good news for us is that Jesus takes our dishonest management and manages it in the richness of God’s debt removal at the cross. Not fifty percent, not eighty percent—but your management is one hundred percent shrewdly forgiven, despite it being recalled in death.

God the Father commends Jesus as the shrewd manager of your salvation and mine. You and I are received into the rooms of God’s eternal house—one hundred percent guaranteed—only because of Jesus. Our efforts are dishonest at best. Yet trusting in Jesus is the shrewdest thing any human can ever do.

While we are called here to manage God’s riches, we continually cry out to God in our mismanagement: “Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me!”

If God the Father is great enough to forgive your debt through the shrewdness of Jesus Christ at the cross, and the Holy Spirit rests upon us as He did on Jesus, trust that the Holy Spirit is working the riches of God’s wealth within the forgiven management of yourself—your talents, your time, and your possessions—given by God, for you to shrewdly glorify him, repenting of sin, forgiving others, and shrewdly managing the daily existence he has given, as you wait for him to end this management. Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 10, Proper 15 - Hebrews 12:1-2 "The Fruitful Faithful Vine"

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

God the Holy Spirit works faith within the hearing hearts of believers, so we might do the things God wants us to do, to please him.  Doing what God wants is doing the will of God.  God gives faith so we receive what he does for us, and so we listen to him and do what he wants.  It’s God’s will to make you holy, so he can live with us, and so we want to live with him in peace. 

In Hebrews eleven, we hear “By faith” God’s people did this, and “by faith”  they did that.  By the will of God, the people of God were led by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, despite being human and sinful, they did what pleased God and waited on him with faith.  By his will, God’s  people allowed the Holy Spirit to lead them to trust him, despite deprivation, degradation and death.

The writer of Hebrews calls us to take this word to heart and also follow the will of God, just as those who have gone beforehand have done.  But the encouragement goes further than just the witness of what they did in faith.  You and I are called to see that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. 

They are alive in Christ in the great resurrection of the dead, that has transported them from this deathly existence within time, into life in the eternal now with God.  They have been perfected by faith.  They have allowed the Holy Spirit to give them the desire to wait for a Saviour, who didn’t come during their time, but has now come and redeemed all those who faithfully wait on the will of God.

These are the folk of faith recalled in the book of Hebrews: Abel, considered useless by his parents, but who faithfully offered a pleasing offering to God, then Noah, Abraham, Moses, the nation of Israel who was faithfully led out of Egypt and into the Red Sea, and Rahab the prostitute who faithfully honoured God, over against her trade, by helping Caleb and his crew spy on Canaan.  Plus, others who while struggling in their weakness, faithfully died by the sword, and were considered unworthy and useless, just like Abel was at the beginning.  Together they are witnesses — literally martyrs — pointing to Jesus Christ, who is their foundation and their perfection from sin. 

But these witnesses are alive, they’re not just memories written down, they’re martyrs resurrected with Jesus, willing you through the living written word by God the Holy Spirit.  Together with the whole company of heaven, they’re not dead, they’re living!

Hear it again, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV)

In the Old Testament reading and the Psalm we hear how sin clung closely to his chosen people of Israel.  Israel was the vine and vineyard of God. 

In Psalm 80 the psalmist calls God — the Shepherd of Israel — similar to that of the 23^rd Psalm.  A warm and comforting image!  But three times in the Psalm there’s a powerful lament, where Israel faithfully honours God by crying out to him, “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Psalm 80:3 ESV)

Israel was the vine that God transplanted from Egypt into Canaan.  God was completely faithful to them, despite periods of faithlessness from them.  Through his faithful servants God’s face shone upon Israel, and remembering this, Israel laments to God, “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.  Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.” (Psalm 80: 8–9, 14–15 ESV)

In a time of great rebellion, Isaiah sings a love song for God, his beloved, about his vineyard, “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; …but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (Isaiah 5:1–2a, 3-4, 7 ESV)

This too is a great witness to us.  Prophets like Isaiah suffered to reveal the sin of God’s people.  King David and his entourage of Psalm writers lament, calling God to return, and his people to repent, to stop being wild grapes, sour grapes of God’s vineyard, the poisonous stench that was growing on the vine God rescued from Egypt. 

