Church’s Mission is to Proclaim Healing & Freedom (Epiphany 3)

The story of Jesus reading the Isaiah Prophecy in the Synagogue and telling the people it was being fulfilled in their sight must have been a dramatic moment. Not only was Jesus claiming to be the long promised Messiah; He was re-defining the mission of the Messiah as preaching and proclaiming the love of God in healing and freeing His people. Those people, like us, were in deep spiritual darkness. They did not clearly know what God wanted. They did not all know how much God loved them. They did not all know how close a spiritual relationship God wanted to have with them. They did not understand the spiritual forces of evil that were deceiving them, blinding them and preventing them from coming into a relationship of joy with their God.

1. We are anointed to proclaim Good News of healing and freedom

People are starving for a relationship with God. Most people do not really know how to pray or what to expect. They are surrounded by conflicting and usually wrong information about what God wants. What they need is strong, authoritative preaching of the truth.

Epiphany 2 - We Are To Have and to Be Signs of God’s Glory in the World

The Readings (Isaiah 62.1-5), John 2.1-11 and 1 Corinthians 12.1-11) all talk about signs  - God blessing His people Israel, Jesus turning water into wine and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are all signs or evidence of the glory of God.  Signs give us hope in our faith and teach us to be signs of that glory. Everyone needs some Epiphany moment - an experience or sign of God’s love in their lives. This helps us believe in God and to be transformed into a sign of His glory in the world.

1.     Isaiah prophecies that God will bless Israel as a sign of His love

Epiphany Moments Come To Those Who Seek God (Epiphany)

"Epiphany" is a special religious word. It describes a profound personal experience. An Epiphany moment is when our spiritual eyes are opened and we see something in a very new and different way. An Epiphany moment is a religions "ah - ha" experience when something we thought we new for sure turns out to be wrong or incomplete; or something we thought was not true turns out to be true. Our personal spiritual life is a series of these Epiphany moments. The gifts of the wise men for example teach us the answer to the question "Who is Jesus"? These moments do not come to everyone. They come to those who make a serious effort to seek the wisdom of God.

1. Isaiah was a God - seeker

Jesus Grew in Wisdom, stature & favour with God & Man (Christmas 1)

The Readings for today (1 Samuel 2.18-26; Colossians 3.12-17; Luke 2.41-52) teach us how to prepare to have a rich spiritual life of love and service as God’s chosen people. This new life begins with a rediscovery of our identity as children of God which has been stolen from us by a secular culture. Jesus was fully human so the Readings show us how he grew spiritually by reading the Scriptures, seeking out wise teachers and spending time with them. It was only after He had spent 30 years growing in wisdom and stature that He was able to step out in ministry as a teacher and healer. These readings explain why many churches are not thriving in our time – they have lost their spiritual identity and are not in favour with God and man.

1. Our identity as “God’s chosen people” has been stolen

Jesus Gives Us the Spiritual Gifts of Love, Joy and Peace (Christmas)

The Good News of Christmas is that God intervened in history to come and live among His creation as a man and make a New Covenant. Covenant of Moses and the Law had been broken several times by the Hebrew People and they were crying out for a Saviour who would free them from Roman occupation and religious corruption. God did much more. He showed His love and trust by coming as a helpless baby who would grow up and give His life as a ransom to establish a New Covenant of forgiveness. This New Covenant broke the power of Satan and freed believers from the spiritual yoke of human sin-guilt that separated them from God and led to spiritual death. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to come and live inside believers  – giving them the spiritual gifts of love, joy and peace as a sign of relationship.

1. Jesus birth shows us God’s love as relationship, community & belonging

Preparing For the Spiritual Gifts of Love, Joy and Peace

During the four weeks of Advent we are getting ready for the coming of Jesus both at Christmas as a specific date and at the End Time which is an unknown date. We live in a culture of unhappy people focussed on shopping for material gifts to make them feel good. This distracts us from preparing to receive the spiritual gifts that Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit. These gifts – Love, Joy and Peace cannot be bought in a store; they are free gifts given to anyone who goes through the work of preparing their heart to receive them:

·         Love – being in emotional relationship, community, belonging

·         Joy – having meaning in our life, happiness, thankfulness

·         Peace – overcoming our fear of death, failure, guilt, shame

These are the real gifts that everyone wants but only people in serious Christian community have.

1. John is teaching why we need to prepare to receive these gifts

“Those Who Are On the Side of Truth Listen To Me” (Reign of Christ)

The “Reign of Christ” is celebrated on the last Sunday of the Church Year. The Reign of Christ, which began with the Resurrection continues on until the end of time. This Reign is breaking into the physical world in our time as more and more people” listen to Jesus” and decide to come under His divine spiritual authority (John 18.37c). These are the ones who are “on the side of truth”. The point is that there is another side, made up of those who oppose (i.e. Islam) or chose not to listen to Jesus; and who have no part in His eternal Kingdom. Those who do chose to listen to Jesus are moving “from error into truth, from sin into right-relationship and from death to spiritual life” (Eucharistic Prayer 3, Book of Alternative Services).

1. Listening to Jesus moves us from error into spiritual truth

Jesus has revealed spiritual truth to us through the example of His life on Earth, His teachings as recorded in the Bible and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit that those who listen receive: