A, Post Pentecost 9 Proper 12 - Romans 8:37, Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Treasured Conquerors

Romans 8:37 (ESV) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Your kingdom come”. What hinders God’s kingdom from coming? The answer is also in the Lord’s Prayer. We ask God to “lead us not into temptation”. In other words, we pray for ourselves and for one another. We ask God to protect us from being led into temptation — by ourselves, by someone else, or by something else — to seek other kingdoms.

Luther tells us in his explanation to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer that, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and live a godly life on earth now and in heaven for ever.”  (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 2^nd Petition)

Luther also demonstrates in his explanation of the sixth petition that temptations shut out God’s kingdom from coming, saying, “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask in this prayer that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 6^th Petition)

The kingdom of heaven comes when God gives us His Holy Spirit.  So that the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, do not lead us to faith in ourselves. Faith in the self ends in death. It ends in vanity — in vainglory or vain despair! Those who live without the Holy Spirit, for whatever reason, are not led to Jesus Christ. They live without peace with God the Father. And that can only end in despair and eternal death.

The devil is the master of this deception. He deceives people into believing they are either too good to need help, or too bad to deserve help. The devil, the world, and the sinful self, tempt people into isolation from God and into opposition against God.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, the parables of the kingdom of heaven call for careful listening. They call us to listen in the light of all God’s Word. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom lead you to pray and ponder what He is saying about eternal life!

The parables call you to take time in the Word of God!

In Romans chapter ten we are told, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV) So, to those who have ears to hear, let the Holy Spirit enlighten them within. Let Jesus’ teaching in the parables give faith.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have heard parables about sowing seed from Matthew chapter thirteen. Today we hear the last five shorter parables from that chapter. In the first, the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus paints an exaggerated picture. He does this to get the hearers’ attention.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  (Matthew 13:31–32 ESV)

Jesus uses exaggeration to shake the hearer’s expectation. These seeds are tiny. They come from the same family as canola or broccoli. We do not expect them to grow into trees, nor do we expect birds to live in them. In the same way, the kingdom of heaven seems small, even hidden. But once the cross is planted and Jesus is lifted up, what seems likely to fizzle out after His death does not die. It is raised. And it continues to grow greater than anyone would expect. Even today, the kingdom of heaven is still the same!

Soon after hearing this parable, the disciples saw Jesus feed the five thousand, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers. They collected more after everyone had eaten than they had found at the start. We believe because the Holy Spirit works faith within us. And, like birds in the branches of the mustard tree, we trust that we will be nested and rest in the kingdom of heaven eternally — with God, in peace — even though we see neither Him nor His kingdom!

The parable of the leaven is next.  “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”  (Matthew 13:33 ESV)

Leaven is what we would call yeast. It is the raising agent in bread! Once, people kept back some leavened dough to put into the bread mixture the next day. Here we get a picture of succession. Every loaf of bread is born from the dough from the day before.

Elsewhere, leaven is used negatively, but not here! The leaven is added to three dry measures of flour. That is three measures of thirteen litres — thirty-nine litres of flour — made into dough, yet to rise! That much bread dough overwhelms the mind. It also helps the hearer realise Jesus is not just talking about making bread. He is raising an eternal point.

Like the mustard seed that grows into a tree, the leaven also points to something greater. Elsewhere it may be bad, but here it’s good leaven. It points to Jesus’ resurrection and the growth of God’s church into eternity.

The mustard seed and the leaven seem insignificant and hidden. Yet both become something great. One is not expected to grow into a tree. The other is expected to rise out of the kneading bowl and overwhelm everything!

Such is the kingdom of heaven! What we would expect to end in death after the crucifixion flowers and flourishes into eternal fruit. And it raises up those who believe.

This leads us to the next two parables.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  (Matthew 13:44-46 ESV)

Many times, we have probably been told these parables are about what we should “do as disciples”. But the cost of discipleship is not our cost. We cannot buy the kingdom of heaven. Rather, these two parables are about being discipled by Jesus.

What do I mean by this? Jesus pays the cost. He does so because you and I are the treasure and the pearl. We cost Jesus His Sonship, so that He might make us sons of heaven, sons of God. It cost Him His human life. In complete selflessness He served, suffered, and died to save you from everything sinful in yourself. You are so treasured by Him. You are the pinnacle of God’s creation! He became weak so that, despite your weakness, you would become more than conquerors.

To that end, God treasures us so much that He sends the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness and in our discipleship. Even today, the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that straighten out our prayers. And our prayers are presented to Jesus, “who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34b ESV)

Jesus Christ treasures you so much that, through Him, with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, our prayers are joined with all His treasured people, in every time and every place. They are united with the eternal petitions of Jesus, our great high priest. He intercedes for us at the right hand of God, until He comes as the victorious merchantman to unveil you and me, His treasured possessions!

The parable of the dragnet is possibly the easiest of these parables to understand. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:47-50 ESV)

This parallels the parable of the weeds that come up among the wheat. They too will be burned in the eternal furnace. It paints a picture of suffering, mentally and physically, in hell without God. This simple parable warns that the unbelieving hearer will be removed and will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Finally, Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what He was saying. They said, “Yes”. But their desertion at the cross shows they still had much to learn.

Yet they were Jesus’ Apostles — His twelve baskets of treasured leftovers! Even Judas was treasured, though in unbelief he would turn and betray Him. Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13:52 ESV)

God trained His Apostles to be the scribes of the kingdom of heaven. They were sent so that you might believe the old and new treasures of His Word, to be his treasured ones in heaven.

Having received these treasures of the kingdom of heaven, we who are treasured are given the Holy Spirit. He gives us relief as He leads us to repent. And He gives us faith to know we are loved by God.

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus’ victory for you. He treasures you so much that He makes you more than conquerors! Those who have ears, let them hear! Amen.

Sermon Summary

This sermon proclaims that the kingdom of heaven comes not by human strength, achievement, or self-confidence, but through the gracious work of God. As we pray, “Your kingdom come” and “lead us not into temptation”, we ask the Father to give us His Holy Spirit, guard us from the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, and keep us in true faith in Jesus Christ.

Through the parables in Matthew chapter thirteen, Jesus shows that the kingdom often appears small, hidden, and unexpected. Like the mustard seed and the leaven, it begins in what seems insignificant, yet it grows and fills all things according to God’s promise. The cross itself appears weak and defeated, yet through Christ’s death and resurrection the kingdom flowers and flourishes into eternal life.

The hidden treasure and the pearl of great value are heard not first as a demand that we purchase the kingdom, but as good news that Christ has purchased us. Jesus treasures sinners so deeply that He gives His own life to make us sons of God. In Him, the weak become more than conquerors, not through their own power, but through Him who loved them.

The parable of the dragnet brings a sober warning. The kingdom will be revealed fully at the end of the age, when evil is separated from righteousness. Yet the sermon ends in comfort: those who are treasured by Christ are given the Holy Spirit, led to repentance, strengthened in faith, and assured that they are loved by God.

Reflection

This sermon invites hearers to listen carefully to Jesus’ parables and to receive the kingdom as gift. It challenges the temptation to trust in the self, whether through pride or despair, and turns the hearer instead to Christ, who has borne the cost of salvation.

The sermon helps the hearer move from fear of judgement to confidence in the One who intercedes for us. From Jesus’ prayer petition on the coming kingdom, and temptation to build our own kingdoms, to the hidden growth of the kingdom, to Christ’s costly love, and finally to judgement and comfort. The repeated language of being “treasured” calls us to hear and believe the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

A helpful point for personal reflection is this: where am I tempted to seek another kingdom? The sermon answers by directing us back to the Lord’s Prayer, the Word of Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Luther’s Small Catechism teaches us that God’s kingdom comes to us through Christ’s victory as the Holy Spirit keeps us in repentance, faith, and the peace of Christ.

The final word is gospel comfort: Jesus Christ treasures His people. He has bought them not with silver or gold, but with His holy and precious life. Therefore, even in weakness, temptation, and suffering, believers may hear again the promise of Romans 8:37: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

B, Pentecost Sunday - Romans 8:22-27 "Eager Expectation"

Text – Romans 8:22-27

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. 

Decay, degradation, decomposition, dilapidation, deprivation, deficiency, dispossession, disrepair, and disorder – these are some of the things that cause suffering, pain, despair, despondency, depression, and dejection.

There is something in everyone and everything which causes a continual breaking down.  It might be the chilling cold of the winter onset affecting your bones, and your bodies; the lack of rain falling from the skies; the financial crisis taking a toll on your security for the future; or the ever-spreading threat of diseases and sicknesses, covid, or some other disaster that seems to pursue you.  Everything in creation has something working against it, causing it to lament, to sigh, to cry out — causing it to groan.

But why do these things cause us to respond in such a way?  Scripture tells us that it’s not just us but the whole creation groans as it waits to be delivered from bondage, decay, and frustration just as a one who struggles with the pains of childbirth. (Romans 8:19-22)  If we take a look at our creation we see its pain too — more and more weeds, saltier soils, erosion, deforestation, and climate changing through humanity’s climate changing from following, to rejecting God.  There are many ecological disasters troubling our creation today!

In Romans we’re told creation is waiting in eager expectation.  Sometimes it’s hard for us to wait with the same eager expectation when we experience the same old thing over and over again.  The same weaknesses causing creation to suffer and us to suffer too!  Be that as it may,  what are you waiting for?  What’s your eager expectation?

Creation’s eager expectation is not waiting for humanity to change the climate, but for the sons of God to be revealed!  Are you waiting for that too?  Perhaps in your weakness there’s the temptation to turn and be burdened by the seen reality of a world going crazy, a creation in chaos? 

Then again, you might think life’s good, it’s all going well.  All this groaning and moaning stuff is just negative nonsense.  People are good, there’s no climate change!  You might be eagerly expecting many good things in life, not concerned by anything too much.  But in your daily happiness are you eagerly expecting Christ’s return?  Or are there a few things you’d like to do and see before God returns to reveal his children?

It is okay to have expectations and concerns in this life.  However, when they become desperate or demand top billing and push our hopes in God’s  heavenly place aside, to second place, these earthly expectations and concerns are sin.  And regardless of these earthly expectations being pleasant or bitter, once they’re revealed in us as sin, our sin makes each of us groan!

Creation groans too, but it waits for our redemption.  Why does it do so?  Creation has been God’s witness as humanity has plucked its eager expectation from the tree of knowledge of good and evil time and time again.  Creation was again God’s witness when it opened its mouth to receive the blood of Abel.  And today creation is God’s witness every time we breathe contempt of others or eagerly spray spirited gossip into the air. 

But that’s not all!  Creation knows it’s Creator who made it from nothing except his word spoken in love.  Creation also knows its Creator whose blood trickled down the wood of the cross and soaked the soil with redemption, and now creation waits for the Creator’s return to finalise the faith of those who believe. 

Creation also bears the Spirit of God who hovers over the water and comes through the word of God revealing the hidden Triune God of creation.  When God is revealed God will return creation’s climate from sinful heat and coldness, to a perfect creation that glorifies the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who made it!

We celebrate Pentecost today!  At the first Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension, God sent the Spirit to walk beside us and counsel us in faith and hope.  Although we so often eagerly expect everything in creation other than the Creator, God has eager expectations of you and me!  He is faithful to all his baptised children willing us to come into Jesus’ presence to receive and believe the redemption we have been given, as we continually have our sin forgiven. 

The Holy Spirit’s job is to bring us to Jesus.  His job is not to enable us to fix God’s creation, but to work a climate change within us so he can bring us as one under Jesus!  God will then fix the climate when humanity allows the climate within to be changed from turning away from God to returning to him in repentance.

The Holy Spirit’s work is to make the invisible visible through faith given when we hear the word of God (Romans 10:17).  It is the Holy Spirit’s task to put flesh on the Word of God, so the Son of God — the Word made flesh, is revealed in us, to us.  He also gives us real hope in the day when Jesus returns, and we see him as he is.  Not only this!   But he gives us eager expectation of what we will be, as we groan in the frustrations, bondage, decay, and deadly weakness of our human suffering and sin.

When our weakness gets the better of us and we begin to eagerly expect creation more than the Creator himself, it’s the Holy Spirit’s mission to bring us back to Jesus.  We might expect the Holy Spirit as one who makes us happy but he who counsels us in God’s will sometimes needs to give us a short swift kick refocusing us back on Christ. 

Jesus says… When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:8-11) 

But the Holy Spirit will also comfort us in Christ too.  If he didn’t do this his conviction would surely drive us away from Jesus in remorse or lead us away as pharisees justifying our sin.  King David knew he needed the Holy Spirit’s help when his sin was exposed.

He prayed… Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:10-12)

The Holy Spirit gives us a willing spirit, and this spirit bears the Spirit of Christ.  With Jesus Christ en-fleshed in us we also bear the eager expectation of redemption and resurrection.  Redemption, because Christ saved you at the cross by taking your place in death; and resurrection, because he was raised in all power over your sin and your death, so you too might eagerly await your resurrection into heaven.

Because the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son he speaks only what he hears from the Father and the Son.  Therefore, he bears the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the truth of God that names what needs to be named in us.

Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  (John 8:34-36)

So, the Holy Spirit, names you a sinner, but a sinner whose sin has had its power removed by the Son who sets you free.  Right now, you are being released from bondage, weakness, and frustration, even in the midst of decay and death.  God has freed you so you can allow the light of Christ to dispel the darkness of sin within.  God has freed you and now continually and faithfully sends the Holy Spirit to guide you and keep you in Christ.  And you can wait in hope when on the last day the Holy Spirit will raise you and give you an eternal life of peace and joy.

And as we wait for Christ’s return God’s promise to you is this: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Acts 2:17a & 21)  Amen.

A, Post-Pentecost 9 Proper 12 - Romans 8:37 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 "Treasured Conquerors"

Romans 8:37 (ESV) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “your kingdom come”.   What hinders God’s kingdom from coming?  The answer to this is also prayed in the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray, for God to “lead us not into temptation”.  In other words, we pray for ourselves and for each other for God to protect us from being led into temptation, by ourselves, someone, or something else, to seek other kingdoms.

Luther tells us in his explanation to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer that, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy word and live a godly life on earth now and in heaven for ever.”  (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 2^nd Petition)

Luther also demonstrates in his explanation of the sixth petition that temptations shut out God’s kingdom from coming, saying, “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask in this prayer that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 6^th Petition)

The kingdom of heaven comes when God gives us his Holy Spirit so that the devil, the world, and our sinful selves are not led to a faith in ourselves.  A faith in the self ends in death, in vain, vainglory, or vain despair!  Those living in the ways of the world, practise a faith in the oneness of great and shameful sins, which end in despair and death.

The devil stands as the master of this world, deceiving people that they are either, too good to need help, or too bad to deserve help.  The devil, the world, and the sinful self, tempt people into isolation and opposition to God.

The parables of the kingdom of heaven calls for acute listening, measured up against the entirety of God’s Word.  They call you to pray and ponder over what Jesus is saying!  They call you to take time in the Word of God! 

The disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables, “And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”  (Matthew 13:11–13 ESV)

In Romans chapter ten we are told, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:17 ESV)  So, to those who have ears to hear, what is the belief the Holy Spirit seeks to enlighten within us, from Jesus’ teaching in the parables before us today?   

The picture Jesus paints in the parable of the mustard seed is full of hyperbole to get the hearers attention. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  (Matthew 13:31–32 ESV)

Mustard seed is from the brassica family, the same as canola.  It shares its genus with vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, turnip, and cauliflower, to name a few.  When these vegies go to seed, the flowers displayed are yellow cross-shaped blooms, hence they are called cruciferous vegetables. 

Jesus uses hyperbole here to shake the hearer’s expectation.  These seeds are tiny, and we do not expect them to grow into trees.  The kingdom of heaven seems hidden but once the cross is planted and Jesus is lifted up, what seems small will grow greater than any human expectation. 

Even today the kingdom of heaven is somewhat hidden!  Just after hearing this parable the disciples saw Jesus feed the five thousand, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers.  Still today we do not understand how this works with only five loaves and two fish!  Yet, we believe, and, like the birds in the branches of the mustard tree, we trust we’ll be nested and rest in the kingdom of heaven eternally! 

The parable of the leaven is next.  “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”  (Matthew 13:33 ESV)

What on earth is leaven?  Today we might say yeast.  It’s the raising agent in bread!  Once when bread making was an everyday affair in the home, one would keep back some of the leavened dough to put into the bread mixture for tomorrow.  One gets a picture of succession here!  Perhaps an eternal loaf of bread being raised.  Every loaf of bread is borne of the dough from the day before.  

Elsewhere, Jesus refers to leaven negatively as an unhealthy teaching, spread by the Pharisees and Sadducees. (See Mat 16:5-12)   Paul refers to the leaven of malice and evil, needing to be lifted from amongst believers.  But not so here! 

The leaven is added to three dry measures of flour.  That’s three measures of thirteen litres, thirty-nine litres of flour, yet to rise!  That much bread dough not only overwhelms the mind, but it also makes the hearer realise Jesus is raising a point.

Like the mustard seed that produces cruciferous flowers, that grows into a tree in the parable.  So too, the leaven that’s sometimes bad, here is good leaven, that’s raised up on the tree of the cross.  And it’s placed in the flour by a woman, just as Jesus Christ is nurtured in the world by the church. 

The mustard seed and the leaven seem insignificant and hidden but becomes something great.  One is unexpected to grow so much, the other is expected to overwhelm everything!  

Such is the kingdom of heaven!  What one would have expected to end in death after the crucifixion, flowers and flourishes into eternal fruit that raises up you and me and all who believe.

This leads us to the next two parables.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  (Matthew 13:44-46 ESV)

Many times, we’ve probably been told these parables are about what we should “do as disciples”!  But the cost of discipleship is not our cost, we cannot buy the kingdom of heaven.  Rather these two parables are about “being disciples”.

What do I mean by this?  Jesus pays the cost, and he does so because you and I are the treasure and the pearl that costs Jesus his Sonship, making us Sons of heaven, Sons of God.  It cost him his human life.  In complete selflessness he served, suffered, and died to save us from our sin.  So treasured are you as the pinnacle of God’s creation, he became weak so you would become more than conquerors despite your weakness.

To that end, we are so treasured by God, he sends the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness, to help us in our discipleship.  And even so today, as the Spirit intercedes for us with levelling groans that straighten out our prayers, they are presented to Jesus, “who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34b ESV) 

Jesus Christ treasures you so much, that through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit our prayers are joined with all those treasured of every time and every place, and are united with the eternal petitions of Jesus, our great high priest, who intercedes for us at the right hand of God, until he comes as the victorious merchant man to unveil you and me, his treasured possessions!

The parable of the dragnet is possibly the easiest of these parables to understand. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   (Matthew 13:47-50 ESV)

This parallels the parable of the weeds that come up in the wheat.  They too will be burned in the eternal furnace, painting a picture of suffering an eternal mental and dental living hell.  This simple parable warns the unbelieving hearer will be red flagged from the kingdom of heaven. 

Finally, Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what he was saying.  They said, “yes”.  But desertion at the cross shows they still had much to learn.

Yet they were Jesus’ apostles, his twelve baskets of treasured leftovers!  Even Judas was treasured, who in unbelief would turn and betray him!  He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13: 52 ESV)

God trained his Apostles to be the scribes of the kingdom of heaven, so having been sent you might believe the old and new treasures of his Word.  This is the death of original sin inherited in us from the old Adam and eternal life into which we’re born by the new Adam, Jesus Christ. 

Having receive these treasures of the kingdom of heaven, we who are treasured are given the Holy Spirit.  He gives us relief as he leads us to repent, and belief in knowing we are being loved by God. 

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus’ victory for you.  He treasures you so much he makes you more than conquerors!  Those who have ears, let them hear!  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”.