B, Advent 2 - Psalm 85:1-7, 2 Peter 3:9-13, Mark 1:1 "20/20 Vision"

We have lived and are still living in the year 2020.  What’s your 20/20 vision like in the year 2020? Through what glass have you been viewing the year?  It’s been an interesting year to say the least!

If you haven’t noticed there’s been a lot of anger in the world in recent days. 

Anger in creation as temperatures soared and our country burned.

Anger in politics as China challenges over our supply of resources; and anger as they continue to build their military hornet’s nest in the South China Sea.

Anger in the United States as its president favours seizing and holding onto power through whatever it takes, rather than serving in an office under the authority of God!

Anger amongst people as Covid-19 blooms in the population!  Restricting our freedom, killing our kingdom building and its treasures! And destroying many families through death!  Some 1,526,281 people have died (to date — December 5 2020) since the Coronavirus first started killing on January 9, 2020!

How have these things been alerting you to have 20/20 vision?  How is your sight?  What picture are you seeing?

We Christians have a part to play in the year 2020.   We’re called to see and help others to see the deeper reality through the lens of God’s Word.  But being a part of this world our vision is often obstructed by the very same ideologies and idolatry with which the world struggles.

It’s no wonder we struggle to give the reason for our hope in a world that’s spiralling deeper and deeper into hopelessness.

Have you noticed how you are becoming angrier and angrier with others?  We see injustice in every institutional system, including the church. We see the corruption of God’s creation as a civil community and as the environmental ecology is being wrecked?

Where does God fit into this reality?  Or a better question is this: what is your god in this reality?  The reality of your anger and the reality of creation’s corruption! In what do you trust, in these days?  From where do you get your 20/20 sight in the year 2020?

Tell the world, “In the word of God we hear God is a God of love” and you will probably get a responding question, “If God is a God of love, then why is there so much suffering in the world?”  Then we can tell them we suffer because of our sin, and because God is a jealous God he wants us to give up all things we love more than him. God is returning and in his love and anger he will sort out those who trust in him from those who don’t. 

Our culture and its political correctness tempts us to doubt this, and so we as individuals and church sin in our lack of belief and our fear to point others to him.

Psalm 85, the psalm for the second Sunday in Advent, Year B, in the Revised Common Lectionary is used omitting verses 3 to 7.  This is what these verses say.

LORD, you were favourable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.  You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.  Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!  Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?  Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?  Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. (Psalm 85:1–7 ESV)

God gets angry.   So If God is a God who gets angry, why does he show us his love?  After all God has every right to be angry with us!  Especially us in the church when in fear we stop his message of hope going out into the hopelessness of the world!  What kind of faith are we proclaiming to the world and to God?

Psalm 145:8 says more succinctly what is said above, The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 145:8 ESV)

God’s love does not exist in a vacuum.  God’s love always fills the empty, the weak, or that which seems like nothing.  Think of a stronger solution always running into the weaker, concentrating the weaker with the stronger. 

And next to love stands anger.  Anger exists as a result of bad love.  Blocking the flow or reversing God’s love so that the weak dilutes the strong. What do you reckon will happen when God’s church dilutes his holiness and in the process makes God impure and impotent?  God doesn’t let it happen and he gets angry.  If he did allow it he fails to be God and cannot be the love he claims to be in his word. God’s anger and love stand together against our reversing flow of impurity.

In this light we see how we add to the diluting and destruction of our world, especially a world that needs healing and a weak community that needs the concentration of God’s love to reverse the climate change within us and around us.

In the days of John the Baptist, people were waiting for God to act.  He opposed the political incorrectness of the day and he wasn’t found to be “keeping up appearances”, pleasing the masses!

Yet we find the masses coming to John.  But for what?  To repent, to confess their sin and to be baptised in preparation for the coming of their Saviour!  John was being the conduit through which God’s call came.  And those who were prepared by John were allowing the strength of God to flow into them and through them to their weakness and the weakness of the world around them.

See the reality found only in the Son of God and his word.  We know Jesus came to the Jordan and was baptised to fulfil all righteousness.  We know Jesus Christ because we have been baptised into him and all righteousness has been fulfilled for us in his death and resurrection.  As God’s people, in 2020, we’re called to be a channel or an open tube of love through which Jesus can flow to the world. 

God has every right in showing us his anger when we fail to be the vessels through which he flows.  Surely God has withdrawn enough in these days for us to get a 20/20 view of our failure, to see like those who heard John the Baptist and responded with a confession of sin.

But Jesus Christ, God the Son, reversed the flow of sin without diluting the love or the anger of God the Father.  He reversed the flow so the flow of love can continue through us to those around us. 

As much as people want us to believe we can, we cannot fix the world.  Only God can.  Yet we can be a part of the healing by allowing God to flow though us as we forgive and proclaim how we have been forgiven and what God has forgiven in each of us.

So see the great love God has for this world and we who live in it. See the arrival of our Saviour, weak and lying in a manger. See him weak and destitute bearing the anger of God on the Cross.  See him reversing the flow of sin and suffering.  See his patience with you so you can be patient with others who cannot see the hope we have despite the dissolution and death of everything and everyone because of sin.

In the first words of Mark’s Gospel account it says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 ESV)

Jesus’ death and resurrection was the just the beginning.  Today the gospel continues and in the future it will be fulfilled.  Put God’s word under the magnifying glass, in doing so you will not only see your sin but you will magnify God.  See the steadfast love of God in his anger being poured out on his Son in exchange for your sinful hopeless situation. 

Therefore, in Jesus Christ know this: you can do the greater works of believing; these are the mega works Jesus promised to his disciples living in the midst of strife with a 20/20 vision of him. Jesus says,

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12 ESV)

These mega works are works done as forgiven sinners.  We believe, therefore we speak of the joy of being set free from the reality of our sin, so others might be freed of fear and sin.  We can do this when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to Jesus, to feed us with Jesus. To daily reverse the flow and flush the pipes so God’s love of confession and forgiveness can flow from his power into our weakness. Let’s be found doing the greater works of God when Jesus once again arrives at the resurrection of the dead and the final restoration of this world.

Hear the promise of God which was fulfilled in your baptism and will bring you through all fiery trials and temptations. 

The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:9–13 ESV)

Be found by God doing the mega works of faith, confessing sin, believing and confessing God’s forgiveness. Let the Holy Spirit build in you a hunger for the righteousness that is found only in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

A, Lent 4 - John 9:1-7 Ephesians 5:6-17 "Coronavirus Advice 2020"

John 9:1–7 (ESV) As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Jesus has this discussion with his disciples after he walked out of the temple in Jerusalem having spoken sternly with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees had brought a woman caught in the act of adultery testing Jesus with the Law of Moses.  However, as they continued to ask him, Jesus stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7 (ESV)

Jesus throws attention onto their sin and after they fade and fail to condemn, Jesus says to the woman “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” John 8:11 (ESV)

Then Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (ESV)

So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” John 8:21 (ESV)

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 (ESV)

Jesus said all these things in the temple treasury, telling them he was from above and not of this world. Some believed to whom he said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31–32 (ESV)

To those who didn’t believe he said, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”(John 8:47 ESV)

Jesus calls the Pharisees liars, sons of the devil, unbelievers, and unable to hear the word of God.  Jesus does not hold back on speaking the truth.  To which they claim Jesus has a demon.

Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.  Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.  Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”  The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ (John 8:49–52 ESV)

One can imagine that the exchange would have been rather tense.  The truth of Jesus’ word was making the Jews furious.  But in this last exchange there is a subtle change in their interpretation of Jesus’ word.  Jesus says, “he will never see death” but the Pharisees respond, “he will never taste death”.

See death, taste death.  The death to which Jesus referred as seeing was an eternal death; the death to which the Jews referred to as tasting was an earthly death.  In faith Abraham saw in Jesus the death of the eternal death and was glad and died in faith.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58 ESV)

Jesus uses for himself the name of Yahweh, “I am”.  He says it to the Jews in the Jerusalem Temple and their anger boils over as they seek to stone him.  After the Pharisees brought an adulteress to stone, Jesus leaves the temple with them wanting to stone him.

