C, Holy Trinity - Psalm 8 "God's Majestic Name"

Standing under an evening sky, with no light pollution from cities, is a wonder to behold.  To see the stars in the sky and know that many of them are so large, it would make our sun appear like a speck of dust, if they were alongside each other, makes the mind boggle.  Yet these massive stars join with all the other heavenly beings, to fill the darkened sky as microscopic pinpricks of light in the heavenly curtain of darkness.  As we stand and see their tiny lights radiating towards us, it blows the mind that the light we see now, has been in transit from that star, for years, lightyears. Arriving just now from the era when God created the heavens and the earth. 

But greater than the night sky is God in his magnitude, but also in the minute detail of something so massive and eternal.  We hear that God’s glory is still bigger!  We join with King David, the Psalmist, in contemplating his eternal question, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? You have set your glory above the heavens.” (Psalm 8:1 ESV) David literally says, “O I AM, our ruler!”  The Existing One, is our keeper!  His majesty is immeasurably wide.  But, despite this, David realises we have access to him by simply calling on his name, “Yahweh”, which is “I AM”, I exist!  And furthermore, the glory of his name is greater the heavens!

As a child, on the farm, there were times when I would look at the majestic twilight sky and try to imagine the width and length of eternity.  I stared into the orange light, the cloud tails, and the fading into blue darkness with stars beginning to appear.  No matter what distance I could imagine.  I was in awe that my imaginings, were just that imaginings, only the beginnings, insignificant, terribly shortsighted, and childish.

King David reflects, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” (Psalm 8:2 ESV)

One might think that my childish imaginings are still greater than the cooing and garbled words of babies and infants.  Yet, I am reminded, that before I could imagine and ponder, while I was still an infant totally dependent on my mother, God had set in place strength that stops his enemies or haters, his foes or those who are cramped by him, and the avenger or those who carry a grudge against him.

What is made clear by God to David and us, is that the Almighty, works completely contrary to our intellect and what we imagine to be strength.

It’s at this point David and all of us remember that we’re the babies and infants of Adam.  Imbedded in the way we think, feel, work and reason, is the original sin we’ve inherited from Adam.  This makes me, a child of Adam, ponder the brokenness of my existence in the face of God.  Why would he begin to consider me?  If I am the same as Adam, and the rest of humanity, why shouldn’t his glory write me off and annihilate me?

How often do I regard God as the enemy, when I am suffering, when I don’t get my way, when my actions work against the truth of his word?  Like Adam, I am tempted to see God as the enemy, to see him as a deceiver, and thereby, I am deceived by Satan, the father of lies.  So, standing under the stars, I stand humbly in awe of the privilege of being allowed to live.  My sinful work pales into insignificance compared to the works of God in creation.  I realise how much my sinful being is completely dwarfed by his being, who has created the heavens and the earth, and still preserves everything that exists.

Be it the exquisite minute detail of a flower.  How animals know to migrate at the right time?  The order of the planets revolving around the sun without crashing into each other.  My smallness and my lack of attention to detail is highlighted by God’s extraordinary control of creation.  I am brought back to standing under the stars, not to worship them, but to worship he who made them.

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”  (Psalm 8:3–4 ESV)

Why is God mindful of me?  A child of Adam!  It’s right here at this point where all seems lost, we hear that God cares for the son of man.  He cares for the son of Adam, in spite of our weakness, despite our deadly ungodliness.  Saint Paul reminds us, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6&8 ESV)

The Son of Man is Jesus Christ!  We hear from the author of Hebrews, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:8b–9 ESV)

Adam’s disorder, our disorder, has been handed over to Jesus Christ to reorder.  Nothing has been left outside his control.  This Son of Man is the Son of God.  King David says of God, “Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.” (Psalm 8:5 ESV)

Indeed, Christ was made low, he was willing to go the opposite way to Adam.  Adam unfaithfully sought to be God.  But Jesus faithfully submitted to God the Father, and although he is God the Son, he was prepared to put aside his Godliness, and became human, for you, for me, for King David. 

This is the love of God the Father and God the Son for humanity.  Jesus Christ became the Son of Man.  He became lower than the heavenly beings, lower than the angels.  He became lower than sinful humanity, to serve and save humanity, because God considers humanity the jewel of his creation.

We were the gold of God’s creation but became fool's gold against God.  But God loves us so much he gave the gold of his divinity in his only Son, who suffer death and broke the crucible of hell.  So, we might have the impurities of foolishness removed from us, so we might be the golden children we were meant to be.

When I stand and look at the stars and know that God is greater than these works of his.  And as I ponder that Jesus who was with the Father in his work of creation, departed his dominion to descend below me to the depts of depravity in my place, then my heart leaps in the knowledge of God’s love for me. 

In knowing God’s love in his forgiveness of you and me, through Jesus’ death, see the greater works of God in his work of salvation!  You and I are his new creation, through Jesus Christ!  You and I are perfectly restored in him!

But the love of God does not end there!  The threefold being of love that God is, is for us.  In Christ we have been grafted into God’s circle of love.  The love of God the Father and God the Son is continued in us with the Holy Spirit who in being sent in love from the Father and the Son, now loves to lead us to the Father and the Son. 

With such love, see that we are restored as the golden pinnacle of God’s creation. 

We hear of God, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:6–8 ESV)

In Jesus Christ our care of creation has been reset, since God has given Jesus’ dominion over the works of his hands. The Holy Spirit now works with us, God’s re-creation, to cover our world with care and prayer in his name.  So that the world knows that Yahweh is the Lord, our Lord, through the majesty, the wideness, of his name in all the earth. Amen. 

C, Ash Wednesday - Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 2 Corinthians 5:20a "Be Reconciled To God"

The book of Joel has three chapters.  The first chapter speaks of unstoppable swarms of locusts. Wave after wave, their march has undermined all human efforts.  “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (Joel 1:4 ESV)

Surprisingly, these battalions of grasshoppers, were sent upon Israel by God.  So destructive are the locusts on the land that the inhabitants cannot even make an offering to God.  We hear, “The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord.” (Joel 1:9a ESV) They call a gathering and lament, “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.” (Joel 1:15 ESV)

The second chapter continues the judgement of God upon his people.  The text we have before us speaks of darkness and gloom because the day of the Lord is coming, it is near!  We hear God’s call to repentance and some speculation as to what might happen.  “Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”  (Joel 2:14 ESV)

Notice the desire is not for a blessing for the appeasement of the afflicted, but rather a blessing of produce that the afflicted can offer to God?

Joel calls for repentance proclaiming, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:13 ESV)

The disaster that concerns God, the ruin from which he wants to relent, is affliction that spiritually separates people from him.  If they don’t have the produce, the wine, the grain, the oil, and the meat, they cannot fulfil the required sacrifices under the law, to have fellowship with God.  The greatest suffering humanity faces is separation from God’s steadfast love, where without God one eternally burns in the suffering of their unfulfillable desires!

So, the second half of Joel chapter two and chapter three (the final chapter) change in tone.  Joel, like Moses and many other faithful prophets in Israel, gets the attention of Israel off themselves and the earthly disaster of the day, turning them from themselves, and certain spiritual death.  This is the reason why God has allowed the legion of locusts and the following famine in the first place. 

Like climate change today, the climate change required by God is not out there, but within each of us.  God allows the climate to change in his creation to get our attention.  When we turn from him, his Word, and his way, he allows heartache, to stop us, to turn us, so we allow him to renew our hearts with holy repairs.  God promises to provide for his children.   But he needs our attention, and he requires faithful repentance!

Once God turned Israel and got their attention, Joel then becomes God’s agent of reconciliation.  He speaks of what God will do through his gracious and merciful character, which is slow to anger—in other words, patient—and overflowing with enduring compassion.

He announces what God will do, saying, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.” (Joel 2:28–32 ESV)

These words from Joel are the words Peter also spoke to the crowd at Pentecost, ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven.  The complete fulfilment of Joel’s three chapters of prophecy is finished in Jesus Christ. 

In these days of disobedience, we do well to return to the prophecies of Joel and the other prophets in the Old Testament.  We need to be correctly focused, by God’s Word, from ourselves, back to the steadfast love of God, with which the Holy Spirit cleanses us through the passion of Jesus Christ.

