Pentecost 13

Hebrews 12: 18 - 29
Luke 13: 10-17


Last week we heard of a young boy going down to the tool shed with a weak lantern and, in the dark hearing his Father ask - how far can you see? Then go as far as you can see! In Hebrews 11 we also have read for the "cloud of witnesses." They are like a crowd gathered in the grandstands cheering us on in our Christian walk. This week has brought a sense of knowing there are many in the grandstands.

The reading last week from Hebrews also spoke of God's discipline - a love so great motivated by His desire for our lives to reflect the holiness of God's presence within us. vs 10 said "God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness."

None of us likes discipline, though at one level we know it is for our good, the inbuilt tendency is to turn against the one who disciplines us. The Lion King found that the discipline from Rafiki, the Wise Monkey was sometimes painful there is a hope at the other end: it does produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

We must emphasise the word trained because discipline is a process.
Correction of old habits or thought patterns, false understandings, destructive self-talk, all take time. We can't be transformed by the renewing of our minds just at the click of a finger.

The process of discipline and holiness involves active worship: lifting tired hands, strengthening weak knees.

Remember the magnet. When it is rubbed against a piece of metal it too becomes magnetised and gains power. When we are caressed, encouraged by the love of Jesus, we too reflect the love of Jesus in our life. When we encounter Jesus we come to the holiness of God, that holiness begins to radiate in our lives.

Verses have been left out of the lectionary between last week's reading and this week's. Important verses which speak of how to live our life: making every effort to live in peace with each other; making sure no bitter root can grow up in the cracks of our lives; looking at issues of our sexuality and of our godlessness.

Holiness allows us to enter into the presence of God. Worship lifts us to a high point, like standing on a mountain looking out at the magnificence spread before us. Though it is easy to be caught up in the splendour, easy to let ourselves feel good by the good singing and fine preaching, the emotion of satisfying worship, Moses said "I am trembling with fear."

Coming to Christ is an awesome, powerful thing. It will shake individuals, churches, and nations to their very core because God requires holiness and purity.

In worship of Jesus we come not to a mountain that can be touched, for Mt Zion, the highest point of the city of Jerusalem, the site of the temple, symbolises that in Christ we have come to the very centre of God's place.
Here we are joined not just by the throngs in the grandstand but also by 1000's of 1000's of angels. Worship brings us to the heart of God: to His forgiveness of all that is in the past, of all that is unholy in our lives, of all that has been impure. Worship brings us to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. Whereas Abel's blood cried out for justice and retribution, the blood of Jesus speaks of forgiveness and reconciliation God doesn't
threaten: He offers hope, and life. He gives choice.

So, "see that you do not refuse him who speaks." The word of God through the law, the prophets, through Jesus, the Scriptures when quickened to us by the Spirit, should shake us to the core. But we so often refuse to be shaken. In fact, the majority of church people, of Christians choose not to read God's Word as part of their personal spiritual growth and yet complain when life is shaken. It's a bit like wondering why we are physically weak or ill while refusing to eat.

But God's word will continue to shake us, his church, this nation, so that eventually, only that which can not be shaken will remain. What will remain is the kingdom of God, evident in our lives, in our relationships, in the church, and evident in the nation.

I must confess to having three fears.
1. that the Church will be destroyed from within because its people refuse to listen, choosing to turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. When a church seems to condone sin whilst punishing those who speak out against it we are in trouble.

2. that the Church will be destroyed from within, because individuals within the Church prefer to live and love according to the unholy ways of the world rather than by the holy ways of God.

3. that countless lives of precious individuals will continue to be lost, as people destroy themselves and others because they block their ears to the words of Him who calls us and who shows us how to live lives of holiness.

Luke tells of a woman crippled by illness which, whether we like it or not, was caused by a spirit which, with Satan's permission, had afflicted her for
18 years. This woman is immediately healed by the word and action of Jesus and straightens up and praises God. There is, however, another crippled person, the synagogue ruler, crippled by legalism, by hypocrisy, by a refusal to appreciate the wonderful things that Jesus was doing.

The Church will remain crippled whilst it remains legalistic. The Church will remain crippled whilst we refuse to allow God to shake us. The Church will remain crippled whilst we refuse to heed the warning and turn away from all that is unholy in our lives. The Church will remain crippled whilst we continue to make excuses for our behaviour. The Church will remain crippled until individually and communally we choose to live holy lives.

Come Holy Spirit, lift the veil from our faces and from our hearts, may your consuming fire cleanse and refine us, to the glory of God.