The rewards of faithfulness: Matthew 10:40-42

The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes Him who sent me. The one who welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and the one who welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous persons reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, they shall not lose their reward.

Upon reading this text, I want to ask you a question, the same question which this blog will be looking at. What exactly is the reward of being a Christian? What is a prophets reward? What is the righteous persons reward? and What is the reward of being a humble disciple? 

Throughout the Old Testament we hear story after story about the prophets, and the reward of their loyal service to The Lord God almighty. One story, the story of Elijah

Looks at when he confronted King Ahab (the husband of Jezebel) which God told him to do, After Elijah delivered God’s message, he became an outcast and had to flee from Israel. While he was fleeing he needed food, so God provided him with food and water. The catch was... he was fed by ravens, the great scavenger birds which feed on dead flesh, and as time went by, the water of the brook dried up. Elijah then went to a widow whom God had told him about in Zarephath, God worked a great miracle through Elijah. God provided for this widow with a never ending supply of flour and oil. The catch was... Her son died, Elijah was yelled and screamed at and asked why he came. God again provided a miracle for the widow by bringing the child back to life again. Many other things happened in the life of Elijah, God worked many wonders through him, and by him, but for every work that he did, there was resistance, hatred and pain. 

The reward of the prophet is not an easy one. It carries the reward of pain, suffering, hostility and abandonment by your peers. But this is not the end of the story. With the faithful service to God comes the great reward, as we hear in second Kings chapter 2: And Elijah went up in a windstorm to heaven. The final great reward of a prophet is to be united with God our Father in heaven for all eternity.

In the gospel reading we heard that whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophets reward. So I guess we better ask the question: What is a prophet? How else will we know how to welcome Christ and His Father who sent Him?

Many people believe that a prophet is someone who tells the future, or in other words, a Christian fortune teller. Biblically speaking this is not accurate. A prophet first and foremost is one who hears or sees God’s word, it is someone who God has revealed himself to. Not for the prophets sake in the first instance, but for those people whom God loves, His chosen people. You all here today, are God’s chosen people. God has chosen you to welcome Him. But how do you welcome Him? 

You welcome God, by welcoming the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ his only Son. You welcome Him firstly at your baptism when He made you one of His chosen people. When He promised you Eternal Life. You continue to welcome Him by welcoming those who come to you to proclaim the word which he has given. You welcome God by welcoming His word, which is preached at church every Sunday. This is the reason and the importance of training in the Pastoral ministry. Faithful Pastors who faithfully preach the word in Spirit and truth to us every week are working in the place of Christ, proclaiming God’s word, as a prophet. And we are to welcome them and their message, as God’s word for us. Because they have been sent. The reward of hearing this word is abundant. The words which they speak bring life, they are our spiritual food. In the same way as God provided for the widow with Oil and flour. So too God feeds us through our Pastors voice and there word, God feeds us with the food of eternal life, with his word.

On the flip side of coin, when we hear and are given His word and welcome and receive them, we also receive and welcome the prophets reward. The word does not leave us untouched. God’s word never returns to Him empty. As we hear God’s word, we are changed to be more like him. And when we are changed we begin to receive those rewards I mentioned earlier. We begin to be hurt, isolated and suffer for the sake of the word. For this is the prophets reward that they will not even be accepted in their own home town. Harsh words, You bet. But the words of Hope are SO MUCH MORE. Remember Elijah, he suffered, he was persecuted and driven away from the land for which he was prophesying. But God provided for him throughout his whole life, and when he was at the end of his life. He was taken up to heaven in spectacular fashion, in a whirlwind or a windstorm of some sort.

We have another example given to us that is so much more than Elijah. His name is Jesus Christ, the great prophet, God’s only Son. He was persecuted for the sake of the word. He suffered mocking, beating and His life was ultimately taken from Him. 

The reward of the prophet is a heavy reward. But a great one.

We must not forget that although the reward of the prophet is hard, isolating and can lead to such persecutions leading even to death, the heaviness of the reward is far out weighed by the amazing promise of eternal life. Because as Christ was raised from the dead, so to will we be on that great day when he comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Christ in the sermon on the mount says: Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Jesus is not saying here that you may be persecuted one day for His sake, or that you may be insulted or excluded. He is saying that you will be persecuted for his sake in one way or another; for the sake of righteousness. When you welcome a righteous person in the name of a righteous person you will receive a righteous reward. 

Here as in the reward of the prophet, the reward is not as we may expect, it also includes the promise of people hating, insulting, and excluding you. And yet again although these things may be hard and disheartening. But again this temporary hurt is far outweighed by the promise of eternal life. Not only will you be awarded with eternal life. Your reward in heaven will be great! 

But what does this mean for now? Is there any reward for serving our God right now?

Absolutely. Whoever welcomes Jesus Christ welcomes the one who sent Him, namely our Father in Heaven. And by welcoming Him into our lives we welcome His promises. His promise never to leave us orphaned (as we mentioned in previous posts), to forgive us our sins (as we hear when we receive His forgiveness), to nourish us through His body and blood (as we receive the Lord's Supper), to provide us with all that we need, and to be with us always until the very end of the age.

Times will get tough, you will be persecuted, you will be isolated and hated for the sake of Christ. But you will also have Him who was, who is and is yet to come, in, with and by you, forever and ever.

And the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.

The F Word: John 20:19-21

John 20:19-21

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you"And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” 

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen

Fear 

Have you ever thought about the word fear? Not the feeling of fear but just what the word fear means? Does its meaning look at the action of “shaking in your boots”, scared of someone or something? Does it mean worrying about the things that you need, like food, clothing, savings or health? Or does it mean holding something in a very high regard and even ‘idolizing’ or worshiping something or someone? 

The disciples in todays Gospel reading did exactly these things. They feared. The were shaking in their boots, afraid of what the Jews might do to them. They worried about their lives; about what would happen to them now that Jesus had died. And they devoted their time and energy to their fear of the Jewish leaders, as is seen by the fact that they were hiding behind a locked door rather than spending time helping the sick and the poor and the needy. 

But is it only the apostles that are guilty of these things?

We too fear things that are beyond our control. We fear for the safety of our selves and for those close to us, we worry about what we will eat and wear, and we hold in high regard and even idolize those things that we want or possess. Are we really that different to the apostles?

One fear that many people have is the fear of isolation. The fear of being alone. When I think of that room where the disciples hid behind the locked door, I imagine an image of total isolation. Yes they had each other, but each of them would have been in their own world of loss, mourning and fearing. We too at times feel alone, even when we have people around us. Maybe we are in mourning, or are fearful of those things that burden us. Maybe it is guilt of things that we have done, or those thing left undone. 

Freed from Fear

When Jesus entered the room that the disciples were in; He said “Peace be with you”. This ordinary Jewish greeting “Shalom” is used in the most amazing extraordinary way. Not only is Jesus Christ greeting them. He is announcing himself as present among them. And He is giving them the ability to have peace. 

Remember the disciples were full of fear, they were afraid and they had locked the door. 

Then Jesus appears before them. The one who they had lost had appeared to them and this by it self gave them peace. But Jesus did more than appear to them. He gave them true peace. He gave them their focus back. They were no longer looking within themselves and looking at what they had lost, and what the future might bring them. But they focused once more of that which was most important, namely, Jesus Christ and the forgiveness that he brings. What joy must have been the disciples when they saw and knew that Christ had been risen. When his peace that passed their understanding was brought to them. 

The bible verse here says that they were overflowing with joy. 

And we too overflow with joy when we hear, and see, and know that our sins are forgiven. 

Have you ever felt like the things that you have done are so bad that you don’t want to go out side, or even go to church. Or maybe there is guilt for the things that you haven’t done or the people you haven’t spoken to. Maybe you feel like this today. Maybe the reason you are hearing this right now is that God wants you to hear that your sins are forgiven, and that because of God’s great love for you, He sent His son to die for you so that your sin could be forgiven. The fear of your sin is gone. It has been washed away in the blood of your saviour. The peace of the Lord is with you. We have been freed, by the forgiveness of Christ which brings us His peace.

Freed to Fear

Earlier I asked about the meaning of ‘fear’ and looked at what the definition actually meant. We looked at the trembling fear, or the “shaking in the boots fear”; we looked at the worry for material needs; and we looked at fear being an idolization, or worship of someone or something. When we look at the First Commandment “You shall have no other God’s except me” in light of the word fear; we remember what Luther said this meant: “You should FEAR, love and trust in God above all things”. We have been freed from worldly fears (as we heard earlier), by the forgiveness of our sins. But why are we freed from fear? We are freed from fear, so that we can fear, love and trust in God above all other things. We no longer fear what others may do to us, because we love God and know that God loves us and has promised us eternal life. We no longer worry about what we will eat or wear, because we trust in God to provide us with everything we need. And we do not fear those thing we want, or worship other gods because Our Father has shown us that He can and should be feared above all other things. 

This fear of God does not need to be an afraid fear, nor does it need to be a worried fear. It is a reverential fear, a fear that brings us to worship and devotion before our God. And it is a fear that we are given by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. 

Freed to Fear so we can Free the Fearful

After Jesus had revealed himself to the disciples and has given them His peace, he charged them with a great responsibility. 

This is the same responsibility that He gives to us today. That we pronounce the forgiveness of sins. Why do we have this responsibility? It is because we have been forgiven. We have received the peace of God, so why wouldn’t we want to give this peace to all those around us? The overflowing joy that we receive at the knowledge of our eternal life is one that does exactly that, overflow. We have been given the joy that overflows, the overflowing of this joy flows over into those around us, infecting them with the peace and joy which the Holy Spirit brings. 

Today as we celebrate pentecost, we remember the moment when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into our lives. When He gave us the responsibility of proclaiming the forgiveness of sins to all those around us. When he gave us the opportunity to receive His great peace and joy. And when He made us free from fear, so that we could truly fear, love and trust in God above all things.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. (John 14:15-21)

(Jesus says:) If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you the Paraclete, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, they are the one that loves me. And the one who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and manifest myself to them.

“I will not leave you as orphans!!!”

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord,  Jesus Christ. Amen.

An Orphan

Who has never felt lonely? Felt all alone with no one to turn to??? With no one to talk to??? Or felt like there is no one to care for them?

Who can honestly say that they have never felt abandoned... unloved... or as if they were like orphans with no parental figure to love and guide them down the paths of life, or to teach them left from right, and right from wrong?

John Legend an African American soul singer sang a song to raise money for the people in Haiti last year, It’s title is Motherless child, take a moment to listen to these words, and feel the pain that we all feel at different moments of our lives. 

We have all had times where we have felt all alone, when we have not felt as though there is anyone who cares, or that you can rely on. As the song says: we run to long on our own feet, and we become lost, like an orphaned child who does not know which way to go or what to do next.

When I think of good parental figures and what they do for the children in their care, these three things come to mind; they love them (though they do not alway deserve it); they teach them (though they may not respect or fully understand the lessons, YET!) and they stay with that child during the hard times and the good (though they may not acknowledge the time or effort). Why do parents do this? Is it because they have a martyr complex and need to be hurt to feel loved? Or is it because they have an unconditional love for that child? 

Jesus will not leave you orphaned

In John 14:15-21 Jesus makes us a promise. He says: “I will not leave you as orphans, I am coming to you”. What does this mean for us today? It means that He will love us (even though we don’t always deserve it), that He will teach us (though we don’t always listen to his commands), and that He will remain with us (even though we are not always thankful for it).

Love of Christ

Christ showed us that He loves us by his death on the cross, on Good Friday; and by His Resurrection on Easter morning. And as He says in today’s Gospel reading, “Because I live, you will also live”. The eternal life that you have been given was won by Christ because he lives. Because he loves you. He has not left you as orphans, he has come to love you.

Christ’s Teaches us to love

Just before these verses(John13:34-35), Jesus said to those who were with Him: “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. Today we heard Jesus develop further the reason for this commandment; If we don’t love one another, we don’t really love Him. If we don’t love him, he is not in us and we are rejecting the one who sent him; our Father in Heaven. 

This statement may seem too strong, or maybe too legalistic... but think of it like this: Christ has told us that he will not leave us as orphans... An orphan with no parental figure has no way of knowing what is right and good. They have no teacher. A child who is loved by someone is taught. They are loved by being taught right and wrong. Jesus shows us that he loves us by loving us, giving His life for us, and by teaching us to walk in his love by giving us his commandments. His command for us is to love each other as He loves us. He has not left you as an orphan, he has come to teach you.

One sent to be with you.

To be an orphan is to be someone who is alone in the world. Someone who has no one to turn to for care, no one to turn to for comfort. No one to tell you, that you are loved. Today we heard Jesus proclaim to us that He will not leave us as orphans, that He is coming to us. He says that He will ask the Father to send the Paraclete to us, the Holy Spirit. 

A Paraclete is usually translated today as a helper. But the greek is so much richer than this. The meaning of Paraclete is one who comes along side of to help, or to advocate on behalf of. So when Jesus says that he will ask the Father to send you a Paraclete he is saying that he is asking God, Our Father in heaven, to send you someone to be with you, to help you, to uphold and defend you. Jesus has not left you orphaned, he has asked that you have a helper come alongside you to comfort, defend and uphold you. 

Not Orphans, Called to have and to keep the commandments.

We are no longer Orphans, we have a saviour who has come to us; Jesus Christ Our Risen Saviour. He loves us, he teaches us, and He with the Father and the Holy Spirit, are with us and in us. 

Jesus says that the one who has my commandments and keeps them, that one is the one who loves me. We are loved by the Son of God, and because we are loved by Him we have been given his command to love one another. So got out there. Love one another. Do not treat each other with contempt. Don’t gossip about each other or lie about each others. 

But remain with the Spirit of Truth in you. This Holy Spirit whom you know because he is in you and he has come to be your helper; sent by the Father because of Jesus Christ our brother, and saviour and friend, who has not left you as an orphan, but has come to you, loved you, taught you and cares for you, from your birth until the age to come. Amen.

And may the peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Risen Saviour, Amen!