A, Epiphany 4 - Matthew 5:6 "Hunger & Thirst"

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 ESV)

When a person is blessed, they’re set apart, they’re privileged, and they’re given more.  Some translations use the word “happy” but being blessed is happier than happy, rather one is holy when one is blessed.  Jesus declares this blessedness comes as a result of what?  Being poor in spirit, meek; or those who mourn, or are reviled and persecuted!

In the midst of these beatitudes, or these “attitudes of being holy” we hear those are blessed who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and yet only a few words later Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10 (ESV)

Now we must understand that righteousness here is not anything we can do for ourselves. For if one could obtain righteousness for and by themselves, then there would be no hunger or thirsting for it.  I’d just fill myself with righteousness.  But the appetite for righteousness is fulfilled when one is fed by someone else.

So we are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.  What is this hunger and thirst?  It is the desire, the passion, the yearning, and the craving.  It is the intense need for that which one hasn’t got, and so desperately needs or wants.  One might even say blessed are those who covet righteousness.  How can one covet righteousness and receive the kingdom of heaven? 

It’s an interesting question to ponder.  One that King David considered too!

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honours those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15 (ESV)

He asks the Lord, “Who can stop with you?  Who can hang out in your holy presence?  And then he worships God saying, he who walks perfectly without blame, does right, speaks the truth in and from his heart,  and conducts himself or herself in such a way, even if they suffer hurt from it they stick to their guns.

It’s at this point I begin to realise that the righteousness required to receive the kingdom of heaven is one that’s going to hurt; for righteousness’ sake I’m going to be landing smack bang in the middle of persecution.

Now I suspect you like me don’t like the idea of suffering and pain.  So then how am I to crave or covet God, his kingdom, and his righteousness?  Reality tells me it’s easier to seek first everything else rather than the kingdom of God, and it’s a lot less painful for my every day existence.

It seems to me I’m in trouble.  The word of God makes it quite clear, any showy self-righteous acts are just a complete waste of time.  Oh yes, they might make me feel good about myself but they’re not going to advance my cause before God.  I will be held high in the eyes of others but this is just vain glory, and if I believe my own popularity, I’m playing a game of deadly deception with myself.  Yes it appears any of my righteous deeds are about as popular with God, as one of my dogs coming to me for praise after it’s been rolling in its own filth!

You and I are in big trouble!  Left to ourselves and our own devices we neither have a hunger nor a thirst for righteousness, so therefore we won’t be satisfied, blessed, or made holy.  How can one desire something when one doesn’t even know what it is lest have the hunger or thirst for it anyway?

On the other hand, having been made known about the righteousness of God, I still don’t seek it, if I am honest with myself.  Time and time again I try to do the right thing but fail.  Over and over and over I act more like my foul smelling dog returning to its filth.  I try to be mission minded, I try to be forgiving, I try to be accepting of others, but deep within me rages my desire to throttle all the tall poppies around me so I’m the only one left standing proud and tall. 

The righteousness that I so often seek is one that persecutes all others so I can build my own kingdom where I can have my own way!

Yet God still comes to me in this condition.  This is truly surprising to me!  Why should I deserve such graciousness?  After all I know I am in trouble, I see in all my actions, a seeking of self righteousness.  Either I hold up my thin veil of pride to hide reality, or the veil falls away and I see the shame of one who cannot save myself from death.  But he still comes!

He sent his only Son to fulfil all righteousness!  The Son of God arrived at the Jordan, John baptised him into my life and I have been baptised into his.  And now Jesus fulfils all righteousness in me, and he does for you too!  He walks with me through life, taking what is mine and giving me what is his.  He takes my wretched cross and gives me his glorified crown!

… you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31 ESV)

He has places in you and me, even while we still struggle with the old sinful self, forgiveness and faith, blessedness and salvation, despite what we see in ourselves.  He makes us holy and happier knowing we have been freed from trouble even as we struggle with all the troubles in the world. 

And even as we struggle with the cravings and desires that lead us to covet all the unrighteous stuff around us I can say …The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1 ESV)

So whom shall you fear or be afraid?  Certainly not yourself, definitely not the devil, and you needn’t worry about the world either.  But in the reality of all this trouble we can constantly ask the Lord as King David asks of him…

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:4–5 (ESV) 

In the midst of tribulation troubles and toils, you can boast in the Lord and receive his blessings.  Therefore you can pursue God in prayer.  You can ask him to change your attitudes of being.  You can call on Jesus to fulfil all righteousness within you, and to lead you into his word so you can bear the wisdom of Christ.  And in doing so you will find yourself desiring and craving the temple of the Lord, seeking the beauty of the Lord and see him living this beauty in you as you are constantly immersed in and sprinkled with his word.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6 (ESV)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 ESV)

Amen.

A, Epiphany General - John 1:10-14 "The Names of Jesus in his Word"

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John 1:10–14 (ESV) He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Twelve days of Christmas comes and goes each year and then the church year rolls into the season of Epiphany.  Epiphany is really an extension of the Christmas season; we’ve heard how the Word of God was made flesh in the Advent and Christmas bible narratives; how God sent his Son into the world to save the world.  In doing so Jesus was first revealed to the shepherds as a human; a baby in the manger.

Christmas is the season which celebrates the epiphany of Jesus as a human being; the revelation or the uncovering of the child.  And so until Ash Wednesday and Lent the Epiphany season proper breaks forth.  The baby boy born to Mary has been reveal, and now in Epiphany the church emphasises just who the flesh of this child actually veils.

The Word became flesh, and so we hear and are called to believe the flesh of this child, the flesh of this man crucified on the cross, is the one and only Son of God, the Word of God, that he in fact is God the Son, with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev 1:8).

Yet it’s here in the message of Epiphany that both believers and non-believers become confused and confounded that this Christ Child born in this world is the eternally existing Son of God, eternally being born of the Father, whom from both the Holy Spirit proceeds.  Infinite, immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, yet a fragile, weak, baby born into the confusion of a world that neither knew him, nor wanted to know him!

In the reading before us John says, He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. And still today, even more so perhaps, in this age of human reason we struggle to comprehend what’s written in the Word of God about the child, the man, he who was sent to bear the burden of our sin!

During the course of my faith journey, my confusion over this mystery became obvious to me as I constantly over looked something quite simple in God’s written Word.  God’s Word was speaking but I wasn’t hearing the full depth of what God was trying to tell me, in this particular area.  I know there are many areas of God’s Word we don’t really understand; that all will be revealed and made plain for us in our resurrection!  But it seems I, like all of us, got lost in my own little world of understanding; reading the Word, but not seeing something in the sea of Scripture before me.

But God in his patience and glorious beauty, continually leads us back into his word, and in his time, manifests himself to all of us who continue in confession, repentance, and hearing the Word of God.

John continues …to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

“To believe in his name” this phrase and others struck me over time that I need sorting out in my own understanding, the uses of the names of Jesus in his Word.  Over time the Holy Spirit showed me something quite simple that perhaps I had taken for granted, glossed over many times, and not really thought much about in its right context.

The beautiful thing with repentance is when we overlook what we shouldn’t; God stops us and turns us back for another go.  Repentance is not what so many of us see as a threat of wrathful vengeance from God but rather loving redirection and correction from our Heavenly Father.  One can learn from their mistakes, be led to the “ah ha” moment and praise God through what he’s taught us from our missing the mark.

So moving along, I hope and pray we all might learn from my missing the mark, busyness of my self-centred mind and overlooking of Scripture, by looking at the use of the names for Jesus in the New Testament, and the context of their uses. 

By stopping and considering what God is saying through the bible writers it has been a part of my faith growth; a personal epiphany, as it were; one of those delightful “ah ha” moments one has in their lives.

When hearing the New Testament, Jesus is mentioned many times as we would expect.  But he has many titles.  My focus is more on the use of his name rather than titles like “the Good Shepherd, the way, the truth and the life, the gate, the Alpha and the Omega, and the many other titles these pictures paint.

The focus here is on the names; Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, the Son of God, God the Son, the Messiah, the Saviour, the Christ of God, the Lord’s Christ, Christ the King, Christ Crucified, the Chosen One, Immanuel, and the simple singular name of Jesus, and the name Christ, and lastly when Jesus says “I am”.  

Asking questions of the text is a healthy thing to do.  Unfortunately when something usually crops up that’s a bit difficult we have a tendency to overlook it or brush it aside, but enduring in the text is good for us, it increases our hunger for the things of God, and God himself.  In fact, persevering in his word glorifies him and pleases him no end that we seek him in his word. And God will not leave your questions unanswered.  He will open the doors of understanding, in his time, in his way, and to the praise of his glory, rather than yours or mine.

The mistake I make, as do many of us in this post resurrection and ascension era of the church, is when hearing all these names I think, “Yep, this is Jesus, Son of God.”   This is not wrong in itself, rather it is spot on, yet I neglect the context of each of the names used in the context of the day they were used and by who spoke them.

