C, Post-Pentecost 5, Proper 10 - Amos 7:7-17 "Dread"

Amos 7:7–17 (ESV) This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”

Picture yourself in Amos’s sandals.  You’re a sheep farmer and an orchardist and God calls you from your land into a different land.  Then God places before you visions and asks, “What do you see?”  You report what you see, then God calls you to proclaim his Word to others without fear or favour!

What you’re called to say, has occurred through the disobedience of the people, the priests, and the king to whom you’ve been sent.  God calls you to tell them, “God has dropped a dividing line between himself and you.  No longer will God be found in your places of worship, and your holy sanctuaries will lay in waste!”

In Amos’s time, God dropped his plumb line, saying, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.” (Amos 7:11 ESV)

It was God’s “line in the sand” set to cause dread amongst those who heard its proclamation.  Like Amos, having seen God’s vision and then told to tell others what God says, would you obediently report what you’re called to say?  It is a dreadful message to tell!  Who would you dread more; God or those to whom God calls you to proclaim the prophecy?

But it doesn’t end there.  This farmer come prophet from Judah is confronted by the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, who’s reported your prophecy to the king of Israel, and then tells him to get out of Bethel, go home, and prophecy there.  Imagine if God commissioned you to tell the priest, “Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land. ” (Amos 7:17 ESV)

Would you dread telling this to the priest, or more so would you dread God, if you didn’t do what you were told to teach?

Like fear, dread has a positive and negative sense.  Today it’s mainly used negatively.  Dread and fear in a positive sense can lead a person in awe of someone to do great things. Like Amos, the prophets, our Lord Jesus Christ, his apostles and martyrs!  Or negatively, dread and fear can be quite awful, inciting panic and terror in those who refuse being rescued, by the likes of the prophets or the apostles, therefore remaining condemned guilty before God.

Two avenues of dread stand before Amos. Dread in reporting God’s Word to God’s people and how they would react to him.  Or not reporting God’s Word to his people and dreading how God would react with him, if he didn’t report what he was called to see and say!

This was the third vision God showed Amos, after stern prophecies were spoken against God’s people and king in Israel.  But it wasn’t to be the last vision or prophecy. 

The first two visions were firstly, locusts devouring at the end of the growing season.  And then secondly, judgement by fire which was to consume everything in the land.  But both times Amos interceded, and God relented.

Twice Amos says “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (Amos 7:2,5 ESV) And twice, “The Lord relented concerning this: saying, ‘It shall not be’, and ‘this also shall not be.’” (Amos 7:3,6 ESV)

God’s people tested God, and Amos was sent by God to reveal God’s action against his people acting disobediently, the priests of God acting defiantly, and God’s king acting contrarily against God as a rebellious authority.

The plumb line prophecy was the third vision Amos saw, but it was the first of three in which God did not relent.  The first two were set to cause a godly dread and fear to turn God’s people in repentance back to him.  Now the third, fourth, and fifth prophecies were announced through Amos to reveal God’s opposition and cause them dread as they remembered what they defiantly didn’t do.

God showed Amos the fourth vision, and then God says, “‘Amos, what do you see?’ And Amos said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,’ declares the Lord God. ‘So many dead bodies!’ ‘They are thrown everywhere!’ ‘Silence!’” (Amos 8:2–3 ESV)

God promises to no longer forgive his people, he will not pass by or over them in judgement. No longer heeding his Word, God would withdraw from the orchard and no longer grace them with his presence.  God’s own people will be separated from him, left to themselves as dead rotten fruit.  There is unanswerable silence, in God’s deadly absence. 

God reveals continuing dread in what they’ve sought for themselves, saying, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.’” (Amos 8:11 ESV)

To this the Psalmist adds, “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” (Psalm 82:6–8 ESV)

God inherits the nations through death.  In fear and dread people return in repentance to God, through the daily death of self and its pride, or they await dreadful expectations in a death without the Word of the Lord to save them.

This is played out in the fifth vision of Amos where he sees God standing beside the altar saying, “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’” (Amos 9:1,10 ESV)

God did not put the plumb line amongst his enemy.  No!  These were his own chosen people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Amos was called by God, to leave his farm in Judah, to followed God north into Israel, to see the visions of God, and to tell them to the people of God.  Did he dread doing this?  To this Amos testifies, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7–8 ESV)

God had sent a shepherd, to shepherd Israel, to warn them by sending famine in one place and not another.  Yet, over and over again, God’s people did not dread God’s judgement, causing him to declare, over and over again, “yet you did not return to me.” (Amos 4:6,8,9,10,11 ESV) “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12 ESV)

God prophecies through Amos, pointing forward to Jesus Christ as the resurrection of David’s rule that’s fallen, saying, “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them… I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.”  (Amos 9:11,14a,15 ESV)

In our church and society today, many believe, “disaster will not overtake or meet us.”  The use of fear and dread are looked down upon as “not loving our neighbour”.  Yet God is still showing his faithful plumb line, a line in the sand in his Son Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit continues to open God’s Word to us; in the hope we receive Christ from our neighbours and share Christ with our neighbours.

When the silence of death comes, God will inherit the earth.  When we silence God’s Word of warning and believe “disaster will not overtake or meet us”, we should expect to dread, a death in the domain of darkness and the silencing of our sin.  Yet when we turn and trust in God, who will judge all things, then fear and dread leads us to the cross, to cover our sins with Jesus atoning blood for forgiveness, eternal light and life.  

Killing the prophets, re-crucifying Christ, not allowing the Holy Spirit to make us righteous in God’s Word, is still a current warning to all humanity, including you, regardless of how unpopular it is.  The writer of Hebrews reminds God’s people in Christ of his plumb line, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26, 29 ESV)

The saints of God are still being physically and spiritually martyred for their faithfulness.  Where we are shown to be the killers of God, God’s Word and his people, may the dread of this, lead you and me to repentance from the domain of darkness.   So, having been transferred into the kingdom of God’s eternal light, we live in the assurance of God’s forgiveness of our sins. Amen.

Let us pray! Thanks be to God, who still sends out disciples and saints to share God’s Word with their neighbours.  Thank you for pastors who put aside the dread of proclaiming the truth of your Word, so we, your disciples, can be taught and encouraged to proclaim your message of life without fear or favour, without dread or distraction.  Thank you that the death of Jesus Christ saves from the greater dread and fear of eternal death. Amen. 

C, Easter 6 - John 14:27 "God's Holy Peace"

John 14:27 (ESV) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Lutherans are people of the Word.  Our forefathers led us away from placing our trust in others telling us what to believe about the Word of God, by taking out submission to a middleman and directly placing ourselves at Jesus’ feet to hear, digest, and have his Word enacted in our lives.

However, for many today, being people of the Word amounts to reading a devotion, which begins with a bible text, then a few thoughts from the author, and a brief prayer to end the devotion.  Once that is done then the box has been ticked for us to go off and do something else.  

How often is the devotion done in haste?  As if God’s Word and a prayer is a legal warrant or a gate through which to get, so you can do, perhaps something, “more interesting or important”!

Don’t get me wrong.  There’s nothing wrong with this type of devotion, but it’s meant to lead to something more than the “set and forget” practice we’ve made it!  God calls his believing children to be keepers of his Word, to be kept in his Word.  He wants us to take hold of it and let it do things within us.  We dwell in the Word, so it abides or remains in us.  So, it can change our thinking and our ways, into God’s thinking and God’s way.  After reading a devotion, God wants you to take his Word with you into your day. So, his love can work, in your work, throughout your day.

We are told by Jesus, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (John 14:23–24 ESV)

First, we hear, “If anyone loves me…”  This “If” contains the law and gospel of God’s Word.  If you love me, you will keep my word, if you don’t you won’t keep my Word.  And he says, “by the way, my Word is God’s Word, I am sent by him to speak his Word, and the Father and I will come and live with the keeper’s of my Word.”

When we hear this, it will do one or more of the following:  Having heard Jesus I might ponder to myself “Yeah, I keep God’s Word. I read my devotion; I tick the box.  It’s all good!”  To those who do this, Jesus looks at in loves and says, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21 ESV)

Then there are the scoffers of God’s Word.  Authorities unto themselves they don’t believe they need to sit under God’s Word, they don’t need to keep God’s word, nor do they have to love or be loved by God.

However, most of us I suspect, will be challenged by Jesus in his Word.  You wrestle with thoughts like, “I want to love God, I want to keep his Word!  But reading it is one thing!  Keeping it is another!  And allowing it to work within me, within my day, is a struggle, in which I fear I’m failing!

This is not bad news!  This is how God’s Word of Law is meant to function in those who know the reality of sin that leads to death.  The challenge of Jesus may be uncomfortable, but it’s for a good reason.  It’s the same reason he said to his disciples, “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.” (John 14:28b–29 ESV)

The disciples did not believe nor rejoice because they too did not know how to love God, they did not know how to keep Jesus’ Word, let alone understand it and pass it onto others, as Jesus knew they were going to after his ascension.

This is why he promises his disciples, of which we are his disciples too, saying, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:25-26 ESV)

All of us, beginning with the disciples, need to be helped by the Holy Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit the ways of destruction are wide and varied through which the narrowness of your heart is deceived for disaster and demolition within the world. 

The Holy Spirit takes the truth and love of God in his Word and funnels it into each of us, so we can be conduits of God’s Word in the world.  We are God’s tubes attached to a funnel, and the funnel is the Holy Spirit, who selectively takes God’s, truth and love, filling our being and flushing out our worldly ways.  So, as Jesus promises, we can be brought to remembrance and taught by the Word he has spoken and lived.

People think they are attacking Christians when they say we are narrow minded, but they unwittingly are testifying to the truth of our faith, which guided by the Holy Spirit’s narrow way in God’s Word alone, leads to life. 

Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13–14 ESV)

Those who find the narrow way, find it only by the Holy Spirit.  The gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith that he gives, is just as much the gospel gift as Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In fact, it’s all a package deal from God the Father to us and it’s the gift of peace he gives to believers who want to love him and be kept in his Word.  The Holy Spirit calls us by the Word of God.  He gathers us in God’s Word, he enlightens us in God’s Word, and he makes us holy in God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus and the Father, to keep us in Jesus; the living, risen, Word of God.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit funnels the Word of Law and Gospel into and through us.  With the Law, he convicts us to keep the Word of God, to be kept by the Word of God, to love God, to be loved by God.  But the Holy Spirit also nurtures and assists us, by reminding and teaching us with the Word of God to remain in it, giving us faith to be loved by God, and the desire to love God.  This is all part of Jesus’ gospel plan that gives us peace.  

Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27 ESV)

With the wideness of the world, we all know in our heart of hearts, there’s no peace to be found.  The easy way the world promotes—what the mob wants—ends in trouble and fear, riots and destruction.  The well-worn path of believers is well worn because it’s narrow, not because it’s easy or traversed by many.  In fact, the easy path without obstacles is desolate, and proves itself to be a desert in which the devil dwells.  

But for those carried by the Holy Spirit, we are shown God’s glorious heaven where his church lives with God in peace, this is the heavenly city shown to John in his Revelation.

We hear, “And he (the angelic messenger) carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:10–11, 22 ESV)

You with the disciples who need the Holy Spirit to believe, to remain in the Word of God, to love God and be loved by God are a part of this holy Jerusalem congregation.  Even though we believe, yet know we are sinners and still struggle with sin, we have peace because Jesus has given us a holy helper in the Holy Spirit, who gives us the will and the way to hold onto God’s Word; to know we are loved by God through his Word of Law and Gospel.  So, we can love God and each other. Amen.

Let us pray. Spirit of our God, descending, fill our hearts with heavenly joy. The Father’s love, the love of Jesus Christ, your holy love, transcends all things.  Your love is holy pleasure that never becomes sickening nor sour.  Holy Spirit, with you provided, we are pardoned and guided.  Nothing can your peace­­­­—our peace—destroy. Amen.

C, Easter 3 - Revelation 5:11-12 "Worthy is the Word"

Revelation 5:11–12 (ESV)   Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!”

This weekend has brought to a climax, weeks of words.  Through all these words, every person has been asked to consider who and what is worthy of their support.  Words all working towards enticing you to choose who is worthy to be a winner.

How does one work out who or what is worthy?  What is worthiness?

When hidden reality was revealed to John, the question of worthiness was asked of him. 

John tells us, “Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’” (Revelation 5:1–5 ESV)

We too, might want to weep loudly with a world of words competing for worthiness within.  Vying for our attention is all sorts of stuff coming at us from every direction. Words from others, words from what one reads, words from what one hears!  Words in the airways, coming from the mouths of others, meet our ears and enter in.  We try to make sense of these words with our own internal words.  These are words we’ve heard in the past, and for whatever reason, hang onto as truth. 

Some of the things we’ve heard in the past have proven to be good at first but then have soured and left a very bad taste in our mouths.  On the other hand, some words sound wonky and unlikely to be right, but time or experience has proven them to be true for now. It seems the amount of information at our fingertips today has not made us more informed.  Instead, it seems to have made us more cynical and sceptical.

The electronic world in which we live has allowed us to become a knee jerk society.  Words seem to jerk us around, pulling at us, tugging on one’s inner strings, this way and that, to impatiently persuade in an instant.  Words appear to have lost their influence from a creative single truth.  Words have become a tool of persuasion.   Truth is no longer objective, but rather, it’s now optional!  

Many having been won over in the past by words less than truthful, become cynical and sceptical.  Hearing, seeing, authorship, reality, are less and less trusted in an artificial world where everything has become “subjective and temporary”.  No “objective or supreme” truth can be trusted.  In other words, we no longer trust anything apart from what’s within the self. 

We live in a world where truth has no foundation, which has led to a world of confusion and chaos.  The loss of objective truth outside of us, is most dangerous for everyone in the world, when truth is lost in God’s church, to the subjective chaotic lies branded as truths.

When worthiness is lost to subjectivity, people go back into the self, collectively and individually seeking self-worth.  We ask ourselves, “Who can open the scroll of truth in our society today?”  Some place their trust in this; others in that!   A war of words begins.  It’s politicised, polarising, and paralysing.   It’s a war of half-truths and sin.  One’s subjective truth is pitted against another, and if left to fester, brother is separated from brother, children are detached from parents, neighbour becomes nasty towards neighbour, race riots against race, one population plunders another, due to misguided self-worth. 

We find ourselves teetering on the edge, asking, “What is not a lie?  What’s truth?  Everything’s a lie!” 

In his revelation, John sees all this in himself and everyone else.  He sees the lie of his humanity, and the contradiction of words within himself and within the world.  He weeps that no one can open the scroll and unseal the Word of Truth.  But an elder proclaims to him, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:5 ESV)

The Lamb of God has conquered!  He is the Tree of Life, the Root of David.  The Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, is risen as God’s Ram from Mount Moriah having been sacrificed with his head in the thorns.  He is the Word made flesh, the Objective Truth made Subjective Flesh, the Son of God and the Son of Man.  Now his flesh has been raised in objective truth as the only Worthy Word!

What is truth?  What is not a lie? Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Who or what is worthy? Not you!  Not me!  Not our words!  Jesus Christ is worthy because the testimony of the water, in which you were baptised, because of the testimony of his blood, which you take and drink for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, and because of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which is greater than any testimony of humanity (1 John 5:6-12).

Jesus is the only one worthy to open the scroll, the truth of his Word.  His life, death, and resurrection is the only true eternal testimony.  The word of neither women nor men, neither politician nor pastor, is greater than Jesus’ Word.

Unfortunately, many even inside the church have become cynical and sceptical towards the truth of Jesus’ Word.  We are all tempted to take his word and filter it through our human understanding, to make Jesus, worthy in a way we see fit. 

We are told in Hebrews chapter thirteen, “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)

In this unchanging sameness John looked and saw, “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.” (Revelation 5:6b–7 ESV)

Remember the pastors you have called here in this parish. These are repentant men sent by God to point you to the worthiness of Jesus Christ, and the scroll he has opened, not to themselves or for their own worthiness.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, these men have not called you to be illuminated by the world.  But have called you by the worthiness of the Lamb to illuminate him in the world with his sevenfold character in the Holy Spirit.

The scroll of the truth is open by Jesus Christ.  Let the Holy Spirit open your heart to the sevenfold character of Jesus’ worthiness, as God’s only begotten Word of Truth.  Through his death and resurrection, Jesus’ worthy character is one of power, wealth, wisdom, might, honour, glory, and blessing.

With regards to power, not only does Jesus have power, but he has omnipotent eternal power. 

Jesus’ wealth is a wealth that survives your grave and is rich in eternal life. 

The wisdom of Jesus’ Word is unfathomable. But at the same time, its clarity is so simple a child can grasp it. 

Despite being the Lamb of God, Jesus’ might, is second to none.  Not even a foolish fox could devour this Lamb's worthiness!  You are little lambs under the Lamb of God, protected by the worthiness of his might!

Jesus’ worthiness has a greater value than silver or gold!  Therefore, you, priests of God’s kingdom, can give away your earthly kingdoms, trusting in the honour or prize of Jesus’ worthiness.

The glory of God’s children is in the worthiness of Jesus’ power, wealth, wisdom, might, and honour.  This glory begins with God, but it also ends with God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Test yourself to see you’re not a blockage hindering God’s glory.   Pray that God disciplines you as disciples of his glory.  As disciples of his glory, Jesus makes you worthy, that is, holy in the sight of God our Father.

Therefore, in Christ’s worthiness you are priests in God’s kingdom, eulogised by Jesus’ worthiness.  All the eulogising pomp and ceremony of ourselves in our death is now worthless compared to the goodness of Jesus, in the worthiness of what he has done for you.  You and I are not blessed in ourselves, but in the worthiness of him alone, his blessedness makes you and me a blessing to others.

So, let the sevenfold Holy Spirit of God that rested on Jesus and led him to death, and through it, rest on you.   As Jesus allowed the Spirit to lead him, let the sevenfold Spirit open your heart to Jesus’ worthiness.  To reject all other power, wealth, wisdom, might, honour, glory, and blessing and be made worthy of eternal life by Jesus’ power, wealth, wisdom, might, honour, glory, and blessing. 

Worthy is the Word of God, yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.

C, Easter 2 - John 20:19–22 "Reception of Peace and the Holy Spirit"

John 20:19–22 (ESV) On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

Today, we in the kingdom of God, hear of God’s first ordination in the evening of Jesus’ resurrection.  Ten men are ordained in very simple fashion.  Twice he says to the ten, “Peace be with you”, before saying,  “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  (John 20:21)

These men, referred to as disciples, are sent or called to be apostles, by our Risen Lord Jesus, just as he was by his Father.

Earlier in his ministry, Jesus had designated twelve disciples as apostles and sent them out.  (Matthew 10; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16)   After his resurrection, Jesus prepares ten of them with peace and the Holy Spirit.  He does this so they can function in the way God intended them to function as shepherds in his body, his church, after Pentecost.

The last time Jesus spoke of peace was to his eleven disciples after Judas had departed to betray him.  Three times Jesus teaches them about why they need peace, and how they would receive it.

Notice two very important things that cannot be separated from Jesus’ peace and love — God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.

 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.  “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:23–27 ESV)

Jesus then goes on to elaborate about the works of the world’s hatred, and the works of the Holy Spirit in those who love God.  They leave the location of the foot washing and travel to the location where Jesus prays his high priestly prayer.  But before he prays, he places his peace upon them for the third and final time, before his crucifixion, saying, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 ESV)

Three times he leaves his peace with them before his resurrection.  Now after his resurrection he recalls to remembrance and reinstates this peace.  Twice with the ten disciples and the third time a week later with Thomas the eleventh disciple.

When Jesus left his peace with his disciples before his death, he also taught them about the gift of the Holy Spirit.   So too after his resurrection!  Jesus places his peace and breathes the Holy Spirit upon them with his Word. 

God’s love in Jesus Christ, the peace of God, Jesus’ Word, and the Holy Spirit cannot be disconnected and seen in isolation from each other.  Therefore, here after the resurrection Jesus no longer promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, he makes it a command.   Hear Jesus’ command, “he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22 ESV)

Although the Holy Spirit is a gift, the ten apostles are commanded to “receive” the Holy Spirit.  Some might say, Thomas did not receive the Holy Spirit a week later.  However, Thomas, the doubting one, receives the peace and then receives the Holy Spirit after Jesus gives him the command to believe. 

Receiving the Holy Spirit and believing are one in the same thing.  If you don’t believe, you don’t receive the Holy Spirit.  If you believe Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to put off all doubts, as well as beliefs in the self and the world that oppose Jesus Christ and his Word.  One who allows the Holy Spirit to do this, allows God’s Word to remain supreme and lives in peace, despite how much the world hates you for bearing the peace of God.

Jesus ordains the eleven apostles in two ways.  The ten get one command, to “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Thomas, the doubter, however, gets five very practical commands. 

He said to Thomas in the presence of the other ten, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27 ESV)   Thomas then makes the confession of belief, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28 ESV) Not only is Jesus, master or Lord, but Thomas confesses him as God. 

The eleven apostles have received the Holy Spirit and the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, so their hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7).  The eleven apostles and all other disciples need the Holy Spirit to guard their hearts and minds.  The treatment Jesus received, they received and more, as the body of Christ, the church, grew.

We hear the high priest questioned them,  saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”  But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.  The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:27b–32 ESV)

Here again, God’s Word and the Holy Spirit are connected.  The Acts of the Apostles are really the acts of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  The apostles are the means through which the word and the Holy Spirit work.

Today we need God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to function as church.  In John chapter fourteen to sixteen Jesus prepares his eleven disciples with his peace, teaching them about the hatred of the world, loving one’s neighbour, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Just as Jesus appointed twelve apostles from the disciples and sent them out.  Pastors have been called and sent to shepherd the flock, to be under shepherds and slaves, of Christ and those sheep whom Christ has called them to serve.  Similar to the apostles, they serve in the love of Christ with the command to bind and loose sinners and their sins, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God, in the stead of Christ.  

We call this the office of the keys in the Lutheran Church.  Those who reject the call to repentance, actively work against God’s work through his servants, to bind their sin to the cross and free them, a sinner.  They’re in danger of sinning against the Holy Spirit, as their sin remains free from the cross, treating Christ’s crucifixion with contempt.

During Jesus’ ministry, he also sent out seventy-two disciples ahead of where he went.  The post-Pentecost church is a church of disciples and disciples called in the apostolic tradition to be pastors.  Disciples are learners of Jesus Christ, students of the Holy Spirit.  Parishioners and Pastors, alike, are all disciples in the body of Christ. 

John tells us what being a disciple is, at the beginning of Revelation, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5b –6 ESV)

Every one of us are priests in God’s kingdom, called to practise our priesthood in the world, by loving others with forgiveness as the Father has forgiven us.  Inside God’s church, however, we live in a two-fold priesthood.  This has been the case throughout the history of God’s redemption of humanity.

God called Moses and Aaron to be his mediators or priests for Israel, so he could consecrate Israel through them, saying, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5–6a ESV)

The Apostle Peter picks this up calling all disciples of Christ’s body “living stones” and Christ “the corner stone”.   He says, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4–5 ESV)

In these days of disobedience, it seems God’s peace has disappeared.  To some it has for the very reason that they have not received the Holy Spirit, nor have they hung onto God’s Word.

John speaks further to this in our situation today, saying, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” (1 John 2:18–20 ESV)

You have been anointed in baptism, as one in the royal priesthood of believers.  Don’t be ignorant to God’s Word nor the world’s influence on you and God’s church.  Remain in God’s kingdom, remain in Jesus Christ, receive his Word, allow it to breathe the Holy Spirit on you, and the Holy Spirit to breathe Christ in you.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7 ESV) Amen. 

B, Post Pentecost 7 Proper 9 - 2 Corinthinans 12:2-10 "Super-Self"

2 Corinthians 12:2–10 (ESV)  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.  And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—  and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.  On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—  though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he (Jesus) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul addresses those at Corinth to hang onto the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ and avoid Satan who acts as an “angel of light”.  He confronts these people who teach contrary to his teaching and tempt others away from trusting God’s word.  Those who do this,  Paul calls super-apostles.  These are folk who work superiority over others, forcing folk to follow their ways, contrary to the ways of God.  These people are super-selves and encourage others to super-size their egos too!!

In our age of individualism and self-glorification of the individual, super-apostleship is arguably just as prevalent, if not more so, than when Paul addressed the Corinthians. 

How can you and I safeguard ourselves from super-apostles?  But more importantly, how does a person protect themselves from inadvertently becoming a super-apostle, or a super-self?

This is the issue Paul needed to pursue at Corinth.  He has come under attack by these super-selves, so he defends the apostleship to which he is called by God.  But he has to do it without falling into the same trap as those who have become super-apostles, false-apostles, false-teachers of God’s word.  Paul’s aim is to create true disciples, true believers, or Christians who stand under God’s word, under Jesus Christ, rather than under him.  Sub-selves of Jesus, or disciples, rather than super-selves!

This is why Paul speaks to the Corinthians in what might seem peculiar to our ears.  He refers to himself as a fool.  As one who has no mind, out of his mind, or has no understanding.  This is a very strange way to defend the faith, you might think!

He speaks of a man caught up to the third heaven or paradise of whom he will not boast.  Paul speaks here of himself, apart from himself, not to boast of the things God has done with him to prepare him for his apostleship under the cross.  But Paul boasts in his foolishness, nothingness, weakness, and the harassment of Satan in his thorn in his flesh, to stop him boasting and becoming conceited in the flesh of himself. 

To stop him from becoming a super-apostle within himself, Paul appeals to this suffering selflessness.  Rather than be a super-self, Paul proclaims his suffering-self!

But Paul even goes further by saying, “Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.  Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.”  (2 Corinthians 11:5–6 ESV)

Paul calls himself “unskilled in speaking”, this is literally an “idiot in speaking”, and ignoramus!  He goes on to question and say of the weakness and foolishness of his flesh, “To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!  But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.  Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.  Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.”  (2 Corinthians 11:21b–23 ESV)

What Paul is comparing himself to is the “idiotes” (id-ee-o-tace)or nothingness of Christ.  Not that Christ was nothing, but that Jesus Christ selflessly put his divinity aside and became “absolutely nothing” to save you, me, Paul, and the Corinthians.

This flies in the face of any super-apostle.  The super-self within all of us, seeks to be outstanding in position and perception, rather than understanding or being submissive and subordinate, under the knowledge of Christ.  The knowledge of a super-self will come from a glorified hyper-sense of self.   One’s knowledge is not of Jesus Christ but of what one thinks is good or evil.  Rather than submit to a fool like Saint Paul or any other “idiot” to whom Paul submits, they position themselves, second to no one, serving only if it is to benefit of the super-self.

The desire of super-apostles will always be to tempt others away from humility and faithful submission to God, to a faithfulness in other things or persons.  They use scandalous scams that lure the vainglory of the old sinful super-self, within each of us, to covet pleasure, popularity, and prosperity of various kinds.  This is emotionalism!  The super-apostle wants the person they tempt, to think like them, to be emotional, so they can control them with their "superior ways and beliefs".

