Sermons

Two Commandments = One.  Mark 12: 28 – 34;  1 John 4: 7 – 21 Can Christianity be reduced to a simple principle? The 1961 musical, the Carnival, told us that ‘love makes the world go round’.  The popular song has been sung by Perry Como, Deon Jackson, Paul Anka, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna to name a few. But they were really singing about romantic love.  Whatever we mean by this word ‘love’ it has something to do with its root meaning: a strong feeling of affection whether sexual or platonic; for things or for people.   He who loves not, lives not. Ramón Lull Love is the key to the entire therapeutic program of the modern psychiatric hospital.  Karl A Menninger. Last week we focused on faith as one of the key components of our humanity. This week it is love.  Our reading from Mark shows Jesus being questioned by a Scribe. Jesus had already responded to the Sadducees with their questions on tax and the resurrection, which were designed to trap him [Mk 12: 13,14,18]. Jesus’ wise answers silenced the Sadducees. A Scribe observing Jesus’ artful responses comes up and asks, ‘which is the first commandment?’  Jesus answers with the Shema and the first and second commandments. The Shema is the Hebrew for  ‘hear, O Israel’.  It is the call to the people to hear God. Each day a devout religious Jew will recite the Shema and the first commandment. It is found in Deuteronomy 6 and it is followed by the Great commandment. Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.  5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.  7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.  8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,  9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. There is no doubt that the Shema and the Commandment to love God is of paramount importance to the Hebrew people. It was so important to keep in mind that God is One and that Israel was to love God that the people were to have these words before their eyes as they moved about. Some took to literally wearing on their heads and arms small leather boxes containing these Scripture passages. Now the verb ‘to love’ used in Deuteronomy is a personal word that is used for family relationships. It evokes the sense of desiring God and enjoying God.  Loving God involves the whole of one’s being –  one’s heart: the seat of emotions;  one’s soul: the core of one’s being; and  with all our strength: the essence of our will.   The verb ‘to love’ implies an intimacy. The language used speaks of an inter-personal relationship. It is a profoundly awesome statement, because we are commanded to enter an intimate relationship with this awesome creator God. This level of intimacy is made clear just a few verses later in Deuteronomy 7 where we read in verse 7. It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples.  8 It was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors. How … how amazing is that? God the Creator loved them and chose them for a special task. That’s extraordinary! That’s the incredible part of our faith, not that God exists. They were to love God because God loved them first and made a covenant to bless them so they would be a blessing to others [Gen 12: 3].  The 1st Letter of John 4:19 says exactly same thing – we love because he first loved us. Jesus has answered this Scribe with an answer that goes to the very root of the Jewish faith – God is One and we must love God with all of our being.  But Jesus adds the second great commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Did you know that this command is only mentioned once in the whole of the OT in Leviticus 19:18.  The ‘neighbour’ referred to their fellow Jews and all aliens in the land. It is a social law governing the prohibition on killing, adultery, and stealing [Deut 5: 17-19]. It formed the basis for trading honestly [Deut 25: 13-16]. And it underpinned all rules and laws that addressed the poor, the marginalised and the exploited so that they would treat each other with dignity [Lev 19: 9-16]. The Scribe sees the truth of Jesus’ teaching and he earns the affirmative comment from Jesus; “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Here we have a window into the heart of God and the intimacy between seeker and God. It is a truly beautiful picture of Jesus and the Scribe – a moment of truth where common minds met. We will understand more if we understand the background. The Scribes were interpreters of the Law of God both the written and oral law. The Sadducees were did not accept the oral law neither did they believe in the resurrection of the dead. Scribes and Sadducees were not on the same page. Now in the Scribal schools of interpretation there were two approaches to the Law of God. On the one hand there were Scribes who wanted to expand the Law to encompass all aspects of life to ensure obedience to God. On the other there were Scribes seeking to simplify the Law.  Some kept expanding the Law and others wanted to reduce the Law. Jesus clearly wants to reduce the Law too. There is a story of a proselyte coming

Your Faith has made you well.  Romans 12: 3 – 8;  Mark 10: 46 – 52 Is it possible that reason could replace faith?  Faith is so important to us.  Imagine a life without faith – no friends, no freedom, no hope! Yes, that is what it would be like if we didn’t have faith. Faith makes it possible to have friends, freedom and hope. Let me explain.  Every time we get into a motor vehicle, or an aeroplane we do so trusting that others using the road and airways will behave responsibly. Because our faith is generally rewarded we tend to take such steps without thinking. Your faith in road users tells you that the car hurtling down the road towards you will keep to their side of the road. When we meet someone for the first time we accept them with a degree of faith. We have learnt to have faith in others because we have experienced the faithfulness of parents and significant adults. They have not only been faithful towards us but have put their faith in us entrusting us with responsibility.  I know that sometimes things are not perfect in our upbringing and faith is broken down. But all this goes to show is how important faith for living. All our relationships are dependent upon faith and faith maintains them faith. And it is this faith that leads to our maturity and freedom. Faith is one of the key components in our humanity that allows us grow and become, and live with hope.  Faith in tomorrow helps us find solutions to life. Faith helps us take the next step when we can’t see the staircase. An inspiring example of this are the INVICTAS Games where armed service persons, who have suffered loss of limbs and great mental stress, have competed in a spirit of true courage an mateship.  