It’s here outside the temple the disciples ask about the man born blind.  Did he sin or did his parents sin?

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:3–5 ESV)

Jesus is the light of the world.  His light is received outside the temple. Is Jesus the light of your world; in the temple of your heart?  Today in Australia, over this entire planet is Jesus the light of denominational Christendom?  He became the light of the blind man’s world through dirt, spit and his word. 

Jesus heard that the Jews had cast out this man healed of his blindness, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”  He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.  Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”  Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”  Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9:35–41 ESV)

We see and our guilt remains!  However, you can see death but never taste death.  Believe your guilt; but even greater believe the death of your guilt.  Believe Jesus, hear his word, place your guilt in him, see your death in his death, repent and believe.  See and taste Jesus, see and taste this steadfast love of God!

The words we hear in these days of COVID – 19 are words of uncertainty, unsettlement, uneasiness, unrest and fear.  There is a panic in the world from Corona virus.  Even before the pandemic arrives words of fear have gone viral around the globe.

Like the Jews in the treasury, truth revealed is unsettling making us feel uneasy.  Even for the church which could be a place of rest there is unrest.

What causes us to fear?  What caused the Pharisees to fear?  Could it be the very same things?

The fear of Death! The death of pleasure! A failing fortune! The collapse of the economy! The death of ourselves, our time, and our possessions!  The fear of all things in which we trust shown to be absolutely useless in the face of crisis.  The powerlessness of people!

Or perhaps you fear God’s word not to be true or that it’s actually true when you’ve been ignoring it and happily sinning.  Or, perhaps your fear is one that forces you to fight even harder to place yourselves in a better position above others and even God’s word to survive the viral pandemic of COVID – 19 and its fear.

Like the disciples some of us will ask of those who get the virus and die from it, whether it was because of their sin?  Jesus clearly says, “No! It’s not from the works of one’s sin.”  Yet Jesus has come to display the works of God in humanity suffering under the pandemic of sin, which does kill.

How does God do this?  He focuses the disciples of his day and his disciples of today (March 22 2020) to work the works of our Father who sent Jesus to us.  Jesus’ work continues with us and through us by power of the Holy Spirit, so we can proclaim words of hope while it is day. 

It appears that we are very quickly descending into darkness.  Fear, panic and uncertainty seem to be alive as much in the denominational churches as it is over the rest of the earth.  This week the Canberra correspondent for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) reporting on Australia’s financial position amid the Corona Virus said, “After the drought and the bushfires, 2020 is looking like the year that God forgot.” [1]

But Jesus has not forgotten us!  He is the light of the world.  God’s work will be displayed in those who carry the virus.  The pandemic will expose believers and unbelievers just as the drought, the bushfires and all other testing events in history have done.

As St Paul proclaims to the Philippians, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21 ESV)

So for all of us we need to wake from our slumber and figure out what is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Being true faithful Christians trusting in the faithfulness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in the one true church hidden in the eudemonic denominations of Christendom is a call to prayer, a call to join Jesus in his work.  This is a work of repentance and faith.

Jesus warns in Luke’s Gospel answering, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:2–5 ESV)

We as the church of God have so much more to offer the world than fear.  The world and denominational churches would have us shut down Jesus healing with spit and dirt.  Faith in Jesus Christ reigns over any pandemic of fear and death. Let Christ’s light shine in you. It shines brighter in the darkness.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:5b, 7–9 ESV)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:6–17 ESV)

And from the Psalmist in Psalm 34, I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!  I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:1–8 ESV)

Amen! 

Heavenly Father in the face of death let us trust in Jesus, so that through Jesus’ death and our death we will see Jesus face to face, who together with the Father and Holy Spirit is worshiped and glorified, one God, now and forever, Amen.

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[1] Andrew Probyn Political correspondent ABC Television News Canberra 16/03/2020