A, The Fifth Sunday in Lent - Romans 8:6-11 "To Live in Grace"

The political polarisation and personal paralysis of humanity is evident in every aspect of our society today.  As western civilisation teeters on the edge of imploding in on itself God continues to call Christendom and the societies in which it lives to repentance, turning back to relying on him, seeking forgiveness for following opinions based on human desire and personal pleasure.

The political polarisation between progressivism and conservatism is driven by our human spirit, a lust for self-righteousness, in opposition to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that not only calls God’s children to be justified by grace, but to actually live in that grace.  Rather than treat the Lutheran catch cry of being “justified by grace” like a magic pill, only to continue living in unrepentant sin as we appease every whim of the human spirit.

It seems being conservative or progressive has become a licence in justifying “my” personal opinions and feelings to negate the opposition.  But who are we really opposing?   Being conservative or progressive are both positions of the flesh, opposed to being Christ-centred.  Humanity is expert in progressing and conserving its idols to glorify itself and its pleasures. 

And you are human too!  How have you been building your kingdom?  It matters not whether it’s a progressive or conservative kingdom.  The reality is these kingdoms are kingdoms of death, because they’re centred on the flesh—humanity’s flesh, and your individual flesh!

It’s evident today that the fragility of humanity hangs in the balance.  We seem to have not learnt much post-Covid!  Humanity appears paralysed by its idolatry in building its kingdoms of death. A house of cards teetering on interest rates, fuel prices, and somewhere I can charge my dying ego-phone.

Unfortunately, the church today is not the lighthouse for Christ that it should be!  Progressive and conservative opinion now veils the light of God.  It’s a distorted death lens that you and I have been lured into believing is necessary for faith.  But it’s not faith in God, rather faith in my opinions of God.  Opposed to God’s heartfelt desire to save you, human opinions and heartfelt desires see only death.

It matters not what kind or how many biscuits you bake for God!  Instead, it depends on your reception of God’s word, his holy law and holy gospel, not to form your opinion but to cleanse you of them, and nourish you with the holy heavenly food that God knows you need.  God does not need your bites of half-baked human wrath and grace, that lead those who cook them to death, and those forced to eat the cook’s ego-biscuits, to death as well.  What God needs are receptive people who feed on his word.

Saint Paul, “a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God” (Roman 1:1 ESV) did not function as an apostle or as a disciple by the power of his opinion.  Instead, he was called and set apart by the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Paul was made receptive to the will of God so that he was forgiven and fed by God’s holy word of law and gospel.

God calls you into this receptivity as well!  Like Paul, all Christians are called into being conduits through which God’s holiness flows.  We are not in charge of this!  Rather, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.  When we usurp the Holy Spirit in his work, individually or collectively, once again we become polarised and paralysed by our opinions and desires.

Like watchmen in the night, humanity peers into the darkness of society, straining to see with the blindness of its opinions.  At some stage one has to be honest with oneself and repent of their opinions and the deadly darkness into which they look in hopelessness.  It’s then and only then by the work of the Holy Spirit through God’s word of law that we plead for his mercy! 

We learn in the law, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” (Psalm 130:3–4 ESV)  Left to our opinions and feelings, we quickly realise the paralysis of our position before God and the need for him to raise up the bones of our bodies and breathe new life into our corpses.

Paul first reminds us, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:6–8 ESV)

This is the reality of God’s law!  As the hymn states, the law of God “dooms to death when we transgress” (LHS 270:1)

In the second verse we’re fed what the darkness of the mind seeks to hide about the truth of God’s law, “Its light of holiness imparts the knowledge of our sinful hearts, that we may see our lost estate and seek deliverance ere too late.” (LHS 270:2)

Later on, in the last verse of that hymn we hear, “We flee for refuge, Lord, to you, who from the curse hast set us free, and humbly worship at your throne, Saved by your grace through faith alone.” (LHS 270:6) 

How does one plead for God’s mercy and flee to him for refuge in our fleshy reality?  And what is “my” reassurance of salvation?  That I am saved?  That I am being saved?  And, that finally I will be saved from the conservation and progression of my sinfulness that is the death of my flesh?

Paul continues, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9–11 ESV)

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, lives within you despite your flesh being dead because of sin—your “human being” and its “being human” in what you continue to sinfully do!  The law not only keeps humanity’s moral compass calibrated, but it also keeps our sinful nature in check.  But because of Christ’s righteousness and because of the sacrifice of his blood at the cross, which was, is, and continues to be the cross on which we were meant to die, we flee back to his cross in repentance.  It is only the Holy Spirit that can do that within you! 

The Christian life is one of putting to death all deeds that progress or conserve our human spirit over against the Spirit of God.  The Holy Spirit of God continues God’s grace within us by growing faith to allow God’s holy word of law and gospel to flow through us in our daily lives.  This is an ongoing process of being saved by grace through faith alone. 

The Holy Spirit feeds us with law and gospel, to correct and to comfort, so we know we live in “a daily grace event” of being fed and forgiven, to grow and desire more and more the holy food of God that gives peace and salvation.  The Holy Spirit wills you to continually open God’s word.  In it alone, we hear of God’s severity and kindness, where we find holy correction and comfort!

Paul reminds us of this reality, saying, “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22 ESV)

And again, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”  (Romans 6:22 ESV)

God’s grace is not a pill-popping exercise that allows us to set and forget the will of God and the ongoing sanctification of our sinful flesh, which leads us to finally being made holy in our earthly death and resurrection into the bosom of our heavenly Father. 

God sets you free from political polarisation and personal paralysis, regardless of it being progressive or conservative! Those ways are dead ways when the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ are worked within by the Holy Spirit so that you are not only saved by grace through faith, but live in that grace and faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Dear heavenly Father, thankyou that you feed me with law and gospel.  Help me with your Holy Spirit to eat, digest, and grow in the faith afforded by the Holy Spirit within, so that I might daily die to self and allow all my sinful ways to be nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour.  May I be a holy conduit through which you work in the lives of those you have prepared in advance for me to encounter. Amen. 

A, The Third Sunday of Advent - Isaiah 35:8 "The Way of Holiness: Prophets True or False"

Isaiah 35:8 (ESV) And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

Jesus speaks to the crowd after John the Baptist’s disciples are sent back to him to report that Jesus is “the one”.  Jesus questions the crowd as to why they went to see John.  After all, John was not a man dressed in soft clothing, he was dressed like a nobody, a wandering nomad.  And the message he brought wasn’t a gentle message to the ears that heard it!  No! John was calling Judea, those who lived in the region of the Jordan River and all of Jerusalem to repentance.

Other prophets before John weren’t treated favourably for calling Israel and Judah to repentance. We know of Elijah fleeing from the wrath of King Ahab and his vindictive wife, Jezebel, after he killed the false prophets on Mount Carmel.  Also, Jeremiah faced ridicule, arrest, and was dropped into an underground dry well as punishment.    

The author of Hebrews continues, “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36–38 ESV)

John the Baptist knew the plight of being God’s prophet or messenger!  We also know he ultimately had his head chopped off for his trouble!  So why did he put himself in this situation?  Why did the prophets before him risk life and limb to call God’s straying people to account?  In today’s standards it seems like a foolish thing to do!

So, what is a prophet?  And what is a false prophet?  How do you discern the difference?  In the New Testament the Greek word for prophet is a “foreseer”.  Literally a prophet is shown something by God and then called to tell others what they have seen!  This could be a future physical event or something that is going to occur to a person or persons. But it always comes from the faithfulness of God to save someone from danger or error.

On the other hand, a false prophet is one who is faithful to themselves.  Who appears to proclaim on behalf of God but really leads people away from God’s faithfulness into deception, to believe the false prophet’s dreams and desires.  A false prophet glorifies the god of the self and not our Heavenly Father. Their dreams and desires  usually end up being the nightmares of those who are deceived by their message.

John the Baptist with his camel skin clothes, his diet of wild honey and locusts, shows us a couple of things.  He did not need the sponsorship of others to survive.  Therefore, he wasn’t promoting anyone’s message in exchange for favours.  Also, he wasn’t seeking honour for himself.  He was a dirty and dishevelled looking individual, doing a deed that disturbed and disrupted those to whom he was called to speak. John the Baptist was selfless, blunt and abrasive to those who could have comforted him with their comfortable positions.  Yet he just didn’t care about his wellbeing in the world, as opposed to his wellbeing in the face of God, who called him to be God’s foreseer of Jesus Christ.  

So why did the people flock to John the Baptist?  There was power of some sort that drew people to him.  Likewise, prophets and false prophets operate with power and authority too.  Many are led by prophets, and more are led to false prophets. Saint Paul rightly reflects to Timothy, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”  (2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV)

Peoples’ ears never itch to be called to repentance!  No! But God knew that is what was needed!  John the Baptist’s preaching was induced by the Holy Spirit as was promised to his father, Zechariah, by the angel of the Lord who said of John, “…he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:15–17 ESV)

The only reason John, with his hard looks and message, drew and baptised people for the repentance of their sins, was that the Holy Spirit was doing the work of softening hearts!

To most today, even within the walls of churches, the way of John the Baptist, seems the way of foolishness.  However, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV) And “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27 ESV) Also, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” (1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV)

John the Baptist was not concerned about what people thought.  His care factor was zero and it shows in the way he dressed, in what he ate, in what he said, and to whom he said it!  Rather, he was concerned about God and the message he called him to proclaim. Led by the Holy Spirit, John walked the highway of heaven, albeit by the humblest of ways!  This way Isaiah names the Way of Holiness.  He may have looked like a fool following this way, but his foolishness shamed the wise of the world.

As God’s people we are called to follow the Way of Holiness.  Some are called to be prophetic speakers on behalf of God, for his glory, and patiently endure suffering from sinners inside and outside the church.  However, all are called to follow God’s word, on his Way of Holiness.  It makes no difference if it’s a bishop or a fledgling disciple, whether one is seemingly wise or foolish, none are above God or the word he sends through his messengers, no matter how unpopular it seems.

Because some of us have been marinating in the way of the world for most of our lives, we’re deceived into thinking we can choose who and what we want to hear when it comes to God speaking to us.  How might it make you feel when someone chooses to ignore what you say?  Now consider how God feels about us when we choose to reject what he wants. 

Jesus endured similar anger and rejection.  “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:3 ESV)

This consideration goes both ways!  Firstly, you’re called to consider the hostility Jesus endured from sinners to save you.  Hostility that put him on the cross.  Secondly, you’re called to consider what could happen to you when you also act in hostile or passive aggressive ways towards those God sends in the name of Jesus to lead you to eternal salvation!  Are your actions in accord with the Way of Holiness?

In your consideration, let the Holy Spirit determine in you if you’re hearing God through those, he has sent to proclaim his word. Establish where your glory is going in your conduct. Is your foolishness, folly to the world, or is your foolishness, folly in the eyes of God? 

Consider your grumbling might be against God when you grumble against God’s called servants. We’re told, “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”  (James 5:9–10 ESV)

It’s better to be judged by the world as a prophetic fool and receive mercy from God who forgives repentant people who seem like fools.  Alternatively, it’s foolish to be judged faithful by the world and reject God’s faithfulness in sending you, his servants, even when their prophetic message seems foolish in popular thought.  All need to consider what foolishness to follow. Foolishness that follows the Way of Holiness, or foolishness that falls and follows a hellish way thereafter!

Every person needs to pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to test the spirits! To test the prophets, to test the bishops, to test your pastor, and establish which way is truly the Way of Holiness.  Not all ways are ways of forwarding the faith to future generations and glorifying God! Other “ways” that glorify itching ears, popularity, immediate gratification, visual growth, and deviation from God’s word might forward the fruit people want.  But when these ways are not the Way of Holiness, Jesus’ way, truth, or life, they won’t faithfully forward the eternal fruit God desires.   

We are called to, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:7–8 ESV)

However, don’t just blindly be led by those who lead.  After all, Jesus confronted the blind guides of Judaism, and they put him on the cross.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to make sure your guides have been sent by Jesus to lead you to the cross for eternal salvation.  Make sure you are not re-sacrificing Christ on a false prophet’s cross of vainglory and eternal shame. Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 19, Proper 24 - Jeremiah 31:27-34 "Sweet and Sour - Sour Grapes to Sweet Salvation"

When most of us were children, we would have preferred sweet over sour; a lollipop over salad covered in balsamic vinegar. The taste of sugar in the mouth is a delight, but the taste of something unexpectedly sour makes one’s mouth pucker up, as the sharp sour surprise sends a shudder through the body.

How do you know when sour cream is no good? After all, it’s already sour! The point is that sour is generally associated with things being off. Sour cream is already sour to the taste; is it only once it becomes sour to the eye that one knows it’s off? When little orange and blue spores begin to colonise the cream, then we know it’s time to toss it out.

Yet children today seem to have taken a liking to sour lollies. I would prefer my kids to have taken up a liking for sweet and sour cuisine, or salad covered in balsamic vinegar! Nevertheless, they put these lollies in their mouths and shudder, like babies surprised by something so sour, before the sour disappears and sweet takes over, filling their mouths with delight.

We all know what makes things sweet, but what makes something sour? Vinegar is the answer! When I was a child, it was a surprise to me to see what happens when vinegar or lemon juice is put in milk — to see it curdle instantly into lumpy curds and watery whey.

Sweet and sour; sour and sweet!

On behalf of God, Jeremiah speaks about sour grapes: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:27–30 ESV)

God plucks up and breaks down Judah and Israel. He has need to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm to his very own people. But God also watches over them to build up and plant, to preserve them, despite the discipline he needs to unleash to break them down. Just as we heard Paul tell Timothy last week, God had to deny his chosen people of Israel, because they had denied Him. However, even in their faithlessness, God still remained faithful, because He cannot deny Himself.

When Israel became sour in the eyes of God, He was sour towards them, to the third and fourth generation. But now Jeremiah gives the Israelites a new message from God. No longer will children suffer for the sins of their fathers; no longer will the father’s faithfulness or lack of it have repercussions on the rest of the household. Now, every member of the household is responsible for their own sin; all women, sons, and daughters will die for their own iniquity. If one eats sour grapes, that one will have their teeth set on edge. If one eats sour grapes, the sourness will sicken the bellies of those who eat them, causing them to suffer.

This is mixed news for Israel and Judah. No longer will someone be born guilty or innocent as a result of what their fathers did or did not do. Rather, all have a clean slate and were accountable for what they did. However, humanity’s sinful nature was still passed on to the next generation. Being human still meant the children’s being was sinful, causing their very own human sinful deeds to occur. No one can accuse their parents of the evil deeds they themselves did. Likewise, no one was covered by the good deeds their fathers did either. Jeremiah, in effect, was announcing that God only has children, not grandchildren.

Ezekiel was commanded to say the same thing to God’s people. He says: “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.’” (Ezekiel 18:1–4 ESV)

Ezekiel goes on to say: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20 ESV)

This was a hard message that Jeremiah and Ezekiel had to pass on to God’s children in Israel and Judah. So why would these preachers of God’s word take this message to God’s people, knowing that they would not be looked upon favourably?

The answer can be found in what God tells Ezekiel: “’Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.” (Ezekiel 3:1–3 ESV)

The sweetness of God’s word made Ezekiel and Jeremiah strong so they would not compromise on telling the people what God had to say to them.

However, all this was a preface to a new covenant that was to come. In this covenant, those who receive the word of God are taught by God. This new covenant was not a covenant from the fathers, passed down by the fathers. This covenant was a covenant of forgiveness to those who see their sour grapes and have their teeth put on edge, so that they turn and receive the sweet forgiveness of God.

Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33b-34 ESV)

The prophecy of a new covenant was given; it would preserve God’s people despite their sin. Like vinegar and sugar preserve pickles, humanity would be preserved by this new covenant. But how, and when?

Some four hundred years passed, then Jesus came as the sweetness of God and persevered in pleasing Him. He gave up the holiness of heaven, to be born into the sour sewer of humanity. He received the Holy Spirit and preserved the holiness of God in human flesh, that in all others had soured the source of sanctification or holiness.

Yet He allowed Himself to be pickled in the sight of God. Despite His sweetness, His preservation of God’s sanctity, He allowed Himself to be soured on the cross. He said, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” (Psalm 69:21 ESV) A hyssop branch, meant to cleanse a person in the old covenant, was dipped in sour wine and given to Him to wet His mouth. Our sinful nature thrust the spear into His side, and like pouring vinegar in milk, the water and blood separated like curds and whey as they gushed from His side.

Jesus didn’t drink the sour wine! He took on the sourness of sin, so we can savour the sweetness of salvation — your only source of salvation! In this new covenant you have been given the Holy Spirit, who works to feed you on the holy honey of God’s sweet word, to give faith, to feed faith. The more you eat, the sweeter it gets.

Like Jesus Christ, you too can love all scripture and declare: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:103–104 ESV)

Rather than chase the saccharine sickly sweet of the self only to lose the sweet source of eternal salvation, remain in Jesus Christ, in his sweet and sour which he endured to preserve you!  Let the sweetness of God’s word show you your sour and false ways, so the Holy Spirit can daily return you to the cross of Christ.  Don’t let the sweet word of God become bitter in the bellies of those who seek to lead you with God’s word, through a world that’s gone off.  All that’s off will be thrown out when Christ returns!  Persevere in his preservation!

Like a child eating sour lollies, allow the Holy Spirit to help you chew over God’s word to receive the sweetest benefit of the end. Allow faith to be found when Jesus Christ returns. Things are sour now, but sweet salvation is coming.  Like the widow, trust that God our good judge will lead you from the sourness of the sinful self to the sweetness of salvation through the source of holiness, sanctification through Holy Spirit, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. 

C, The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany - Isaiah 6:1-13 "How God's Holiness Works"

In the readings for today, the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, the reality of God’s holiness when met by humanity causes something to occur.  When one receives God’s holiness through the senses of sight, hearing, and touch something must happen in the exchange, in the transaction of  delivery and reception. 

Jesus’ holiness is transacted in a very physical way.  Teaching the people at the lake concludes with Jesus suggesting to Simon Peter to, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4 ESV)

Completely spent from working through the night and catching nothing, Peter voices his concern, yet he listens and follows Jesus’ call to set the net for a catch.   What happens?  Completely dumbfounded the disciples catch fish!  So many, the boat begins to sink.  Holiness meets nothing and it does something.  The nothingness in Peter hears and sees the holiness of Jesus to which he falls in submission before Jesus and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8 ESV)

Paul teaches the Corinthians how the transaction of holiness works through preaching and receiving so that the hearer can hold fast to the word which does the work.  This is the same word of God which caused no fish to become numerous fish.  The working word exposes the nothingness of our work without the workings of God’s word through his holiness. 

To put this another way, we need a resurrection in just the same way as Jesus was raised after he allowed himself to become nothing.  Jesus did nothing wrong, he did no wrong!  By putting aside, the power of his holiness, his humility allowed others the opportunity to crucify him.  Jesus received the cross and was delivered into death, to be made less than nothing, as it were, so we can believe and receive his holy work to be delivered from death.  We believe we receive the resurrection from nothing we do, because Jesus was made nothing like us to make us something with his holiness.

This is how God works holiness in us.  He does it completely without our work.  In fact, Jesus models this in the reverse.  In his holiness, he allows himself to be crucified; he does not kill himself!  Nor does Jesus bury himself!  He does not raise himself, nor does he cause himself to be seen.  No!  Although he is God and he had the power to do whatever he wanted, he put aside that power to be powerless, to be nothing. 

Rather it was humanity who crucified him.  And it was the Holy Spirit who led him through his ministry to his death, through it, and to his resurrection.  Even today the Holy Spirit continues to powerfully enact Jesus’ passivity and powerful meekness within us!  In our nothingness, God works his holiness within us, with the implanted word, the word of God.  This is God our Father’s mode of operation!  

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter six shows us God’s modus operandi very clearly.  In the lectionary today there’s an option for the reading to end after verse eight, where Isaiah says, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8 ESV)

There’s a temptation in this day and age to omit the option to include the seemingly negative words of God, that Isaiah is commanded to receive and deliver to Israel.  Doing so, however, may appease modern ears, but we need to hear it to learn how God works his holiness.  Without learning how God’s holiness works, there is the temptation to cheapen God’s work and dilute his holiness into unbelief and desecration. Or as Paul says, to receive the preached word only to believe in vain.

However, God does not want that for you!  Therefore, I invite you to look at and hear his word and notice how God’s works are consistent and impartial, so his holiness remains holy, and he rescues all who recognise they need God to work his holiness for our eternal recovery.  Alternatively, those who hear in vain will not receive it!  Those who look at the word with their own understanding, see it but know nothing of its work within, because holiness cannot be understood.   Rather, it can only be received and believed.  Therefore, in vanity no one can hang onto holiness.  Also not what God wants for you!

Isaiah seems like the central figure in this text, but he’s not!  He’s only the recipient and the deliverer.  In fact, Isaiah knows his nothingness before God, saying, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV)  Isaiah sees God’s glory and holiness and he knows he is not!  God’s holiness means he is lost to death!  His nothingness cannot stand before holiness.

Isaiah knows the words that have come from his lips, have condemned him in the sight of God.  What he has heard from the mouths of his fellow Israelites is no better.  What he has delivered and received in the past is polluted, and it condemns him in the sight of God’s holy presence.

Despite Isaiah’s and Israelites’ lips being defiled, notice however, that Isaiah six begins and ends with the holiness of God.   This is crucially important for us!

Picture the scene and hear as the seraphim proclaim God’s holiness and glory, but also see to where that holiness and glory leads. 

The foundations and threshold shook as they proclaimed to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3 ESV)

And where does this glory find its germination?  Not in Isaiah!  Not in the nation of Israel!  No after Israel’s destruction, after the nation has been made nothing through fire, a seed is revealed from the nothingness of a seemingly burnt dead stump.  “The holy seed is its stump.” (Isaiah 6:13 ESV)

This is how God works his holiness!  It’s how he worked in creation, creating from nothing, except his holy word.  It’s how he works with fallen humanity, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It’s how he works with Israel and Isaiah.  It’s how he worked through his own Son Jesus Christ and continues to work with the body of Christ, his church on earth.  And it’s how he works his holiness with you and me.  God works his holiness with his Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit.  God, and his holiness, is the subject or centre of salvation, not the spirit of Isaiah, nor Israel or humanity.

This is good news for us who having looked into the self, see and know we’re nothing without a resurrection from death.  That we’re in need of God’s holiness worked through his Holy Spirit, to tune the ear and sharpen the sight, so we receive Jesus who resurrects life within as the Holy Seed.

See how Isaiah’s lips are healed by the seraph who seared them with a hot coal!  One might think having one’s lips burnt would render Isaiah mute, and that’s right!  Isaiah could no longer speak with his own uncleanness to those who spoke to him with unclean lips.  So, what has happened here? 

We hear the seraph say, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7 ESV)  Not only did God switch off Isaiah speaking with his own sinful lips, his guilt from speaking, expressed through his woe, is also, literally switched off, so that his guilt is taken away.  And the atoning of his sin is literally covered and hidden, by the workings of God’s holiness.  Just as bitumen covers a rutted road, and a ransom recovers the lost, Isaiah’s guilt is turned off and his offensive unholiness is covered.

It's not about Isaiah, but about God’s work with his word making something out of someone as good as nothing.  If it was about Isaiah, how could he volunteer so willingly to take the message God wanted him to take?  Having spoken with unclean lips with those who knew him and spoke to him with unclean lips, how is it that he can proclaim God’s desolation to Israel?  And do it with seared lips?  Isaiah would’ve known he would’ve been received as a hypocrite, by a nation of unclean lips and dull hearts.

The Israelite’s hardness of heart is not licence for us to think we can go and do the same.  Rather, in seeing we are the same, already, the Holy Spirit works to prepare our dull human hearts to receive the good work of God’s holiness.

Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you!  So, like the psalmist, you bow down towards Jesus, our holy temple, and give thanks to our Father in heaven for his holy name, his steadfast love and his faithfulness, for he has exalted above all things his name and his word.  (Psalm 138:2 paraphrased)

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, you are fulfilling your purpose in us. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever as the Holy Spirit daily leads us.  For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138:8 paraphrased) Amen.

B, Easter 7 - John 17:17-19, Psalm 1 "Truly Sanctified"

John 17:17–19 (ESV) Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus prays to our Father in heaven, “Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth.”  These words are familiar to our ears because many pastors begin their sermons by also praying, “Sanctify us in the truth: your word is truth.”  What is it to be sanctified in the truth?

Another way of saying “sanctify” is “to make holy”!  We can view holiness in two parts to understand what being made holy, or sanctified, is and does!  First there is the practical conception of being cleansed.  Second, when a person is cleansed, they are set apart.  Like cleaning the dishes or washing the clothes and then keeping them separate from that which is dirty.

But being sanctified is much more than just being clean!  Cleanness in our world is common.  Many things are clean and common but are still not holy or sanctified.  Many common things can also be dirty or are desecrated and defiled.  But what Jesus prays for, here in John chapter seventeen, is the common holy perfection that is found in God alone.

The holiness to which Jesus seeks for those he prays is a holiness that separates people from the common cleanliness and goodness of the world.  After all, how good is good enough for God?

The first we hear of holiness in the bible is in Genesis chapter two, where after God worked the creation of the world in six days, he set aside the seventh day as a holy day of rest.  This is where we get the word holiday; God created the sabbath holy day once a week, so we might stop or sabbath from working, to rest with him. 

God’s original intention was for his holy created humans to stop and recognise God above all that he created.  Or to put more simply, to see him as holy and the source of true holiness.

The first Psalm of one hundred and fifty Psalms, is divided into five books and parallels the five books of the Law (Genesis – Deuteronomy).  As the first Psalm it paints a foundational picture of God’s judgement, discerning what separates true holiness from what is not holy in God’s eyes.  We hear…

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;  but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.  The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;  for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:1–6 ESV)

This Psalm gives a picture of a man who neither walks, stands, nor sits with those God sees as wrong, guilty, and contrary scoffers.  Instead of being caught up in their ways, this man delights in God’s law and ponders it day and night.  It likens him to a tree planted by a stream.   Here we need to understand in the Middle Eastern context, this is a date palm in the desert with its roots receiving life from a stream of water.  Date palms are evergreen trees, and their fruit is “the sugar” of the Middle East.

Against this, God pictures those who walk the wrong way forward, as chaff that’s blown away!  Those who stand unrepentant with the guiltiness of sinners, will not survive judgement!  Or those who scoff, with contrary teaching, will not be a part of the righteous congregation!

Why?  Because God knows the way of the righteous, as the only way forward, the only sanctified way, because it is his way!  However, the wrong way forward, the way without the word of God, is a wicked way and it will perish with those who persist in following it!

So, who is this man who doesn’t walk, stand, or sit with the wicked, the sinners, and the scoffers?  Why does it have to be a man?  It has to be a man because the man is Jesus Christ!  All other men, women, and children are not set apart as Jesus Christ is set apart, clean as Christ is clean, perfect as Christ is perfect.

As we have heard in John chapter seventeen, Jesus prays to the Father, “I consecrate myself”. No one else can do this!  No man!  No woman!  No child!  Those who think they can consecrate themselves, or make themselves holy these days, reveals the fruit of their foolishness sooner or later.  Like chaff they are blown away and do not endure.  Like a deciduous tree they not only lose their leaves, but they fall over dead, and are used as fuel for the fire.

But Jesus does not consecrate himself for vainglory, he does it for us!  He says, “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Jesus does this for those who know the truth in every sense of the word “truth” and God’s word.  Jesus is not just the word made flesh, he is the Word of God set apart in flesh, set apart from all other flesh!  Jesus is the word made flesh, to also reveal the truth of all flesh, all men, women, and children!

The irony of Jesus’ life on earth is he dwelt in the flesh with sinful humanity, but he did not walk, stand, or sit in our ways.  Jesus was set apart for a very different way, the only way forward!

Jesus sets himself apart from all other ways of walking, sitting, and standing, to take up his position on the cross.  When John heard Jesus pray the prayer of chapter seventeen, just before he was crucified, he and the other disciples would not have understood what this self-consecration was.  But later they knew this consecration was the fulfilment of God’s word, to fill them and all believers with the joy that was in him, which led him to the cross for us!

At the cross a truly profound thing occurs!  The blessedness of the man Jesus Christ, who consecrates himself, who does not walk, stand, or sit in the counsel of the wicked, is crucified for those who know and confess the truth, that they are not like him but fail with wayward walking, standing, and sitting. 

At the cross the truth of what is hidden is unhidden in the perfect flesh of Jesus Christ. 

At the cross the truth of our unhidden unholiness, our being set apart from God as his enemy, is covered by the holiness of Christ’s perfect flesh and sinless blood.

We are sanctified, made holy, in the truth of Jesus Christ because he is the Word of God, and he is truth in every sense of the word “truth” and the Word of God!

In the New Testament the Greek word for truth is, “what is not hidden”.  At the cross Jesus does just that, he exposes in his wretched crucified body, he takes what is hidden in humanity and makes it public! 

The Old Testament Hebrew for truth is, “Amen.”  The “ truth” work of Jesus Christ’s consecration or setting himself apart as our sin, and exchanging it for his sinless perfection, is truly our Amen!  This is the great “yes” of Jesus’ joy, our joy, and that of our Father.  This is the end of our way forward!

Jesus sanctifies us in his words of repentance and forgiveness of sin in calling us to believe his work at the cross.  Just as Jesus was sent into the world by God the Father, he sends all of you into the world as his learners, as his disciples, made holy, sanctified, set apart to carry Jesus Christ and his cross before others.

The truth of the matter, the great Amen of Jesus’ prayer on earth, is he is now at the right hand of our Father, interceding on our behalf, so we allow the Holy Spirit to make him visible with his word in us.  But also to make his crucifixion consecration visible for others to repent and be forgiven as we are!  Jesus’ sanctified way in his word is the only way forward!  Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, even though the cross reveals us as sinners, thankyou for covering our sin at the cross, so we can walk, stand, and sit, before God our Father, to continually confess our sin.  Thankyou for also sending the Holy Spirit, to set us apart as holy in your work at the cross, to receive life-giving faith, in your Holy Word and Holy Sacraments.  Amen. 

C, Midweek Lent 2 - The Lord's Prayer #3 - Matthew 6:9b,13b Luke 11:13 "Deliver us from Evil into Holiness"

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Hallowed be your name… But deliver us from evil.

We have an Almighty God, who is our Father in heaven.  He transcends all of creation and the earth.  He is more powerful than the power humanity can collectively muster on earth.  Those who have had opportunity to see his glory, and that of his risen Son, fall down in reverence and fear in his presence.  Yet he wants nothing more than to be in fellowship with us.  He has created us out of his power and glory, to join him in his kingdom, and worship him in his power and glory.

But how can we who are evil come into his glorious kingdom without repercussions?   This Almighty God—who is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, present everywhere, inside and outside of time, perfect in every way, in patience, generosity, and sinlessness—is holy.

Jesus died to bridge the gap between evil and holy; he is the Christ, the Messiah who redeems us through his death.  But how can he deliver us into the Father’s holy kingdom and presence when our being is embedded in evil? 

When the disciples got a glimpse of the glorified Son of God at transfiguration, they were afraid and perplexed; they did not understand or know how to approach Jesus’ holiness. 

When Saul was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, he too recoiled and was blinded by the glory of the risen Christ. 

So too was the Apostle John.  He shared a special relationship with Jesus in his ministry and is call “the one whom Jesus loved”.  But we hear in Revelation, he fell at the feet of Jesus as though dead when Jesus appeared to him on the island of Patmos.

If Paul and the Apostles react this way, those who knew and walked with the man from Nazareth, how are we to come into God’s presence?

The Introduction of the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father and the doxology form the outer layer of Jesus’ prayer.  The Holy Spirit teaches us that God the Father is transcendent and present inside and outside of time.

Now the Holy Spirit leads us from this heavenly eternal transcendent reality and teaches us how Jesus joins the great divide between his holiness and our sinful nature and deeds, which Jesus rightly says, “makes us evil”

The essential nature of God’s Spirit is holy, so the Holy Spirit works to bring us to the glorified holy Son of God and our holy heavenly Father.  This work is spelt out by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer and fulfilled in his death and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit makes us holy, by delivering us from evil into the holiness of Jesus.  Like a courier the Holy Spirit delivers us.

Martin Luther says it best in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed.  He says, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church day after day he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead, and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.” 

The Holy Spirit is the great doer and shaker of the Trinity.  He has been sent by God the Father and God the Son, to bring us to the Son so we can receive and believe the Gospel.  This gift makes you and me holy and keeps us, keeping on in Jesus. This gift is God’s Holy Word and hearing it creates faith.  In Romans ten we learn, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:17 ESV)

The Holy Spirit works faith so we as individuals and as the collective body of Christ remain in Jesus, pray his prayer and other prayers in his name.  The Holy Spirit also fights against all evil within us, and that which works from outside us tempting us to reject God and his holy gifts and live without him.

Living without God or making ourselves God is the evil that leads to all evils.  And the Holy Spirit works tirelessly to deliver us into the bosom of God’s mercy and the holiness of Jesus.  

Jesus was clothed in the weak flesh of humanity with all its desires, he resisted the devil, and pressure from those around him to please them rather than the Father.  He was weak as we are weak, yet without sin.  But despite his perfect life, bore the evil of our flesh on the cross, and was delivered into death.

So, the Holy Spirit leads us to pray, “deliver us from evil”.  We can be reassured we are being delivered from the evil of ourselves into the holiness of God’s kingdom, power, and glory.  We are being delivered from the powers and principles that demonise us within from day to day.

We are being delivered from the evil of this world that comes to us through others, and the many gods we have created for ourselves. These are the evils to which our sinful selves naturally gravitate towards because of the Old Adam within.

And we are being delivered from the devil and his entourage of powers and principalities, that are overcome and completely powerless to the name of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in which we pray, deliver us from evil, into the holiness of Jesus’ name.

After Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray the Lord’s Prayer, he continues encouraging them to be consistent in the power of prayer.  He says, “…I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9–10 ESV)

Then he says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

If God the Father would send his Son to die for you on the cross, and he wants you to be with him in his kingdom, so you can worship him and glorify him, he will certainly give you all the assistance your need to be delivered from all evil into the holiness of Jesus’ name! 

Pray for the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to deliver us from all evil. Amen.

Next week we continue the series on the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come… Lead us not into temptation”.

C, Transfiguration - Luke 9:28–43 & 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 "Cross-figuration"

Luke 9:28–43 (ESV) Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.  And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.  And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,  who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.  As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.  And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”  And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.  On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.  And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.  And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”  Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”  While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV)  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

From the mountain of Transfiguration to the mountain of disfiguration,  Golgotha, the place of the skull, Calvary, Jesus walks for our reconfiguration!

When Jesus was transfigured, Peter wanted to build three shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  He did not know what he was saying.  For if he did, he would have known if this happened, the unveiled glory and perfection of the Law, would kill him, James, and John.

However, Jesus was not to bask in this glory!  His face was not to shine like Moses’ face did!   He would resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem, and take the road to the city named “flowing peace”, where his blood would flow from the cross of Calvary for true peace.

Rather, in his transfigured state, we see the curtain of Jesus’ flesh pulled back, to see the holiness of his Spirit within.  But only for a brief moment.   Here he talks, with two great men of the Law, about his exodus from Jerusalem.   This is the holy eternal exodus to which Moses and Elijah faithfully looked forward with hope.  This was during the days when Moses and Elijah repeatedly led Israel out of sin, into peace with God the Father.

Jesus must come down from the glory of Transfiguration into the presence of the sinful crowd and disciples.  Jesus, who was glorifying the Law in his flesh, meets a father concerned for his son.   In the Spirit of his Gospel walk he hears the father’s plea…

 “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out.  It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.  And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”  (Luke 9:38–40 ESV)

The disciples could not cast it out.  How could they have done so?  They were infant hearers and witnesses; only learners of Jesus and yet to receive the forgiveness of sins at the cross and the sweet breath of the Holy Spirit, who would reconfigure their hearts through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Still reeling from the transfiguration, Peter, James and John with the other disciples continued to stumble, unable to help when confronted with the unclean spirit’s disfiguration of the child.  They had not learnt from their helplessness to pray in humility like Jesus.  But that would come once the Holy Spirit revealed the depth of their helplessness, so they would trust in their resurrected Lord Jesus Christ like he trusted and prayed to his Father.

On the mountain God declared, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35 ESV)  Now God’s Son, Jesus, answers the convulsing child’s father; and the disciples, and crowd, listen and learn…

 “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here.”  While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him.  But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.  And all were astonished at the majesty of God.  (Luke 9:41–43 ESV)

How faithless and twisted we are too, because of our flesh!  How long is Jesus to be with us and bear us by his Word? 

Thanks be to God Jesus comes down.  He comes down from heaven, he comes down into flesh at the manger, he comes down into the Jordan and is baptised into his ministry of death and resurrection.  Jesus does this and it pleases our Heavenly Father, and down in the depths of human sin and death, he bears us up from sin and death. 

He cleanses the boy of uncleanness and gives him back to his father clean.  The Holy Son of God, transfigured in glory, leaves the mountain, and descends into the darkness of our sin and knowledge, to cleanse us and give us back to our Heavenly Father. 

Even his chosen twelve did not know or understand.   Having seen the healing, having been with Jesus they still did not take hold of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Peter, James, and John saw the unveiled glory of God in Jesus but the veil of darkness still covered them so they could not understand.

After Jesus’ transfiguration and cleansing of the boy, he says to the disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”  But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. (Luke 9:44–45 ESV)

Jesus comes from the mountain of transfigured glory, from the mountain of Holiness and Law, but the listening and learning does not finish here for the disciples, nor does it for us. 

We must now walk with Jesus from the mountain of glory to the mountain of disfiguration and goriness.  But it’s at gory Golgotha, the mountain of Calvary that we receive the Gospel of glory. 

It’s at the mountain of disfiguration, we learn of our faithlessness and twistedness.  It’s where Jesus bears us up in glory under the weight of our gory sinful being and sinfulness.

It’s at the place of the Skull where our Head was hung.  And we his body receive his Spirit of freedom. 

We hang our heads in sinful shame, we feel the sting of death, and know we are a sinful and twisted generation.  Left to our own devices we throw ourselves down and convulse in our old Adam.

But look and see that this Transfigured One, who came down from heaven, down from the mountain and was lifted up disfigured on the cross, is now refigured in eternal resurrection glory and is reconfiguring us in the good news of his resurrection.

Today we walk from the celebration of Transfiguration Sunday and on Wednesday we will remember, we are dust and to dust we shall return.  We will be marked with an ash cross on the forehead.  We will begin the walk of remembrance through Lent to the mountain of gory Golgotha, the mountain of reconfiguration, the mountain of Gospel glory.

But as we walk the walk of remembrance, we also continue our walk to the cross of our earthly death.  But as we do, we walk with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, raise from the dead.  We continue to walk and learn from life, just what a sacrifice it was for Jesus to make his walk to the mountain of Cross-figuration, for our transformation, and our eternal transfiguration.  Amen. 

C, Epiphany 7 - Luke 6:27–38 "On Being Merciful, Perfect, & Holy"

Luke 6:27–38 (ESV) “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.  And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.  “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

There are a lot of commands laid out here by Jesus in the Gospel reading before us.  Love your enemies, do good, bless, pray for those who abuse you.  Offer the cheek to those who strike you, do not withhold your tunic.  Give, do not demand back.  Love, do good, lend, and expect nothing.  Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.  Judge not, condemn not, forgive, and give.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  Jesus makes seventeen demands in this text. 

He goes on to say, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,  for each tree is known by its own fruit.  For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”.  (Luke 6:43–45 ESV)

Sitting down to write this sermon proved interesting as there was commotion going on in the manse yard.  Our dog was excited by all the noise as chaps from the church assisted a fellow removing trees from the gardens.  And there I sat trying to write a sermon on mercy, while outside no mercy was being shown to the pencil pine that had to go because it had outgrown its position and was lifting the paths and fence around it.  And out back trees were being removed so fruit trees can be planted with the hope of getting a sweet crop.

A member who will remain unnamed, but use to be an accountant, asked me if the activity around the manse was inspiring me with my sermon writing.  I told him it’s hard to write a sermon on mercy when trees were mercilessly being chopped down.  To which, with a cheeky grin, he replied, “it’s for the greater good of the pastor.”

This made me ponder why Jesus has given us these seventeen rules!  Has he done so for the “greater good” or is there another point being made?  What fruit is being produced by doing these seventeen demands?  If it is for some greater good, what is this greater good? 

Thinking about trees, now chopped down and cleared away, I know I didn’t hate those trees.  In fact, they looked quite good.  But I know the pine out the front was going to cause ongoing problems that the parish would not love addressing.  And as for the trees on the back fence having to go, I love the pleasure of growing and picking one’s own produce more.

Jesus’ first command is to love your enemies.  But what if they bear bad fruit as the text says?  Am I to somehow love them, for the greater good?  Anyway, what is the greater good, the summum bonum, the ultimate of all goodness?  What would my motives be for doing so, and what measure would I use to determine how to love them.

It’s here I realise loving my enemy is difficult, to say the least.  I am unsettled by the fact that perfectly good trees are cut down for reasons that might be based more on my desire being deemed “the greater good’ or the desire of the parish to not have the “greater evil” by getting rid of the pencil pine now.  And these are non-issues, compared to my desire to have little to nothing to do with one that might be considered as an enemy.

If my thought process is so fickle,  and I can deem my enemy as a bad tree, what is to stop them from considering me the same?  Perhaps I’m a tree that’s lost its purpose and needs to be chopped down in the scheme of someone else’s greater good!   Whose greater good is more important?  World Wars have started over thinking like this!

Our motives are exposed like raw nerves by Jesus in this text.  He shows us we are constantly investing ourselves, our time, and our possessions in schemes that will benefit ourselves.  It may be for financial gain, acceptance of others, a selfish desire to smooth things over, creating a pseudo-peace, because we don’t want to give the time or effort to open and heal wounds in need of healing.  Our motives seem to follow the path of least resistance to pleasure within.

This being the case, then, how do I love my enemies?  How do we as a community under Christ, love our enemies?

Jesus says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36 ESV)

In Matthew’s account Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 ESV)

Jesus here points us to the Law.  Jesus’ call, to be merciful and perfect, is the same as God’s call to be holy. 

Jesus is reflecting what God said through Moses to the people of Israel.  “For I am the LORD your God.  Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44 ESV)

Jesus calls us to cleanse ourselves of anything that defiles his holiness.

Why does God the Father and Jesus demand holiness?  The short answer is because he loves us and wants to preserve life?  This is the life he has given to us in love, and he wills us to have for each other. 

This love is not love for myself or my motives.  But it’s a love that brings a community together in God’s presence, where there is perfect peace, where God gives, where we receive together with joy, and where we worship him with fervent love for loving us.

Jesus reinforces God’s call to be holy, through being perfect and merciful, to reveal the lies of our love, no matter how great we think our good is, or how bad our evil actually is.  There are no lies in God’s love and holiness.  All is brought out into the light by Jesus.

As much as we, who are in Christ, have been given the holy will to be merciful, perfect, and holy to please the Father, we cannot be this by our own effort.  Jesus was incarnate in our human flesh, he lived a perfect and merciful life, and died in all holiness, because through our love, we cannot do it.

So, should we give up striving?  Well, yes and no!  Yes!  Because we will condemn ourselves if we believe we can be holy by our own efforts?  And no!  Because when we give up, we demonstrate faithlessness in he who is working salvation within us?

God’s holy plan for us is to show us we are as far away from perfection as ice is from steam, as white is from black, as sour is from sweet.

But God bridges the divide between holiness and evil; God’s good and our good intentions; his perfection and mercy and our motivations; his love, and our love.

Jesus is the good tree bearing good fruit, but he bore it on the terrible tree of the cross.  He takes that terrible tree, your terrible tree and makes it his.

Jesus’ love for you is a perfect and merciful love.  His love is compassionate towards all who call upon his name, for the forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus’ love for you is so great he sends the Holy Spirit to do the work of germinating and growing faith and love within you.  Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to mature us into healthy trees producing good fruit, the fruit of faith and love. 

This fruit of love for God, is confession of sin, allowing God to prune us of the dead wood within.  The fruit of love is faith, allowing the daily death of self, the carrying of our crosses, and the bearing of our neighbours’ crosses in prayer and works that spur them onto salvation. 

This fruit of love leads us to see the cross as the place showing us our blessed helplessness.  But it also shows us Jesus is our blessed help at that very same cross.  The cross is the good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and put into your lap. 

On the cross, Jesus was measured, and shown to be the only one, who has the only good and holy motives, the only perfect love, and the most merciful compassion.

He is the Son of the Most High, higher than the highest good.  He is the Holy One of God, sending the Holy Spirit to help us in his Holy Word. 

We are being made holy because he is holy, we are being made perfect because his love is perfect, and we can give and forgive because of his mercy. Amen.