C, Commemoration of All Saints - Luke 6:20-31 Ephesians 1:11-23 "Your Heavenly Place"

What is your heavenly place?  This was the question on the minds of those in the Church at Ephesus. Paul writes to the congregation; this is his letter to the Ephesians.

He contends with the believers in Ephesus, who were tempted to believe they were missing out on their heavenly place, as Ephesus was the site of the pagan temple to Artemis, where the heavens had apparently fallen to earth.

Paul had left Ephesus after three years, following a commotion that was only calmed by the town clerk, who said:

“Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.” (Acts 19:35–36 ESV)

After Ephesus had settled, Paul encouraged the disciples of the Ephesian church and departed. Yet he wrote to them because their hearts were far from calm. He also wrote to Timothy after writing to the congregation, to refocus Timothy, who was unsettled as well.

Where was their heavenly place? Was it back in the synagogue, following the works of the law? No! The curtain of the temple in Jerusalem had long since been torn.

God was now present among his people. He was Immanuel, God with us, in Jesus Christ—risen from the dead, ascended into the hidden heavenly place at the right hand of the Father. Through faith, the living saints join the resurrected saints together with the whole company of heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the body of Christ, his church in God’s holy heavenly place now.

Where was their heavenly place? Was it where heaven supposedly fell to earth? Where the gods sent Artemis, where the sacred stone fell, where the Ephesian church saw the pagan temple thrive with crowds gathering from all over Asia and beyond? Where the world worshipped the goddess, led by her priests and priestesses?  No! This was not the heavenly place either.

From the outset of his letter, Paul points to and proclaims God the Father and his heavenly place. He says:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places … as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3, 10 ESV)

Paul proclaims that the heavenly place was where the church was now—where they received and believed their inheritance and their predestination. Where men, women, and children were adopted as sons through Jesus Christ’s Sonship.

This occurred when they heard the word of truth, which uncovers everything and keeps nothing hidden, and the gospel of salvation, which they heard, exchanging these truths through the richness of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, in their personal redemption through believing the sacrificial blood of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Where is your heavenly place? It is the same place! It is here and now, in the heavenly place of hearing the word of truth, which uncovers the whole truth, which calls for the exchange of these truths with repentance, and the gift of forgiveness through confession, glorifying the goodness of a merciful God.

With the Ephesians, we are encouraged by Paul to hold onto this heavenly place. He says: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4–6 ESV)

Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, seated in the heavenly place, and we too are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You are in God the Father’s family, today and forever.

Like Paul, you are encouraged to kneel before the Father in prayer, to combat the rulers and authorities in the deceptive heavenly places that hide the truth—the false heavenly places of this world. These are the powers and principles of people, no different from those the church in Ephesus struggled with and were tempted to adopt, over against the adoption and fatherhood of our Heavenly Father.

Instead of bowing to these false gods, these authorities and principalities of half-truths and hiddenness, Paul bows to God the Father, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:15 ESV)

Having descended into the depths of hell and ascended to the right hand of God, Jesus is, “far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:14b ESV)

Paul points out to the church in Ephesus: if one is led—or leads others—to a “so-called” heavenly place, and it is not where Jesus is, then one has not been led there by the Holy Spirit, but by the authorities and principalities governing human powers and principles, or directly by the forces of evil that control others. He calls those who wish to remain in Christ’s strength to: “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.” (Ephesians 6:11–12 ESV)

Today we hear the Lukan Beatitudes. Unlike Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus teaches at the Sermon on the Mount, here Jesus teaches at the Sermon on the Plain. In Luke’s account, Jesus speaks of blessings and woes. These blessings and woes give a clear picture of two heavenly places.

The blessings are the reality one receives when the Holy Spirit helps a person follow Jesus Christ and the way of the cross, to his heavenly place. The woes are the reality one receives when they follow the powers and passions of the human heart, and the spiritual forces of evil into the “so-called” heavenly places.

Four blessings and four woes. Where is your heavenly place?

Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated, excluded, reviled, and spurned as evil on account of the Son of Man.

It’s understandable that the church in Ephesus, and Christians today, would be tempted by the woes. The desire to be rich, to be full without hunger, to laugh, to be wanted and praised by others—this sounds like what all of us want.

No doubt the church in Ephesus saw many favour “the devil they knew”, returning to the synagogue.  Some were tempted by the pagan mob to indulge their pleasures at the “heavenly place” where everyone else was going, the pagan temple at the top of town!

However, as it was then in Ephesus, so it is today. The heavenly place that seems easy, that seems too good to be true, is too good to be true. In fact, it is not true or good at all. The powers and principalities at work promote eudaimonic pleasure—that is, “happy spirits” or “good demons” of pleasure—only to deliver eternal pain.

The true heavenly place may seem a sad and sorry place. But it’s veiled and seen only by those who have faith. One needs the Holy Spirit to look past wealth, fullness, laughter, and the shallow pleasures of false fellowship.

The question everyone must answer for themselves—the same question the saints had to answer, the same question those in hell had to answer—is this: What heavenly place do you want?

It was Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, it’s also my prayer, and it’s God will for your prayer too—for all the saints God has hidden within the denominations of Christendom: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:17–18 ESV)

In other words, that the Holy Spirit would give you the eyes of faith, to look past human passions—deceptive at best—and to seek holiness in God’s promise: a holy, eternal kingdom; enduring satisfaction; laughter that never sours; and the promised reward, finally revealed on the great day of the resurrection. Unlike those who will weep and mourn when they lose the perishable goods in which they trust today.

Allow the Holy Spirit to give you a discerning heart, to see the shallowness of human goods and the evidence of all hidden evils, of self, of others, and of the evil one. But even more, allow the Holy Spirit to work in you a knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that you wait on him and the coming of his kingdom.

Amen.

C, Epiphany 6 - All RCL Readings "A Level Playing Field"

Jeremiah 17:5–10  Psalm 1:1–6  1 Corinthians 15:12–20   Luke 6:17–26

The Gospel reading before us today is Luke’s parallel to the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew Chapter five.  Luke however begins by saying, “Jesus came down and stood on a level place”, which here in Luke is why it earns the name, “Sermon on the Plain”.

Jesus had just chosen the twelve disciples, or twelve learners, on the mountain and coming down from doing this, teaches the crowd together with the disciples.

As Matthews Gospel records, Jesus teaches not just Judeans and folk who had come from Jerusalem, but also Gentiles too.  The Gentiles he mentions in his account are from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, this is the region of Southern Lebanon today.

Although the locations seem different between the two accounts, the material Jesus teaches is the same.  He teaches what it is to be blessed.  And it is where we get the name Beatitudes, as beatus is the Medieval Latin word for blessed.

However, Luke also adds a parallel list of woes.  Four blessings are counted by four woes, whereas in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount there are nine blessings.  These are the four in parallel…

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.” “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.”

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”  “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” 

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”   “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”

After the Israelites crossed over the Jordan into Canaan, the land of milk and honey, Joshua led the Israelites, proclaiming blessings and curses from Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal, as Moses had commanded them to do beforehand.  (See Deuteronomy 27-28, Joshua 8:30-35)  

Jesus is the new Joshua announcing blessings and woes.  We know Joshua and his generation died.  Following him, came Judges in Israel who were called to lead the Israelites out of their curses back into the blessings of God.  Unlike Joshua, after Jesus died, he was raised in glory.  In fact, Joshua, like all who die, waits in hope for his resurrection blessing through Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks on the blessings of Jesus’ resurrection and mirrors that against, “if Christ was not raised from the dead”.  If Jesus did not die or was not raised from death, Paul says our faith is vain and futile.  We would be still in our sins.  In other words, we would be the most cursed of all cursed to walk the earth, having falsely trusted and testified about God.

However, we are blessed because Jesus Christ has risen in power over our sin and death.  This blessing was begun in us when we were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection.  So, what do these “woes” have to do with us now that we are baptised into Jesus’ death.

Jesus’ death has everything to do with our woes!  Just as much as his death and resurrection has everything to do with our blessedness!

In fact, Jesus becomes cursed for us, and we receive his blessedness.  Our sinfulness is hung on him on the cross.  A completely desolate, destitute, and deserted Jesus Christ descended into hell in our place.  But, because he was without sin in himself, but selflessly bore our sin according to the will of God the Father, he was raised and has received all the blessings of the first-born Son of God.

Unlike Jesus, we are still journeying through this life.  We live with the hope of our resurrection, but also with the reality of the curse and its woes.  These have been with humanity since Adam and Eve turned from God to the desolation of life without fear in God, without trust in God, and with all love directed inward, towards both one’s good and evil desires.

Just as those from the coastal plains of Tyre and Sidon, as well as those from the hill country of Judea and Jerusalem were taught together with the disciples by Jesus, he levels the playing field with us too.  He levelled the playing field for Jews and Gentiles who heard the same plain message at the Sermon on the plain.

Today it’s still relevant for all believers and unbelievers, pagans, and people of all religious persuasions, and Christendom too.  We all face the droughts of life and the final desolation of life in death.

All of us face the “Blessings and Woes” of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain.  For those not in Jesus Christ the woes and blessing are an inexplicable riddle or a cruel twist of fate in which one lives.  No matter how much good one strives to accomplish, the result is the evil of death.

However, for Christians guided in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit gives plain and simple understanding, in the curses and blessings of us living with the curse of sin and our deeds of sin, and at the same time as living with the blessedness of forgiveness that covers sin. 

As the psalmist says in Psalm 32, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.  [Selah]  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.  [Selah]” (Psalm 32:1–5 ESV)

The Holy Spirit wills us to confess our sins to God.  We acknowledge the poverty in our life and receive the wealth of God’s blessing in Jesus Christ.  For now, it is held in faith and in the hope of the dissolution and death of all life sources other than Jesus’ resurrection.

So too, the death and resurrection of our hunger and fullness, our weeping and laughter, and our exclusion as evil as well as the perverted goodness in pleasures and popularity.

Jesus is like the weed and feed we buy to hose our lawns.  He kills the weeds and feeds our faith in the weary walk through the drought-stricken desolate deadliness of our days we spend here on earth. 

This is not about bringing down the tall poppies around us and making us better than our neighbour.  No!  It’s about the weeding and feeding within each of us, so we all grow together, healthy, and strong.  Like a healthy lawn pleasing the gardener, who has gone to the effort of painstakingly weeding and feeding it.

Jeremiah warns those of us who trust one’s own strength to feed and fertilise themselves.  Those who do, kill themselves with the salts they seek within themselves.   He cautions, “He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”  (Jeremiah 17:6 ESV)

But those who live in the drought-stricken desolate deadliness of our days are called to be weeded and fed in the solution of God’s salvation. 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:7–10 ESV)

God is making desolate the weeds of our sin with his forgiveness in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The wickedness of our sin is being levelled in God’s judgement, poured out on Jesus.  We now live on the splendour of Jesus’ holy faithfulness that led him through death into life with our Heavenly Father.

God knows the way of the righteous because the Holy Spirit continues to destroy your wickedness and make you holy and righteous in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, God knows you better than you even know yourself. 

You have heard him and are being healed from this life’s disease!  Your unclean human spirit, which causes trouble in this life, is being cured of the curse and is being blessed in the body of Christ.  Amen.