Let this powerful witness work!  So, you die daily to self, allowing the Holy Spirit to return you and restore you in faith.  To once again see the shining face of God.  To bring you again and again back to the true source of salvation.

Also hidden amongst Israel’s lament at their failures in Psalm Eighty is a powerful promise. We hear, “But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!”  (Psalm 80:17–18 ESV)

This Son of Man, made strong for God, is God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the fulfilment of Israel, the one who many waited for in faith, while much was going wrong in Israel.  Jesus is the new Israel, that those who endured by faith, were waiting.

Jesus has now come, he has died, and he is risen from the dead.  In faith Israel looked forward to the coming of Christ, and in the same way we too look forward, but to Christ’s second coming!

As we struggle, we are called to cast off “every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”  (Hebrews 12:1b–2a ESV)

Jesus continues to send us the Holy Spirit, so we too, live with faith, and die in faith.  But also, we do so with hope, because Jesus is the new Israel, the perfect Israel, and we are grafted into this Holy Vine of Israel and God the Father is the vinedresser. 

This is the promise:  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:1, 3-5, 7–9 ESV)

Jesus is our true vine, and we are his branches.  We bear the will of God because we are grafted into the resurrected Israel of God.  We are fruitful and faithful because the Holy Spirit wills us to look to Jesus, our founder and perfecter of faith!  Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 9, Proper 14 - Luke 12:32-46 "Forgetting the Faith"

Fear and anxiety are markers of faithlessness.  Faithlessness comes about when we forget God and his promises, seeking to work our own way through the wilderness.  Like someone whose car has broken down in the desert, they try to walk to safety, get lost, and die having been overcome by a hopeless situation.

Do you daily remember God as you travel through the wilderness of this existence?  Our modern society blindly blunders into the unknown having put aside the transcendence of God and all the gifts he promises.  Humanity forgets the gifts of God, because it has firstly, turned its back on God, and forgotten him. 

We Christians are no different.  If someone measured how much you remember God the Father in heaven, in every moment of your day, you may or may not be surprised just how much time you spend forgetting God to be absorbed in mesmerising and memorising yourself!

Imagine if after Jesus was crucified, raised, and ascended into heaven, that was the end of the matter.  Two thousand years after the fact, would you or I remember Jesus Christ? 

I put it to you that most of us struggle to remember what happened a week ago.  Can you remember all the names of your ancestors beyond your grandparents?  So why don’t we forget the holy figure of Jesus Christ, hidden from humanity’s sight two thousand years ago?

We receive faith so we do not forget.  The faith we receive is the faithful witness and work of the Holy Spirit.  God the Holy Spirit was sent, to help us be holy, after God the Son ascended into the hidden realm to the right hand of God the Father.  The Spirit was sent and still comes so we remember our humanity has been hampered and he helps us recall and receive the holiness of God’s heavenly kingdom.

While Jesus was resolutely working his way to the cross for us, he reminds us to, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:32–34 ESV)

We, the little flock of God, are gathered by the Holy Spirit into church, to where we are called as God carries us in his kingdom towards eternity.  Jesus is our prize purse that does not fail, that not even the thief of all thieves , the devil, can steal.  Nor can moth destroy Jesus’ many gifts!  Jesus promises it’s your Heavenly Father’s pleasure to give you, his kingdom.  Indeed, even so it’s Jesus’ pleasure too.  As we hear, he is “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV)

 So then why do we fall into fear and anxiety?  Why do we forget this promise of God?  What happens to faith when we forget God?  What happens when I forget the faith given to me? 

Jesus tells us to be ready for his return saying, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” (Luke 12:35–37a ESV)

Peter asks, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” (Luke 12:41 ESV) We might ask the same thing too, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”

Jesus follows on with a parable teaching every hearer what happens when we forget God and are not ready for the return of our transcendent master.  He says, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.”  (Luke 12:42–46 ESV)

When we forget God, we forget he is master of all things.  Just like the servant in the parable, we forget the true master of our domain and pinch his place.  The servant who forgets God, tries to become God, powerfully abusing God’s other faithful servants.  A foolish servant forgets it’s God’s pleasure to give the kingdom and replace the gift of God with earthy debauched pleasures, like eating and drinking.

It’s here faith has moved from God to the self!  Jesus Christ, the founder, and perfecter, of our faith gets forgotten!  Although we might call on God for an hour a week in worship, maybe a bit more, we burden God with our actions that work against him, making our own kingdoms come.

But making oneself master is fraught with fear and anxiety.  One is constantly looking over the shoulder, in suspicion.  When one forgets God, they suspect every other servant is seeking the same, causing competitive fear and dread! 

Also, deep down there’s knowledge that the true master is returning and will put his household right and remove those who are unrepentantly wrong.  The servant who turns God’s house of holiness into a house of happiness for one’s own ego, rules with fear and anxiety making God’s house a house of horrors for every other servant.  As the old adage goes, “When the cat’s away—or forgotten—the mice will play!”

What makes it even messier is when all forget God is the transcendent master.  The results of this are easily seen everywhere today inside and outside the church.  The mice are at play, playing up in plague proportions.  If you’ve ever experienced the chaos of a mouse plague on a grain farm, you know how devastating it is when the plague is out of control in fear of famine.  The plague can destroy everything!  Humanity is much the same when faith in God is forgotten in favour of fear and human failure at being the master of their own dominion.

The Holy Spirit never strays away to play.  He calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy with the written word of God in Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh.  As we travel through the wilderness of this world, the Holy Spirit mobilises the church to move in Christ.  Just as Moses and the Israelites moved in the wilderness only when the holy pillars of cloud and fire moved, we move and stop in faith given by the Holy Spirit, keeping us in the holy protective confines and convocations of Christ, so we are constantly remembering and returning to the means of grace. 

Allowing the Holy Spirit to work his work of making us holy, removes fear and anxiety for the future. He keeps us in the faith, so we stay dressed ready for action and keep our lamps burning. 

These actions are like the Israelites who ate the Passover, ready to roll into the wilderness at a moment’s notice, towards the land of milk and honey.  We remain ready for action,  ready to repent, forgive, and live—trusting in God as we are moved by the will of God.

The Holy Spirit also keeps the lamp burning, with the good oil of God’s word.  Without his word the Holy Spirit has nothing with which to keep us in Christ.  The church without the word—each of us without the word—forgets God, gets lost, and flounders in hopelessness. 

But abiding under the word of God, keeps us burning as the body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit keeps us moving through the wilderness of this world.  The Holy Spirit throughout history has done the same with many others, who in faith, did not forget God.  With them the Spirit gives us understanding to stand under him who is unseen, remembering the promise of God with determined Christ-like hope despite the hopelessness of all other things.  Amen.   

C, Post-Pentecost 8, Proper 13 - Luke 12:13-21 & Colossians 3:1-11 "Good, Guilt, & God"

Luke 12:13–21 (ESV) Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Existing with unrepentant guilt is not good for one’s existence.  Guilt though however, is an essential part of our created being through which we can learn about ourselves and our relationships with others.

Think about how you feel when guilt comes over you.  How do you react?  What do you do?  What do you think?  What do you try to hide?  Perhaps you’re defending a treasured idea or object! Reflecting on our guilt, despite the discomfort, helps us to identify what is broken within ourselves.  And once recognising what our guilt uncovers, it’s a powerful tool to rebuild what’s busted.

Jesus tells parables, to teach the truths of God the Father to those who have ears to hear.  He does this by exposing our emotions in the stories or parables he teaches.  In them he uncovers the emotional truths hidden within the hearer.  The parables can be painful because he gets to the core of our being where our human hidden reality bubbles and boils like lava deep within the earth.

Jesus tells parables to expose fault in our humanity.  So, in exploring the guilt and its cause, faults can be found, and our humanity can have the holy healing it needs. 

However, no one can fix their own guilt.  Trying only makes the fault line worse, because the internal tectonic plates of our emotions grind against each other only increasing guilt all the more.  Yes, one may be able to fool others with a calm external persona.  But in reality, we only fool ourselves, as the pressure builds before the emotions erupt and one emits the sulphuric state of their true being.

Instead, Jesus tells the parables, we hear his Word, so the Holy Spirit can expose guilt and guide us from it to the goodness of God.  As we’re reminded by the Psalmist in Psalm 107, to “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:1,9 ESV)

On the other hand, what we think is good, seems good, until good gives way to guilt.  In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus touches your heart to reveal guilt, so the Holy Spirit can teach you about your guilt, and the products of fear and anxiety that come from it.

That’s why just prior to this parable Jesus teaches and warns us about hindering the Holy Spirit saying, “…everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:10–12 ESV)

In fact, it’s here Jesus gives us the answer in the Holy Spirit, even before any questions can be thought of, or asked.  Any question only comes from our guilt being provoked by hearing this parable of the rich fool. 

This is the question: What is the good treasure that makes me rich in and towards God?  The Answer: It’s allowing the Holy Spirit to make me holy, through the workings of God’s goodness in Jesus Christ. Alternatively, one could ask: What are the treasures I lay up for myself that diminish richness towards God? The answer: Anything that leads me to put God in second place, cheapen the pricelessness of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and hinders the Holy Spirit from delivering us to Jesus’ forgiveness.

Therefore, Jesus begins the parable by warning the hearer to, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15 ESV)

The rich man covets his goods, and he believes this to be good.  His land is full of life given by God, and it produces plentifully.  But he doesn’t treasure the coming of God’s kingdom nor God for giving him good things.  Instead, idolatry takes a hold of him as he builds his kingdom of pleasures by tearing down and building bigger barns to house his grain and goods. 

The idol of pleasure is his treasure.  This seductive shortsighted “good” is ingrained in him.  Eating, drinking and being merry, appears to be a good thing for many years to come.  But the idol he has built and worked so hard to protect as a result of the productive land will be left to someone else.   He built his barn but didn’t fear or trust that God had built him.  Therefore, his kingdom of coveting collapsed when God demanded back the very life God had given him.

What goods are ingrained in your pursuit of pleasure?  What blasphemous barn are you building to cover your coveting?

The call to not covet is the last of the commandments, but coveting begins down deep in the seat of the emotions and boils up through a person, leading us to fail in some, or all, of the other commandments. 

When one covets, one desires what one thinks is good.  Coveting makes one feel good!  When we get what we covet, chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin are released in the brain giving a hit of immediate pleasure that quickly fades.  No one ever covets something that will make them feel bad.  Feeling bad comes after the apple is eaten; after our knowledge of good proves not to be good in the way we’ve imagined and idolised.  After this comes guilt and its various reactions.

Jesus doesn’t tell us about the reactions of the rich fool after God says to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20 ESV) The reaction is never heard from the rich fool, but instead the heart of the hearer is provoked by Jesus’ parable because of the goods coveted and treasured instead of God.

In Colossians 3 Paul calls all who are raised with Christ and wish to appear with him in glory to, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2 ESV) And to, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”  (Colossians 3:5 ESV) This earthliness is that which is ground into your being.  It’s the dirt of Adam ingrained and deeply rooted in you.  This is the dirt of sin deep within one's mortality from where idols are cast from molten emotions deep within the earthliness of one’s humanity.

The human goodness ingrained in us does not like having its guilt revealed.  But those in Christ, we whose earthliness is revealed by the dirt of our deeds, know although it’s painful having our guilt revealed now, it’s a blessing from God.  It gives opportunity for the Holy Spirit to move us in the goodness of God who has sent the Holy Spirit, to give you faith.  Firstly, belief you are human. That is, earthly vessels or sinners who will perish.  But also, it’s belief that the death and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ, saves from eternal death.

God the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and God the Son to bring us to the Father through the Son.  The Holy Spirit brings us to Jesus with life-giving faith.  Faith is a good gift from God through the Holy Spirit.  When the guilt of our ingrained greed is shown within, the Spirit wills you to run in repentance to Jesus Christ knowing that these trials test, “the genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  (1 Peter 1:7 ESV)

Through repentance, the Holy Spirit puts to death guilt within, and covers forgiven sinners with the blood of Jesus.  We allow the Spirit to put to death what is earthly within because, “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:6 ESV)

Existing with unrepentant guilt is not good, but learning from one’s guilt, by the power of the Holy Spirit, reveals the eternal goodness of God in his Son, Jesus Christ.

When you allow the Spirit to teach you to treasure this, you are reassured, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4 ESV)  Because, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV)   Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 5, Proper 10 - Amos 7:7-17 "Dread"

Amos 7:7–17 (ESV) This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”

Picture yourself in Amos’s sandals.  You’re a sheep farmer and an orchardist and God calls you from your land into a different land.  Then God places before you visions and asks, “What do you see?”  You report what you see, then God calls you to proclaim his Word to others without fear or favour!

What you’re called to say, has occurred through the disobedience of the people, the priests, and the king to whom you’ve been sent.  God calls you to tell them, “God has dropped a dividing line between himself and you.  No longer will God be found in your places of worship, and your holy sanctuaries will lay in waste!”

In Amos’s time, God dropped his plumb line, saying, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.” (Amos 7:11 ESV)

It was God’s “line in the sand” set to cause dread amongst those who heard its proclamation.  Like Amos, having seen God’s vision and then told to tell others what God says, would you obediently report what you’re called to say?  It is a dreadful message to tell!  Who would you dread more; God or those to whom God calls you to proclaim the prophecy?

But it doesn’t end there.  This farmer come prophet from Judah is confronted by the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, who’s reported your prophecy to the king of Israel, and then tells him to get out of Bethel, go home, and prophecy there.  Imagine if God commissioned you to tell the priest, “Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land. ” (Amos 7:17 ESV)

Would you dread telling this to the priest, or more so would you dread God, if you didn’t do what you were told to teach?

Like fear, dread has a positive and negative sense.  Today it’s mainly used negatively.  Dread and fear in a positive sense can lead a person in awe of someone to do great things. Like Amos, the prophets, our Lord Jesus Christ, his apostles and martyrs!  Or negatively, dread and fear can be quite awful, inciting panic and terror in those who refuse being rescued, by the likes of the prophets or the apostles, therefore remaining condemned guilty before God.

Two avenues of dread stand before Amos. Dread in reporting God’s Word to God’s people and how they would react to him.  Or not reporting God’s Word to his people and dreading how God would react with him, if he didn’t report what he was called to see and say!

This was the third vision God showed Amos, after stern prophecies were spoken against God’s people and king in Israel.  But it wasn’t to be the last vision or prophecy. 

The first two visions were firstly, locusts devouring at the end of the growing season.  And then secondly, judgement by fire which was to consume everything in the land.  But both times Amos interceded, and God relented.

Twice Amos says “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (Amos 7:2,5 ESV) And twice, “The Lord relented concerning this: saying, ‘It shall not be’, and ‘this also shall not be.’” (Amos 7:3,6 ESV)

God’s people tested God, and Amos was sent by God to reveal God’s action against his people acting disobediently, the priests of God acting defiantly, and God’s king acting contrarily against God as a rebellious authority.

