WE GATHER IN GOD’S PRESENCE:

Lighting the Candle:

Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world.   

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness

but will have the light of life.’

Let us be mindful of each other as we engage in worship,

those who worship at home

and those who worship in the chapel:

Greeting:

The Lord be with you

AND ALSO WITH YOU

We Focus on God     

Psalm 139   To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 YOU KNOW WHEN I SIT DOWN AND WHEN I RISE UP;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 YOU SEARCH OUT MY PATH AND MY LYING DOWN,
    AND ARE ACQUAINTED WITH ALL MY WAYS.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
5 YOU HEM ME IN, BEHIND AND BEFORE,
    AND LAY YOUR HAND UPON ME.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 WHERE CAN I GO FROM YOUR SPIRIT?
    OR WHERE CAN I FLEE FROM YOUR PRESENCE?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    IF I MAKE MY BED IN SHEOL, YOU ARE THERE.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 EVEN THERE YOUR HAND SHALL LEAD ME,
    AND YOUR RIGHT HAND SHALL HOLD ME FAST.
11 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night’,
12 EVEN THE DARKNESS IS NOT DARK TO YOU;
    THE NIGHT IS AS BRIGHT AS THE DAY,
    FOR DARKNESS IS AS LIGHT TO YOU.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
24 SEE IF THERE IS ANY WICKED WAY IN ME,
    AND LEAD ME IN THE WAY EVERLASTING.

We Sing: TIS 133 O WORSHIP THE KING…

Prayer

Gracious and merciful Lord,

you sustain the vastness of our cosmos,

and you acquaint yourself with all our ways…

your majesty awes us,

your intimate knowledge of us disturbs us;

nevertheless we come into your presence

with the confidence of those who have learned to trust you,

to trust that you are with us,

not against us…

we praise you for Christ Jesus

who remained faithful to your will for reconciliation

between yourself and all that is and all who are,

and offered himself as the place and means of atonement…

therefore we pray as our Lord taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen

WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD

Scripture

ROMANS 3:21-31

²¹ But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ^[d] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴ they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement^[e] by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. ^(f)

²⁷ Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 

• Romans 3:22 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
• Romans 3:25 Or a place of atonement

6. Romans 3:26 Or who has the faithfulness of Jesus

In this is the Word of the Lord  

WE HEAR AND REJOICE, O LORD

MATTHEW 13:24-30, 36-43

24 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” 28 He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” 29 But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37 He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

This is the Gospel of our Lord 

PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST

Prayer of Confession

following: Lord/Christ have mercy  

LORD/CHRIST HAVE MERCY

Holy God of mercy and grace,

Search us, and know our hearts;
    test us and know our thoughts,

That no weed may strike root there…

Lord have mercy   LORD HAVE MERCY

See if there are any wicked ways in us,

ways in which we fall short of your glory,

weeds which through your Spirit

we can starve of life…

Christ have mercy  CHRIST HAVE MERCY

and lead us in the way everlasting,

the way of faithful obedience,

that we, like profitable wheat,

might be gathered up in your barn…

Lord have mercy   LORD HAVE MERCY

Declaration of Reconciliation

I remind us all:

God proves his love for us

in that while we still were sinners

Christ died for us…

through whom we have now received reconciliation.

So we say with joy in our hearts

THANKS BE TO GOD

Passing the Peace..

as we raise our hands in blessing

to those seen and unseen…
The peace of the Lord be with you all 

AND ALSO WITH YOU.

We Sing:  TIS 210 O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING

Contemporary Word   FAITH BASED FIDELITY[1]

 “The righteousness of God is being revealed through it [the gospel] by means of fidelity and for fidelity, as it is written, ‘The righteous one, by means of fidelity, will live. Romans 1:17 But now, quite apart from the law (though the law and the prophets bore witness to it), God’s covenant justice has been displayed. ²² God’s covenant justice comes into operation through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, for the benefit of all who have faith.^[2] Romans 3:21

I had no idea, that Easter Monday and Tuesday of 1981,

what impact writing my exegetical essay on a Roman’s text

in a theological library would have on me.

I had decided to expose myself to fresh thinking

by updating my theological studies through a B. Theol. from

the Melbourne College of Divinity, (part of Melbourne University).

Truth be told, I felt rather stale, my mind and spirit dissatisfied

with what I thought I knew from my Queensland training…

time to explore another intellectual and theological milieu.

The text for exegesis was contained within Romans 3:21-31…

the text for today, set by me, not the lectionary text.

For there is no distinction,

 ²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 

²⁴ they are now justified by his grace as a gift,

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 

²⁵ whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith

Anyway, I set to my work on Easter Monday,

and then got totally absorbed in my research,

research which opened to me fresh ways of reading

such familiar words as righteousness, faith, propitiation, atonement

redemption, and the phrase ín Jesus!

Without doubt, the study of those two days

transformed my understanding

of what God wills, and is doing, for us and for creation

through the faithfulness of Jesus to that will;

coupled with God’s urging for us to also be faithful to that goal.

To live thus is to live within salvation…

Those two days were a time of grace driven epiphany for me.[3]

I will attempt this morning to explain what was revealed to me

through the scholarship of devout men and women…

What got me so excited about the good news and my call!

After meeting Joana, approaching 14 years ago,

I decided to learn some basic Portuguese…

I quickly learned that the Portuguese word porque,

for the English why

is also the Portuguese word for because.

I soon learned though, that it’s fairly obvious which meaning is in play depending on its place in a sentence, and the context.

I mention this merely to point out that New Testament Greek

also has words with more than one possible English meaning.

This morning’s text from Romans contains several of these!

To determine the appropriate English translation more likely than not,

means to accept a multiplicity of meanings.

Take the simple English phrase, faith in Jesus Christwithin

²¹ But now, irrespective of law,

the righteousness of God has been disclosed,

and is attested by the law and the prophets, 

²² the righteousness of God

through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

The Greek does not have a preposition

between the preceding word pistis (faith) and the name Jesus Christ.

The text uses a form of the name Jesus Christ, the genitive form

that means simply “of Jesus Christ.”

Even in English, one can see that the word “of”

can function in different ways.

The phrase “love of God” can mean both love for God

(God is the object, on the receiving end of someone’s loving)

or the love God has for someone else

(God is the subject, the one doing the loving).

Most published Bibles have translated “of Jesus Christ”

to make Jesus Christ the object of faith,

that is, the faith others have in him, hence faith in Jesus Christ.

But what if Jesus Christ was the subject doing the “having faith”?

Then Jesus would be the one who is faithful—

best understood as faithfulness or fidelity or even loyalty

that includes trusting obedience to the point of death on a cross,

not simply belief but enacted trust and loyalty.[4]

It is the cross which is alluded to by Paul’s use of blood,

a sacrifice of atonement by his blood v. 25

Mind you, crucifixion did not entail death by loss of blood.

Crucifixion is not a bloody death.

It is more like drowning or suffocating

in that it leaves the victim gasping for air

because of the body’s weight upon the lungs.[5]

Faith

Just a reminder that the word group from pist… here the noun pistis

can be translated in a number of ways into English: faith, trust, confidence,

and including faithfulness, commitment and fidelity.[6]

This allows D.A. Campbell to translate Romans 1:17 as quoted earlier:

“The righteousness of God is being revealed through it [the gospel]

by means of fidelity and for fidelity,

as it is written, ‘The righteous one, by means of fidelity, will live.

This connects more clearly with the emphasis by Paul

on his role as Apostle

to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles

for the sake of his name, Romans 1:5

The “obedience” Paul seeks to evoke when he announces the gospel

is thus not a list of moral good works but faith, faithfulness, loyalty…

This faith is actually the human faithfulness

that answers to God’s faithfulness^[7].

A faithfulness, loyalty expressed in obedience to the will of God,

echoing in a small measure the faithfulness of Christ to God.

Righteousness/Justice

Paul’s use of righteousness/justice, to make right/justify[8] we looked at earlier… June 21^st in fact.

We learned then that God acted in a startling way;

Paul consistently argues that when we take

the righteousness/justice of God

to mean an attribute, quality of God

we find ourselves at a loss to understand

how it can mean what we think,

because we realise God’s justice, God’s righteousness

has God putting right all wrongs!

in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, 

not counting their trespasses against them.

This action is gifted by a grace filled God,

to prevent any boasting by any group or person,

to stop any claim of favouritism by God for one over another,

for all have sinned… 

Redemption

This freedom God has to act contrary to our expectations,

proves crucial when we take the word redemption.[9]

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 

²⁵ whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood,

effective through faith

Earliest theologians focused on the fact that to redeem a thing or person

meant to pay a price…

Acknowledging that Jesus paid the price,

the question which bothered them then,

was to whom did he, or God, pay the price!

How could God owe anybody anything?

Various explanations were offered,

but no one seemed to ask if the question was even valid!

Whilst people in Rome in Paul’s time might well associate

this paying of a price with emancipation from slavery,

there are two other possible traditional possibilities

to illustrate what God is about

without any need for God to pay anyone.

Both are found in the Scriptures with which Paul would be familiar:

The first is the Jubilee tradition found in Leviticus 25:8 and following.

The Jubilee is the Fiftieth year when all debts are annulled,

when all who sold themselves to cover debts,

return to their also restored block of land.

It is an act associated with the Day of Atonement! (25:9).

Luke brings the Jubilee to focus when he records

that Jesus makes this a foundational proclamation of his ministry:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ i.e. Jubilee.

The second is God’s delivery of Israel from Egypt.

N. T. Wright argues that the underlying motif in Romans 3–8

is the story of Israel, and in particular the story of the exodus

and the redemption of God’s people from bondage.^[10]

John A.T. Robinson argues the background of redemption/deliverance is

…God’s archetypal deliverance of Israel from Egypt.[11]

God effected emancipation without payment by God…

There was certainly no payment to pharaoh ‘to let my people go’.

Sacrifice

Finally, the mysterious word in verse 25, hilasterion,

translated variously as expiation, propitiation, sacrifice, mercy seat…

A key association in ancient times was that of placating an angry God.

We have already noted that Paul turned this notion upside down,

But God proves his love for us

in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us (5:8.)

Robinson comments: in Jesus’ blood, that is,

in his life released through sacrifice

(Paul) sees a great hilasterion or act of expiation for sin…[12]

and he explains how that hilasterion also means to expiate,

that is, to perform an act by which the taint of sin is removed.

For Paul the term means to disinfect sin, if you will,

the global virus, not to propitiate God.

He points out that Paul drives home the point

that God here provides the hilasterio, the cleansing act!

The sacrifice does not bring about any change in God,

but in the person or object tainted by sin…

God be merciful (hilastheti, the adverbal form)

to me, a sinner…

I tell you, this man went home made righteous… Luke 18:12-14

Taking up the possible meaning of hilasterion as mercy seat,

that is, the place of mercy rather than the means of mercy…

because in the ancient Greek translation of Exodus and Leviticus,

the Septuagint, hilasterion denotes the “mercy seat,”

the cover of the ark of the covenant,

the place where God met humanity most intimately for reconciliation.

de Silva supports suggestions that the verse be read thus:

“God put forward his Son as a mercy seat,”

the new place of reconciliation.

This is an attractive possibility

in that it makes better sense of God’s initiative in this act:

that in Jesus, and specifically in his death,

God is extending to us a place to meet and come to terms,^[13]

to be reconciled, at-one-ment…

Conclusion

Now, I am not suggesting that these additional insights

into the meaning of the text

somehow negate the understandings of the reformers and scholars since.

However these fresh insights might well serve to communicate

the truth about God to searching minds

in ways familiar historical understandings might not.

The truth that various meanings are contained within a text

urges all to avoid claiming dogmatic certainty.

Through these new, to me, understandings

(these were already present within the writings of the early theologians

and developed in other ancient Christian traditions)

I gained an awareness of a determined, trustworthy and earth focused God,

willing and acting to effect reconciliation with humanity and creation;

thus welcomed by God,

I resolved to take onboard the loyalty, faithfulness and grit

modelled by Jesus Christ to God’s desire

for a renewed creation and humanity…

all the while utterly confounded

why this had been clarified so unexpectedly to me…

truly amazing grace, that I should not boast.

to conclude, I use the final words of Romans (16:27)

May the glory be to God, who alone is wise!

May the glory be to God through Jesus Christ forever! Amen.

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

We Sing: TIS 213 FATHER, WHOSE EVERLASTING LOVE

We Bring Our offering to God

setting aside our gifts

to support the local and wider work of the church

and bless our gifts in an act of praise…

We Share Our Community Life 

Prayers of the People

following: Lord hear us

LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

Gracious God, we pray for the faithful all over the world,

that all who love you may be united in your service.

We pray for the church . . .

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for the peoples and leaders of the nations,

that they may be reconciled one to another

in pursuit of your justice and peace.

We pray for the world . . .

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for all who suffer from prejudice, greed, or violence,

that the heart of humanity may warm with your tenderness.

We pray especially for all prisoners of politics or religion

and for all refugees and asylum seekers.

We pray for all who are oppressed . . .

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for all in need because of famine, flood, or earthquake,

those lonely and isolated because of ongoing lock down

and social isolation…  

that they may know the hope of your faithfulness

through the help of others.

We pray especially for the people of  (name locations you know about)

We pray for all enduring hardship…

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for the land, the sea, the sky— for your whole creation,

which longs for its redemption.

We pray that we may live with respect for your creation

and use your gifts with reverence.

We pray for the creation . . .

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for all who suffer the pain of sickness,

loneliness, fear, or loss,

that those whose names are in our hearts,

in the hearts of others, or known to you alone,

may receive strength and courage.

We pray for those in need . . .

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for those we find it most hard to pray for,

those whom we are told to distrust, to hate even,

extremists of whatever religion and ideological persuasion

different to our own convictions;

those of other nations led by ambitious leaders,

We pray for those we label as our enemies for whatever reason;

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

God of compassion,

into your hands we commend all for whom we pray,

guide us in ways we might offer that for which we pray,

trusting in your mercy now and forever.  AMEN.[14]

WE GO OUT TO SERVE GOD

We Sing: TIS 230 IT PASSES KNOWLEDGE…

Sending Out

We go as a redeemed people,

claimed back by God;

we go as a justified people,

restored by God;

claimed and restored

that we might be good seed

sown by Christ Jesus

within the communities

where we find ourselves…

Blessing

The God of reconciliation bless you,

the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you,

and the power of the Holy Spirit

strengthen you this day and all your days

until that time when you shine like the sun

in the kingdom of your Father…

AMEN  AMEN AMEN

---

 ^[1] Campbell, D. A. (2013). The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (p. 613). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

^[2] Wright, T. (2004). Paul for Everyone: Romans Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (p. 51). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

[3] deSilva, D. A. (2014). Transformation: The Heart of Paul’s Gospel. (M. F. Bird, Ed.)  Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press

  argues that Transformation is Paul’s intent! It is always gratifying when scholarship catches up with experience.

^[4] Lancaster, S. H. (2015). Romans. (A. P. Pauw & W. C. Placher, Eds.) (First edition, p. 64). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

[5] Grieb, A. Katherine. The Story of Romans (p. 40). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

[6] in Greek pistis; and the basic spectrum of its meaning both in wider Greek usage and in the NT in particular is from the sense of subjective confidence in someone/something else, to the objective basis for such confidence: a subjective believing on the basis that the one/object trusted is reliable-“trust, confidence, faith”; and that which evokes trust-“faithfulness, reliability, fidelity, commitment.” The Latin fides has the same basic range-“trust” in a person or thing, and “that which produces confidence or belief, trustworthiness, faithfulness, credibility.” This was the range of sense that use of the word pistis by Paul and others would have evoked among those who heard them.  Dunn, J. D. G. (2006–2009). Faith, Faithfulness. In K. D. Sakenfeld (Ed.), The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 408). Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

^[7] Wright, N. T. (1994–2004). The Letter of the Romans. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 10, p. 420). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

[8] The word translated from the Greek, δικαιοσύνη dikaiosynē as righteousness, can also be translated with words such as justice, justification, piety, right, and “what is right.” The related adjective dikaios (δίκαιος) means “righteous,” “good,” “just,” “right,” “proper,” “in a right relationship with God,” “honest,” and “innocent.” The verb form is translated as to justify or to make right. The opposite of the term righteousness is unrighteousness (adikia ἀδικία), with the related adjective unrighteous (adikos ἄδικος).

Soards, M. L. (2006–2009). Righteousness in the NT. In K. D. Sakenfeld (Ed.), The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 4, p. 813). Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

[9] Ἀπολύτρωσις is used to depict (a) deliverance of a group from any form of captivity, (b) ransoming captives by paying the price of exchange, (c) freeing a slave either by legal writ of manumission or by purchase,¹³⁵ and, most frequently, (d) a specialized theological concept of salvation through forgiveness of sins.

^[10] Wright, “New Exodus, New Inheritance: The Narrative Substructure of Romans 3–8,” in Romans and the People of God, ed. S. K. Soderlund and N. T. Wright (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), pp. 26–35

[11] Robinson A.T. (1979) Wrestling With Romans (p.42) London SCM

[12] idid p.44

^[13] deSilva, D. A. (2014). Transformation: The Heart of Paul’s Gospel. (M. F. Bird, Ed.) (pp. 46–47). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[14] Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, © 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources, p.198

   with alterations and additions…