'Jesus - Lord Of All?' - transcript of sermon St Anne's, Brown Edge First Sunday in Lent

Sermon – St Anne’s, Brown Edge 1^st Sunday in Lent

Deuteronomy 26.1-11 Psalm 91.1-2,9-16*
Romans 10.8b-13  Luke 4.1-13

May I invite you to write on a postcard without looking at a Bible, a story, a saying or an incident in the life of Jesus.

Today is the First Sunday in Lent and we are beginning the long journey to Jerusalem alongside Jesus. 

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9.51

We are invited to accompany Jesus to Golgotha and reflect once more upon his death by crucifixion. 

Then joy of joys and wonder of wonders we will rejoice as Jesus is raised from death on Easter Sunday.

Therefore it is good if we refresh our memories about Jesus.

The story, teaching, saying or incident you wrote down is your key to this. Why did this particular story, teaching or incident pop into your head. 

You might ask yourself, what might I learn from exploring it more? 

What more might I learn about Jesus from hearing what came to mind for other people?

One thing we can learn about Jesus’ is that He is Lord of heaven and earth and has all authority.

Following His resurrection Jesus met with the disciple on a mountain in Galilee, 

‘Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”   Matthew 28.18

All authority in heaven and on earth…

St Augustine once said "Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all."

And valuing God above everything else is what all of our Scripture readings allude to – that is their common thread.

From Deuteronomy 26 ‘When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, ²you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.’

Note that they were asked to bring the first of all the fruit; that is the best of all the fruit, before they have given any thought about any harvest to feed themselves.

They are to value God and His will and way above everything else.

This demonstrates what the Psalmist writes…

  Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   and abides under the shadow of the Almighty, Shall say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my stronghold,
   my God, in whom I put my trust.’

And note that it is words from this Psalm that the enemy quotes to Jesus – to try and tempt Jesus to put God to the test by doing a crazy stunt.

And then from Romans; ‘…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’

Confess with your lips, that is speak it out, and believe in your hearts that Jesus is Lord – and developing the Augustinian quote Hudson Taylor said, “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all”.

We know that Israel failed to be faithful to God and worshiped other god’s.

And that is what lies behind the story of Jesus in the desert. In the same way as the Israelite's spent forty years in the dessert so Jesus spends forty days in the desert.

And what lies behind each and every temptation put before Jesus?

It is well summarised in verses Luke 4.6-8…

And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ 

And the answer to this temptation…?

Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
   and serve only him.” ’

Where ethnic Israel failed, Jesus as Israel personified, remains loyal and fast to the purposes of God.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4.15

We are also invited to worship the one true God - as we read in Romans 12.1...

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship.

But as someone once quipped, the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep creeping off the altar.

Lent provides us with an opportunity to check up on who gets the first fruits, who gets valued above anyone else, who is Lord of our lives, who do we confess to follow, who do we believe in our hearts and do we truly believe He has risen from death and now has authority in heaven and on earth?

Is Jesus truly Lord and Master over everything in our lives?

Over our marriage

Over our finances

Over where we live

Over what job we do

Over how we spend or time

Over our friends

Over our we spend our leisure

Let me draw you back to Romans and this verse…

‘…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’

You will be saved!

If you put Jesus as Lord of all and declare along with the Psalmist…

‘…the Lord, ‘My refuge and my stronghold,
   my God, in whom I put my trust.’

Then you will indeed know salvation, and then indeed you will be saved.

You will be saved from running hither and yon after all the fripperies of this world. You will be saved from so many anxieties.

‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’

Now a yoke here refers to a wooden crosspiece for two animals to work together.

Let me offer a more modern equivalent.

If you have every watched rally driving you will see that there is a driver and a navigator. Both work in perfect symbiosis and both have to trust each other explicitly.

The navigator has the maps and is relaying to the driver in great detail what is ahead, a bend and what degree, a hill, trees, anything and everything. The driver follows those instructions to the letter.

Jesus is your co-pilot – your navigator through life.

He knows what’s coming up and knows the best way of navigating through it or around it or whatever is needed.

So here we are at the beginning of our Lenten journey. Let me ask you this, have you ever confessed with your lips that Jesus is Lord and accepted that He was raised from death?

If you haven’t ever done that you can do that right now and I am going to say a short prayer that I invite you to echo.

Heavenly Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I put my trust and my whole life into your care. I bow my knee before your loving presence and ask that you accept all that I have been for healing and forgiveness, all that I am so that I may know your loving presence today and all of my future so that you may be my one true guide for the rest of my days. Amen

If you have already confessed with your lips and believe in your hearts that Jesus is risen from death and have accepted the Lordship of Christ over each and everything in your life then I invite you to echo this prayer so that you might examine your own life and check out if you are still listening to your co-pilot or if you have decided to try and navigate through life yourself.

Jesus Christ, Lord of all, I turn back to you and confess that I have not fully accepted you as Lord of all. I bring before you now all that I have been, all that I am and all that I am becoming.  Help me to resist the temptations of the enemy. May I worship nothing other than the one true God, my Lord, my life and my everything. 

Attributed to St Ignatius Loyola (1491 - 1556)

        Teach us, good Lord to serve thee as thou deserves,
         to give and not to count the cost;
         to fight and not to heed the wounds;
         to toil and not to seek for rest;
         to labour and not to ask for any reward;
         except that of knowing that we do thy will.  Amen.