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Luke 4:31-37

The clarity of blindness

I realise that much of my life has been lived with the clarity and confidence of my spiritual blindness. So much of what I’ve established as good in my life I realise has come from myself, my own experience and my own interpretations. Eve saw that the fruit was good for ‘… gaining wisdom.’ Like her I’ve lived my life from the perspective of ‘me.’ I’ve worked hard to build and establish my life. I can see that Christ has been progressively pulling me out of myself. He has used my marriage to give me opportunities to sacrifice myself for my wife  and kids. I’ve sometimes been forced to sacrifice my pleasure to care for them, like getting up in the night, driving my son to work because the buses weren’t running, or watching a movie with my wife that didn’t interest me.

Confidently blind?

However never before have I truly seen how blind I am until I heard about my need for God to be my source of wisdom. Adam and Eve needed God’s wisdom before the fall – wow, that has really blown me away. Seeing their desire for autonomy in Genesis 3 has exposed my autonomy in the 42 years of my life. It is amazing to me that I can love Jesus and myself at the same time even though they are a contradiction.

Seeing my inner drive to be autonomous, self sufficient and self focused has given me a real sense of liberty. Throughout the day I’m beginning to notice my behaviour which points to desires which were once automatic and unnoticed. My loyalties are beginning to change. For example work was something to be done, to provide for my family and to not make an idiot of myself when preaching an ill-prepared sermon. My loyalty has been for pleasure, playing my computer games or watching a DVD. So the pull has been away from work towards what I have decided is better. Now I’m beginning to allow God to speak into my life and to change what is enjoyable. Christ has given me people to care for in my family, church and community and I’m beginning to enjoy the idea that I can enjoy being a servant. In this way I’m beginning to see my need for God’s wisdom rather than living in the clarity of my own blindness.  the Rev

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Luke 3:21-38

Real help

What kind of help do you need? Help with the kids, marriage, relationships or work. Maybe you need help coping with mixed up emotions, you feel sad  or anxious a lot. Christ was born and lived his life in preparation for his ministry in the world. All of history culminates with the coming of Christ and the beginning of his ministry.

Christ is baptised, affirmed by both the Holy Spirit and God the Father as being able to begin his ministry. This means that God has been at work throughout history to prepare for the coming of Christ. Evil had sort to prevent the birth of Christ by wiping out Israel but God prevailed. God is at work in your life and he is not going to be put off by your sin, failure and weakness. God’s grace is bigger than your sin.

Christ coming tells us that God cares for us and he is able to help us. The question then is how does he help us? The genealogy of Christ tells us that despite a lot of bad stuff happening in people’s lives God is still able to bring about our salvation. This is incredibly comforting to me because sometimes I fail catastrophically. God’s care is not in jeopardy and God can actually really help me by changing me from the inside help.

When I look at the Christ’s genealogy I don’t see God giving everyone the life they dreamed of. But he does give them himself. I’m beginning to realise that a lot of what I take for granted is in fact me wanting God to give me stuff or make things work out the way I want. When in reality God is trying to help me know him better which is I think counts as being Real Help.  the Rev

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Luke 4:1-13

THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPTATION

Not a single one of us lives a single day without facing temptation. It is common to every human being on the face of the earth no matter who we are, how important we are, how rich we are, or how old we are. Temptation to sin is a blight on the whole human race. No one escapes its clutches.

The reason we are so prone to sin and temptation is because our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. Adam represented the entire human race when he sinned and so ruined it for us all. We would be in an utterly desperate situation if it was not for someone else who also represented the entire human race. 

Jesus did that and resisted temptation and sin in a way that we cannot. When he was tempted for 40 days by the devil in the wilderness he did not give in to the temptations. He succeeded in a desert with everything against him, while Adam failed in a garden with everything going for him.

Though Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, he did not sin (Heb 4:15). That means that though one representative of the human race failed, another did not. When we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour then we have a representative in heaven who knows exactly what we go through when tempted and he has sympathy for us.