In this time of “Lenten reflection”, God seeks your attention!  He calls you to ponder why Jesus had to come for you!  You do well to reflect on God’s Word in the Old Testament, so the locusts of God’s destruction can chew up your idols.  The very things given to you by God, which should be used to glorify God instead of yourself.

Like King David, you and I, need to allow purification to occur within us, so we can allow the daily drowning and cleansing of the human spirit.  So we can call on the name of the Lord, and receive all the benefits of the Holy Spirit, by which we can offer God right worship.

As Paul requests of the Corinthians, his call continues, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:20b ESV) This is not a reconciliation worked by you or me! But a surrendering within to the work of the Holy Spirit, who purges and cleanses you in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. 

Like Paul, you’re called to see your judgement and flee in repentance from the self to God, namely, to his Son, Jesus Christ, who pours out the Holy Spirit on your flesh, so you can call on the name of the Lord, and trust God’s salvation. 

Let David’s call, be your call, in the name of the Lord, praying, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.”   (Psalm 51:7–13 ESV)

Earlier I pointed out how Joel said, “Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”  (Joel 2:14 ESV) Joel encouraged Israel to see why God would relent and bless them.  So they could make an offering to God with the return of produce, like wine, oil, grain and meat. 

Today you and I need to see what God’s purging and cleansing does!  It helps you to glorify God as the Holy Spirit retrieves you, restores you and remains with you to produce faithfulness and works within you, that please and glorify God.

We all need the Holy Spirit to overcome the human spirit within and will us not to glorify ourselves, but God.  Therefore, like King David, the offering all believers can give to the Lord is to teach transgressors God’s ways, so through the Holy Spirit, other sinners like you and me can have opportunity to return to the Lord, adding to the glory that God deserves. 

On being purged of sin and cleansed by the Holy Spirit, through Christ we are returned to God, so the next generation can be taught about the work of God.  Know this is a God pleasing sacrifice. This glorifies God in our church and in the community, today and tomorrow, and into eternity!  Amen.

B, Post Pentecost 9 Proper 11 - Psalm 89:27-29 & Ephesians 2:13-14, 15b-16 "Second to One"

Ephesians 2:13-14,15b–16 (ESV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

In these days we have heard and seen hostility in speech and action, especially in the United States of America.  They don’t seem to be all that united at the moment.

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump and just days later his formal acceptance of nomination as the Republican candidate for the presidency, have been all over the media.

Joe Biden is also receiving much attention in the media, but for different reasons.  A couple of days ago he came down with Covid.  This follows hot on the heels of successive gaffs and the calling for him to step aside in the presidential race by senior Democrats.

Be it here in Australia, or hearing the hype from the USA, it’s easy to get caught up in the political rivalries of the day.  We all have an opinion on politics and politicians and with it measure the men and women who seek our trust.

Regardless of your political persuasion, leaders today seem to polarise society more so, than at any other time in history.  Possibly, this is because of the immediacy of the media disseminating information through mainstream and social platforms.  But an even greater cause for concern, is the social mindset of people today where individual opinion appears to stand “second to none”.

This “second to none” mindset is the same stealthy modus operandi in which the politicians work.  If you wonder why this is the case, it’s because their actions are reflections of us, in order to receive our recognition to be elected.  Then once they are elected, the “second to none” attitude sees them doing “whatever it takes” to stay in office.

As we’re carried along by the daily dramas of the political contest, we become more polarised in our own position.  Our standing, like that of the politicians who promote them, becomes unbendingly “second to none”.

Being Christians there’s a danger into which we can fall, regardless of the social or political positions in which we take our stand.  Like Biden and his Australian contemporaries, who appeal to a progressive social ethic, and Trump and his right-wing equals in Australia, who seek their support from those who hold a conservative work ethic, the danger is using God to glorify ourselves and our ethical ideologies.  When this happens, God is dethroned as the penultimate in our “second to none” ultimatums!

But there’s a leader that doesn’t do this!  He places himself “second to One” rather than “second to none”, the penultimate to the ultimate authority in heaven and on earth.  That man is King David!  

