Bear Fruit Lent 3 C 23rd March 2025

 2025  03  23  Lent 3C  

Isaiah 55:1-9    Psalm 63:1-8      1 Corinthians 10:1-13     Luke 13:1-9

 

Have you ever heard some one say, “God will never give you more than you can handle”?  You might have said it yourself, but if you’ve ever had it said to you, you’ll know that it isn’t always helpful.  It is a bit of a misquote, based on the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13, where it says; “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

 

For a start, it is about being tested, and is in regard to falling into areas of sin.  Secondly, it says that this testing is common to everyone.  Therefore, this is not about those times when life breaks us and when we are bombarded with tragedy.  Most importantly, God does not give us those bad things.  God desires to give us good things and does give us good things.  However, we live on planet earth, in a fallen, human and very fallible world.  Sometimes the tragedy and evil IS more than we can handle.  So, to say that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, creates the false idea that God has given us the tragedy.  It also implies that there is something wrong with us if we can’t handle it.  This passage, rather than being about our ability or lack thereof, to handle tragedy, is actually about sin.

 

We are the body of Christ and one of the reasons that God created us to be this way, calling us as part of his body, is so that we might understand that we need to work together.  If one part of the body hurts, all parts should acknowledge the pain.  We wouldn’t, after hitting our finger with a hammer, say to it, “Don’t worry, God won’t give you more than you can handle”.   No!  Instead our other body parts would jump into action and the mouth might have something to say about the matter - and it wouldn’t be telling the finger not to worry, but it would be expressing the pain the finger is feeling.  The torso would jump in reaction, and the legs would run to find ice or bandages or professional help, depending on the extent of the pain.

 

Our passage is about the fact that we live in this world, where we are easily inclined to fall into sin.  All face the same temptations, and even the Israelites, though the chosen people of God faced these same temptations.  In the desert they gave in to temptation and became involved in acts that were immoral.  It is presumed that the Corinthian church had a very good understanding of the grace of God and the freedom that they had in Christ.  They were the people of God, the body of Christ.  Earlier in this letter St. Paul explains to the church that although all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.   These Corinthian people lived in a time and place where eating food sacrificed to idols was normal, and where the society was acceptably immoral.  These newly Christian people were still Corinthians, living in Corinth and joining in with all the social legal, and acceptably immoral events of their town.

 

To us, it seems that St. Paul is being harsh.  He reminds them that although all those Israelites had been baptised in the Red Sea and in the cloud of God’s presence, and although they had experienced the miraculous feeding by God and miracle on miracle, they took the goodness of God for granted and therefore God was not pleased, and most did not make it into the promised land, but died in the desert. 

 

This story of the Israelites is a warning.  The journey of the Israelites from Egypt, out of slavery, is a sign that parallels every faith journey.  They were rescued by God and taken through the Red Sea – their baptism.  Baptism is seen as making an allegiance – They made a commitment to be the people of God and follow him – just as we do in our Baptism.  God was leading them to the promised land, but then the people gave in to their own fleshly desires.

 

We do this too, but we are called, especially in Lent, to examine our ways.  We are the people of God.  We have made our pledge of allegiance to God in our baptism.  We call Jesus our Lord – in other words, our master, but then we just do things our own way instead of deferring to his leading. 

 

It is human nature to keep wanting to take control of our lives.  It is human nature to fall into following our fleshly desires.  In Jesus we have been set free from the ultimate spiritual consequence of sin – that is death, as the price for sin is death.  Jesus paid that price, and we most certainly are saved by the grace of God, however, we are warned that we should not live in the way of the Israelites in the desert, or the way of the early Corinthian church.   It is a testing time…  but the test isn’t set by God.  It is simply the fact of who we are, the world we live in and the desires of our own sinful nature.  In Christ however, we are a new creation – but we need to actively live by the Holy Spirit of God in us, to grow into this reality.

 

St. Paul tells us that God is faithful and will provide a way out so that when we are struggling, we can stand.  The Corinthian church members had been involved in many things that we’d consider scandalous.  Saint Paul doesn’t throw them out of the church, but instead he warns and reminds them about God’s faithfulness and the call of God to live in a manner worthy of that calling.

 

Jesus also shows us the patience and compassion of God when he talks about the fig tree and how the gardener pleads to give it another chance.  This tells us about both about the mercy and patience of God, and the call to be fruitful and effective Christians.  It is an exhortation with a warning.

 

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the importance of confessing – speaking out loud – professing our faith.  If we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved.  And we noted that it was a surety.  It isn’t we might be saved, or could be saved, but that we WILL be saved.  These Corinthians to whom Saint Paul was speaking, were people who had professed their belief and believed in their heart.  They were saved… and so are we, but we miss the blessings that God has for us, and the blessings that God wants to lavish on the world through us, when the attitude of our hearts is not in line with God. 

 

The word repent means to change your mind. It implies turning in our thinking to ensure our beliefs line up with the word of God.  Are there areas of life in our society that are at odds with the word of God?  Where do we personally stand with these?  Have we judged others as bad, much like the people in our Gospel reading, when calamity came to them, thinking that they were sinners and got what they deserved, not realizing our own attitude is one of sin -   Not realizing that there but for the Grace of God go I?

 

Our society is quick to quote do not judge…. But the truth of the matter is that we make and must make judgements all the time.  We decide on what is good, life-giving and love giving.   This is a simple fact, and all do it and MUST do it, so don’t let others intimidate you into thinking that you can’t.  What we need to avoid is thinking that we are better – There, but for the grace of God, go I.  Saint Paul says, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.”  And Jesus says, “No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did."

 

Turning to God, “repenting”, is an ongoing way of life.  it is about lining up our thoughts with the word of God.  Constantly, and everyday and part of that, is realizing that we are all very fallible – The word of God tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  For this reason, Jesus came, and in our confession and belief in him, is our salvation.

 

God’s ways are the ways to life.  The words from Isaiah about food and water, according to a Jewish commentary, is imagery for the word of God.  The food and water that money can not buy, but food and water that brings life, it is the word of God – it is Jesus.  It is the way to life here and now and also the way to life eternal. 

Let us take a moment to examine ourselves with the grace and love of Jesus, and line up our hearts and minds with the word of God.  Let us partake in the food and water that brings life and lets allow God’s blessings to flow to us and through us to others…..  

 

Power in the word... Lent 1C 2025 03 09

 2025  03  09  LENT 1C

Deuteronomy 26.1-11  - Psalm 91.1-2, 9-16  - Romans 10.4-13   - Luke 4.1-15

 

Importance of confessing…

There is something vital about speaking words out loud.  The old story that we often hear is of marriages that break down because, “I love you,” is never said.  It isn’t just marriages that suffer, but also, children who never hear a parent say those words suffer also.  People will often say that they show their love by their actions and shouldn’t have to say, “I love you”. 

 

Some years ago a book gained a huge following.  It was called the 5 love languages, by Gary Chapman.  I confess that I inherited the book and haven’t read it.  So I apologize in advance to those who have read it and like it, but the reason I really don’t want to read it is that I don’t agree with the concept.  That concept is that every one has a primary love language and it is only through that particular language that a person will perceive that they are loved.  The five love languages are; words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, receiving gifts, and acts of service.  It is true that we use these aspects to communicate love, but I think it is the same argument that the Bible uses about faith…. Some say they have faith and others have works.  But then the scriptures tell us that we show or prove our faith by our works.  I believe the same is true with love.  The five love languages are actually the work of love, but more than anything it is important that we confess with our mouths… out loud, that we love.

 

In our first reading the Israelites are told that they should take the first fruits of their harvest and then declare, in the presence of the priest, the reality of their life.  They were to declare who they were, where they came from, the story of their existence before God rescued them and then how God rescued them.  Why did they have to do this?  Surely it was common knowledge.  They would retell the story every Passover.  They taught it to their children.  It was their reality and the essence of their being, so why the need to confess?  It seems that there is some kind of power in speaking the word out loud.

 

Do you remember Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones?  He could have offered silent prayer for those bones, but God told him to prophesy.  What that means is that Ezekiel was to speak out loud and declare that flesh would cover the bones etc… and speak the life in those bones into existence.  There is power in speaking the word of God out loud.

 

The first words from the Gospel of John tell us, “In the beginning was the WORD”.  In the beginning when God created, he could have just made light… but he didn’t.  Instead, our scriptures tell us that God spoke… He said, “let there be light”.   He spoke and it came to be.  Psalm 33 tells us; “by the word of the Lord the heavens were made…For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”  There is power in speaking the word of God out loud.

 

In the letter to the Romans we read; “"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim),because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Now just to be sure, we should turn to the person sitting beside us that say, “Jesus is Lord and I believe that God raised him from the dead.”

 

Now that we’ve all confessed, what is the out come?  We can be sure that we are saved!  Do we realize this Good News?  Every now and then a wonderful church going person will say to me, “I hope that God accepts me when I die”…. And I get a little sad and concerned that we don’t know what God tells us about the subject.  Uhmmm  let’s see, what does the scripture tell us about it?  If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead…. We might be saved?  We could be saved?  We hope that we will be saved?  NO, it says we WILL be saved.  We can be assured that we are loved, accepted and treasured by God.   BUT this thing about confessing with our mouth is important and there is power in speaking the word out loud. 

 

Each time we come to church and recite the creed, we have the opportunity to do as the Israelites, declaring their story in the presence of God, confirming and remembering who we were, who we are, and all that God has done for us.  There is power in speaking the word out loud.

 

The first Sunday in Lent we remember that Jesus was tempted in the desert.  The Holy Spirit had led Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted for forty days (Forty being the number that symbolizes preparation).  Understandably Jesus was famished and weak, and the devil comes and tempts him.  Firstly, he tempts him with food – a temptation of the flesh. Then he tempts him with offering him the kingdoms of the world, which is power over others… and then he tempts him with throwing himself down of the high place, because scripture says that God would rescue him – such as we read in our psalm.  This is a temptation of supernatural power that would make him like God.  (kind of crazy in retrospect because his is God the son…. However, while on earth he took on human flesh and operated in those confines).

 

There is nothing new here in these temptations.  Back in the garden of Eden the serpent’s temptation to Adam and Eve, was the same.  Adam and Eve were tempted with fruit.   It was something to eat/ stuff desired to satisfy the flesh.  When Eve explained that they were not to eat of just that one tree, the serpent responded to them that they wouldn’t die – much like the devil tempting Jesus to throw himself down and he wouldn’t be harmed.    Next the serpent explains that Adam and Eve would have the power to know good and evil and be like God.  The temptation is the same… it is just gift wrapped differently.

 

It was important that Jesus prove to the devil and all the spiritual powers, that he, operating as fully human, would continue to be the son of God and not give in to temptation like every other human has done.  In each temptation Jesus rejects the temptation by quoting scripture.  To do this Jesus speaks scripture and he confesses it out loud. 

 

It was important for Jesus, and it is important for each of us to confess… to profess our faith in God and to praise him.   The temptations were three-fold, and we make a threefold confession –  1- We confess that we haven’t obeyed God.  The first area of this is trusting God for our needs.  Have we gone beyond God’s commands not trusting that God gives us what is best and that His boundaries are to give us our best life?

2.  We confess that we have desired control.  When we become a Christian we ask God to be in control of our lives – He is Lord. 

3.  We confess that we desired to be our own God.  We thought we knew better than God.  After all, some would say, all this stuff is a bit out of date isn’t it?  But we know God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

 we confess our sin and our need for God, we profess our belief in God, and we thank and praise God. 

 

Over the years I have witnessed some Christians who have turned away from the faith, which I find difficult to comprehend.  I can only suspect that they forget who they are and the story of their life and God’s part in that story.   They forget to DWELL in the shelter of the Lord, as we hear about in our Psalm.   To dwell in this sense, is to permanently take up residence in in God’s presence.  When the devil quoted part of Psalm 91 to Jesus, he did the same as in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve; he told them part of the truth.  Jesus knew better than to take the text out of context.

 

The Israelites, as we see in our Old Testament reading, needed to confess their reality every harvest time, when they celebrated the first fruits.  It takes an effort on our part to dwell in the shadow of the Lord.  We need to ensure that we don’t forget God’s word and fall into the same trap where we, like Adam and Eve, doubt the authenticity of God’s promise to us. Therefore, we find scriptures in the New Testament urging the early Christians not to give up meeting together.   We need to be encouraged by each other.  We need each other to keep us in check that we are not believing an error or half truth, such as caused the demise of all mankind… but like Jesus, be able to live in victory, being reminded of the truth.  Which also means we need to continue studying the scriptures.

 

At each service we will stand together and confess our belief in God.  This safeguards us from error.  There is a spiritual power in confessing our belief in God, which we often fail to recognise.  I guarantee, when the devil or his minions are trying to attack the people of God, and we confess not just our belief in God, but our allegiance and trust in him, demons will flee.   To quote the words of a song by the band The Imperials,

“When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hopes have been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifested schemes
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in
Seem to disappear

Praise the Lord
He can work through those
Who praise Him
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seems to bind you
Serve only to remind you
That they drop powerless behind you
When you praise Him

Now Satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he knows himself
We're children of the King
So lift up the mighty shield of faith
For the battle must be won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen
So the work's already done

 

Why is there power when we confess out loud?  God is the only one who is omnipotent and omnipresent… etc…  Only God can hear our thoughts, but when we confess our faith out loud, we speak a powerful weapon into the spiritual realm.  Let’s not live the rest of our lives being quiet about our faith.  It is important that we confess, profess and praise God out loud…. And pray for each other out loud.  There is power when we speak the word of God out loud.

World Day of Prayer - Standing with the people in the Cook Islands & reflecting on psalm 139

 2025 World Day of Prayer  - Psalm 139

 

During my teaching degree, at university, our lecturer talked about the difference teaching with girls and boys.  To illustrate she told the story of two students who had failed mathematics the previous year.  The new teacher asked the boy why he thought he failed, and he answered that his last teacher wasn’t very good.  The new teacher asked the girl the same question, however she answered, “I’m no good at maths”.   The point the lecturer was making is that girls are harder on themselves, whereas the boys are more resilient and more likely to blame everyone else for their failure. (and we all know that this started way back in the garden of Eden with Adam).

 

As girls, grown up, when our life goes a little pair shaped, we are still more likely to feel that it is us who is not good enough, and we are the reason that our life is crumbling around us.  The men obviously get to this point too and realize their need for God, but for females, we reach this point more readily and more often.  Psalm 139 is for us.   While men will reach out for God and move on, females are more likely to continue feeling less than good enough.

 

There is something about Psalm 139, that hits you in the heart.  Right from the first line; “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me”, it goes right to the heart of the matter.  We long to be known.  Not just, “Hello my friend…”  but, we long to be truly known.  Our family knows us pretty well, but even they, don’t understand our hidden pain, our hidden hopes and dreams… and especially they don’t know our hidden shame, and that thing we keep well hidden – the sense of not being good enough.

 

When the psalmist says, “Lord, you have searched me, and you know me”, we straight away sense that this searching means we have found a place where we can rest… we have found a place where we are truly known.   But there is more, and it is so important.  God knew us before we were born.  God knew all that we would be and all that we would do and all that we would desire.  He knew the temptations we’d resist and the temptations to which we’d succumb.  And regardless of anything we would do in our futures, He loves us and willingly died to show us this and to ensure that there would be nothing separating us from his love.  

 

Vainiu, tells us that during her formative years she was shamed and devalued in the education system, yet she knew that she was valued by God.  She echoes the psalmist when she says;  “when we are cast out and treated with disrespect, God is still with us. God goes with us to the darkness at the bottom of the ocean, where there is no light. And God helps lead us out of that darkness into a wonderful light.”   She has learnt a lesson that we all need to learn by heart; that God is on our side, loves us and is always with us.

 

We are of such infinite value.  Each of us is a master creation of God.   The psalm tells us that God created my inmost being;  He knit me together in my mother’s womb.  God designed us.  He gave us our personality and made each of us unique and he made us this way for a purpose, but to each of us He has given free will.  We can freely choose to go our own way and rebel against all that God calls us to be, or we can rejoice in the calling of God and grow more and more into his purpose and the person that he calls us to be.

 

Psalm 139 lifts us up.  Think of all the amazing creatures of the earth and the intricacies of creation.  Of all these God said it was good and he was pleased, but when God created us, he said it was very good.  We are the pinnacle of God’s creation.

 

Psalm 139 is also the great equalizer, because this is God’s word to us all.  He knows us all, and loves us all.  He loves us from the time we were conceived – when our life began.  He loves us when we are frail and aging.  At any stage, we are no less precious to him.  This has implications for where we need to stand on areas of social justice, because we know that God values those who are fragile – all are precious to Him.

 

It is my belief that the most effective treatment for the most common of mental health issues, is to learn and understand who we are in God’s heart.  Following on from this has to be the cultivation of a society that treats all as those precious to God.

 

God’s call to us always, is back from the rebellion.  Rebellion is where mankind chose to be something different to God’s design.  God calls us to open our eyes and see ourselves as the person who he created, and to continue growing into the person he calls us to become.  In this there is true freedom.  We can stop trying to be something that we are not and rejoice that we are the workmanship of God.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

As a female we need to be sure that we don’t let the lie that we are not good enough stop us from being the person God created us to be.  Saint Paul in the letter to the Philippians declares, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

As we give thanks to God for the ladies of the Cook Islands we stand with them in praising God and declaring to God, “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”  Fearfully and wonderfully made by the God who created all this universe, but who about us said, “It is very Good!”

You and I are very loved.