B, Easter 3 - 1 John 3:1-7 "Junk Food Spirituality"

Text: 1 John 3:1-7 NIV

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Sermon

Spirituality has received much attention in recent years. And with this renewed interest comes the practitioners of various forms of spirituality all claiming to have “the” secret formula to a happier life and spiritual enlightenment. They come claiming to have the elixir of life for peace, success, and meaning. There are many variants of this spirituality craze; unfortunately some of them exist in the church.

However, all of them are easy to discern. They all claim to be a better way, encouraging people out of the normality of life into an exclusive special experience. They encourage their pilgrims by over extending emotional hype. They become secretive and separatists in nature. And they all focus on the self—me—the ego.

So many leave the church to find this spirituality. But what type of spirituality really is it? Perhaps, junk food spirituality!

Some just leave and really go nowhere, thinking that they can have a spiritual life with God by themselves. “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian”, is their familiar mantra.

Then there are some that get caught up in new age spirituality born out of Hinduism or Buddhism; seeking enlightenment in the many variants of Eastern Meditation — seeking the god within, one would say. Unfortunately in the realm of new age/eastern thinking, there are a pantheon of gods, including Jesus Christ, deceiving many to believe Jesus can be worshiped at the same time as nature, or the self, or karma, or some other new age guru or fad.

And finally, there are those who claim to be Christian, but moved by the overwhelming mountain of spiritualities; and, their seemingly un-spiritual occurrences of everyday life; and, their desire to have an extraordinary emotional experience — they seek out organisations where likeminded individuals seek a divine encounter through the pampering and whipping-up of their emotions.

After these people have sought this spirituality they return, overwound and completely detached from reality. There is a real danger of them falling flat, as a result of the high to which they had previously been stimulated. Life full of hard knocks and troubles leads them to dwell on the climax of their heightened experiences. And then their addiction leads them on a dangerous path of deeds done to get back to the high place in which they once found themselves. And before they know it they find themselves working to feel holy, righteous, and justified before God. They find themselves completely bound by the Law; bound by what they must do or be to be a “hyper-Christian or a super-Christian”.

Or others come as advocates of this higher spirituality, telling people in the church that they have had an experience with the Holy Spirit. They espouse a superior knowledge of God and even a special fellowship and intimacy with him. They project themselves as special, free from the written word of God or above it. They become religious snobs[1], making others feel inferior — as if they haven’t really got the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, or salvation until they have the experience too.

Their so-called love makes others feel condemned rather than forgiven and built up in Christ. In their promotion of this “way”, wittingly or unwittingly, the logical conclusion of their newfound spirituality, wrongly encourages people to believe that the Holy Spirit, nor the Son, nor the Father are present in ordinary church services where the gospel is preached and the sacraments are administered.

John in his epistles addresses those who were in danger of succumbing to this type of spirituality. He addressed a small church in amongst a myriad of religiosities and spiritualities. And through John’s epistles God addresses us today as well. He calls you in his church not to walk away from him, having been made his child in baptism, and not to walk into the myriad of emotionally driven spiritualities of this age.

He calls you to walk free from sin; not to miss the mark and choosing a spirituality other than the one Jesus gives to us, through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit in his word, and, in the events Jesus himself instituted for us to receive the Holy Spirit and ultimately himself. He calls you to faith in his word, to repent, to receive forgiveness, to trust him, and to encourage others in his way and his means, the way and means of Jesus Christ.

And having called you to repentance, to be daily drowned in your baptism, and forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ who has risen from the grave, God calls you to believe that you are his beloved children. You may not see it, feel it, or have great experiences of it, but you are called to trust Jesus, to trust his word, to know he was crucified for you, to know he was raised to life — giving you life, to know he sent the Holy Spirit through the water and the word to gather us to himself, and to know that we are gathered together by the Holy Spirit into him, and he in us, as we kneel to eat his body and blood in the bread and wine.

John tells us, “…you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.” (1 John 2:20-21, 24-25)

So what do we do to those amongst us who are walking away from the Father’s love, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Do we tell them that it’s ok to stay away from the place where God’s word is preached and the means of receiving his free gifts are administered? Do we tell them they can be Christians without receiving the benefits Jesus gives us as we gather in his name? Or perhaps, we should slam the door behind them and never let them back in?

As tempting as these might be in our own sinfulness, the answer is: no! Rather we pray for them, asking God to open up opportunities so they might be brought back into his presence where they might receive forgiveness of sins and assurance of salvation through the things Jesus himself has put in place for our benefit. We encourage them back under, or for the first time, into, the grace of the cross and resurrection. Either way we never shut the door, we allow God to keep it open so the Holy Spirit might use us to bring those in, who are outside for whatever reason.

Being a Christian is not about emotional highs and being accepted by everyone. Its central tenet is not about warm fuzzy feelings and being everyone’s best friend; as to not offend anyone. No! The work of a Christian is the struggle of standing by our wayward brothers and sisters in Christ; our estranged family members and our pagan neighbours; doing the hard yards with them, not becoming one of them, but interceding on their behalf, speaking words of love to them, speaking the truth no matter how much it hurts to do so, so they might be brought into the grace that God has apportioned for all of us. And in this grace there is true peace!

After all God has done this for you! You are the wayward child God has come to rescue, and is in fact still rescuing. He came to you and me in flesh and has saved us through his own death and resurrection.

He doesn’t find our motives, emotions, or thoughts very appealing. In fact Jesus cried tears of blood because he had to be crucified as if he was one who thought like you or me, as if he was one who did things out of sinful motives like you or me, and as if he was one like you and me who measured a loving relationship with his Father by how good one felt.

But, on the other hand, he obediently followed his Father’s will, out of love for his Father and us. He didn’t come to be your best mate; he came to condemn sin in all of us and take it to the cross. He came to love us, and that is what he did; not through warm and fuzzes, but through pain, suffering, and the loss of life!

He spoke the truth about us (not a pretty thing), bore our sin on the cross (not an easy thing to do), and sent the Holy Spirit to lead us to him, not because he liked us, but because he loves us. In the purity and truth of these gospel actions there is true spirituality, truth, and peace.

In these days we struggle with sin. We are God’s children yet we are not fully aware of who we are as his children. The veil of sinful flesh still covers our lives making it hard to see the extraordinary image of Christ, first implanted in us when the Holy Spirit came to us in baptism, and who continues to feed us every time we hear the gospel preached and as we receive his body and blood in the bread and wine.

It is difficult to see the image of Christ in others too. But we know that God is there amongst those who do the right thing. And the right thing is this: trusting Jesus’ word and upholding his way as “the way” and not departing from the means he has appointed, and not shunning the Holy Spirit who calls gathers and enlightens us as we gather to have our sins forgiven and receive the gifts of peace as we live in this noisy chaotic world.

So hear from John again, and trust the words God speaks to us through these verses in 1 John 3. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning (missing the mark, following other gospels believing they will get to God)[2]. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right (who receives Jesus and his means of grace which you have heard from the beginning) is righteous, just as he is righteous. (1 John 3:1-7) Amen.

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[1]John G. Strelan, 1985, ChiRho Commentary Series - The Epistles of John, Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide, page 9.

[2] My own emphasis added in brackets.

"Gospel of Judas" reviewed by Dr Stephen Haar

The media claims that the Gospel of Judas has the Church worried. But, the truth is we only wonder what all the fuss is about. We say, “Read the Gospel of Judas alongside the New Testament gospels to discover why.”

The Gospel of Judas consists mostly of a long conversation between Jesus and Judas, during which Jesus gives special and secret knowledge to Judas alone. Jesus talks about Gnostic deities and angels, and then asks Judas to betray him in an act of obedience so that his mortal body will be killed and he can be reunited with the spiritual world. Judas agrees to go to the high priests and betray Jesus. That’s the end of the gospel text.

This ancient manuscript lay for many centuries beneath the desert sands of Egypt before being found nearly 60 years ago. It was not lost, just buried. It was not suppressed by ecclesiastical figures, as in the Da Vinci Code novel, but withheld from public view by unidentified figures in the black-market antiquities trade. Their motive was not protecting the faith, or the advancement of historical knowledge, but greed.

The 26-page Gospel of Judas is part of a 62 page ancient papyrus book, containing several writings in Coptic and Greek language, dating from the 3^rd or 4^th century. It is an authentic ancient text, but not ancient enough to tell us anything new about Judas or Jesus. In fact, the text contains a number of religious ideas that would have been alien in the first-century, but became popular later in the second-century. An analogy would be to find a letter claiming to have been written by Ned Kelly in which he talks about the movie Star Wars and his collection of computer games. Historians will use such out-of-place clues to decide the truth of claims that the gospel represents the spoken or unspoken words of Judas.

The National Geographic release of the recently found ‘lost’ Gospel of Judas, on April 9, was accompanied with all the glam and glitz of a made-for-TV spectacular. The Society has plans for magazine articles, television specials, and a book to follow. With the credibility of National Geographic they will probably enjoy instant success. But like Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, the fabric of most claims about the Gospel of Judas is genuine fake.

A common saying is that we believe what we want to see. It is less often recognised, although equally true, that we tend to see what we believe.

The reason why some scholars and so many members of the press promote the Gospel of Judas as a giant leap in our understanding is that it fits with their theory of early Christian history as a battle between competing ideas about Jesus. On the one side stood those who called themselves ‘orthodox’ Christians holding the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. On the other side stood others, including the Gnostics, who had their own gospels. In the end the orthodox happened to win the battle.

The truth is that this theory is both simplistic and misleading. As we know from modern denials about the truth of the holocaust or the landing of man on the moon, the existence of conflicting ideas and debate does not demand equal weight and historical credibility be given to all.

On grounds of historical reliability the canonical gospels have no equal. They describe historical events that can be fixed to the first century. Their written form today has remained substantially the same since around 100 AD. Every shred of evidence we have from the first-century supports the claim that the physical life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was at the heart of earliest Christian belief.

On the other hand, the Gnostic gospels began appearing from 120 years after the life of Jesus, and were a reaction to mainstream Christian belief. They are remarkable for their lack of interest in history. Characters in their stories, like Judas, Peter, Mary, and Jesus are gurus of spiritual insight rather than people concerned with history and going about their everyday lives. In view of their literary character, it is impossible to suggest that they add or subtract anything we know about the historical Jesus or Judas.

The Gospel of Judas is by no means a new discovery. A second century Christian bishop, Irenaeus of Lyons, comments on this document in one of his writings. Irenaues claims it was written by the Cainites, a group belonging to the religious movement called Gnosticism. Gnosticism took on many forms, but most Gnostics taught a special knowledge (gnosis) was needed to release the divine spark in humankind to reach its full potential. The true nature of humankind was hidden and imprisoned in its physical body by an evil creator god. Like many other Gnostic groups, the Cainites taught that the Old Testament God was evil and hostile to the human race, so all physical realities of his creation needed to be rejected in favour of higher levels of consciousness.

As a result of this belief the Cainites turned all traditional beliefs and symbols upside down. For example, they despised the memory of Old Testament heroes and friends of God like Moses, considering them traitors, and revered Old Testament villains instead. They were especially fond of Cain, the murderer of Abel, and were given this name because of this affection.

One school of Cainite thought is that Jesus came to save the human race from suffering. In order to do so he had to suffer and die himself. The forces allied with the evil Creator God of the Old Testament, however, conspired to prevent Jesus from suffering; thereby stopping his work of salvation. By arranging the arrest of Jesus at the hands of the high priests, Judas becomes the hero in the sacred text of the Cainites called the Gospel of Judas.

So, this question is asked of the media: “What’s all the fuss about?” The claim that Judas received exclusive mystic revelations from Jesus is not unique in itself. The same claims are made about Thomas in the Gospel of Thomas. Also, there is no evidence that the Gospel of Judas enjoyed popularity as an alternative to the four canonical gospels, or that it was ever considered for inclusion in the New Testament. Still, along with others interested in the history of earliest Christianity and its environment, the Church welcomes the publication of this ancient manuscript and hopes it will not be the last writing from that period to reappear.

Instead of being troubled by the publishing of the Gospel of Judas, the church welcomes this opportunity for people read it alongside the New Testament gospels. Those who read will discover behind the hype and shine put on these Judas clothes there is nothing new that undermines what Christians have believed throughout the centuries.