All of us are tempted to be as God and decide what we will believe and how we will live. When we are at our best we will resist that temptation. In those times we can rejoice in the grace of God, the power of his Holy Spirit that enables us to have the victory. In the other times, when we fail miserably, we can draw near to Christ with confidence that he will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, because he has sympathy with us.

We truly have a great Saviour, not only because he died on the cross thousands of years ago but also because that death and his intercession have real impact on our daily lives. Yes, we will fall victim to temptation but we have someone who saves us from the consequences of that failure. Rejoice and be glad!

The other Rev

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Luke 3:1-20

Grace in Crises

As a surviver of the Gap storm my heart readily feels deep sympathy to everyone who has been devastated by the big flood. I feel like I’m in shock as images are brought to me of human suffering and need on a scale which is hard to comprehend. The most appropriate response we can have right now is to weep with those who are weeping. We can cry out to our Heavenly Father for the comfort and help our State so desperately needs.

We have a very real opportunity to be God’s grace in people’s lives by giving to the Presbyterian Church Flood appeal. We can help people we know practically with food, clothes and basic necessities. Some of us may be able to help with the actual clean up of people’s homes.

Many people have been shaken by this disaster because it reminds us all just how frail we are and how easily our dreams can be swept away. While I commend the fighting spirit of Queenslanders, pastorally I’m hoping that we don’t lose ourselves in self sufficiency. My encouragement is that this disaster might turn our hearts towards Christ and not away from Him.

As the clean up begins let’s pray that people will recognise their need for a treasure that will never be swept away, never be corrupted by contaminated water and that treasure is Jesus Christ. It would be such a waste of suffering for lives to be put together just how they were. My prayer is that we would strive to know Christ more richly and that our family, friendships and community would remain far more important to us than material possessions. In this way we will experience grace in our crises.w  the Rev

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Luke 2:41-52

Real family

Families are simultaneously the best and worst environments to grow up in. Because each member of a family is flawed it means that the family in which they live in is also flawed. We yell at each other, we hurt each other with our words (or lack of them). We manipulate, boss and intimidate each other to get what we want. Families can be intensely chaotic, hurtful, lonely and sometimes horrible places to be.

Family's Shoes

Jesus lived in a family, with a mum, adopted dad (Joseph) brothers and sisters. I expect he grew up learning to make his own bed, helping mum with the dishes, becoming an apprentice and later running his Dad’s carpentry business.

It is easy to blame our family for our own faults. If my kids were better behaved I wouldn’t yell at them. Or if my sister didn’t touch my touch stuff I wouldn’t have hit her. One of the most important lessons we can learn is that the problems we have are not those outside of us but rather the problem that is on the inside of us, our own heart.

Jesus came to set us free from looking at life through the lens of “me.” He came to enable us, to strengthen us so that we can choose kindness when we want to be mean. To share when we feel like being greedy. To agree when we want to argue, to obey when we would rather go out and play.

A family’s greatest need is their need for Christ. Only he can bring healing, reconciliation, patience, forgiveness, grace, joy and love into the chaotic mix of what it means to daily be a real family.  the Rev

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Luke 2:21-40

Real Courage

When the gospel of Luke (and Acts) was being written Christians were increasingly targeted for persecution by Jews and Romans (read Acts 5:17ff). Israel was a place of political and military unrest. Rome was anxious to maintain its control over Israel.

Real Courage

There was a lot of misinformation about Christ, his teaching and his disciples. Remember he was falsely accused of seeking to destroying the temple and of usurping Caesar (Lk 23:2). Luke wants to set the record straight and to bring comfort to his fellow Christians who were now suffering for their faith in Christ.

Anyone who faces personal injury, loss or death must be convinced that their cause is legitimate. Luke wants to convince us that God indeed has been working in human history throughout the Old Testament and now in the person of Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin and his parents ensured he was circumcised and dedicated as required by God’s law.

