1 00:00:09,510 --> 00:00:15,870 Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, that seeks 2 00:00:15,870 --> 00:00:21,990 to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews. 3 00:00:22,980 --> 00:00:32,445 In this episode, from a chapel service held on Tuesday 13th May 2025, David Höhne, Academic Dean and Lecturer in the Theology, 4 00:00:32,445 --> 00:00:41,595 Philosophy and Ethics department at Moore Theological College, speaks on Luke 6:20-36 and Jesus' deconstruction of faith. 5 00:00:42,675 --> 00:00:47,615 He reminds us that real faith means facing rejection by others, loving and forgiving your 6 00:00:47,615 --> 00:00:53,075 enemies, and resting on the firm, unshakeable foundation that is the Lord Jesus Christ. 7 00:00:53,645 --> 00:00:55,100 We hope you find the episode helpful. 8 00:01:03,935 --> 00:01:09,440 Please say keep Luke six open in front of you and let me pray. 9 00:01:11,429 --> 00:01:14,250 Our great God and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day. 10 00:01:14,850 --> 00:01:20,610 We thank you for the opportunities that you have put before us to do the good works that you planned in advance. 11 00:01:21,179 --> 00:01:26,220 And Lord, we pray that uh, you would open our hearts to hear your word this morning for Jesus' sake. 12 00:01:26,610 --> 00:01:27,090 Amen. 13 00:01:29,460 --> 00:01:35,250 In our reading from Luke this morning, we see the Lord beginning his own reformation movement. 14 00:01:35,925 --> 00:01:41,445 And at the same time, we get a glimpse of what it is to deconstruct faith. 15 00:01:43,215 --> 00:01:48,675 Now I heard this term deconstruction used in the context of belief a few times of 16 00:01:48,675 --> 00:01:53,445 late as I was trolling the internet looking for, uh, an introduction to a sermon. 17 00:01:57,135 --> 00:02:05,235 And as a middle-aged academic, I thought deconstruction referred to the refusal of all meta narratives in society 18 00:02:05,385 --> 00:02:12,465 and its institutions, or the infinite deferral of meaning conceived between the signifier and the signified. 19 00:02:13,605 --> 00:02:19,005 I thought we were discussing the philosophy of Jean Francois Leotard or Jacques Deida. 20 00:02:22,740 --> 00:02:27,480 However, with a ah, dad, eye rolling smile. 21 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:34,200 My first ever apprentice informed me that deconstruction now refers to the way an 22 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:40,890 individual discovers an existential gap between her belief and her lived experience. 23 00:02:41,430 --> 00:02:45,954 Hashtag evangelical hashtag church two. 24 00:02:48,315 --> 00:02:49,875 It is a spiritual journey. 25 00:02:49,875 --> 00:02:56,685 One takes from being full of confidence and very low on curiosity to an identity that 26 00:02:56,984 --> 00:03:02,864 floats on a mist of questions that are irrefutable just because they can be asked. 27 00:03:05,084 --> 00:03:09,375 Well, fortunately, postmodernism is supposed to be all about irony. 28 00:03:10,079 --> 00:03:16,560 It's fitting that Christian faith has been deconstructing since the Lord preached his sermon on the Mount. 29 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:18,299 Naturally. 30 00:03:18,299 --> 00:03:21,299 It was the Lord himself who said it first and best. 31 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:32,760 You've heard it said, but I tell you so let's turn to our reading from Luke six and see how the Lord himself sets out a deconstructed faith. 32 00:03:35,685 --> 00:03:40,635 Now looking back through the context of Luke six, we soon become aware that there's only 33 00:03:40,635 --> 00:03:47,805 one grand meta narrative for human history and it belongs to the one who determines it. 34 00:03:48,435 --> 00:03:51,405 Let me read to you from Luke chapter four, verse 18. 35 00:03:52,425 --> 00:04:00,525 Jesus says, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me. 36 00:04:01,109 --> 00:04:07,679 To preach good news to the Paul, he sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery 37 00:04:07,679 --> 00:04:14,220 of sight to the blind to set free the oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 38 00:04:14,970 --> 00:04:16,800 Hashtag Isaiah 61. 39 00:04:22,425 --> 00:04:29,070 The son of the most high does not occupy a side of history, whether right or wrong. 40 00:04:30,359 --> 00:04:35,820 He perfects it as the one who announces God's good news and the time of the Lord's favor. 41 00:04:38,489 --> 00:04:43,440 And it's surprising how mixed people's reactions are to this good news. 42 00:04:44,729 --> 00:04:51,060 The people of his hometown and possibly his wider family try to kill him at the very thought of it. 43 00:04:52,169 --> 00:04:55,320 The crowd swarm around him like shoppers on Black Friday. 44 00:04:57,105 --> 00:05:01,335 And evil spirits are drawn to him like sparks to a lightning rod. 45 00:05:02,805 --> 00:05:06,795 The Pharisees blowing the first century's trumpet of patriots. 46 00:05:07,725 --> 00:05:08,745 They love to hate him. 47 00:05:12,645 --> 00:05:23,235 And so we begin Luke six with this last group, deeply engaged in synagogue rage, either chasing Jesus through the fields, obsessing over food laws. 48 00:05:24,300 --> 00:05:33,360 Or in an actual synagogue, fuming over Sabbath law regulations, and it's this faith that Jesus has come to deconstruct. 49 00:05:34,470 --> 00:05:43,380 Now, Jesus for his part, responds with the obscure stories about David getting holy bread to go from the temple, preparing us as readers 50 00:05:43,385 --> 00:05:53,010 for the eventual challenge of seeing Jesus as the Messiah of Psalm 110 verse one, Yahweh's priestly king, who rules over the universe. 51 00:05:53,640 --> 00:06:04,170 Otherwise, Jesus exercises the power of the prophets of old overcoming sickness and deformity because this is what it means to free the captives. 52 00:06:05,070 --> 00:06:11,550 Then he announces the coming of the kingdom of God by formalizing a small group around himself that disciples who 53 00:06:11,550 --> 00:06:19,230 are apostles and addresses the gathered throng on the plane somewhere outside of Jerusalem in the area of Judea. 54 00:06:19,875 --> 00:06:24,405 And so we find ourselves in Luke chapter six, verse 20. 55 00:06:25,125 --> 00:06:30,555 The first thing we learn about deconstructed faith is that the faithful are blessed by God. 56 00:06:30,555 --> 00:06:39,250 If they're rejected by the Jewish leaders, hear from verse 20 onwards, hardly bespoke or though totally retro. 57 00:06:40,424 --> 00:06:48,914 Deconstructed faith means poverty, hunger, weeping and vilification for one's identity with the son of man. 58 00:06:50,250 --> 00:06:55,890 The Lord begins with the language highly reminiscent of Deuteronomy 27 and 28. 59 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:02,280 The language of blessings and cursings there becomes blessing and woe here. 60 00:07:03,810 --> 00:07:08,280 The various blessings and woes are held together by identification with the prophets of 61 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:15,720 Old and their relationship with those who should represent Yahweh, but instead obscure him. 62 00:07:17,265 --> 00:07:25,365 And the big idea of this sermon for Jesus is you are blessed if you suffer like the son of man. 63 00:07:27,615 --> 00:07:31,485 Luke chapter six, verse 23, rejoice in that day and leap for joy. 64 00:07:31,485 --> 00:07:32,085 Take note. 65 00:07:32,085 --> 00:07:38,055 Your reward is great in heaven for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets. 66 00:07:38,715 --> 00:07:46,155 Or in verse 26, woe to you when all people speak well of you for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets. 67 00:07:47,595 --> 00:07:54,945 You know, you are on the right side of history if your audience treats you as they treated the prophets of old badly. 68 00:07:59,745 --> 00:08:04,485 Now, at this point, it would be easy for the martyr complex to set in. 69 00:08:05,700 --> 00:08:14,310 To confuse the glory of revolution with the reality of just being revolting like a love in between Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. 70 00:08:17,969 --> 00:08:27,240 No, the son of man has come to deconstruct a faith that has turned the fear of legacy into an intricate system of self-righteousness. 71 00:08:28,590 --> 00:08:32,850 And so the second thing we learned about deconstructed faith. 72 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:39,870 This is quite shocking, really having denounced the faith of the world around him. 73 00:08:41,219 --> 00:08:46,260 The second thing about deconstructed faith is it resides in loving your enemies. 74 00:08:50,310 --> 00:08:52,650 Loving your enemies. 75 00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:57,569 Chapter six, verse 21, 7. 76 00:08:58,050 --> 00:08:59,189 Love your enemies. 77 00:08:59,189 --> 00:09:01,439 Do what is good to those who hate you. 78 00:09:04,695 --> 00:09:09,405 Far from gloating over their cancellation in a tempest of self-righteousness. 79 00:09:10,515 --> 00:09:19,635 Deconstructed faith means actually and self sacrificially, loving those who reject you and praying for those who despise you, 80 00:09:26,265 --> 00:09:31,305 loving those who reject you, and praying for those who despise you. 81 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:42,360 Now though it may sound like the golden rule, the love of deconstructed faith is not the casual compassion of the bourgeois. 82 00:09:43,650 --> 00:09:47,910 Look at verse 31 just as you wanted others to do for you. 83 00:09:47,910 --> 00:09:49,020 Do the same for them. 84 00:09:49,020 --> 00:09:52,080 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? 85 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:54,630 Even sinners love those who love them. 86 00:09:56,790 --> 00:10:06,780 Many years ago now, I found myself on the PNC executive for a local primary school with the task of recommending school values. 87 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:14,850 Now, it was early in 2008 and I don't, I don't know whether you remember what happened in April of 2008. 88 00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:16,680 Can anyone remember? 89 00:10:22,035 --> 00:10:28,095 The Prime Minister of Australia formally apologized to the indigenous people of this country. 90 00:10:29,205 --> 00:10:33,465 For the events that came to be associated with the stolen generation. 91 00:10:35,235 --> 00:10:42,435 The leader of our country stood up in the parliament and said, we are sorry for the way we treated you 92 00:10:45,465 --> 00:10:47,415 now as the executive conferred. 93 00:10:48,555 --> 00:10:54,765 I took the opportunity to suggest that we ought to adopt generosity and forgiveness as two of our school's. 94 00:10:54,765 --> 00:10:59,625 Community virtues seemed appropriate at the time, forgiveness, 95 00:11:02,595 --> 00:11:04,245 but I was shouted down, 96 00:11:07,575 --> 00:11:13,005 shouted down in favor of far more benign and ultimately benal compassion. 97 00:11:14,715 --> 00:11:23,025 That niggling sense that I should probably give out of my large to the marginalized who are otherwise so important for my political identity. 98 00:11:25,515 --> 00:11:26,475 Green is good, 99 00:11:30,015 --> 00:11:33,315 but look at what the Lord says in Luke chapter six, verse 35. 100 00:11:33,315 --> 00:11:36,300 I. Love your enemies. 101 00:11:36,510 --> 00:11:43,530 Do what is good and lend expecting nothing in return, then your reward will be great and you will be children of the most high. 102 00:11:43,530 --> 00:11:46,680 For he is gracious to be ungrateful and evil. 103 00:11:47,850 --> 00:11:49,110 Be merciful. 104 00:11:50,670 --> 00:11:53,970 Just as your father is also merciful. 105 00:11:56,340 --> 00:11:59,580 The golden rule should leave a mark in our flesh. 106 00:12:03,450 --> 00:12:09,180 A deconstructed faith generously goes in search of the lost, but more rather than 107 00:12:09,180 --> 00:12:15,180 despising, those who reject them, the children of the most high are renowned for mercy. 108 00:12:17,310 --> 00:12:21,000 The deconstructed faith does not give what is deserved to those who have no 109 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:26,850 right to ask for it, because that is how our Heavenly Father treats all sinners. 110 00:12:30,870 --> 00:12:38,340 The third thing we learn about a deconstructed faith is that my self-awareness leads me to forgive those who reject me. 111 00:12:39,270 --> 00:12:40,290 Verse 37. 112 00:12:40,290 --> 00:12:43,650 Do not judge and you will not be judged. 113 00:12:44,430 --> 00:12:47,615 Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. 114 00:12:48,930 --> 00:12:51,900 Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 115 00:12:53,579 --> 00:13:02,640 The greatest gift the faithful have to give to his or her culture despises is the forgiveness that's been given to them by the Lord himself. 116 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:12,479 The love of God in the heart of the deconstructed means that her self-examination is done in the light of the grace that she has received. 117 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,910 Now, this is not the practice self-loathing of cultural narcissism. 118 00:13:18,465 --> 00:13:28,515 The loud announcements of one's unworthiness so as to garner indulgent empathy from those around hugs likes. 119 00:13:31,935 --> 00:13:36,255 Nor is it the fashion critical coach that trains us to scrutinize others through 120 00:13:36,255 --> 00:13:41,955 the lens of an Instagram portrait, or as the Lord said it far more clearly. 121 00:13:42,855 --> 00:13:46,665 Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but don't notice the log in your own? 122 00:13:49,830 --> 00:13:56,400 Truly deconstructed faith exhibits a generous love fueled by self-examination that scrutinizes 123 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:06,750 our own inner motives in the light of God's grace and recognizes oneself in one's enemies there. 124 00:14:06,750 --> 00:14:08,490 But for the grace of God, go I 125 00:14:10,590 --> 00:14:16,200 a good man produces good out of good storeroom of his heart, says the Lord in Luke 6 45. 126 00:14:17,955 --> 00:14:25,755 The last thing, the fourth thing that we learn about deconstructed faith is that it has the stability that only the son of man can provide. 127 00:14:26,745 --> 00:14:28,425 Look at Luke 6 47. 128 00:14:29,805 --> 00:14:33,195 I will show you what someone is like Who comes to me? 129 00:14:33,195 --> 00:14:40,575 Here's my words, and acts on them is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. 130 00:14:41,325 --> 00:14:44,715 When the flood comes, the river crashed against that house. 131 00:14:45,225 --> 00:14:52,215 Couldn't shake it because it was well built so much more than the brittle edifice. 132 00:14:52,215 --> 00:15:02,415 That is absolute certainty that deconstructed faith rests on a strength that welcomes unending curiosity amid the morass of 133 00:15:02,415 --> 00:15:12,465 self-identity, doubt, or selfs answering questions that deconstructed faith exhibits the unshakable substance of Jesus the Christ. 134 00:15:13,635 --> 00:15:17,775 It's a gift identity, not a self established identity. 135 00:15:18,824 --> 00:15:23,895 Consequently, the deconstructed faith is not vilified by confidence. 136 00:15:24,675 --> 00:15:31,935 It has a confidence that comes from without, even as it is strengthened within a genuinely 137 00:15:31,935 --> 00:15:38,775 deconstructed faith, curates an identity guided and governed by the person work of the Lord Jesus. 138 00:15:39,719 --> 00:15:46,260 Someone who gave himself up to the worst of human envy and in the process destroyed the aspirations of 139 00:15:46,260 --> 00:15:55,020 the certain and diffused the piety of the perpetually doubting Jesus loved his enemies so much that he 140 00:15:55,020 --> 00:16:00,930 stretched out his arms to them and prayed for their forgiveness, even while they nailed him to a cross. 141 00:16:03,839 --> 00:16:08,280 And what could all this possibly mean at a theological College like Moore? 142 00:16:10,079 --> 00:16:20,130 Well, to be part of this community is to be on a faith journey that will last one, three, or four years or 19. 143 00:16:20,130 --> 00:16:20,970 If you're remedial, 144 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:30,180 it's likely that some of you have already discovered in enemies in the least expected places. 145 00:16:31,290 --> 00:16:37,050 The Christian parents who wept at the thought of you throwing away a future, they had worked so hard to provide. 146 00:16:37,575 --> 00:16:40,035 So that you could live on a ministry wage. 147 00:16:42,555 --> 00:16:50,805 The one time friends who cannot compromise their non-belief by associating with believers like you or the 148 00:16:50,805 --> 00:16:56,115 workmates who delighted in making lewd remarks about clergymen when you told them you were going to study. 149 00:16:57,375 --> 00:17:01,905 These are just some of those who we ought to love and pray for. 150 00:17:03,615 --> 00:17:06,105 Now once you arrived at College. 151 00:17:06,645 --> 00:17:08,295 Settle into the community life. 152 00:17:08,655 --> 00:17:09,194 No doubt. 153 00:17:09,194 --> 00:17:14,264 Some of you have been astounded that some of your cohort call themselves ministers of the gospel. 154 00:17:16,514 --> 00:17:21,734 How could they possibly think that about the Bible, the gospel, the ministry? 155 00:17:22,335 --> 00:17:24,105 What kind of church have they come from, 156 00:17:27,135 --> 00:17:31,754 whether they're too pious about faithfulness or too pragmatic about fruitfulness? 157 00:17:33,195 --> 00:17:38,895 Your classmates will have to, may well have to duck out of sight while you swing that plank around in your eye. 158 00:17:46,515 --> 00:17:55,005 That is, by the way, why we do all those time wasy things at College, like orientation and reflection or intentional ministry reflection. 159 00:17:56,655 --> 00:18:01,455 It's so that we can learn to read the room reason through the lens of grace. 160 00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:04,410 I relate to others as forgiven sinners. 161 00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:11,340 Of course, eventually you'll find yourself as a leader of God's people in a situation 162 00:18:11,340 --> 00:18:16,200 of genuine hostility towards what you understand of the truth of God's word. 163 00:18:18,180 --> 00:18:25,830 My first weekend in a new diocese outside of Sydney as a clergyman was that a special synod staged by the senior clergy. 164 00:18:26,219 --> 00:18:35,280 To reinstate the bishop who it had recently emerged was guilty of sexual misconduct as a rector of a church many years before. 165 00:18:37,139 --> 00:18:44,820 The low light of this spectacle was when a member of the sinner rose to reveal that she had spoken to the victim and allegedly 166 00:18:44,820 --> 00:18:53,669 said that she held no grudges towards the bishop, and so they conspired together to reinstate this bishop who was an adulterer. 167 00:18:55,140 --> 00:19:01,200 But in hindsight, I should have spent as much time lovingly praying for that man as I did opposing him as a false teacher. 168 00:19:03,060 --> 00:19:09,840 Ours is a faith that is deconstructed by grace and characterized by mercy. 169 00:19:11,220 --> 00:19:12,355 Let's pray that that will be true. 170 00:19:15,655 --> 00:19:17,475 Our great God and loving Heavenly Father. 171 00:19:19,935 --> 00:19:22,755 We thank you for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 172 00:19:24,810 --> 00:19:30,060 Your everlasting love and the fellowship that we enjoy in your Holy Spirit, 173 00:19:32,879 --> 00:19:34,320 deconstruct our faith. 174 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:40,500 Lord, make us seasoned with grace and full of mercy. 175 00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:42,330 For Jesus' sake. 176 00:19:43,020 --> 00:19:43,350 Amen. 177 00:19:52,380 --> 00:19:57,030 Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College. 178 00:19:57,645 --> 00:20:02,295 Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for 179 00:20:02,295 --> 00:20:07,005 and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. 180 00:20:07,785 --> 00:20:11,595 The Christian life is a journey: the closer we walk with God, the more we 181 00:20:11,595 --> 00:20:16,605 surrender our plans for his to see the world come to know and love his son Jesus. 182 00:20:17,355 --> 00:20:19,185 Where does your life fit into God's plan? 183 00:20:19,695 --> 00:20:21,105 Where is the right place to serve? 184 00:20:21,675 --> 00:20:25,005 How can you be equipped to reap the harvest God has prepared for you? 185 00:20:25,935 --> 00:20:28,035 God finds us in so many different places. 186 00:20:28,185 --> 00:20:32,175 He leads us from school to work, from being served to opportunities for service. 187 00:20:32,745 --> 00:20:37,634 For almost 160 years, he has led committed Christians to Moore Theological College. 188 00:20:38,385 --> 00:20:45,254 Moore College offers a chance to be shaped and transformed by the gospel of the Lord Jesus; to join a community committed to growing 189 00:20:45,254 --> 00:20:51,855 more like Christ; to deeply engage with God's word in its original languages; to become effective pastors and proclaimers of his 190 00:20:51,855 --> 00:20:58,660 good news; to prepare for global mission, humble men and women together doing whatever it takes to bring the gospel to the nations. 191 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,669 The Christian life is a journey, and Moore College can be part of that. 192 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:08,010 Whether it's the Preliminary Theological Certificate, a one-year advanced diploma, a three-year Bachelor 193 00:21:08,010 --> 00:21:13,800 of Theology, or a four-year Masters, Moore College can help you reach the field God is preparing for you. 194 00:21:14,439 --> 00:21:16,940 Find out more on our website: moore.edu.au. 195 00:21:16,959 --> 00:21:20,459 That's moore.edu.au. 196 00:21:20,739 --> 00:21:22,989 That's moore.edu.au. 197 00:21:28,959 --> 00:21:33,810 You can find out more and register by going to the Moore College website: moore.edu.au. 198 00:21:33,909 --> 00:21:37,280 That's moore.edu.au. 199 00:21:37,889 --> 00:21:42,090 If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast 200 00:21:42,090 --> 00:21:45,960 through your favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode. 201 00:21:46,649 --> 00:21:51,659 For past episodes, further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support 202 00:21:51,659 --> 00:21:59,610 the work at the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au. 203 00:22:00,810 --> 00:22:06,570 If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice. 204 00:22:07,365 --> 00:22:15,565 We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore.edu.au. 205 00:22:16,935 --> 00:22:24,895 The Moore in the Word Podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz, and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College. 206 00:22:25,514 --> 00:22:29,385 The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from PixaBay. 207 00:22:30,105 --> 00:22:30,879 Until next time.