For more information contact Dr Stephen Haar North Adelaide, SA stephen.haar@lca.org.au

B, Easter Sunday - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 "Passive Power"

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (with the original Greek passive “he was seen” put back in)

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he was seen by Peter, and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, 8 and last of all he was seen by me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Sermon

Anyone who drives between Chinchilla and Dalby can’t help but notice the huge monolithic structure growing on the Brigalow horizon. This structure is surely one of the greatest achievements of this area. Massive amounts of steel have been welded and bolted together; tons and tons of concrete have been poured. This structure is certainly a monument to the ingenuity of our times; it’s a construction of humanity’s passion, potential, productivity, and power. And when finished, it will supply us with power from the rich coal resources mined from the Kogan Creek area.

Humans empowered to create electrical power, so we might be powerful and prestigious. The construction of the coal-fired power station at Kogan together with the gas-fired stations, being built along the Condamine highway, have brought many benefits to the Darling Downs. Employment opportunities have exploded in recent times; there has been a boom in the local economy. But so too, has the cost of housing, and rent. It seems that with all this power, the powerless, those not riding the crest of the financial wave, are being overpowered. The success of some seems to be the downfall of others. The power, passion, pride, and prestige that the power station might represent and bring to some, is resented by those who have had pressure increased on their purses.

Our society needs electrical power that is for sure. This is not a witch hunt on modern infrastructure or power stations; these are built because of demand. Rather they reveal things about who we are, as a self-centred society. More and more power is needed to power the consumables we buy, so we might appear to be more powerful as we power these appliances. However, the ugly by-products of humanity’s projects to provide us with power are, people’s dominance over the powerless, and our one-up-man-ship — having to have the best of everything. An imbalance appears very quickly in society. Life becomes more about me—“look at what I’ve got”—rather than about the wellbeing of our community’s weak — locally, nationally, and globally. The top dog proudly stands on a pyramid of beaten broken people.

Today we celebrate God’s power! His power is found in the passion of Jesus Christ. And this power is counter-cultural. It doesn’t work in the same way as does the power of humanity, whether it is collectively as a community, or individually through the achievements of one. The power of God is not revealed in success, potential, productivity, or in the collective power of the populace. No! The power of the passion; falls on the shoulders of one man, who became powerless and passive to all that went on around him. God’s power is found in the passivity of the passion; God’s power is found in the obedience of Jesus’ death, where in the tomb Christ had no power to bring himself back from death.

Before his crucifixion Jesus told his disciples, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45) Jesus told his disciples that power is not enforcing one’s rights over someone else, or keeping up with all the latest fads, but rather true power is trusting God’s power, in our weakness, in our service — in sacrificing our rights for the sake of others.

Death is the weakest state in which any person will ever be! None of us can do anything when we are dead. Yet this is exactly from where the power of God is revealed — from death in the grave. In Christ’s totally humiliated state he was dead; the Son of God, an eternal divine being, dead in a grave! Jesus listened to his Father, and so he was obedient unto death.

Imagine humanity saying, “Don’t build us more power stations! In fact we don’t need any more consumables, what we have is good enough. We will make do with what we’ve got. Save your electricity, save your coal, keep it for when we really need it.” At least a part of us would die if we gave up our most loved consumables. Humility has never been a strong point of humanity. Unlike Christ, we, with the disciples and all people, are more concerned with prestige and power.

However, Jesus is honoured now because of his submission. Saint Paul tells us of Christ’s passivity in his first letter to the Corinthians. Unfortunately most English bibles lose the passive emphasis which Saint Paul intends for his hearers. But listen as the passive emphasis is reintroduced, “For what I (St Paul) received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Peter, and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, and last of all he was seen by me also, as to one abnormally born.” (1 Cor 15:3-7)

Jesus died! We know he was passive in his death. He said nothing against the accusations against him, nor did he nail himself to the cross. He was buried. He didn’t bury himself! Now praise the Lord, he has been raised from the grave. He was raised from the dead, something he had no power to do in death! He was seen. He didn’t rise from the tomb at Easter and reveal himself in a show of almighty power! Rather he was seen by God and by those whom God allowed to see him. Jesus’ power is revealed in weakness, both before and after his resurrection.

The passivity of the gospel is the source of great hope for us, for when we are dead we will not be able to raise ourselves either. The passivity of the gospel is also a great template for our lives as we move towards death. Our power is not in our productivity, prestige, or popularity. In fact while we focus on these things, Jesus is not to be seen. However, the power is in the passivity of the passion of Christ and his subsequent resurrection by God the Father, seen only by faith, which is also a gift of God. We are called to lay down our self assumed authority and power, surrendering ourselves to Jesus Christ, as he did for his Father. And the good news is this: That when we were powerless to lay down our sinful natures, God came to us in baptism. We don’t even need to have power or ability to be powerless before God. In his power God came while we were totally lost in our sinful natures.

So as we continue in this life, baptised into Christ’s passive death, we know there is no need for us to prove ourselves through popularity and power in this life. That in itself is liberating. We don’t need to keep up with the Jones; we don’t need all the latest gizmos and gadgets. Like Christ we can be passive; trusting only in God the Father’s love and justification, through God the Son’s grace and means, by the power of God the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith and fellowship.

We know that Jesus is risen! We know that he is glorified! And God calls us to trust him, even while we struggle, to be truly humble and to rid ourselves of our desire to be popular or powerful. God calls us to rest in the hope of our resurrection to eternal life. Just as Jesus trusted in God and was raised; we are called to trust in the grace of Christ so we too might be raised to life with him together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Like Saint Paul, consider yourselves as the least in this life; instead point to the power of God in the resurrection. Bring glory to him. Know that by the grace of God you are what you are, and his grace to you is not without effect, even though we still struggle with sin in this life. When you work harder than all people—know it is not you, but the grace of God that is with you. Just as Jesus trusted and was raised from the dead; trust that you too one day will be raised from the dead to be glorified with him, but only because of his death and resurrection.

Today we celebrate God’s power in Christ over, our weakness, sin, and death. We are called to repent for our desire to be top dogs and hear that we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. We live totally dependant on the Holy Spirit’s power, to bring us into the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, so that in hope, one day we will be powerfully glorified and live forever with our Father in heaven. Amen.

A few thoughts and observations on Good Friday in Australia.

This morning as I drove the 46 kilometres to Miles I was stunned by the amount of business open on Good Friday. As I drove from Chinchilla there were many industrial businesses open. I noticed men painting a sign at the golf course and another group sign writing a business in town. On my way home I noticed a person checking the railway tracks in a vehicle with those little train wheels on the front and back so they can travel on the lines. And there was the continuous stream of cars heading towards Roma for the “Easter weekend celebrations” which the town hosts.

Then it occurred to me that in recent years there are people absent from church. That may not sound very surprising; so let me explain. When I was a child there would always be plenty of fringe members who came to church on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, or on Christmas Day. But these days they don’t even come to these services. Less and less fringe members are coming, even at these special times in the church year. Christ is falling off the agenda for most people.

On the ABC this morning, I was told that the announcer was asking questions in relation to Good Friday, such as, “Are we good enough? What’s it mean to be good?” Sadly he interviewed church leaders who didn’t outlay the reality of Good Friday; i.e. none of us are good enough, we are sinners, left to our own devices we are bound to death. Jesus was the only one good enough but died for us, he was without sin but became sin for us. His death atoned for our sin, hence this dark day when God was crucified is paradoxically a good day, because we are spared the wrath of God and eternal death.

Good Friday is a day of clear and precise law gospel distinctions; i.e. our sin kills, our feeble attempts to save ourselves are but filthy rags to God. However, Jesus’ perfect obedience is given as a free but costly gift to us. It is costly because it meant the Son of God had to go to the cross so that we might be blessed unconditionally. But instead of proclaiming this central tenet of the Christian faith one minister carried on about taking Jesus off the cross, turning crucifixes into crosses; surely this is in total opposition to the reality of Good Friday – the centrality of Christendom.

Once when I was a kid I could turn the television on during Good Friday and watch a movie on the Passion, but all we see today is a bunch of advertisers passionately advertising their mammon.

It appears that a way to evaluate just where the conscience of our country is at, we can look at where and what society’s emphases might be on Good Friday. And from what I am observing, we are quickly descending, if not already descended, into rampant paganism.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Pastor Heath Pukallus

Good Friday 2006