With the growing rejection of Christ-centred faith in the world today, individualism and the super-self, sees the cross of Jesus Christ as a scandal.  This should not be a surprise to us, as the people of Nazareth, Jesus own kin, saw him as a scandal.  But it’s this very scandal that Paul and all Christ-centred people continue, suffer, and persevere in patience, waiting for the hope of eternal glory.

So, to protect ourselves from super-apostles, as well as becoming super-selves, we need to invoke a test, first on ourselves and then on those who come to us seeking to teach us something!  The test is simple: Test by asking, “Where is the glory going!”  “Is it going to God alone or to somewhere or someone else?”  It’s as simple as that!  

However, we need to do this, because we still need to be taught.  We are still learners, disciples! The other danger that we face in this age of individualism is to further promote the old Adam, the super-self, and cut ourselves off from true sources of teaching, that God puts in place.

Rather than be misinformed by a super-apostle, we can also cut ourselves off from God the Holy Spirit’s work, by being uninformed without the word of God, and continuing in this uninformed state, we quickly revert back to having the malformed mind of a super-self, separated from God and his word.

You and I need to be daily carried from the individualism of the super-self, back into the word of God, by the Holy Spirit.

As there were in Paul’s day, there are many today who, use the word of God in a way contrary to the way the prophets, Paul and the apostles, as well as many mum, dad, and children disciples, who have sought and continue to seek being faithful servants of God.

Rather than support you in repentance, confession of sin, and belief in Christ’s forgiveness of sin, super-selves and super-apostles who masquerade as “angels of light” under Satan, will give the sense that Christians shouldn’t struggle and suffer with sin.  They will seek subtle ways of putting themselves between God and his word.  Probably by using God and his word, just as the devil sought to do against Jesus, and countless others since.

As your pastor, I know that you all have been caught up into the third heaven, to paradise, when God baptised you into the holy priesthood of all believers.  I also know as your pastor; you have been given thorns in the flesh.  That, super-apostles and your super-self, harass you, torment and seek to tempt you, within the church, to be without the Holy Spirit and the word of God.  Or, to add laws to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But as Jesus says to Paul, he says to us all, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a ESV)

This is what God the Son promises you in his Holy Baptism.  His cross is sufficient for you.  The Holy Spirit was Jesus’ perfect power, to, and through, the scandal of the cross.  This same Holy Spirited power is sufficient for you for your forgiveness of sin, life and salvation.

Therefore, in your weaknesses let the power of Christ rest upon you, as you reject the super-apostle and daily drown the super-self within.  Amen.

B, The Transfiguration of our Lord - 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 "A Transfigured View"

2 Corinthians 4:3–6 (ESV)  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Standing on top of a mountain, on a beautiful day, one can feel invigorated by what they can see.  One may have laboured to get to the top, making the view all the more sweeter looking down from where they’ve come.  But even those who ascend by an easier mode of transport are no less stimulated by what the top of the mountain reveals.

Travelling up the mountain on foot or by vehicle, both experience a veil of types getting to the top.  Walkers walk with heads down stepping over rocks, cracks, and bush, trying not to fall.  Driving up a mountain one keeps their eyes on the road as the shrouding canopy of trees keeps the twisting road hidden as it winds its way up the mountain.  Either way there’s an expectation there’ll be visions of grandeur having arrived at the peak at where the view can be marvelled.

There are three main mountains from where we see Jesus in his ministry.  The mountain of Transfiguration is the first.  There is speculation on what mountain the transfiguration occurred.  For us the important thing is not what mountain, but that it occurred on a mountain. 

The second mountain is the mountain of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified.  And the last mountain is the mountain from where Jesus ascended.  The exact location of all three places is the focus of much conjecture, and again for us the importance is not on where the mountains are, but what happened on the three mountains and why it occurred.

Mountains were places where God met with man.  Moses received the Ten Commandments and other parts of the Law on Mt. Sinai or Horeb.  Through Elijah God overcame the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.   From there Elijah fled to Horeb where God commissions him to anoint Elisha and promises there are seven thousand, he will leave in Israel, who have not bowed to Baal.  (1 Kings 19:18)  We also remember Noah’s Ark coming to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Mountains were understood as the pillars on which the heavens stood.  A holy place for a Heavenly God to meet with his human hosts on earth!  A place of sacrifice where people sought God’s favour or angered God by sacrificing to false gods.   Mt. Carmel and the tradition of Baal worship on mountains comes to mind again.  Think about the mountain built on the plain at Babel to challenge God.  We also can remember God testing Abraham on Mount Moriah when he is reprieved from sacrificing Isaac at the eleventh hour.

Spectacular things happen on mountains, opening the eyes of those there, regardless of the event being very good or very bad.  It’s no different at the three mountains of the Gospel, there is much to see on these mountains!

Peter, James, and John were overcome with the brightness of God the Son on the first mountain.  At this mountain they saw but at the same time they were veiled too!  It was not until after the second mountain that the veil began to come off.  Then in the fullness of time after Jesus’ resurrection and ten days after his ascension from the third mountain was their veil fully removed at Pentecost.

Not only is there much to see on the three mountains, but there is also much to be seen from the mountains! 

On the mountain of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw but only for a moment.  Yet they did not see what Jesus saw.  While they were looking at Jesus, Jesus was looking from the mountain at the whole of God’s creation groaning under the weight of humanity’s sin.  He was viewing all the kingdoms of the world and their glory that Satan earlier had tempted him to covet,  when human hunger and fleshy desire tested him in the wilderness.

Jesus looked out and saw another mountain!  He saw the mountain of Calvery on which the cross would be raised, onto which Jesus would truly be stretched out in sacrificial glory.

Peter, James, and John, could not see this mountain, nor could they understand that the Son of God was the Son of Man.  Nor did they know that to be the true and faithful Son of Man, he would die on this mountain, serving and saving humanity, in a seemingly evil event, from a truly evil event.

However, the evil intentions humanity had for Christ on the cross, God worked for our good on that Friday!  Blinded by sin and evil, we saw him put in the grave, but God had greater intentions for Jesus’ innocent sufferings, death, and descent into hell.  God raised him in glory.

But back on the mountain of Transfiguration, the three disciples did not see this glory, for they did not even understand the glory of the Son of God.  How could they have even begun to perceive the glory of the Son of Man, dying, and being raised in victory over sin and death?  All they could do was, “listen to him” as the Heavenly Father had commanded them!

The veil under which humanity stood, only began to be lifted, once the Holy Spirit came ten days after Jesus ascended from the third mountain.   At Pentecost, those formerly veiled were turned, having had the Holy Spirit shine the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the beginning God first said, “Let there be light.”   But sin’s darkness veiled the light of life, and instead we saw only death.   Now by the Holy Spirit the veil is removed and “God… has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6b ESV)

At first the three disciples were veiled, then in the fullness of time, having been sent as Apostles in the power of the Holy Spirit, their eyes were unveiled and turned having received the light of knowledge.  Now they could see as Jesus saw from the mountains of Transfiguration, Calvary, and Ascension.

You too now bear the light of God!  The mountain on which you see the spectacular view is the mountain of God’s Word, having been given the Holy Spirit, when you were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection.  You are a light for Jesus Christ, fully unveiled to shine Jesus into the darkness.  You shine the Light of Light, the very God of very God!  You are a light of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, to illuminate the Light of Life, Jesus Christ!

We, having had the Word of Life shone in our hearts, not only have a glimpse of the transfigured glory that God promises for us eternally.  We now stand on the mountain of God’s Word with transfigured faith and see as Jesus sees, just as the Apostles saw with the eyes of Holy Spirited faith after Pentecost. 

Just as Jesus served, we too can serve bearing the image of God, for we bear the image of his resurrected Son!  Our knowledge is one of Law and Gospel, death and resurrection. 

Whether the mountain ascent is simple and easy or it’s difficult and dangerous, the view from the top is resurrection glory.

As Jesus leads you up the mountain, there will be times when the going is good and times when it’s downright tough.  Keep in mind the transfiguration of Jesus Christ as he looked out from the mountain of Transfiguration!   He set his sights on the hardships of death on the mountain of death, but endured it, seeing the joy of resurrection victory and the heavenly mountain of ascension glory.

We too live in the knowledge of the all-encompassing power of God the Holy Spirit who sustained and raised Jesus’ flesh, will also sustain, and raise us.

Therefore we, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:10–11 ESV)

So, like Paul, who is given over to death, for the life of the Corinthians in Jesus Christ, we too, “do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV)

Paul says, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,  knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”  (2 Corinthians 4:13–14 ESV)

The vision we see from the top of the mountain is our resurrection and eternal transfiguration with Jesus.   The Holy Spirit unveils the way of Jesus through the valley of the shadow of death into the glorious cleansing day of the cross and our resurrection.  Amen.

B, The Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Mark 1:15 & Psalm 62:5-12 "Standing under Jesus"

Understanding Jesus Christ, in its simplicity, is simply standing under Jesus. 

Understanding Jesus is so straight forward, a child or an adult can stand under him, the poor or the wealthy can stand under him, a new convert can stand under him, and so too can a mature believer on their death bed.

Why then do we struggle to understand Jesus?  Is it because when one seeks to stand out from under him, that the outstanding person has little to no understanding of Jesus Christ?

From where does one get an understanding of Jesus?  One gets it from standing under Jesus’ Word! 

Standing under Jesus can only occur when the fullness of the Good News comes to us, causing one to repent and believe. 

Therefore, we trust!  We believe and receive the Holy Spirit, moving us to confession, bringing us to Jesus’ power over sin and death.

Standing under Jesus, we need the Holy Spirit, so we are willed into God’s Word.  We all know this by how difficult we can find it to engage ourselves in God’s Word. 

When you seek to read the bible, notice how easily you’re distracted by other tasks that always seem to pop up!  Before you realise it, the bible is not opened, the dust settles, and weeks pass by!  The devil then works on the spirit of the sinful self and guilt drives you further away from receiving the Word of God.  Therefore, standing under Jesus’ Word, requires the full help of the Holy Spirit. 

When one is starved of God’s Word, every other word floods in, to fill the void.  The word of the human spirit within, is led by the words of the world, so one becomes use to being without the Word of God.

This is the struggle all face who seek to stand under Jesus.  Our old nature would rather us forget and lose interest in prayer and praying.  Confessing one’s sin, hearing God’s Word preached, and practicing the faith in a God pleasing way, becomes detached and dysfunctional!  The busyness of life quickly takes over and the spirit within becomes comfortable with the status quo.

Standing under Jesus requires faith.  Faith does not come from understanding, but rather, the other way around, understanding comes from faith, and faith sees one standing under what we allow our ears to hear.

As Paul says to the Romans, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’  …So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:13–15, 17 ESV)

Jesus understands that standing under him, requires us to be put in a position of hearing.  Not just any word, but the Word of Jesus Christ.  God the Father, together with God the Son, know this.  That is why we receive the Holy Spirit when we hear the Word of God.  He leads us to the Father through the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ spoken word drew an immediate response from Simon, and Andrew, James, and John.  So much so, they left their families and Galilean fishing boats and followed Jesus.  Through Jesus’ word the fishermen became his disciples and followed him. 

We are discipled by Jesus and grow in our understanding of Jesus, when we stand under his written Word, just as those of his disciples, who remained under his word.  All, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, and that didn’t end well for him!

To get a greater understanding of Jesus Christ you are called to stand under his written Word.  Standing under it allows the Holy Spirit to work faith in the Word within you!  The Holy Spirit continually points us back to Jesus’ way, the truth of Jesus’ Word, and his life.

We are in the season of Epiphany.  In it we hear that Jesus is proclaimed as the Son of God.  In the New Testament, Jesus is declared as the Son of God, some forty-three times.  Of these, it’s recorded only four times in the Gospel of John, where Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God.

Jesus is the Son of God, but as Paul tells us in Philippians, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6–8 ESV)

Jesus put aside his standing as the Son of God and stood under God the Father, and indeed stood under all of humanity as the Son of Man.  He served you, and still does, in human flesh!

Standing under the Father, Jesus Christ demonstrated great faithfulness towards the Father and all who trust in him.  His understanding or nature was such, he put aside his self-assurance in his  divinity, and lived in the weakness of the flesh, allowing himself to be guided perfectly by the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus, the Word made flesh, went away to pray, he prayed his Word, the Word of God.  The Psalms are Jesus’ Words of prayer, given and written down years before he was born. 

When we stand under the Psalms as an anthology of Jesus’ intimate prayers, our faith is encouraged by the depth of his faithfulness to God the Father.  He allows his servanthood to stand, not on his Godliness!  But rather, is led by the work of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, the Psalms give a very personal insight into Jesus’ life as he submits to the will of God the Holy Spirit.

In the same way, when we stand under the Psalms, the Holy Spirit increases our understanding of the perfect relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Standing under God’s Word of the Psalms will increase faith!  So, we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us just as Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus was led by the Spirit to do the will of the Father, having put aside his heavenly divinity.  As faith grows within us, we are led to do the will of the Father, when we put aside our human spirit’s self-assurance and desire for ill-gotten selfish divinity.  Faith allows us to surrender and lets the Holy Spirit point us to God the Father and God the Son.

To understand Jesus’ life, understanding the Word of Jesus’ prayers written in Psalms is as simple as standing under the word by questioning; who is speaking, who is the speaker addressing, and who is the speaker speaking about?   Is a singular person speaking or listening?  Or is it a group of people, usually Israel represented by those gathered in the temple? 

We get understanding of the Psalms and can stand under the Word of the Psalms when we realise, how we, as individuals, or, as a heavenly congregation, are grafted into Words of the Psalm by Jesus himself!  Into Jesus either, as the only Son of God, or, as the head of his body, the new Israel, the church.

Psalm sixty-two demonstrates the perfection of the Triune relationship, and the faithfulness of God’s perfection into which we are grafted by Jesus.

(Psalm 62:5-12)  For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 

Here, the speaker is speaking about our Father in heaven to the hearer.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 

The speaker hear is King David having been given these words from the Word made flesh, the King of kings, Jesus.  So, Jesus is the real speaker of these words having inspired King David by the Holy Spirit to write them down.  By the Holy Spirit, it’s Jesus who confesses and knows God the Father is his rock, salvation, and fortress.  He trusts God despite the weakness of his flesh.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. 

Jesus trusted in God our Father at all times on earth, and he calls us to do so too.  Jesus our King calls us to pour our hearts out to our Father in heaven.  Jesus, the Son of God, put aside his divinity and gave up his human spirit on the cross.  God is a refuge for us because Jesus is our Good News.  

Jesus did this for Israel; he is the New Israel, into which we have been grafted.  When weighed up, next to Jesus’ perfection in the flesh and sacrificial suffering as the Lamb of God, our human haughtiness and lowliness are as long lasting as a warm breath on a cold morning.

Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. 

Israel failed in the wilderness for forty years, then continued in failure right the way through to Jesus’ revelation as the Son of God.  Similarly, we fail time and time again in our lives too.  Jesus, the new Israel, did not fail having been tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days.  Jesus calls us to trust in his work, rather than our lifetime of fruitless works, vain expectations, or earthly riches!

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,  and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.  For you will render to a man according to his work.

Alone Jesus hears only God speak.  Therefore, we hear him proclaim two things he hears and abides by about our Heavenly Father.  That power and steadfast love belong to God! 

We know from the gospel; God the Father rendered the man Jesus according to his work.  We know; the Holy Spirit led Jesus to finish his work of suffering and death and was then raised to life by the Holy Spirit having completed this work for our sake. 

The Holy Spirit works faith within us to trust the power of God.  We become willing recipients of his steadfast love made complete, for us, and in us, by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit creates and maintains our faith in God’s promises, in his Word.  God the Father renders or completes our salvation when we believe the work of his Son Jesus Christ, hearing by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

When we stand under Jesus and his Word, we allow the Holy Spirit to foster faith within.  Then we understand, standing in daily repentance and belief, is standing under Jesus.  Trusting the gospel or good news of our salvation is knowing the kingdom of God is ours eternally.  Amen.