The Holy Spirit worked in our world to reveal that Jesus is God’s anointed Saviour. This explains the angels, visions, shepherds and the two prophets bearing testimony to who Christ really is. Even his name tells us that he is The One. Jesus means Saviour and Christ means Messiah (God’s anointed).

This means that you can be given the courage to face that which you fear; people, circumstances and yourself. You can turn to the one who can give you the courage to be free to suffer personal injury, loss and even death. Christ is the source of real courage.  the Rev

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Luke 2:8-20

Real Hope

When my family and I moved to the country it was the silence which struck me first. Being on someone’s property, well away from the road, meant there was no man-made background noise. I wonder what the shepherds made of the hustle and bustle which was happening in the city of Bethlehem. It reminds me of cooking steaks on a sheet of metal over a fire under the stars with my Dad. Life couldn’t seem to be better than the simplicity of being in the bush under stars eating a steak with your fingers.

God is our Hope

The shepherds were probably enjoying the solitude of their vocation in the fields, watching over their flock. It is to them that the Angels appear, to herald the most hopeful news God’s people had heard for a long time. The Saviour had been born and was awaiting their visit. Heaven as it were declares “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

First, God is full on amazingly powerful. Second, God is full on amazingly good. Third, God is full on amazingly committed to us. He is at work to bring about the renewal of the world and the destruction of all evil and death. This means you have hope, real hope. Not in your circumstances, possessions, friends or even yourself. Real hope comes from God, who is at work in our world and in our lives. He declares that his intentions are favourable to us despite our brokenness and corruption.

Breaking news was given to humble shepherds, the dawn on a new age is rising, the Son has come to bring to the world real hope.   the Rev

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Luke 2:1-7

Simply Christmas (Christmas Day)

On the very first Christmas God was born, but nobody noticed. Everyone was so busy making their own arrangements for catching up with family and friends that there was no room for the Son of God. He was born in a stable and was honoured by shepherds who had been alerted by Angels. There were no angry flashes of lightning; no flood swept the people away; no plan of revenge at the lack of reception Jesus received. There was just a baby boy with those God had chosen to care for him, Joseph and Mary. God is humble.

On the very first Christmas God was born, but nobody noticed. Everyone was so busy building a life for themselves that they had no room for God to be born in their homes. They had too many cares of their own to care for the Son of God, so he was born in a manger among the stable animals. The world had become a dark place, full of evil, pain, corruption and suffering. Everything had been turned upside down so that what was wrong became right. People valued their own pleasure above all else. So driven and chaotic had the world become that it no longer realised its need to be rescued. Though people were blind to the birth of Jesus Christ he still came among us. God is love.

As Christmas approaches this year I want to take a deep breath, pause, think and ask God to help me not be so busy that I miss the point of Christmas. It isn’t about presents, food, friends, family, holidays, an excuse to have a rest, drink and eat to the point of bursting. Christmas is about Jesus Christ being born into our world to bring forgiveness for those who deserve condemnation, to bring healing to those who have been wounded, to bring reconciliation where there have been arguments. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).” More important than food and presents is asking Jesus to help you heal your hurts, to mend your broken relationships, to bring peace where there has been war, to help you love those who you have been angry with. Simply Christ equals Simply Christmas.  the Rev

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Luke 1:39-80

Hope for the Hopeless

I’ve come to think that the over use of the word depression has eroded its seriousness. It is like people saying they have the flu when in reality they only have a cold. I’ve had the flu and I thought I was going to die from extremely high temperatures, hots sweats followed by the chills, sleeping most of the day in a state of delirium. It lasted a week and completely wiped me out.

Hope

I think it’s the same with depression. People mistake sadness for depression.  There is no doubt that a cold and sadness are bad enough but they are no where near the calibre of the flu and depression. The difference between sadness and depression is the degree to which someone has lost their sense of hope. People who have been depressed for a long time give up on ever expecting to feel normal again. To feel sad would be an indescribable relief to someone who struggles with depression.

Comfort I think can only come from outside someone who is depressed. They lack not just energy but also the will to try to recover. Hope can come from seeing that God is very much active in the world and with people like Mary and Elizabeth. He uses these humble women to bring about the salvation of the whole world.

Those who feel hopeless can be at least encouraged to look upon God’s ability to use them despite their depression. Todays’s passage is all about God’s ability and activity. He can use the humblest of servants to bring about great blessing. Depression cannot survive the hope we can have in God.  the Rev

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Luke 1:26-38

Mission maidpossible

Women throughout history and throughout the world have been undervalued, except by God. He promised the first woman that, through her, God would right what she and her husband had broken. Ever since then mankind has been in the grip of a war. Evil seeks to destroy Eve’s children so that the one chosen by God might be prevented from rescuing the world and destroying evil once and for all.

A child is born

Throughout history God displays His ability by giving barren women children who end up being mighty men of God’s kingdom, like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist. Mary is unique because she will bear ‘the’ Son while remaining a virgin. God would be the Father and Mary the mother. The Son would be both fully man and fully God at the same time.

Mary expresses her willingness to be God’s maidservant and God assures her that with him her conception is possible. Mary’s service to God is in one sense really ordinary. She gives birth to a child, she raises that child, caring, providing, nurturing and discipling the Christ child. All of which would have been repetitive and sometimes boring. Cooking, cleaning, changing nappies and schooling. But all of these services by Mary are extraordinary because of who she serves. Mums never let people look down on you because you choose to have and raise kids. Let no one underestimate what God can do with what we consider ordinary because with him anything is maidpossible.  the Rev

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Luke 1:1-4

Joining the dots

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? The task of moving house, or asking for a pay rise, or raising your children who don’t seem to want to listen or change or lovingly confronting someone you care about, or giving up something that you really love but come to know is harmful. These things can be so intimidating that we turn away and hide. We may ignore the issue or avoid it by concentrating on something else, getting busy and by making excuses.

Join head to heart

When God’s people came to the promised land they lost sight of His promise and presence. They complained and wanted to turn away from going in because the challenge seemed overwhelming. They spent 40 years in the desert learning to trust in God and to really rely on Him for everything they needed. So often God’s people find it hard to live what they believe, to join the dots between God and their experience.

Luke’s purpose in writing is to help us get to really know who Jesus is and what He came to do. Jesus cares for the unlovely, the destitute, the hopeless, the sinners. He came to set us free so that we can know, trust and enjoy Jesus Christ. As we begin our journey through the gospel of Luke it is my hope that we will fall in love with Jesus Christ afresh.

May the Holy Spirit help us join the dots between what we know in our heads with what we know in our hearts. May our faith be something that we live ever more deeply and richly. May we grow in our experience of God’s grace in our lives and may we share that grace with our family, friends, colleagues and community.  the Rev

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Luke 1:5-25

Courage and faith

Courage means doing something even though you’re frightened. It takes courage to go for a job interview, for a child to have a injection or to learn how to ride a bicycle for the first time. Having someone who cares for you can really help your courage. Like a mum holding a child’s hand when they have their injection, or a dad running behind the first wobbly peddling of a child learning to ride.

Faith helps us see that God cares for us and that he is with us. As we journey through the gospel of Luke it is my hope that we will see how God cares for his children, how he provides for them and how he is always close to them. Just like Zacharias and Elizabeth. Do you feel like God has passed you over with respect to something you feel is really important to you? Perhaps the expectations you had for your life have not worked out. Maybe you feel like you’ve blown it with God.

Luke gives us a real picture of God and how his grace is much more powerful than our disbelief, failings and sin. As we journey through Luke we will see just how determined God’s love is towards us, how he constantly gives patience, grace and forgiveness to those who are unworthy, unimportant and evil.

I’ve been really challenged by Luke’s gospel as I wrestle to learn to believe in God as he really is rather than how I think He is. My hope is that we will all learn to connect our knowledge of God with our experience of Him so that we can have a real relationship with God rather than a theoretical one. As we learn we will grow in our courage and faith.  the Rev