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A sermon preached by Mr Antony Weiss The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Solemn Evensong Christ Church St Laurence – Sunday 15th November, 2015
Daniel 3, St Matthew 13:24-30, 36-34
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14 RSV). AMEN.
From the Book of Daniel, Chapter 3: ‘“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed′nego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him…”’ (Dan 3:28)
Claiming responsibility for Friday’s Paris whirlwind attacks, ISIL warns that it is the “first of a storm” and that France will remain a top target. They claim that it is the beginning of a response to insults of Islam’s prophet and airstrikes in ISIL territory. The statement says that the attackers were “targeting the capital of prostitution and obscenity, the carrier of the banner of the Cross in Europe, Paris.” The Prime Minister Mr Turnbull, interviewed yesterday from Berlin, said the World must stand up to the “work of the devil”. “Freedom stands up for itself, stands up for its values in the face of terrorism. In France, and Australia, all around the world, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of France and with all free peoples in the battle against terrorism… It is a global struggle for freedom against those who seek to suppress it and seek to assert some form of religious tyranny. A threat in the name of God but is truthfully the work of the devil…” How do we as Christians who believe that God is Love come to terms with what seems to be a never ending spiral of evil in the World? How can an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God, maker of Heaven and Earth allow such evil and suffering? The 4th-5th century Church Father St Augustine of Hippo was the first to develop an explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil. St Augustine rejected the idea that evil exists in itself, instead regarding it as a corruption of goodness, caused by humanity’s abuse of free will. C.S. Lewis, in The Case for Christianity wrote, “God created
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things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right… If a thing is free to be good it’s also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating.” Both Lessons this evening show how God allows good and evil to coexist. Throughout human history as with the horrors of these present times, such a synchronicity remains problematic for believers and non-believers alike but God’s dominion will not allow evil to have the last word. This is His redemptive purpose of Salvation for those who put their trust in Christ. The book of Daniel is set under the period of Jewish exile in the 6th century BC in which Daniel serves under both the Babylonian Empire, which falls, and then the Medo-Persian Empire which succeeded it. The central theme of the book of Daniel is God’s sovereignty over history and empires, setting up and removing kings as He pleases (Dan 2:21, 4:34-37). All the republics, kingdoms, commonwealths, dominions and caliphates of this world will come to an end and will be replaced by the Lord’s Kingdom which will never pass away (Dan 2:44; 7:27). Trials and difficulties such as we are experiencing today will continue up until the end of time when the faithful saints in Christ will be raised to glory, honour and everlasting life in the final Kingdom (Dan 12:1). This evening’s First Lesson from Daniel Chapter 3, we find Daniel and the young Judeans confronted with a serious dilemma. King Nebuchadnezzar has had erected a considerable gold statue 30 metres tall and 3 metres wide insistent that all “peoples, nations, and languages [are] to fall down and worship the golden image…warned that whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”(Dan 3:4-5; 7). Trusting God and knowing that idol worship was forbidden, the Judeans refused. As an aside, to get an image of futile idol worship in the Book of Daniel, Google the cult of personality surrounding North Korea’s ruling family, the Kims. At Kim Il-sung Square in central Pyongyang, groups of about 100 people wait for their turn, then climb the steps leading to the 20 metre tall bronze statues of the first leader, the eternal president, Kim Il-sung, and his successor, Kim Jong-il, who by the way is wearing that insidious grey anorak that makes Kim, I mean him look like the Korean version of Monsieur Bibendum aka the Michelin Man. At the feet of the two statues the groups then bow in unison. And Guess who has put in an order to the North Koreans for similarly grotesque statues, none other than Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe…just imagine if Donald trump becomes President!
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So back to Daniel, the jealous Chaldeans notice the young Jewish men’s refusal to bow telling Nebuchadnezzar that “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed′nego. These men, O king, pay no heed to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” (Dan 3:12). ‘… Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and … He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he ordered certain mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed′nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.’(Dan 3:1920; 23) Then there’s an abrupt shift in the narrative demonstrating the comprehensiveness of the Lord’s protection of His faithful servants. To Nebuchadnezzar’s bewilderment he noticed something quite unexpected, “But I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Dan 3:26) In some Bible translations such as the Authorized Version, the fourth person is “the Son of God” hence some scholars accept that the fourth person in the fire is possibly a Christophany that is, a physical appearance of Christ before His incarnation. This is as a demonstration of God’s presence through all human experiences and the Bible is filled with such assurances; ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.’ (Prov 15:3) ‘The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.’ (Ps 34:18) ‘“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.”’ (Gen 28:15) ‘“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’” (Isa 43:1b-2) Then, in Matthew 13, Jesus reveals succinctly to the disciples (and to us as readers of the Gospel) through parables to demonstrate how God has begun to act, in advance of his final reclaiming and restoration of the World from its brokenness. A closer look at the Parable of the Weeds shows that the man, who is the Son of Man, sowed good seed representing the sons of the kingdom in his field, the world. Weeds were surreptitiously sown amongst his crop of wheat by the enemy, the devil. The householder, when asked by his servants about clearing the weeds, forbids them from doing so saying, ‘“No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the
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reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matt 13:29-30). God is just and He is in control whether we accept Him or continue in our rebellion. So where it looks like evil continues to permeate all the basic values of humanity and sensibility, we have to turn to God with repentant and prayerful hearts and trust in Him praying that by the Power of the Holy Spirit the darkness of man’s hearts will turn to Christ as the Saviour of the World for ‘Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.’ (Matt 13: 40-43) So how do we as Christians respond to the breadth and depth of evil in these criminal, malicious times where hateful deeds and fear appear to be prevailing? The President of France has proclaimed “And our fight will be merciless…we will lead the fight and we will be ruthless.” And Isis claims “that the scent of death will not leave their nostrils as long as they partake in the crusader campaign and as long as they boast about their war against Islam in France and their strikes against Muslims in the lands of the Caliphate with their jets.” History tells us neither approach works. Paul in his letter to the Romans provides us with a start which all world leaders and humanity should do now, today. In Christ’s example, ‘Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ (Rom 12:14-21)
+In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN