On this page you can find details of the third of the Dean of Melbourne’s Lent Addresses 2017, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done” – Knowing Jesus Christ: Finding Salvation. You may also watch the first address and the second address.
For Christians, Lent is a period of renewal and growth.
In this address, the Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, reflects on God’s gift of justification – the power to set people free from the power of sin and evil.
You can read the readings Dean Andreas reflects on in his talk, and you can watch his talk.
When you have done so, you may wish to use the questions for group reflection our congregations are using for their Lent discussion, and the ‘thought for the week’ for your personal reflection. You may wish to conclude by praying the prayer used at our Lent discussion.
Readings for the Third Sunday in Lent:
You first may wish to read the three Bible readings on which this talk is based.
Do read the following Bible readings: Exodus 17.1-7 – Quarrels at Meribah and Massah, John 4.5-42: Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman, and Romans 5.1-11: God pours his love in our hearts.
Dean’s Address:
You may read a transcript of the address here.
Questions for Group Discussion or Individual Reflection:
- Reflecting on Dean Andreas’s sermon and our readings today, how would you explain “Justification” to someone who had never heard the term? Does a person need to be free of sin in order to be justified?
- In his sermon, Dean Andreas outlined how the Scriptures teach us a person can be “saved”. What does it mean to be “saved”? How can a person know that they are indeed saved? From what are we saved?
- Over the past three weeks, Dean Andreas has taught us concerning Sin, Faith, Justification and Salvation. What is the relationship between these four terms?
- In his sermon, Dean Andreas said: “Through his love, God grants us his peace, and out of the strength of that peace we are enabled to live in a world that often knows no peace.” Reflecting on these words and on Romans 5:3-5, how does a person’s justification allow them to find strength in the face of hardship? [Romans 5:3-5 “… we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”]
Dean Andreas’s invitation for the Week ahead:
I invite you to pray with me that each day we may choose to place our trust, ‘our lively faith’ in Jesus Christ and his gift of himself for us so that we might have life with him forever. You may wish to pray a prayer of commitment and trust in God’s ready help: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour, help me’. Or you might wish to continue praying lines from the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done’. Especially if you feel wearied or uncertain, I encourage you to pray these simple prayers. Pray intentionally and sustainedly. Pray that you might be enabled to enter into the labour of others, to become a witness enabling others to hear and know for themselves that Jesus ‘truly is the Saviour of the world’ (John 5.42).
A Prayer at the end of your Study Time:
Saving God, thank you for your great love in sending your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to be its saviour. Thank you for justification and salvation that is ours through faith in His saving work on the cross. Enable us to enter into the labour of others, by witnessing to our friends and neighbours so that they may know from themselves that Jesus is truly “the Saviour of the world.” In His name we pray. Amen.
© The Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne, 2017