You see the Jews of Jesus’ day would have been quite happy for Jesus of Nazareth to be the Saviour.  But what are they talking about and what do we understand them to say?  It is quite easy to hear in our post ascension understanding something entirely different to what was actually being said on the day.   Their view of saviour is very different to ours, because we now live with all the evidence, the complete written account. 

Their saviour was another man, a king, like King David who was to ride into Jerusalem and over throw the Romans.  But our Saviour is one who is the Christ, (the anointed, or the messiah), who is both the Son of Man born of woman, and God the Son of the Father from eternity, who claimed to be God but gave up his power as God. 

And so for us today an epiphany of Jesus Christ in our lives occurs when allowing Scripture to distinguish between that which became flesh, the baby Jesus, the man Jesus.  And the Word which became flesh, God the Son, Immanuel (God with us), the Lord’s Christ or Anointed and so forth.

We live post cross, resurrection and ascension.  It’s true we may more easily believe that Jesus is God the Son and the Son of Man; he is both crowned eternal King, and Lord of Lords; and is human like you and me; crucified and raised and now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, glorified in human flesh. 

But for revelation, epiphany or manifestation of Jesus as our Saviour in our day to day context of birth, existence, blessings and struggles, aging and dying, we need to hear who is being spoken of, who is speaking it, by whose power are they saying it, when and where it is said in relation to the Good Friday Crucifixion.  Is it being said to a physical audience (of Jews, disciples, or folk of Jesus’ day) or a written audience (such as a congregation or individuals in the early church or even us today)?

As you endure in his Word, asking questions of him in his Word, God will answer.  In receiving him you will believe him.  In other words the more you hear and understand the more you will want to hear and understand.  The Holy Spirit will work in the Word; the scales will fall from your eyes and keep on falling every day until that glorious long-awaited day.  We will be eternally transfigured, once and for all the veil will be removed, saved and anointed by his death and resurrection we will see him face to face, at the great eternal epiphany. 

May the Word who became flesh, dwell among you, and in his word you see his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth, Amen.

 

C, Pentecost 14 Proper 16 - Hebrews 12:28 "Awful and Awesome"

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Hebrews 12:28 (ESV) …let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…

Have you ever thought about the word “awe”?  It’s a funny little word.  Place a suffix on the end of it and awe can have the opposite of meanings.  Such as the words “awful and awesome”!  Hearing awesome or awful leads today’s mind in two very different directions.

About one thousand years ago the word awful wasn’t negative as we use it today.  Back then being awful was being “worthy of awe” or “awe-inspiring”.  Similarly the word fear seems to have gone the same way.  Fearing God to many today means being scared of God.  But really to fear God, is giving him your full attention, addressing him, or facing him.  This could be in a positive or a negative way.  So too being in awe of someone, leads one to face someone giving them the honour they command, be it as one who is loved or loathed!  Therefore it’s easy to see today how “awful” takes on the meaning of causing dread or being frightful, very ugly, or horrible.

“Awesome” on the other hand came into the vernacular about five hundred years ago.  Being awesome back then meant something had “the quality of awe”.  But today from the influence of American culture delivered to us here in Australia via the media awesome means cool, great, or amazing.  Awesome has become a positive exclamation in our modern culture.

In light of these two words and their meaning today you might ponder, “What makes worship acceptable to you?” Is it the same which makes worship acceptable to God?  Is being in church awful or awesome?   Be brutally honest with yourself and with your Heavenly Father!  Is the prospect of coming to church something which is appealing or handsome, or is it a handful!  Just another laborious task, another job you’ve got to do in the juggle of all the chores demanding your time?

The very same thing was going on for those in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath day, Saturday, was set aside by God for man to rest from his work, but also to rest in God’s presence.  However, this had been turned into just another task!  A work lost in the demands of men rather than in the overwhelming joy and privilege to stop in God’s rest to hear his word and be served in its hearing.  After all God is worthy of being heard; acceptable worship in God’s eyes is when we stop and allow God to be God!

The Gospel reading today tells us, [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”  And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue [was] indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath… Luke 13:10–14a (ESV)

Notice the reaction of the woman and the ruler of the synagogue!  One focused on God, the other on the work that was done by this man, Jesus of Nazareth.  To think like the people of Jesus’ day, we must not immediately see Jesus as God, but rather as one who was teaching the word of God; calling the congregation at the synagogue to look to the Father in heaven.  In doing so, we can appreciate more the worship of the congregation who glorifies God the Father, and not God the Son, hidden in the person of the healer, Jesus Christ.

One can only wonder how this healing would be received today.  Would we as a congregation worship God as did the woman who was healed?  Would you be displeased the service was not adhered to?  Or would you place you awe struck attention on praising the healer or even the person healed?  Who or what would you glorify?  To what would your heart be drawn?  What here would be offering acceptable worship to God?

The answer to these questions, tells us if our worship is awesome or awful.  It reveals whether we revere God as awesome or awful!  Honestly delving into the depths of our own heart with these questions will show us that each of us has a heart like the synagogue ruler.  We humans like to take the things of God and twist them to please ourselves. Both pastor and parishioner shrewdly turn events so they serve us rather than what God originally sought them to do.

And so we come to the word “worship”.  What is worship?  To worship God pleasingly is what?  Let’s not look for its meaning, but rather the function and purpose of worship.  If we look for meaning then we end up having to do something that might or might not please God.  But when we look for function and purpose in worship, we allow worship to work, or rather the word of God to act in us while we rest in God’s presence.  This then is God pleasing worship which does something with us.  So in turn worship is then both functional and meaningful!

Unfortunately, worship has become a very slippery word these days due to individualism and focus on personal experience or on what pleases the self.  The Greek word for worship is from where we get the word “liturgy”.  Liturgy is not originally a “church word” but simply means “public service” or “the work of the people”.  And it also means “to minister”.   So when we participate in God pleasing worship the work of the people of God will naturally be pleasing to God.  

We begin to see that acceptable worship, with due reverence and awe towards God is much more than what we do for one hour inside church walls each Sunday.  That in fact acceptable worship beings and continues each week in the hearing of God’s word and allowing the Holy Spirit to live it out in us every hour of every day.

Once the Sunday service was called the “Divine Service”!  It then became known as the “Worship Service”.  And many today look for a one hour “Worship Experience”.   But I admit that I have never felt a worship experience for every hour of any day, let alone all the time!  In fact if I am brutally honest with myself I experience doubts, worries, and a desire to please myself most of the time.  How then can I offer acceptable worship with reverence and awe to God when what comes from me should be awesome but rather is awfully bad in God’s sight most of the time?

Isaiah offers us an answer…

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;  then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13–14 (ESV)

These are good words!  But how do I turn from my own entrenched self seeking ways?  When my mind desires to serve and please me!  My deeds lead me to want to lord it over others!  So much so, I constantly seek to replace God with the idols of my own heart!

Thankfully Isaiah was looking forward to the day of deliverance when Jesus, the son of Mary, where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took your place on the cross and gives you his eternal life.  No more blood, sweat, and tears trying to earn it.  Jesus has done it for you on the cross!  In a truly awful but awesome way on Good Friday!  Let’s now hear of the eternal congregation into which we are called.

…you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,  and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22–24 (ESV)

Letting Jesus Christ be God the Son in your life is truly awesome.  His desire, together with that of the Father and the Holy Spirit, is for you to allow Jesus to do the work for you.  When we allow God to serve us he makes us his children and prepares us for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.  Surrendering to God’s plan and action is God acceptable worship.  You show God reverence and awe trusting the Spirit’s work in your baptism into Jesus’ death which raises you to faith and eternal life.  Just as Jesus was raised from the dead and now lives too.

There’s no experience greater than knowing God’s pleasure is to give you the kingdom.  There’s no pleasure greater than letting God have complete power over your life to forgive sin, ease your troubled consciences, to lead you away from temptation and to deliver you from your own evil heart, and the tricks of the evil one into faith hope and love. 

Having heard these awesome things from the written Word of your awesome God, being grateful, seeking forgiveness, striving to come closer to God, so the light of his Word might expose and forgive the deeper imbedded sins of your old nature is acceptable worship.  Using God in the very way he desires to be used accords him all honour and reverence.  And for this we can praise him!  Knowing all this and not allowing an awesome God access into your heart, is an awful waste.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe… Amen.

C, Pentecost 11 Proper 13 - Luke 12:13-15 "What's the deal with coveting?"

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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.”  (Luke 12:13–15 ESV)

Jesus said to the fellow in the crowd, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” after this man had summoned Jesus to tell someone to divide an inheritance with him.  But we never hear the answer.  Interesting! 

Here Jesus dives under the surface to meet what’s really going on within this man, but also within you and me! Who is my judge and arbitrator?  Who is your judge and arbitrator?

The very fact this man asked the question of Jesus to do his bidding reveals two things.  The first is he was acting as his own judge and arbitrator who had decided in his own mind he deserved his share of the inheritance.  And secondly, he seeks to enlist Jesus’ power because, although he seeks to be his own judge, he hasn’t the power over the mind of someone else.

What’s going on in his mind is the very thing that goes on in the hearts and minds of us all.  When confronted by the mind of God what goes through your mind?  When Jesus asks you, “Who made me a judge and arbitrator over you?” what is your answer?  Your answer will quickly reveal how you understand yourself in relation to coveting and Jesus’ next comment where he says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

I use to wonder why God gave us the commandments on coveting!  “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17 ESV)  I know he gave them to us because we are covetous; that we struggle with greed and desire, known as avarice or cupidity, but I didn’t understand why God would have them after the other commandments.

You see, when I want someone else’s stuff the commandment on stealing would surely stop me from taking someone else’s possessions.  And, when the eye starts to look around in lust, I hear within “you shall not commit adultery” ring warning bells in my mind and heart turning me towards repentance and then peaceful living with God and my neighbours.

And so I pondered the Ten Commandments, knowing the first three are about my relationship with God and the second table, the other seven commandments, are about my relationship with people.  So why the commandments on coveting?

Surely bad actions against parents and authority are defended by the command to honour one’s father and mother!  Killing, boundary crossing sexual activity, stealing, and actions of the tongue cover the rest of the commandments so we are protected in community!  So why the commandments on coveting?

More than ever, the importance of the commandments on coveting needs to be understood by us today.  Firstly, so we might know what’s going on within us, and then, so we might be able to serve our neighbour as they struggle to work out what’s going on in them.

You see, the second table of the Ten Commandments deals with sins against people.  And while these commandments deal with this, the last of the commandments on coveting someone else’s stuff and living things, deals not with sin against other people, but rather sinning against the person of ourself.

Put most simply it’s the body waging war with itself.  Everyone who’s broken a diet, a personal new year’s resolution or sort to stop smoking knows what is going on here.  When your mind is tough it makes a decision, no more!  But then by evening it seems the cravings in every cell of the body demands you light up, or slip down to the shop for that block of chocolate!  Who here has sinned against themselves in this way?

But let’s not get into a game of dissection and blame, “My stomach, made me do it!  My hand made me do!  You and I are whole people, mind, body, and spirit!  Each of us needs to ponder our relationship with ourselves.  Taking time out to do this in God’s presence is vitally important for the mental and spiritual wellbeing of every person who walks the planet. 

However, as easy as it may be to take the speck out of someone’s eye, it sure is had to acknowledge the log in our own.  Nevertheless, as tough as it is to take a good hard look at ourself, if we don’t, then we’re no different to a fool coveting earthly riches in the face of death.

So what is your wealth?  What are the riches of this congregation?  How are you arbitrating and judging your earthly reality?  Now we get to the heart of the commandments on coveting.  Now we begin to see and expose why we and the rest of the western world are so plagued with spiritual oppression and depression in all its various forms. 

It seems covetous behaviour leaves us not even being able to live with ourselves let alone care for our neighbour in the face of our perfect inheritance, eternal life!  Our yearning for things in this world leaves us with aching desires!  Sexual desire burns us up with cupidity.  And even when the we get what we covet, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow moves so we never really get what we chase after.

In his first letter to the Corinthians St Paul tells those who struggle with this in Corinth, as he does also with you, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.  The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” (1 Corinthians 2:14–15 ESV)

Who is judge and arbitrator over you?  Are you about pleasing God or man; be it someone else or yourself?  What do you covet, what do you honestly want more of...?

The easy thing here is to do what many do today in a world that is so bound up with individualism.  And it’s also thinking we’ve adopted in the church where we seek to block being exposed, by demanding faith as an unaccountable personal thing of the heart.  But Jesus himself tells us, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:20–23 ESV)

The thing here is blocking being exposed, also blocks being forgiven.  Faith is a personal thing of the heart.  It comes from the personal heart of Christ crucified on the cross, so we might live out our God given faith very publically, because we want to, we love to, and because a covetous world needs us Christians to personally bear Jesus’ death and resurrection before the world for its sake, Jesus’ sake, and for the glory of God our Father.

We have heard in Colossians “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2 ESV)

You and I have a very clear and concise call to courageously and boldly proclaim, and yes even covet, our treasures in heaven.  Therefore, boldly pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the desire to be in God’s word, to be in his presence, to bring the kingdom of God near those who are your neighbours.  The more you seek the things of God the more you will desire the things of God.  The Spirit will see to it when you allow him to immerse you in the Word of God.

Do not let your coveting separate you from God’s forgiveness.  Jesus says to everyone in this congregation, “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)  Amen.