King David was chosen by God after he rejected Saul, his first chosen King, after Saul offered unauthorised sacrifices and didn’t devote the enemy and the spoil to destruction.  Samuel says to Saul, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”  (1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV)

Saul like many leaders today, stood in leadership, out from under the umbrella of God’s ultimate authority.  Even with much pleading and confession King Saul was not able to continue as king.  (Read for yourself 1 Samuel 15.)  David was eventually made king after God abandoned Saul in battle and he died with his sons.  (Read 1 Samuel 31& 2 Samuel 2:1-4a, 5:1-5)

As children of God, you and I need to be vigilant in our watch that we don’t become children of politicians, making ourselves “second to none” like them and orphan ourselves once again from our Heavenly Father.  King Saul and God’s abandonment of him stands as a warning to all of us!

However, David’s leadership was a faithful leadership “second to One”.  That One was his Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father!

With a conservative Christian heart, you might argue that David did just as bad or worse than Saul’s sin, by committing adultery with Bathsheba, murdering her husband Uriah, and ordered a sinful census of his army.  Or with a progressive Christian heart, you might dismiss the event as David being a victim of circumstances and thereby trivialising the gravity of his sin. 

But God knew David’s heart, as he knew Saul’s heart.  God saw Saul lead as “second to none”, whereas he saw David rule as “second to One”, despite the sin both of them committed.

Far from being rejected as king, God promises David’s rule will be kept by God in his steadfast love forever.

Of him it is said,  “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.  I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.”  (Psalm 89:27–29 ESV)

David’s leadership occurs second to his submission to God’s ultimate transcendent leadership. 

The sooner leaders and their followers come to this understanding the better it will be for all who linger in their lifespan! 

David was second to One, but not only in his day as he served and wrestled with his own sinfulness.  David was second to “the One who was to come”!  And he has come in the line of David, born at Bethlehem.

This man is Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of Man and the Son of God. 

Where all other leaders polarise their constituents against each other’s conservatism or progressivism, Jesus polarises each of us against our own sinfulness within each of us.

Throughout the Psalms David gives us an insight into his internal battle, the polarisation against his own sinfulness.  A battle that all of us know!  A battle that only Jesus Christ wins, and continues to win within you, when you trust him and allow his winning ways.

This battle is the hostility of sin within.  When you’re confronted with someone you deem as an enemy, the old sinful self, seeks to lead you in a “second to none” mindset, known as pride!  In our polarised pride we think we’re against the enemy.  However, our pride and the pride of the enemy can become one and polarise both against God in sin.  This is the conflict fighting within David, as he battles to be without enemies.

Jesus ultimately took on David’s battles and won.  He seeks to take on your internal hostilities too.  Like David, Jesus made himself “second to One”.  He placed himself under the will of the Father.  But greater than David, in his faithfulness being penultimate to God the Father in the way of the cross, he became “second to everyone”.

Knowing this, the battle of sin still continues within us.  The call to follow Jesus and become “second to everyone” riles the polarised prideful principles and power of our human spirit against the Holy Spirit.  You all sense this within as the Holy Spirit daily seeks to kill old Adam and his human spirit.

Know that as this goes on within, the Holy Spirit is further winning the deposit placed in you at baptism.  God seeks to daily break down the violence within, so that despite the hostilities there’s a peace that only God gives to the faithful repentant recipients of his forgiveness.

Paul reminds us of this, speaking of the two being made one, the old Adam and Jesus Christ, the new Adam, so we know that despite our sin, we have the peace of God, the Son of God victorious over your sin, worked by the Holy Spirit within.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.(Ephesians 2:13-14, 15b–16 ESV)

God has won the battle within.  God is winning the battle within!  And God will win the battle within!

Let being “second to none”, like politicians, be undone!  Like King David, let the Holy Spirit place you “second to the Son”.  He gives us Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who is the peace of God within.  So, like Jesus our Lord, we can be “second to everyone” glorifying our Heavenly Father as number One.  Amen.

A, Good Shepherd Sunday, Easter 4 - John 10:7,9 "Identity Under The Good Shepherd"

John 10:7,9 (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Good Shepherd Sunday is full of rich language of a shepherd faithfully leading his sheep and his sheep, having heard his voice, willingly following.

In Acts two we hear the consequences of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost, after Peter preaches a sermon of Law and Gospel that brings three thousand to baptism and faith.  After which, the newly baptised into Christ, persevere and endure under the Apostles’ teaching, holy fellowship, breaking of bread (as both, Holy Communion, and as sharing their earthly gifts), and to prayers.

These were special times and those who believed, full of the Holy Spirit, lived to praise God for what the ascended Jesus had done.

We also hear of the providence our Heavenly Father, likened to a shepherd, in Psalm twenty-three.  King David, the shepherd made king of Israel, knew that to lead he needed to be led by our Father in Heaven.

He identified within himself the need to be cut off from trusting in himself, which was without trust and fear in God, living to writhe in its own desire for pleasure.  Left with himself he was acutely aware of his weak human spirit.  He knew he needed the Holy Spirit to give him a new spirit.  His experience in life was that of the enemy of the self within, aligning itself with the external enemy without.

In a strange irony, the enemies he fought against, were his sinful nature’s greatest allies within, leading him into worry and doubt, then therefore, misusing his authority to pleasure himself as his own god.

Therefore, against this, David claims the Lord as his shepherd.  He has no want.  He lacks nothing in having the Lord as his shepherd.  He does not fear the evil within, nor the evil without, over which he has no control.

In fact, King David’s Lord, his Shepherd, makes him lie down in green pastures, beside peaceful waters!  He knows the Shepherd’s goodness and steadfast love and mercy is constantly hunting him down to bestow upon him common life together with God.  Joyfully returning him to the house of the Lord repeatedly, then eternally, despite the dangers David and others, present to himself.

This  is a picture of restored paradise.  The house of the Lord on earth, even this church, is an image of the eternal, despite all its shortcomings, and its eventual destruction, just as the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

But Jesus is our true temple in which we now have access into the Father’s presence.  The curtain  has been torn asunder and through his suffering and death we have common life together with God our Father. 

In the Gospel reading for Good Shepherd Sunday, Jesus tells us, he is the door, through which one enters into God’s presence.  No one comes to God the Father except through this door.  Jesus Christ is the way, the exodus; the truth, the unhidden reality; the life, the revolving door of faith.  Having been brought to Jesus by the Holy Spirit, one’s sin is uncovered and nailed to the cross.  Those who retain this faith, walk in and out this door on the way of eternal life.

This is the same goodness and steadfast love to which King David refers in the Twenty-third psalm.  This is the same faithfulness with which God is pursuing you, so you might share in the common life of peace and holiness, having been led on the exodus from the self, into the community of God’s pleasure.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd as well as the door to salvation.  Many doubt this though and need encouragement as a result of suffering and the hopelessness that comes from being seduced by the spirit of this age. 

God the Father’s church gathered by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, the family, historical tradition from the democracy of those who’ve died, all these forms of authority, are looked on with suspicion by society today.  This feeds one’s doubt and disbelief! 

Unfortunately, with this suspicion of all authority, the spirit of the age is believed, and one is encouraged to seek happiness within the self.  But once there, seeing the ugly reality of the unhidden self, the mirage of happiness just seems to move further away.

Like King David, our inner sinful self, our human spirit, allies itself with the spirit of the society in which we live, even though we know it’s completely corrupt.

Those in Peter’s day struggled under persecution and hopelessness of that age as well.  He proclaims, “By his wounds you have been healed.  For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  (1 Peter 2:24b–25 ESV)

Our Good Shepherd watches over all who have been baptised, he has underwritten the assurance of our salvation with his own resurrected life.  The resurrection of Jesus is the hope that surpasses all other hopes because all other hopes lead to hopelessness!

The essence of this Good Shepherd comes from God the Father, and from the Father together with the Son, the shepherding of our souls continues today, as the Holy Spirit is sent to shepherd those who identify as the Good Shepherd’s sheep.

Jesus, as the Lamb of God, committed no sin, spoke without hiddenness or trickery, did not abuse or repay abuse, and bore pain without revenge. 

We his sheep know we need this Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, because of our sin!    Isaiah proclaims the unhidden truth of Jesus, when he says, “We all like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Peter picks up Isaiah’s thought from Scripture, and from his witness adds, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By his wounds you have been healed.”  (1 Peter 2:24 ESV)

Like King David, Peter knew by experience that he needed the Good Shepherd to bring him to the door of salvation.  Peter knew his sinfulness conspired with the sinfulness of all others to put Jesus on the cross.  It was Jesus alone who walked the way of the cross, who bore the unhidden truth of every person’s inner self on the cross, and lived the life that pleased our heavenly Father, despite the cross.

We now have the door open to confession, where we can have the deathliness of our sin, daily nailed to the cross, without costing us eternal death.  This is the true door that is Jesus Christ.

We steal and plunder God of his goodness by seeking to enter God’s kingdom through any other works, either good or evil.  But those who enter by the door that is Jesus Christ, have done so by the Good Shepherd.  He leads with the word of his rod, this is the Law, and his saving staff, which is the Gospel.   

Therefore, having been unhidden by his word of Law, are cleansed in his blood, through the work of the Holy Spirit who gives us the holy identity as God’s own Son. 

This cleansing is good news for those who believe it and receive it.  This is the Gospel of salvation for those who identify under the Sonship and subordination of Jesus Christ!

Jesus says to you, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:7,9 ESV)

Let us pray: Triune God you are three Shepherds, but one loving God.  Because you lead us, because you became one of us, and because you gather us, surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life, because you dwell here within the temple of our body, your body, so we might live with you forever in the paradise of your pleasures, your eternal body.  Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 15 Proper 20 - 1 Timothy 2:1-7 "Our Common Wealth"

1 Timothy 2:1–7 (ESV)  First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,  who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Being a King, Queen, President, a leader of people, presents with it, a whole bunch of pressures that can render their office of leadership dysfunctional.

Dysfunction of the office of a leader might occur for many different reasons.  It might be dysfunctional because it’s not performing its proper function, not doing what it was originally intended to do.  It might be socially malignant, sapping society of the things it needs to remain balanced and stable.  It could be disobedient or rebellious in some way.  Or it might exist for no particular reason, good for nothing, unproductive and a waste of everyone’s time and energy.

There’s cause for us to reflect on the leadership under which our nation lives.  The royal monarchical system in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the succession of King Charles III.

Before we go any further this is not going to be a sermon on the benefits of a monarchy over against a republic.  This issue is already a discussion in the media and public galleries.  But our focus here today is on the status quo, and it would be the same if we were a republic and our president had died.

That aside, the pressure of leadership to remain functional is one a leader has to take seriously.  Throughout history many a leader has had his or her leadership overthrown because it has become dysfunctional.  Sometimes the leader has been dethroned by being decapitated, literally beheaded. 

Deposition of a leader happens for a number of different reasons.  Coveting power, some will seek to seize control by overthrowing a leader, regardless of their office being functional or dysfunctional.  A revolution might occur, and a leader is deposed.  Or, at an election, a leader might be voted out democratically.

On the other hand, the leader might be a tyrant, a psychopath, a sociopath, or a fool.  These leaders are narcissist, egotistical, and self-absorbed.  Their leadership is one driven by the principal that there is no one greater than them.  Often, they live with a “saviour complex” or a “white knight syndrome”.   This might be as subtle as a desire to help someone that really does not want help, or it might be as extreme as Adolph Hitler and his Führer Principal.

Our focus is not on leaders who get thrown out for whatever reason.  But rather, what makes a good leader, how we benefit under this said good leader, and what we can do to encourage them in their leadership.

Jesus Christ is our obvious “go to”, as the benchmark for a truly good king.  He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.  His leadership is truly impartial, for the benefit of all people, just, reconciliatory, all-conquering, enduring, leading to a peace that is eternal which surpasses all human understanding.

Why is his leadership, the go-to leadership of all leaderships?  Jesus’ leadership is one of complete transparency.  God has no hidden desire in Jesus’ mediation between himself and humanity.  Jesus hides nothing!  He brings sin out of darkness and into the light.   He goes into the hearts of men and women, exposing sin and shame, and takes it to the cross  for all to see forgiveness in his death.

This leadership is second to none because not only does he mediate between God and humanity, in his death, but that he is  both innocent in himself and God the Son, holy and eternal.

It is leadership many believe too good to be true!  Why?

Because if you or I were a leader we would place ourselves in a  favourable position.  We would take privileges, not give them up.  We would seek pleasures rather than endure suffering and pain.  We would enjoy our rights rather than give them up and serve in second place.  That’s why, for some, it is easier to believe Jesus’ leadership is too good to be true!

But Jesus did this, as God the Son, in the Man of Nazareth, born to Mary, laid in a humble feed trough, and enthroned as King on the cross.  And we put him there because  we deemed his leadership as useless, joining in with his people, saying, “we have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15 ESV)

You might say, “O, but I was not there, I am not a Jewish leader.”  But your human spirit is no different to that of the scribes and the pharisees who condemned his leadership, nor Peter and the disciples who fled in fear! 

That’s why Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to convict all people of sin, and bring to repentance, those who bow down in the exposing light of our true Leader’s Love and life giving.

Because Jesus is our King of Kings, truly unhiding the reality of our sinful being, we can learn a lot from King David also.  Even though he was before Jesus Christ in a chronological sense, Jesus was before him and above him, even though Jesus was born as a human, after David.

When Jesus was born, he could have easily made himself second to none, but he gave up his divinity as the Son of God and placed himself under humanity, as the Son of Man, the servant Saviour of sinners.  In doing this he fully submitted to the will of God the Father.

Unlike Jesus, David was a sinful man, his being was sinful, and he did sinful things.    But despite his sinfulness he, like Jesus, placed himself under the authority of God.  When he sinned, he received God’s correction.  When he was successful, he gave the glory to God.  David was honestly aware of his humanity, its weakness, its desire, and its sinfulness.   David knew he was not second to none, but that he was a distant second to God his Father.

The un-hiddenness of David’s kingship was blessed by God as David collected and penned Jesus’ prayers in the Psalms.  The reality of David’s great joys and deep sorrows are ours in the Psalms.  We hear the heart of David, but even more so, we hear the heart of Jesus Christ, God the Son.

How amazing we have the Word of God, in the heartfelt words of these kings who placed themselves under the authority of God the Father.  Especially since the greatest threat to us is not what is going on outwardly with others, but inwardly within us!

Leaders, even more so than us, deal with the demons within, as those without, seek to disrupt faithful leadership.  It’s very real that the Old Adam, the human spirit within, finds allies with the spirit of the world, and spirits within the world.  Even when the world attacks us, we often find the Old Adam within, joins in with the attack on our new nature in Jesus.

When King David wrote the imprecatory Psalms, Psalms denouncing his enemies, David wanted God to have victory over the enemy within him, just as much as he wanted a kingdom without the threat of his enemies.  David wanted to be without chaos within as well!  He wanted peace with his God.

Jesus and King David stand as examples of good leaders because they, having the authority to be second to none, willingly placed themselves under the authority of someone greater.  We can too, being voluntary princes and princesses in God’s kingdom!  In fact, we have the authority from God to be such!  We are his people, allowing the Holy Spirit to place us under God’s supreme rule.

We can praise God like David and Jesus did to others, and we can intercede for those around us, faithfully praying to our Heavenly Father to bless our enemies and our friends.

Like Paul encourages Timothy, we too are encouraged, “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  (1 Timothy 2:1–4 ESV)

We pray for our leaders knowing that both us and our leaders are under the one head, Jesus Christ.

We do so with hearts of praise like King David who calls us to, “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!  From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!”  (Psalm 113:1–3 ESV)

In these days remembering Elizabeth our Queen of blessed memory, we realise and praise God for her faithful service under God.  We could see her position as Queen of Australia and the Commonwealth as not being very functional.  Indeed, that is why some are calling for Australia to become a republic. 

You might be tempted to see her leadership, King Charles III’s leadership, a republican leadership or even the political landscape at home as useless and dysfunctional.  But you and I need to remember we live under our common wealth of God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

Queen Elizabeth II could very well have seen her royal duty as redundant in this age.  But like Jesus she served her people before God the Father, regardless of them serving her or not.

We praise God that under her submission to him we have lived peaceful and quiet lives.  And now that we have a King its time for us to join under our common wealth in Jesus Christ to hold up in prayer King Charles III, that he too might follow in his mother’s footsteps of submission and servitude to our Heavenly Father.  Amen.