The plumb line prophecy was the third vision Amos saw, but it was the first of three in which God did not relent.  The first two were set to cause a godly dread and fear to turn God’s people in repentance back to him.  Now the third, fourth, and fifth prophecies were announced through Amos to reveal God’s opposition and cause them dread as they remembered what they defiantly didn’t do.

God showed Amos the fourth vision, and then God says, “‘Amos, what do you see?’ And Amos said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,’ declares the Lord God. ‘So many dead bodies!’ ‘They are thrown everywhere!’ ‘Silence!’” (Amos 8:2–3 ESV)

God promises to no longer forgive his people, he will not pass by or over them in judgement. No longer heeding his Word, God would withdraw from the orchard and no longer grace them with his presence.  God’s own people will be separated from him, left to themselves as dead rotten fruit.  There is unanswerable silence, in God’s deadly absence. 

God reveals continuing dread in what they’ve sought for themselves, saying, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.’” (Amos 8:11 ESV)

To this the Psalmist adds, “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” (Psalm 82:6–8 ESV)

God inherits the nations through death.  In fear and dread people return in repentance to God, through the daily death of self and its pride, or they await dreadful expectations in a death without the Word of the Lord to save them.

This is played out in the fifth vision of Amos where he sees God standing beside the altar saying, “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’” (Amos 9:1,10 ESV)

God did not put the plumb line amongst his enemy.  No!  These were his own chosen people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Amos was called by God, to leave his farm in Judah, to followed God north into Israel, to see the visions of God, and to tell them to the people of God.  Did he dread doing this?  To this Amos testifies, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7–8 ESV)

God had sent a shepherd, to shepherd Israel, to warn them by sending famine in one place and not another.  Yet, over and over again, God’s people did not dread God’s judgement, causing him to declare, over and over again, “yet you did not return to me.” (Amos 4:6,8,9,10,11 ESV) “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12 ESV)

God prophecies through Amos, pointing forward to Jesus Christ as the resurrection of David’s rule that’s fallen, saying, “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them… I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.”  (Amos 9:11,14a,15 ESV)

In our church and society today, many believe, “disaster will not overtake or meet us.”  The use of fear and dread are looked down upon as “not loving our neighbour”.  Yet God is still showing his faithful plumb line, a line in the sand in his Son Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit continues to open God’s Word to us; in the hope we receive Christ from our neighbours and share Christ with our neighbours.

When the silence of death comes, God will inherit the earth.  When we silence God’s Word of warning and believe “disaster will not overtake or meet us”, we should expect to dread, a death in the domain of darkness and the silencing of our sin.  Yet when we turn and trust in God, who will judge all things, then fear and dread leads us to the cross, to cover our sins with Jesus atoning blood for forgiveness, eternal light and life.  

Killing the prophets, re-crucifying Christ, not allowing the Holy Spirit to make us righteous in God’s Word, is still a current warning to all humanity, including you, regardless of how unpopular it is.  The writer of Hebrews reminds God’s people in Christ of his plumb line, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26, 29 ESV)

The saints of God are still being physically and spiritually martyred for their faithfulness.  Where we are shown to be the killers of God, God’s Word and his people, may the dread of this, lead you and me to repentance from the domain of darkness.   So, having been transferred into the kingdom of God’s eternal light, we live in the assurance of God’s forgiveness of our sins. Amen.

Let us pray! Thanks be to God, who still sends out disciples and saints to share God’s Word with their neighbours.  Thank you for pastors who put aside the dread of proclaiming the truth of your Word, so we, your disciples, can be taught and encouraged to proclaim your message of life without fear or favour, without dread or distraction.  Thank you that the death of Jesus Christ saves from the greater dread and fear of eternal death. Amen.