I firmly believe that God created us this way.  I believe that God has created us with three key components that are the essence of relationships and the root cause of our freedom. Paul emphasises this in Corinthians 13 where he says that there are ‘faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love’.  [1Cor. 13:13]  Today I want to talk about faith.  I was inspired to do so when I read the Gospel reading set for today regarding Bartimaeus.  Jesus said to him,  “Go; your faith has made you well.”  Wow!  His faith had made him well.  How big is that! Jesus’ statement tells us so much about faith. Now the Bible has a lot to say about faith and the part it plays in our lives. I am going to look briefly at some aspects and then come back to the Bartimaeus story.  Faith as a gift.  Faith I have argued is part of our humanity. It is one of the key components along with hope and love that make us human.  It is God’s gift to us.  Early Christian thinkers understood this. But they were equally concerned that we exercise this gift with humility, lest we think that it is our faith that saves us. Ephesians makes it clear that we are saved by faith, which is a gift of God [Eph 2: 8-9]. In chapter 3:12 we find the statement reiterated in the words through faith in him.  But a growing number of scholars are saying that our English translations haven’t got it right. The Greek genitive applies to Jesus. That means it should read through the faith of him. My reading of Ephesians convinces me that it is the faithfulness of Jesus that saves us just as we sang about God’s faithfulness at the beginning of the service (TiS 154 Great is your faithfulness).  So we all have the gift of faith in us. It is how God the Creator made us. So the following  apocryphal story of Jesus arriving in heaven may help us see the two sides of faith -our faith in God and God’s faith in us.  The angels greeted and praised Jesus when he arrived in heaven after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. They asked what he had done to ensure that his mighty work would not be forgotten. Jesus replied, ‘I have asked Peter, John, James and my followers to tell others.’  The angels asked again, ‘What have you done to ensure that they will do that?’ Jesus replied, ‘ I have asked Peter, John, James and my followers to tell others.’ But the angels persisted. They said, ‘You know Lord what humankind is like. They forget and they fail you. What have you done to ensure that your good work will never be forgotten?’  Jesus replied, ‘ I have asked Peter, John, James and my followers to tell others.’  Increase our faith.  It is not unnatural for us to ask God to increase our faith.  In a sense one could take the metaphor of faith as a shield and say that there are times when our shield needs maintenance.  I have always taken great comfort from the story of the father who brought his epileptic son to Jesus. Jesus wasn’t present. He was up the mountain of Transfiguration. So the father asked the disciples to pray for the boy.  But their prayers seemed ineffective.  When Jesus returned the boy went into convulsions again.  The father explained to Jesus what had happened. Jesus’ response was telling. He spoke of the insufficiency of the disciple’s faith. You see the disciples were not perfect. They had lots to learn. May be their greatness lay in their willingness to learn. The father turned again to Jesus and asked him to help. Jesus replied, ‘that everything is possible for the person who has faith’ [9:23]. And there we have that thought again. Jesus is saying you have faith exercise it.  The father of the boy plaintively cries out; “I do have faith, but not enough. Help me to have more.” [9:24] So often I have cried out to our Lord

The Armour of God. [Eph. 6] Ephesians  6: 10 – 24 What does the story of Noah share with the Armour of God in Ephesians?  The armour of God in Ephesians like the story of Noah has been well used in children’s ministry.  Boys love the swords and shields. Children can place the animals in the Ark. They both provide tactile interactive lessons. All very good, isn’t it? I pride myself on having a competency in children’s education. When I was the General Editor of a National primary school religious education programme I edited out these texts in the lower levels and reserved them for grade six.  Why? You see both Noah and the Armour of God are adult texts with very sophisticated thoughts. What do they have in common?  In the first place they deal with evil at an advanced level.   Secondly they both encourage us to stand against the evil.  Evil is addressed in both texts, albeit in different ways. The armour of God’s description in Ephesians is preceded with the reason for it.  We are standing against evil in all its power: the forces of evil, principalities, heavenly beings and demonic powers.   Now all this language has been purged from our conversation in most Western churches. We don’t talk about the Devil, or demons, or spiritual powers. We Westerners know that reason tells us all we need to know.  Therefore we are the one’s who do the evil. That is, any evil is purely a human activity. We just need to educate ourselves and set some rules and all will be fine. It has nothing to do with the demonic in life. But is it really as easy as all that? Now I am not asking you to believe in the Devil, or demons, or cosmic forces of evil, if that is what you don’t believe in. Personally I keep an open mind on the question as to whether there is or not a Devil, or demons or powers of evil in the world. I am asking to consider something about the nature of evil. Let us consider what happens in our institutions, community structures and workplaces. You join a company, a club and even a church and you find that there is a spirit or atmosphere in the place. I recall my brother, who claims not to be a Christian, when entering the Biblical research centre where I was working remarking in the entrance hall, “This place feels so peaceful!” He immediately on entering the building felt the atmosphere.  There was something there that was more than the sum of the individual people in it. The research centre had its own spirit. You say, ‘that’s absurd’.  Have you never been to a place and felt something about the place, the environment.  You enter a place and something about it makes you want to respond in a certain way. My brother felt that on that occasion. We talk of friendly churches. Of course individuals determine the friendliness, but the friendliness can reach a level that is bigger than the individuals. The notion that something can be greater than the sum of its parts is as old as Aristotle and we call it synergy.  Take a beam that is 6×4 (150x100mm). A single beam of that size will not be as strong as a laminated beam of the same size. Synergy does not only apply to the physical world but human communities.  When reading for my undergraduate degree in divinity I learnt that institutions and systems have a force that can be demonic.  That is, the culture of a place affects those who enter that culture driving and controlling the behaviour. Create a culture of ‘making the most money as you can’ which is rewarded by individual bonuses, and don’t be surprised to find that the outcome means those in power serve their own interests before those they serve. The evolving culture will be characterised by greed and self-interest. Correspondingly values like trust and integrity will slip. As these trends grow and become integrated into the institution they drive the group. Those entering the institution will be caught up in it. If a new person protests they will be put aside. Most who enter will take on the culture. That is what I see as a form of the demonic, where the culture drives us down a pathway of self-interest at the expense of others.  This is what has happened, I believe, with our banking and financial institutions. This is what happens in politics.  A culture becomes evil when it sets aside respect and justice for others. Evil is present when injustice and elitism, truth and unity are compromised. When the collective wrong-doing becomes greater than the sum of the individuals then the demonic has entered and toxicity emerges. The forces flowing from these cultures are powerful.  This is what Paul is writing about. And we ignore this wisdom at our peril. It is not easy to combat such evil.  [I could go on to talk about how criminalising refugees leads naturally to showing less compassion to these displaced people. Examples abound in history of how we characterise a people so that we can empower ourselves and the total force of this leads to discrimination, injustice.  Apartheid, Nazism, Sexism, Chauvinism all exhibit the same characteristic and have become toxic and demonic forces that gather people up into them.] Now the only way we can combat such forces is by standing against them. We need to stand together– shoulder-to-shoulder as the ancient soldiers did.  On the battlefield the soldiers would stand shoulder to shoulder making a wall of defence with their shields and weapons. This is why we are encouraged to put on the armour of God.  The military image of this passage should not distract us from the truth here. The Armour of God reflects the spiritual nature of the warfare.  There is the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of proclamation,

Two Ways To Live. [Eph. 5]   Ephesians  4: 17 – 5: 21 When is imitation not imitation?  We live in a very divided world?  There is a fundamental divide between good and evil: God and humankind. That means we are faced with choosing between one way or another. Jesus said that one couldn’t serve both money and God [Mt 5: 24].   In the book of Revelation our Lord spurns those who are lukewarm: neither hot nor cold [Rev 3: 15-17].     Divisions rack humanity. Divisions between rich and poor, homeless and housed, refugee and citizen undermine peace. Ideological differences threaten our harmony and progress and not least concerning energy resources and climate change. Our confidence has been shattered by the greed and selfishness exhibited by our banking and financial institutions. Morality seems to have slipped to a low level of selfishness infecting all walks of life. We live in a world that challenges us to decide how we want to live our lives. Basically do we want to serve our own interests or are we going to serve the interests of the community and our environment?  There are two-ways to live. We can live by the law of loving our neighbour as ourselves or just loving ourselves and what is ours. Indifference, ignorance or luke warmness is not a moral response. Those of us studying Ephesians could not help seeing our world in the text. Ephesians describes the common world as darkened in their understanding, having no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint. [4: 18-20]  Our world happily separates itself from God. We seem to have little shame about our greed and the breaking of a moral code. If anything we are embarrassed if we are caught.   In contrast Paul writes, No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to one another, because we are all members together in the body of Christ. If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.  Don’t give the Devil a chance. Those who used to rob must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for themselves and to be able to help the poor.  Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.  And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.  Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ. [4: 25-32]   The Ephesian Christians are challenged to imitate Christ. [5: 1]  The challenge is appropriate. They are Christian now. They follow Christ. They are to live the life that Christ leads. But they have come to Christ from the world.  That means they have to put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ [4: 22-24]. Christ Jesus’ way is not the way of self-indulgence, greed, stubbornness, or ignorance of God.  What was true then is true for us today. We spend most of our lives working and playing in an environment of self-interest, competition, acquisition and greed, which rubs off on to us. We are infected by the ways of our culture. We must put off the culture of the world and take on the culture of Christ if we are to be true to Jesus Christ. Treating coming to ‘church’ like a tonic that we take once a week to inoculate us from sinfulness is not the Christian life.  On the contrary it is precisely this view that has led the Church to the position where we have organised our structures like the world’s and entered a downward spiral. Those first Christians understood what imitation meant. Today we tend to hear imitation as mimicry. We look to our heroes and copy their dress and hairstyles. Paul, Philo and early Christian writers expressed what the Roman-Greek culture understood about imitation. Imitation was living one’s life by the values and beliefs of the hero they followed. They understood that the rulers were to imitate their gods, and the people their ruler.  That is why Paul could write to the Corinthians saying,  “Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ.  I praise you because you always remember me and follow the teachings that I have handed on to you, but understand Christ is supreme”. [1 Cor 11:1-3] This same thought is expressed in 1 Thessalonians [1:6-7] and 1 Peter [2:21]. And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us to be perfect – just as your Father in heaven is perfect [Matthew 5:48].  Indifference is amoral.  Ephesians rightly does not give us a moral and ethical code to follow, but correctly points us to Christ Jesus whom we are to follow. That is the choice with which we are faced. There are basically two ways in life: God’s and the World’s.  Which way are you choosing, for to choose you must. Only nobodies sit on the fence. History provides us with many stories of people who chose Christ, took up their cross and let the light of God shine in this world. Christian Reger was one such Christian.  He survived four years of Dachau Concentration camp in Germany during the 2nd World War. Reger was not a Jew he was a German. His crime was that he was a minister of the Confessing Church led by Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonheoffer. The Confessing Church stood against the Nazis. Reger’s organist

Walk the Talk. [Eph. 4]   Ephesians 4: 1 – 16 Are you walking your Christian vocation or just talking it? ‘Walk the talk’ basically means to perform actions that are consistent with our claims. The phrase ‘walk the talk’ is a 20th Century phrase. The notion of walking the talk goes back in time. E.g. In Shakespeare’s Richard III the 1st Murderer says; “Fear not, my Lord, we will not stand to prate; talkers are no good doers: be assured we come to use our hands and not our tongues.”  This distinction between talkers and doers is as old as the hills.  Paul in Ephesians encourages us to ‘walk the talk’, writing walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been called [KJV 4:1]. He says the same thing 4 times in chapter four. [Note that in modern translations the verb ‘to live’ is used instead of ‘walk’.] In Ephesians chapter 4 we come to the practical side of the faith. The first three chapters have explained the basis of the Faith, which is that we are saved by God’s grace through the faithfulness of Jesus [3:12]. God’s grace redeems, heals and transforms us into the people God wants us to be. That wonderful song written by the converted slave-ship captain, John Newton, says it all.  Amazing grace (how sweet the sound) that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. `Twas  grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed! Ephesians describes the wonders of the faith. God loves us and God rescues us through Christ. God rescues us from the powers of evil and our destructive selfishness. Rescued we become the Church. The church is not something we belong to like a club membership. Rather we are gathered through Christ into a unique group, which represents Christ on earth.  We are Christ’s body on earth. We are the Church. As the Church – the community of Christ, we form the Temple of God. God dwells in this Temple, the body of Christ Jesus on earth. That is what God’s grace has done for us – made us a new instrument of peace. Now we are asked to ‘walk it’ – to live out our lives with actions consistent with these truths. Our lives must exhibit the unity and the corresponding peace that belongs to the body of Christ on earth – the Church. We are not encouraged to follow a set of rules. That is not the point of ‘walking the talk’ in Christianity.  The whole point is that we maintain the unity of the faith.  We Christians are to put every effort into maintaining the unity of the faith [4: 3].  We have been told in chapters 1 and 3 that the great secret plan of God is to bring all things in heaven and earth into a unity so that there can be peace [1: 9-10; 3: 3-10]. God’s grace doesn’t mean we have a guaranteed seat on the heavenly train. God’s grace means that we have been recruited to be God’s witnesses – God’s people with a special task that involves maintaining unity in the Church, Christ’s body on earth, and promoting peace to all peoples.  God’s intention is to reconcile all things so that we can have peace [1: 9-10].  Peace is the very thing we don’t have in this world. We don’t have personal peace. We are restless creatures. We don’t have peace with others. We have fractured relationships.  We don’t have peace with other peoples. Tribalism constantly tears us apart. What is important to note is that peace comes as a result of unity. When we are united we are naturally at peace with each other. If God calls us into unity in Christ Jesus then we are also called to maintain the unity. This is what we are to do – maintain the unity in the Church. Unity needs to be maintained, because we always default to some kind of disunity.  To maintain the unity we need the right attitude.  The attitudes that foster unity are humility, gentleness, patience, and lovingly caring for each other. Our attitude is crucial to peacemaking and unity.  So Paul writes; I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life [walk worthily] worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace [4: 1-3]. Maintaining the unity of the Church is our chief focus through developing our fellowship and maturing into compassionate agents of grace. Right actions flow from our unity. We need more than the right attitude. We need the right attributes. The essential attribute of God is God’s oneness. Whenever the Scriptures speak of God the underlying thought is that God is one. So when we speak of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we speak of an undivided unity. When we speak of God as the Creator we read that Christ is the co-Creator and it is the Spirit who forms order out of the chaos [Gen 1: 1-3; Jn 1:1-4]. Creation is the work of the Trinity. We need the right gifts to build up the Church.  God gives us those gifts. They are named in Ephesians. They are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. God gifts us with these tasks, which builds and renews the Church. The Church needs not only the right attitude and attributes, but needs the right gifts for growth so that the Church can fulfil its task. We might find it easier to be gentle, remain patient, caring for each other, if we remember that our task is to develop our unity. Focused on unity we will naturally take these attitudes and attributes into our daily

Cross-Shaped Living. [Eph. 3] Ephesians 3: 1 – 12; 1 Samuel 17 Christian endeavour achieves very little without the power of God. One of the great things about human endeavour is that through it much knowledge has been gained and great technological advances have taken place. The Duke of Wellington said this about human endeavour; All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don’t know by what you do; that’s what I called ‘guess what was at the other side of the hill’.  But all is not rosy in the garden. Some note the limitations of human endeavour. Elbert Hubbard brings us down to earth with his thoughts that, Don’t take life too seriously, you will never get out of it alive. And he also said, Polygamy: an endeavour to get more out of life than there is in it.  As much as humankind can celebrate our endeavour combined with our creativity, we have not yet been able to establish a lasting peace based on justice. The dream of Karl Marx foundered on the rocks of fear, human folly and self-centredness. The free market philosophy fails precisely because it feeds self-interest. For there to be peace – real peace – we need grace to temper our humanity.  I speak of God’s grace. God’s grace is a love given selflessly to those who least deserve it. It is a love given to the helpless – all humanity – who cannot earn it.  It is genuine love that holds us together. We humans know this.  Human love which flowers for a moment is a glimpse into God’s kingdom.  That is why human endeavour for the good of humankind cannot succeed without the help of God. This third sermon in our Ephesians’ series provides a dynamic picture of this truth that nothing of ultimate goodness is achieved without God’s power.  We’ve reflected on a pattern for the Christian life as beginning with sitting, then walking the faith and finally standing firm in the faith. This sermon addresses an aspect of ‘sitting’ with God and letting God act; that is letting go of the reins so God can direct our lives for the good. There is nothing so detrimental to our walk with God than us wanting to run the show. Not because God wants us to be submissive puppets, rather until we learn to see and understand God, we will default to our view on life.  To sit with God means we learn to see the world through God’s eyes. To sit with God allows us to experience God’s power. Otherwise our striving blinds us to God’s power, or at least dilutes God’s power [2:6; Rev 3:21]. What Paul offers us in Ephesians is a view of how the power of God works. The clue to this is the Cross-Shaped-Living (CSL). Paul provides us with a personal testimony to the Cross-Shaped-Life. In chapter 3, our primary text for today, Paul explains how the power of God is working to bring about peace and unity. Paul’s explanation begins with a personal testimony that is counter-intuitive. He tells us that he is in prison. How does this help us understand what God is doing?  In the first place if God is all-powerful why then is his top agent in prison?  Secondly, telling people you’re in prison tends to cast doubt about your trustworthiness.  So when Paul talks about being a prisoner it tends to throw up more questions than answers. But if we pause to reflect on exactly what Paul says we see a different picture. Paul writes; “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Paul says he is a prisoner of Christ and it is for their sake that he is a prisoner.  Paul wants his readers to understand that God’s power works differently to the way of the world. We think of the powerful as those who have influence, control and shape reality.  Power is exercised through status, wealth, political control and media manipulation. In the end the powerful can enforce their view on others. But God doesn’t work this way.  God’s greatest action is the self-giving love seen in Christ Jesus. And the greatest example is the Cross.  Jesus met the political and military evil with love.  It was Jesus’ love and truth that destroyed the political and military evil.  Jesus would not compromise and resort to military or political power battles. Love ultimately destroys evil because evil cannot destroy love. Love given remains while evil spirals into decay.  Look at the history of the powerful evil ones and their ultimate downward spiral of decay and destruction.  But Jesus’ self-giving love raised the Church: a community of love, truth and peace. The Church has grown while the Roman Empire and Jewish Sanhedrin disappeared in the pages of history. The story of David and Goliath points to the same truth that God’s strength is displayed through the weak. David is a boy who looks after his family’s sheep. He is too young to fight, but old enough to take food and supplies to his brothers in battle. David appears near the battle lines of Israel and the Philistines. The Israelites and the Philistines were fighting over more than land. It is was a battle about whose god was the greatest. David comes along as an inquisitive boy would and asks questions. But the naïve lad wants to know why the Israelites are scared of Goliath when their God is greater. David’s questions and views are expressed to King Saul. Saul calls David into his presence. In the exchange David expresses his willingness to confront Goliath in the name of God Almighty. Saul wishes to dress him in armour, but David feels restricted. He is not yet a man nor a soldier. But he boldly declares that he will face Goliath.  When he does Goliath mocks him and asking, ‘Why have the Israelites sent a

Re-imagining the Church. [Eph. 2] Ephesians 1: 20 – 23;  2: 11 – 22  William Blake said, “What is now proved was once only imagined.” Our imagination plays a very important part in our human development. Imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas from our knowledge, experience and interpretation of life. Without imagination we remain stuck in the same place. We need to use the faculty of imagination to gather knowledge, interpret it and organise it in a way that is meaningful. The world that confronts us in our schools, democracy, architecture, music and art was first conceived in the imagination. There is very little in our world that exists that was not first conceived in the imagination. Except, I venture to say, the negativity and cynicism and pretence to be truly real. We can only be thankful to the imagination of the reformers and thinkers like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce, and Nelson Mandela who imagined a world that would give dignity to the poorest of the poor, a world without slavery and a nation free of institutional racism.  Mandela said;  “The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much further than the naked eye could actually see.”   The faculty of imagination comes from God the Creator whose imagination gave us this amazing world and has given us a picture of how we can best enjoy this world. The Bible calls us to imagine a world that is different: a world free of divisions, fear, despair, hatred and cynicism.  Different writings in the Bible provide us with insights: some more beautiful and hopeful than others.  As the first Christians came to adjust to the vision of life Christ gave to them they struggled to apply it. Many of the NT writings show us their struggles and failures. And that is helpful. Ephesians is one of those letters that provides us with a comprehensive picture of the Church.  Today in the face of decline and uncertainty it is wise to ponder God’s vision of Church compared with ours. Albert Einstein said; “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” You know what you think the Church is. I will leave you to compare your picture of the Church with God’s picture. God gives us many metaphors that help us understand what the Church is.  The first thing we are told about the Church is that it is a united community. The first mark of the Church is its unity. It is God’s plan to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth [Eph 1:10; Rom 8: 18-25].  After Jesus died on the Cross the Jewish leaders and Roman administrators, who executed Jesus, thought it was all over. But instead something amazing happened. No I am not thinking of the Resurrection, I am thinking of those groups of people around the empire who were formerly enemies becoming communities of love and compassion. I don’t think we always understand the division and enmity between Jew and Gentile in those days. The separation ran deep, seething with dislike. However after Jesus’ death and Resurrection bands of followers, Jew and Gentile, came together. The world witnessed a new phenomenon: alienated people reconciled and becoming a community of love. This is the first testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  This new people are called Christians [2: 11f.].   Ephesian chapter 2, which we read today, spells this out so clearly. It is expressed again and again in the Bible that Christ Jesus, raised from the dead, brought reconciliation into the world. Galatians speaks of there being no difference between Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free, when we are baptised into the name of Christ Jesus [Gal 3: 27-29; cf. 2 Cor 5]. Our unity is a testimony to the work of God in Christ. Yes, we may fail, but isn’t it wonderful to gather with the church and find our divisions extinguished by our being in Christ.  The people alongside us are our siblings. Sure we get on with some of our siblings better than others, but blood is thicker than water, and that person with whom you don’t get on so well is your brother or sister in Christ. You are spiritually related. And our heavenly parent and brother do not smile upon our disunity. The second thing that the Church has is the fullness of Christ [1:23].  The Church is a collection of people gathered in the name of Christ Jesus – Christians. Christ incorporates us into his body and we are one with Christ. Jesus told us that this would happen when he spoke to us of himself being the vine and we the branches, in John’s account of the Gospel, chapter 15. The sap in the vine is the same sap in the branches. The vine is one: root, trunk and branches are all one. That is what the Church is: Christ’s body on earth [1: 23].  That is the notion which pervades the New Testament and our theology. We are Christ’s body on earth. We become little christs to the world. We are the branches reaching out bearing the fruit of the Christ – reconciling love, compassion, justice and forgiveness. Thirdly many metaphors are used to describe our unity. We are described as citizens [2:19]. For the first Christians the metaphor helped them understand that God saw them not as Jew and Gentile, but as a new people. The other metaphor, which is far more intimate than citizen, is household – a family. One cannot express it more clearly than what Paul writes; So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God [2:19].  Fourthly, there is the image of growth suggesting the Church is like a plant or a human body [2: 21].  The Church is a growing a thing.

Sit, Walk, Stand. [Eph. 1] Ephesians 1: 1-2, 3-8,20-21; 2: 4-6; 4: 1-3,17; 6: 10-13 By letting go and letting God we get everything – wow!  Many of you will remember the days of the radio with its round dials, which we twiddled and twisted to tune in to the station. Some old films included scenes of crucial moments of getting tuned in to call for help. Today with digital connectivity we just turn on, but today’s connectivity and communication are dependent upon the right settings and passwords.   Getting tuned in or setting the correct parameters for our computers and digital gear is like tuning in. Otherwise things don’t go well. In some cases they just don’t work. Getting the order right is important. Getting the order right with God is equally important. Without the right connection or being ‘tuned in’ our communication with God in Christ will be fuzzy, weak if not unhelpful. For me one of the most important things for us Christians is to enjoy the blessing and the power of God in our lives. We are meant to be strong and powerful in our love. That is why I find the epistle or letter to the Ephesian Church so helpful. Today I am commencing a series of sermons on Ephesians that address the getting of things in the right order so our life with God is well connected and meaningful.  I hope that in this series of sermons and week-day studies of the Epistle to the Ephesian Christians we see more clearly the way God works with us; what God has done for us in Christ Jesus; and, the purpose of the Christian life.  It is a gem of a letter. The writer, I take it to be Paul, provides a wonderful explanation of our life in Christ and what the Church is. That is what I want to share with you. I studied the epistle in some depth while on leave. I want us to focus on living the Christ orientated Cross-shaped life rather than gathering information to either support our belief system or tickle our fancy.  This first sermon in the series is an overview and takes us to the key framework for our Christian life. Paul uses three verbs, to sit, to walk and to stand to describe the Christian life.   In chapters 1verse 20 and 2 verse 6 we are told that the Christian life begins with us being seated with Christ.  Paul wrote of the immeasurable greatness of his (God’s) power for us who believe when he raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Then God, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus  [2: 4-6]. This is an amazing picture, but this is not the only place where we find it. There are a number of places in Scripture where we are told that Jesus was raised from the dead and he ascended to the throne room of God in heaven and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. This thinking is grounded in the prophetic word in Psalm 110:1 [cf. 8:6], and expressed in Acts [2:34], Romans [8:34], and Hebrews [1: 3, 13; 10:12]. Christ Jesus is one with God the Father and reigns with God. This is easy for us to understand, but Paul goes on to say that we will be seated with Christ Jesus when we come to Jesus. That image is also expressed in Revelation [3:21] and implied in Colossians  [2:12]. This is an is amazing concept that we, through the loving grace of God extended to us in Christ Jesus, are incorporated into the God-head and sit on the throne with Jesus. The first thing this tells us is that we sit with Christ, not because we have achieved something, but God has graciously received us and adopted us.  The second important thing this tells us is that we share the victory of Christ over evil. The throne of God depicts God’s rule over all. Christ Jesus by his side tells us that Christ rules over all as well. The image of being seated with his enemies under his feet, demonstrates that Christ Jesus through his death and resurrection has destroyed the power of evil. Again and again we read in the NT that Jesus has destroyed the power of evil through his sacrificial love on the Cross. And our being seated with him demonstrates that truth. Jesus taught his disciples this truth. Recall John 15 and Jesus saying he is the vine and we are the branches.  That picture tells us that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour we are incorporated into the being of Christ: we are included through Christ as the family of God.  Ephesians tells us that the first thing that happens in our incorporation into Christ Jesus is that we sit down with him. The Christian life begins with sitting down. Now we may have a problem with this sequence.  First we are to sit and then we are to walk.  In our world, in our way of doing things, we think of walking first and then sitting. We think of earning the right to sit. But with God we can never earn that right. Rather it is a free gift. We might understand this notion of sitting first and then walking the faith if we look to other Biblical passages. In the first Creation story in Genesis we are told that God created the world in six days and on the 7th God rested. Note that God created humankind on the sixth day. That means that the first day for humankind was a rest day! After humanity is created humanity rested. Humanity

WISE UP  – Homily by Geoff Serpell HOMILY AT LEIGHMOOR 19 AUGUST 2018 Ephesians 5: 15-20 In today’s first reading, from the Old Testament Kings, the story of King David has come to an end. He reigned as king for forty years. Solomon, now rules in his father’s place, offering lavish sacrifices at the high places of worship. Early in his reign, God appears to him in a dream and tells him to request whatever he desires. Solomon confesses his inadequacy for the task of being the king and asks the Lord for wisdom, that he might discharge his duties justly. God is pleased with this request and grants Solomon more than he requests; in addition to wisdom, he bestows wealth and fame. One observation to make is how Solomon kept his realm at peace by the technique of him marrying all the daughters of surrounding chieftains who otherwise would be taking up arms against the wealthy Solomon. 1 Kings 11-3 tells us he married 700 princesses and in addition, had 300 concubines. Our Psalm today holds the gem in verse 10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. In our passage today in Ephesians, the focus falls first on wisdom. Both in 5:15 and 5:17, comes the emphasis on wisdom. Why? Earlier in Ephesians, mention is made of unfruitful works such as darkness, hidden, shameful behaviour. There is comment on false teachers going astray in mind and deeds.  Paul gives warnings in general, to be alert, and have wisdom and understanding. Thus the need to discern between froth and bubble and what is authentically Christian. Ephesians said that its days were ‘evil’ and that people should exercise good time management [5:16] and use every opportunity in the life of faith, and that is no less true today.  Allow me to share possibly again something about use of time:- “The magic bank account”:- Imagine you won this prize in a contest; each morning your bank deposited $86,400 into your bank account. Rules apply:- You lose everything not spent each day You may not transfer the money into another account You may only spend it. Each morning upon waking, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 The bank can end the game without warning; It can say “Game over”. It can close the account .What would you do? You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right? Not only for yourself but for family and friends you love and care for. Maybe even for those you don’t know because you couldn’t possibly spend it all on yourself, right?  Actually the game is real. Each of us is already the winner of this prize. The prize is not money, it is time. Each day we receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life. When we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not held in the account but lost forever. Yesterday is gone. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve the account at any time without notice or warning. So what do we all do with our precious 86,400 seconds each day? Reflection:-Worth more than mere money, those seconds can be used for much good, and as we are aware, time flies quicker than you think. We shouldn’t complain about growing old. So many people do not get the privilege. Find time for others. Find time for God. Do you find you just can’t find the Time? From Graeme Smith, a professional artist, comes this:- How do you busy people find the time to take on something new? The main reason people fail when they start a career or new vocation is they have no clear direction. Ideally your goals should be measurable. Set annual goals Reduce the list to the five top priorities Set daily goals You will be the only person holding you accountable Do you have all the right skills for the tasks?  I applied a fair bit of the above principles whilst writing our family history. I had horded a wealth of personal information about the olds and tapped into a wonderful person at State Library Victoria. Then I found via my daughter in law a facilitator who took my writings and fashioned the words and photos into a book printed via on line in USA. Within a week of completion I had delivered twenty five copies which are primarily aimed as letters to our great grandchildren. Why were the letters aimed to people I may never meet? One reason, a strong reason is that I hold the hope that they will embrace the gospel enunciated by my great grandfather in his memoirs written in 1914 just before he died in 1915. I quoted his words at the start of my book and also at the conclusion. Here is hoping the words make an impact with that generation, long after I am pushing up daisies. The early Christians needed to understand or wise up, to what the will of the Lord really is [5:17] Love and the dignity of all peoples are paramount to the Ephesians, above national or sectional interests. Anything which discounts other human beings, both those alive now and those of future generations who will inherit our planet and whose welfare we affect by our stewardship of it, is contrary to love. 5:18 has a playful contrast between wine and spirit. If we are to get excited and ecstatic, let it not be alcohol induced, but arise from the joy of the Spirit in the community. Wine is not under attack but drunkenness is.  Paul warns against being filled with alcoholic spirits, which can lead to debauchery and drunkenness. Being full of booze causes one to act in a foolish and destructive manner. On the Insight SBS TV show on 24thJuly program it was stated that drinking by women over one glass per day can lead to up to a 60% increased chance of breast cancer. We need to be filled rather with God’s

The Prophetic Voice of Truth. Psalm 51; 2 Samuel 11: 26 – 12: 13a; John 6: 24 – 35a What is the work we should be doing?   “Nobody in Australia much likes whistleblowers, particularly in an organisation like the police or the government.” This statement is attributed to the former NSW Police Commissioner Tony Lauer in the 1990s, and largely summed up the official government and police attitudes towards whistleblowers during that period. Fast forward to 2012 and a survey by Griffith University found that while 80 per cent of Australian employees feel personally obliged to blow the whistle on wrongdoing in their organisations, only 49 per cent felt their managers would be serious about protecting them – and only 33 per cent of federal public servants felt likewise. We may be more comfortable about whistleblowing but that does not make it easier. There is a cost to pointing out something that is wrong. The cost begins with the personal turmoil it takes to speak out and confront, but that is nothing compared to losing your job, rejection, jail and outright persecution that may follow. At the social level if we speak the truth we run up against our culture of niceness. So we remain quiet and hide behind the notion of not wanting to upset people. I belonged to the Christian Institute in South Africa. It was founded in 1963 by a number of concerned Church leaders. Two principal leaders were the Reverends Beyers Naudé and John de Gruchy.  In my time in the 70s Beyers Naudé was the Director and Theo Kotze his deputy.  Theo was a Methodist Minister and he asked me to help him build bridges and awareness in the provincial city where I ministered, Kimberley, South Africa.  That I did. I learnt a lot and I saw some wonderful examples of the breaking down of racial barriers in churches. The whites, blacks and so-called-coloured people all had their own churches.  But some of us got together. Our youth group met regularly with the ‘coloured’ church’s youth.  Today I want to focus on the role of the prophetic voice that speaks the truth. Theo told me how he had received threatening phone calls and on one occasion he arrived home to find that bullets had been sprayed across the front of the house. No one had been home at the time. Was it coincidental or planned that no one was home at the time?  He took it to be the latter. He took it to be deliberately done to intimidate. We migrated to Sydney arriving January 1977. That year the Christian Institute was banned. Beyers Naudé was put under house arrest and Theo Kotze was smuggled out of the country to continue the work overseas. Pointing out the wrong to anyone is not easy. In some instances when the wrong is deliberately undertaken to serve the interests of a few, those in power will do their utmost to silence voices that speak against the wrongdoing. It is not surprising that some have suffered much for speaking out. The powerful will always work to silence the prophetic voice unless there is a higher voice that the powerful acknowledge.  It is interesting to note that the peace marchers under Martin Luther King’s leadership were largely successful because the American Constitution recognised their rights and Federal officers protected them. With all this in mind let us turn to the text and the story of King David, Bathsheba, Uriah her husband and Nathan the prophet.  King David’s actions of stealing Uriah’s wife and then having Uriah killed in battle were not surprising for a king to do in those times. What’s more surprising is the back-story. The main player there is Nathan. Bathsheba is the victim as is Uriah.  Let us remind ourselves. Nathan enters the story and tells King David that it is a good thing to build the temple; he returns the next day to advise David that God does not want him to build the temple [2 Sam 7].  It would have been a hard task to tell the big boss that he got it wrong. But David listens. David listens to the voice of God spoken by the prophet. Then the next disaster happens. It is hard to know why this story emerges in the text. Is it because Bathsheba is the mother of Solomon?  That might be the case but it is not a story that pleases our senses. It is not a story that honours the great King David. It is only a story that honours the prophetic voice of truth.  The prophet comes to David and cleverly tells him the story of the rich man taking a poor man’s only lamb. David is angry, and rightly so, for anyone with any sense of justice would be angry. We are told that David “reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and equity to all his people”  [2 Sam 8:15]. For all David’s faults, his ruthless military and political strategy, he was a just king and sensitive to God.  Nathan’s story trapped the king. King David asked, ‘Who is this unjust rich man?’ Nathan points the finger at David and says, “You are the man!” [2 Sam 12:7]  Nathan reminds him of God’s blessing, which in turn reminds David that he has been greedy, devious and unjust.  There was no need to take another woman. He has plenty. He has no reason to take another man’s wife. That is against the Law of God.  The culture of the time speaks of a man being wronged not a woman being abused. But the point of the story is prophetic truth telling. Let us return to Nathan. He has been faithful and he has been bold in confronting David with the truth of God. There have been monarchs before and after who would have turned on the prophet and persecuted him.   For example, John the Baptist got a rum deal from King Herod for