Roger's Postings

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Mark 8:31-38.                        Deny Yourself???                               1/3/15

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Today we have another very challenging message for us in this day and age. We are living at a time when the message of our text here, in a number of ways, is very much at odds with the thinking of our society. There is an almost complete lack of concern for what God has in mind, but merely human concerns. There is the abhorrence of the thought of denying oneself.  Also there is the desire to save and gain life for self no matter what the cost.  Getting on in the world is far more important than our soul’s salvation. And finally there is shame associated with being connected to God rather than the other way around.

To all of this I believe we need to associate Jesus’ words: “Get behind me, Satan!”  All of the above attitudes are not at all good, helpful, or for the wellbeing of our society, far less for our relationship to God and Jesus in particular. Yet these attitudes are creeping into the very heart of the church itself. Satan is wreaking havoc at the moments as we have taken our focus off of Jesus and his death on the cross and placed it on ourselves and what we do. So this Lenten season we need to think deeply about what Jesus is saying to us here.

Denying oneself is a major issue for us as Christians as we live in and have been heavy influenced by a society that is self-indulgent to the extreme. We all have taken on board the desire to gain and have much, even if it is at the expense of our soul’s welfare.  The whole emphasis of life is on ourselves and what we do. We and what we have and want is the centre of life; and it is destroying us and our faith in particular. Any mug can see that.

However we, like Peter; and like the Pharisees of Jesus day, we all do not want to acknowledge that we have this problem. In fact we all want Jesus to change his mind and his ways to suit our way of thinking. We also want to take God aside and rebuke him for his approach to how life should be lived. We do it all too often, even in our Christian lives.

Lord why should that good friend of mine have to suffer that terrible disease?  Why should I have to face these difficult times in my life? Why can’t you mend my broken leg? Why can’t women be pastors in our church? Why do we have to talk about sin so much, since we are basically good people? And the list goes on and on. We think we know what is good and God had better ‘come to the party.’

Even though we can see the sad results of our selfish, self-centred way of life, we continue to boldly go forward further down the path. Within the church we have those who wilfully and blatantly go beyond what God tells us in his word. However for most of us we acknowledge that Jesus and his death on the cross is important, but then speak and live as though we are the centre and so we try to bend what God tells to suit our own whims and desires.

We speak as though it is what we do and the programmes that we run that is what is going to grow the Church. If we cater for the likes of people with regard to worship services and hymns, then the young will come. If we don’t talk about sin, but focus on what makes people ‘feel good’ and builds up their self-confidence, then we will get somewhere. If we speak often enough about the ‘fact’ that we are basically good people then people will lead good Christian lives.

In this regard Jesus says to us also: “Get behind me, Satan!  You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” This kind of thinking takes our mind off of and is a turning our backs on that which is vitally important for our lives. It is destructive for our Christian lives. The huge and rapid decline in our churches is a clear indication of what happens when we lose our focus on that which is of vital significance for us. When we look to ourselves and our world around us we are in big trouble.

Jesus taught his disciples and thereby also us, that which is absolutely essential for our lives as God’s people. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus knew that he must suffer and die and rise again three days later, if there was to be any hope for us at all.

His death was not just the consequences of him upsetting the church leaders and a few dumb red-necks at the time. This was the plan. This is what needed to be done if there was to be any salvation for us. Our only hope and the only hope for our world are to be found in Jesus Christ and his suffering death and resurrection. Nowhere else!

That is why Jesus told Peter and the disciples off: that is why he goes on and tells the crowd that they are to deny themselves: and that is also his strong message to us and the church today. This is his universal message for all people of all times.  No one has ever outgrown the need for this important message to be a part of their lives every day.

This is not something that we are to take for granted and acknowledge, but then go on to focus on more important things, like how we are to get on in life. No, this is something that is to be all consuming for us: For there alone is our one and only hope for a real life here on earth as well as in heaven. There alone is our source of hope; and also our source of growth in the church; as well as the basis for everything that we are on about in our daily lives.

Particularly as his followers – as people who claim to be Christians – we will do everything to keep Christ and the cross in the forefront of our thinking and doing.  We will take on board his message that we: must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. In all that we think say and do as individuals and as a church will be to deny our human way of thinking and place Jesus and all that he says to us in his word as that which is all important.

Yes that will mean we will have to take up our crosses in order to follow him.  It will not be easy going against our nature and our society around. It will not be easy standing against popular opinion, even in the church.  It means we will have to take the hard road, even if we get knocked from ‘pillar to post.’  

Even when it comes to sicknesses and other difficulties in life we can stand firm in the face of it all, knowing that our Lord is with us in the midst of it all. We also now know that he uses all these things for good – just as he uses the cross to bring about our salvation. In small ways he now uses our crosses to keep us looking to him and his death and resurrection; and uses them in order to help bring others to the knowledge of the Good News of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of life and salvation.

If we look back through the history of the church we find that it has always grown rapidly in the face of persecution, where people have simply confessed their faith in Jesus Christ and the importance of his death and resurrection. Conversely it has declined when it has sought to accommodate itself to the whims of humanity and the society around it.

Here remember what Jesus said: For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 

Chasing after the comfortable, popular life of our society can and does, - as we can see from our world around us – lead so many to forfeit their soul. By taking one’s focus off of Jesus and the cross we face the very real danger of missing out on being with our Lord in eternity. That is how serious it is.

What did Jesus conclude his message here with? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.

So with all of this in mind, let us this Lenten season, turn back to Jesus Christ and the importance of his death and resurrection. Let us there again find our hope, joy and certainty in the face of the terrible apostasy all around us. Let us seek his help to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow him. For in connection with him and his cross we do have the full assurance of the forgiveness of sins and life and salvation. In Jesus Christ alone we can go forward with hope and confidence.
For to him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish


Saturday, February 21, 2015

1 Peter 3:18-22.                                Repent – for Christ brings you to God            22/2/15

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

As we enter another Lenten season we are called by Jesus himself to repent and believe the good news. This is what this season is all about. As much as this is something that we need to be doing constantly throughout the year; at this time we make it a particular focus so that that it highlights Easter and Jesus death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins and the assurance of eternal life in heaven.

Yet this is something that does not come easy to us as sinful human beings. We want to be in charge of our own lives and do what we want to do. We want ourselves to be the centre of our lives – even our spiritual lives – so to turn to Christ and the fact that he is where it is all at, is something that we struggle to do. So we need to be challenged in this regard, year in year out.

At the same time we struggle to see that this is a big deal, as we are basically good people; not as God’s Word tells us that we are sinners to the core and that without God’s help we can do no good thing. We all too often refuse to accept that as sinners we are enemies of God. Our pride and arrogance does not want to acknowledge these things.

Along with this we see this repentance and believing as something that is hard for us to do and to achieve. It goes against what we think is good, and our nature wants to fight it over and over again. So this call to repentance and faith is not something that comes naturally for us.

So with this mind we find this reading full of encouragement for us as we start out on this Lenten journey. We have much reason to repent and believe the good news. We are also reminded of all the help that God gives us to enable us to do it. So we can keep our focus on that call of Jesus to repent and believe the good news.

So turning to this reading now, we find that God himself is at work, making it possible for us to be with God now and for all eternity, despite our sin and weaknesses. The text begins by saying that: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Now this is a most amazing statement. For Christ – God’s Son – is bringing sinners to God. We know from God’s Word that sinners cannot come into and be in God’s presence without being destroyed. So we are told again why Easter is so important for us as Christians. God’s Son comes and takes our sin and thereby the suffering that we deserve, on himself: the righteous for the unrighteous.

He was put to death so that we do not suffer eternal death and separation from God. Absolutely amazing! Here is something that surely turns our whole thinking and life around. Surely we will repent and grab hold of all that God offers us here. Surely we want to take God and what he has to say seriously.

But of course Easter, and our reading here also, reminds us that Jesus not only died for our sin but that he was also made alive once again after he had completed the work of salvation that was necessary for us to be acceptable to God. So this one who died on cross truly is of God and his being made alive again is confirmation that all of this is good and according to what God has in mind for our salvation. So this issue of sin and forgiveness is vital to us and our lives.

Then we are told that: After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. Now we don’t know what was said or why, but the clear implication is that Jesus is alive and that he has a message for those who have died before this time, that he has defeated the power of sin and death.

So Jesus Christ has done everything necessary for us to be brought to God. There is nothing now that stands in our way from being able to stand in God’s presence. That is of course unless we turn our backs on Jesus and what he has done for us and reject what he offers us. Then unfortunately he has to leave us to accept the consequences of that decision – an eternity in hell.
However for those who turn to him and believe this good news can do so without the worry of being good enough, doing enough or having enough knowledge or any such thing. Jesus Christ has done all that needs to be done in order for us to now be in God’s presence. All we are called to do is believe it and live in light of it.

The text then moves on to say that Noah and his family were saved through the waters of the flood:  and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.  Here then we are given further assurance and help for us in the call for us to repent and believe the good news.

Baptism plays a very important part in a Christian’s life.  Here we are reminded that baptism now saves you also. Now as we have previously said Jesus has done all that is needed for us to be acceptable to God. However baptism joins us to Jesus and all that he has done for us through his death and resurrection. In baptism we have died with Christ and have been raised to life to live with him for all eternity. We have been washed clean of our sin and have been connected to God’s family. All guaranteed.

So it is more than the washing of the dirt of sin from our lives but is also the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. With that we can go forward with hope and confidence, knowing for certain that we are acceptable to God for we are connected to Jesus Christ at our baptism. Because we are forgiven we can face God confidently, knowing that he loves us and accepts us for Jesus sake.

 So daily we can rise from our pillow and have the full assurance that in Christ we have the certainty of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. With that we can face whatever is before us knowing that as we look to Christ he will take care of all things for us.

But he goes on further in this reading saying that he saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. With Jesus dying and rising again and his ascending into heaven he now is at the right hand of God. Yes, our saviour and Lord is right there in the heavens seeing to it that everything works out for the good of those who love him.

He has the angels, authorities and powers in submission to him, so they will all be in obedience to his commands and wishes; and so the workings of God for our good are even further assured.  With that we can know that even in the worst of situations that we are facing our Lord is allowing and working all things for good –our good and the good of his kingdom.

So with all of this we have every encouragement to repent and believe the good news.  We have every help that we need in order to turn away from a focus on ourselves and our world, to a God who has done everything that is needed for our forgiveness, life and salvation. We can trust in him knowing that since he has died and risen again for us everything will work out for good.  

So this Lenten season may we all be encouraged to look realistically at our sinfulness and thereby our need for a saviour. Remember that we are all conceived in sin and even though we are connected to Jesus Christ we still sin much and so need to constantly seek to be in a state of repentance – recognising our sinfulness and selfishness and so turning to God and the help that he has extended to us through Jesus Christ.

In that may his Holy Spirit lead us to believe and trust in all the Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection has made possible for us. May we truly believe this good news that he has extended to us. And then may we daily cling to all the promises that he has given to us in and through our baptisms.  May we go back to our baptisms and know for sure that we truly have been brought to God and all the good that he has in mind for us.

Then may this season then be a time when all glory and honour does go to our great God for all that he is and has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish


Saturday, February 14, 2015

1 Timothy 6:6-10.                             Godliness with contentment??                                 15/2/15

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Today as we celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday and give thanks to God for the blessings that he has so richly provided for us, we are here given a sobering reminder. This is an important word for our present day society that is far from content when it comes to what we have. This is despite the fact that we have way in excess of what we really need and often results in others less fortunate than us having to go without.

In this regard we are living at a difficult time, with a society that so obsessed by gaining and having an obscene array of material wealth and goods. This western society is continually bombarded with the view that it is I, me and myself and my happiness alone is all that matters. Along with that it over actively promotes that it is the accumulation of wealth and material goods that is what is going to make us happy.

Despite the evidence to the contrary, our western economic culture continues to expand the peddling of this message, that this is the way for us to go. In fact it is made to seem that it is only with the continual growing of our economies that we will be truly happy and blest. Yet we are seeing in epidemic proportions the destruction that this approach is having in people’s lives and happiness – even, and perhaps especially on those who are wealthy and have plenty.  Yet at the same time we have many of the poor getting even poorer.

I know that most people don’t want to hear this truth, for there seems to be no other way. Certainly our all-powerful corporations and economic gurus are doing their utmost to maintain this philosophy. Yet surely the degradation of our society should be sending alarm bells ringing loudly. This surely can be seen with only a cursory look at a practical and shallow level across people’s lives around us: even without scratching very deeply into the reality of what is going on inside people’s lives.

There is definitely a huge lack of peace and content in most people’s lives, despite the fact that they have way in excess of what they need. The broken relationships, depression, suicide and much more is clear evidence that the current views are not only not working, but are actually working against what we are promised will happen. This is without even taking into consideration the spiritual aspect of our lives and what God himself has to say in this regard.

So with all of this in mind then, this text here, as well as many others in the Bible, are all giving us a good healthy wake up call. Especially we as the people of God need to take careful note of the message that he is giving us here. I believe we all can see the truth of what is said here, in the lives of many people that we know.

So with that in mind let us consider carefully what he is telling us here in this reading. So let us hear again what is said.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

So if we want to have and gain something that is good, meaningful and satisfying then we are encouraged to approach life in a completely different way. Instead of trying to find satisfaction in the accumulation of wealth and material assets we are encouraged to seek after godliness with contentment.

Now this is going to be a difficult thing for us to get our head around, for our
society has very much programmed us to think that it is money and things which will give us what is important in life. Together with that, our sinful human nature wants to focus on me and what I want as that which is good and right for us.

Yet we are reminded that it is this godliness with contentment however that is where we will find our great gain – in other words, what is truly good and lasting and satisfying and all that. Now before we look at what this godliness with contentment is all about, we are reminded of a few basic truths about life that we need to keep in mind.
Firstly remember this basic reality: we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. We cannot take our million dollar bank balance and two story mansion with us when we die. It will be of no value to us when we die and stand before the great Judge.  Along with this remember that we only live on this earth for only roughly eighty years, which is nothing compared to eternity. So what we accumulate here has no great lasting value.

Secondly we are told: if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. So when we get the godliness with contentment right, we will find that we will be content with having food in our stomach, clothes on our back and a roof over our head. Caviar, designer clothes, and a six bedroom mansion are not necessary for happiness and fulfilment. When we have godliness with contentment how little or how much we have will not be important or valuable.

Thirdly we are reminded of another basic reality in life throughout the ages: Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. We don’t need to look very hard to find evidence of this truth. Those who chase after riches so often come unstuck in one way or another. They may lose their wealth because they took too big a risk; or are taken down by another more ruthless or shady person than themselves; their lack of morality catches them out; or any number of other ways. But in the end they are left broken and shattered; their dreams have come to nought.

Fourthly: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. We today have been well trained in understanding it is money which will give you most of your wants and desires. Not your needs, but your wants and desires. Our whole society is built around money and what it can achieve., and so it leads to many, many evils.

Then perhaps most importantly of all: Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. When money and the accumulation of it is the main focus in one’s life, we have seen again and again how it has led many away from their faith in Jesus Christ. The flow on from that has brought all kinds of grief into that person’s life.

So there in those few verses  we are pointed to some basic realities which remind us that the ways of our present society are truly disastrous.  The everyday realities that we can see in our world around us today are backed up by God’s word itself. Our focus on gaining and accumulation wealth and materialism will and is creating all kinds of ruin and griefs. God’s Word and life both tell us this.

So then, we need to return again to that which is a great gain for us: to godliness with contentment. As we focus on what is acceptable to God we will be content with what we have: in fact we will find great peace, contentment and satisfaction. We suddenly find that it is not connected to wealth and the things we have, but in who we are as we are connected to Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us through his death on the cross, that makes for life.

So as we look to and believe in Jesus Christ and the cross we find this godliness that gives our lives that which we cannot find anywhere else. We also find that it is given to us freely as result of what Jesus achieved for us through the cross. So now we can know for sure that we are loved, forgiven, and have the assurance of eternal life with God in heaven. We know that he will use every bad situation in our life for good. And we can be sure that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.   

So we can be content in the midst of plenty or little. We can go forward knowing that it is all there for us, without us having to work and strive achieve it. Life in all of its fullness is there for us as we stay connected to Jesus Christ.

So yes today we can give thanks to God for the many wonderful material blessings he has given us. But we also and especially give thanks to him for the godliness that he extends to us so that we can be content whether we have much material blessings or not. For we know that his blessings of godliness with contentment is what is of great gain. There in Jesus Christ and the cross we have that which gives us that which need to have a life that truly satisfies. So to him alone, again then, be all glory and honour now and always.


Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish