+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 9:37
Theme: Welcomed In Christ’s Name
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Faith never exists in a vacuum. Neither do sinners. We are not sovereign, self-determined souls. We exist only in context. We are contingent. Today we reflect on the history and context of God’s saints at Meribah. Certainly in the bigger context Christians have very meager spiritual beginnings.
Today we find the disciples acting very unsaintly. They had aspirations. They were competitive. They had egos. They wanted to make names for themselves. They were human. How far could they ride the coat-tails of Jesus? Perhaps they were counting their chickens before they were hatched? Regardless, we find them at this point to be poor examples to future generations. The problem would be corrected in due time.
It is human nature- and a particularly sinful expression of it at that- to presume. Presumption is an indicator of our spiritual attitude. We make plans; we take liberties regarding things we have no ability to control. Operating on false assumptions is very dangerous. God owes us nothing; a truth we must be continually convicted of lest repentance become only a hollow ritual.
Three women arrived at the gate of heaven at the same time. St. Peter came but he had some pressing business and asked them to please wait. He was gone for a long time. Finally, when he came back, he asked one of the women if she had minded waiting.
“No”, she said, “I’ve looked forward to this for so long. I didn’t mind at all.””
St. Peter then said, “Well, I have one question in order for you to enter heaven. How do you spell God?” She said, “G-O-D.” St. Peter said, “Go right on in.”
He went and got one of the other women, told her to come on inside, “Did you mind waiting?” She said, “Oh, no. I have been a Christian for fifty years, and I’ll spend eternity here. I didn’t mind at all.” So St. Peter said, “Just one more thing. How do you spell God?”
She said, “G-O-D.” St. Peter said that was good and sent her into heaven.
He went back out and invited the third woman in and asked her if she had minded waiting. “Yes, I did,” she said. “I’ve had to stand in line all my life; at the supermarket, when I went to school, when I registered my children for school, when I went to the movies- everywhere. And I resent having to wait in line for heaven! St. Peter said, “Well, that’s all right for you to feel that way. It won’t be held against you. There is just one more question, how do you spell Czechoslovakia?” God’s grace is sufficient for the day. We should never presume He owes us anything tomorrow.
Any celebration of the past should give us inspiration for the future. We are custodians of a glorious truth that is unintelligible to the unbelieving world. How can the Lutheran distinctive of salvation by grace through faith impact a typically secular person today? How is His truth made relevant? Synchronously with the proclamation of that truth the Holy Spirit works to give ears of faith to those who were otherwise deaf to its miraculous tone. This mystery of God’s initiative is never disclosed this side of heaven. Many are saved before they ever understand that they are saved because repentance transcends the faculties of the intellect. It seizes also the heart and the will.
The challenge is quite simple in a way: To faithfully and tirelessly articulate the unchanging Gospel to a constantly changing world. Manna never lasted more than a day1 -except on the Sabbath. In a sense that is true of the gospel. It has to be gifted to us afresh every new day of our sin. On the eternal Sabbath it will endure to immortality. But we are not yet free from the corruption of sin.
Still, we are free from the condemnation of the law. The God who has guided history is nevertheless with us in the present. We are post-resurrection, post- ascension Christians. At His ascension Jesus Christ did not relinquish His humanity and neither did He abandon us in His divinity. How else could we receive the sacred gift of His body and blood?
Today we reflect on the blessings of history. What of the history of God’s people? Every history involving humans has a checkered past. In Meribah’s case it’s right in the name. In the wilderness by the rock of Horeb God provided life-giving water to His people through Moses’ staff. But He named it Meribah because there the people argued. Meribah means ‘quarreling’2. Could it be more appropriate for Lutherans, really, who believe they are always sinners but at the same time saints by God’s grace!
This place is the house of God. Here He gathers His own and forgives sins that are unknown to anyone else. Here He meets with His people by name. A man who was conducting a survey knocked on a front door. A little boy opened the door and stared at him. The man asked the boy how many people lived in the house. The boy replied, "Well, there’s Jimmy & Mary & Sophie & Bobby..." The man impatiently interrupted the boy, "Just give me the numbers." The boy replied, "There are no numbers in this house, they are all names to me!"
“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”3 The Shepherd says today, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me.”4 There is no anonymity, no ambiguity, no obscurity and no secrecy involved in the intimate fellowship believers have with the Father through His Son. You are not a number in God’s household. You are baptismally named. You are nominated for salvation. You are sealed personally by the blood of the Lamb.
The Scripture tells us “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”5
From font to grave, from baptism to death, from new birth to immortality, across centuries, across continents, across barriers of language, geography and culture – they are still called Christians. Named Christians because they are born not of natural descent or of human decision but of water and the Spirit. From the ancient martyrs to the medieval mystics to the renaissance reformers to modern disciples they are called Christian.
And here too, at Fountain of Living Waters Evangelical Lutheran Church, Meribah, South Australia they have been called Christians for 95 years. Christians who are still called- each lamb by name. Christians whose confession of truth rests on apostolic foundations; is informed by the creed of Nicaea; is inspired by the boldness of Luther; is challenged by the opposition of the world- but is still a living confession of the Holy Spirit.
Many worry about the future of the church. We must be careful to keep things in perspective. People have challenges. God has worries. He has committed Himself to the rescue of fallen humanity. It’s an incomprehensible task. Yet we are part of the narrative. The trajectory of the scheme of redemption is not one-dimensional. It is not limited to a tiny area called Palestine. Christianity is validated by its historicity by not confined by it. Christ is not hampered by the dimensions of time and space. The order of redemption flows through every font, every lectern, every pulpit, every altar where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered according to His institution.
What will the next 100 years bring? Yes, even believers continually conceive of all kinds of worries for themselves. Perhaps we believe that if we are bogged down in worries we are excused from other obligations in the kingdom. Perhaps we become too comfortable constructing and deconstructing our own dramas. But these things are best left to unbelievers.
We have enough legitimate things on our agendas.
We have sins. These we learn to name as our own so that they can become Christ’s and we can be freed from them. We have temptations. These we learn to identify so that we can pray with integrity for deliverance. We have frailties. These we learn are the consequence of mortality and foster in us a greater yearning to be released from this bondage to decay. We have fears. These are most powerful of all. We learn from fear that we are powerless without the all-embracing compassion of Him who has triumphed over Satan, hell, and death itself.
Satan would like us to have many worries. Most of them never come to pass. As we celebrate today we are mindful of what we do have. Christians have the lessons of the past, the blessings of the present and the promise of the future. We have Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We have a living Saviour still bearing the marks of sacrifice. We have participation in a fellowship that crosses the dimensions of time and space. Thanks be to God! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
Meribah’s 85th Anniversary of the Building
23 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See Exodus 16:20
2 See Exodus 17:6-7
3 John 10:3
4 Mark 9:37
5 Acts 11:26
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 8:27-38
Theme: Big Questions
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
What are the big questions in your life? Are the big questions in your life the big questions- of life? Are they related to meaning, purpose and eternity? Are they ordered by the perspective of the bigger picture and the final goal?
Today Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am?”1 Their response is reasonable, “‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you…who do you say I am?”2 Jesus wasn’t making ‘small talk’. He’s never driven by curiosity. He was pointing His disciples beyond the foreground to much greater horizons. The time was growing closer for His crucifixion and He needed to cultivate the faith of these disciples. Peter confesses that He is the Christ- the Messiah and Saviour promised of old.
Now Jesus seizes the moment as He so often does. Peter has just correctly identified Him as the Messiah. For this he is to be commended. But what does this mean to Peter? When Jesus begins to tell the disciples of His pending suffering and death Peter immediately rebukes Him. As far as Peter was concerned suffering, sacrifice and death weren’t in the cards. He had a different vision for his Messiah. Do we too make Christ into something He isn’t? Do we take Him and fit Him neatly into our outlook and agenda? Do we shape Him to meet our expectations instead of the other way around?
The challenges to Christ’s rule that are raised in the hearts of individuals are as formidable as the external threats marshaled by the world. It should not escape our notice that when Jesus poses these questions He is in a town called Caesarea, named for Caesar, the king. Caesar was worshipped as a god. His bloodline was considered to be divine. Any rival claims of deity were taken very seriously. Any threats to his rule or power were quickly addressed.
Sin makes people rebellious by nature. People may follow commands because they are convinced of their benefit or they fear punishment for transgression. But this is not the motivation for following that God is looking for. Despite the "Do Not Touch" signs placed prominently around, a popular museum was having no success in keeping patrons from touching--and soiling--priceless furniture and art. But the problem evaporated overnight when a clever museum employee replaced the signs with ones that read: "Caution: Wash Hands After Touching!"
It illustrates well the rebelliousness of human nature. We are happy to take the law into our own hands when we believe we can be spared from any painful consequences. At the core of sinfulness is our human desire to be a law unto ourselves. And if we can gain consent from others in society, especially in official ways, we are all the more emboldened in our sins. There is strength in numbers (or at least the illusion there is because God is not actually threatened should all the powers of earth and hell be marshaled against Him).
God’s will for our well-being is then brushed aside. The result is clear. Societies seek to legitimize all manner of unfaithfulness-sexual impurity, including homosexuality. No one bats an eye at adultery and divorce. The most vulnerable, the unborn and aged, are threatened by abortion and euthanasia and these practices are defended as progress for the betterment of humanity. Dishonesty is so common in business and personal affairs that the truth is lost sight of. Gossip is rampant and the litany goes on and on.
And what is the motivation? It’s not only arrogance or a rebellious disposition. It is the honest belief that we know what is best for us- no exceptions- not even the Almighty knows better. It is the conviction that we must serve our own desires first. Understandably this belief drives our activities. If you think such self-centredness is not a liability expressed in your life then you are blinded by your own prejudice. The Holy Spirit calls us to repentance.
Today Jesus’ asks the big questions. At what price would you sell your soul? Many seem to go quite cheaply. These big questions come into play from the very beginning. Christianity is not a pastime for adults with leisure time on their hands it is a way of life from day one. Who is God for a child? God for a child will be determined by the teaching and example of parents. Even before a child is born he or she starts to learn the faith- or lack of- of the parents. The lack of Christian nurture of children today is so widespread one wonders if the church will have to be reborn in a future generation. Only the Holy Spirit knows the answer. Meanwhile, we are called to faithfulness.
We have the command to teach and to baptize trusting that the Holy Spirit works powerfully and effectively through His word and sacraments. We have the promise of the forgiveness of sins for every person, at any age, in any condition. We hear the Good News proclaimed. We see the water poured. We taste the Saviour’s body and blood. We have the assurance and comfort of knowing we are justified before God by grace alone. We have the joy of knowing Satan is disarmed and hell is powerless over us. We have divine peace even in the face of death.
We are here in God’s house to celebrate these truths and grow deeper in our baptismal lives so we are better prepared to go back into the fray. Here we meet Christ and He supplies all that is lacking. Rituals have never gotten anyone into heaven. Neither have good works, self-righteousness, holy living, exceptional knowledge, privileged status, or good intentions. “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?”3 The answer is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Certain questions demand answers. Christ does not leave us in the dark. He is the Light of the world. He is the Resurrection and the Life. But we shouldn’t be so naïve or presumptuous to think that we should be privy to the answers for all the puzzling questions of life. God has revealed to us everything essential we need to know. Faith waits patiently and humbly for a level of understanding that now far exceeds our capacities. St. Paul says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”4 A full and intimate knowledge and experience of God is part of the hope for which our faith waits. Meanwhile, we pray the Holy Spirit would continually give us eyes of faith.
It doesn’t mean we can’t ask “Why?” The Psalmist does this repeatedly. Life taxes and perplexes us. King David teaches us to pour out our complaints to the Lord. His language is poignant, passionate, and persistent. At times it seems demanding. It all reveals a true expression of our frail mortality as we yearn for resolution and release. Why God? Why me? Why this person? Why that family? Why this trial? Why? So that God’s power might be revealed in mercy! Even when we can’t yet see it.
Jesus Christ never forsakes those who call on His name. He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”5 He said to Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you…that your faith may not fail.”6 He said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”7 His says to His faithful, His baptized, “Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”8 God grant it in Christ’s name. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
16 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:27
2 Mark 9:28-29
3 Mark 9:37
4 1 Corinthians 13:12
5 Matthew 9:2
6 Luke 22:31-32
7 Luke 23:43
8 John 5:24
Text: Mark 8:27-38
Theme: Big Questions
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
What are the big questions in your life? Are the big questions in your life the big questions- of life? Are they related to meaning, purpose and eternity? Are they ordered by the perspective of the bigger picture and the final goal?
Today Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am?”1 Their response is reasonable, “‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you…who do you say I am?”2 Jesus wasn’t making ‘small talk’. He’s never driven by curiosity. He was pointing His disciples beyond the foreground to much greater horizons. The time was growing closer for His crucifixion and He needed to cultivate the faith of these disciples. Peter confesses that He is the Christ- the Messiah and Saviour promised of old.
Now Jesus seizes the moment as He so often does. Peter has just correctly identified Him as the Messiah. For this he is to be commended. But what does this mean to Peter? When Jesus begins to tell the disciples of His pending suffering and death Peter immediately rebukes Him. As far as Peter was concerned suffering, sacrifice and death weren’t in the cards. He had a different vision for his Messiah. Do we too make Christ into something He isn’t? Do we take Him and fit Him neatly into our outlook and agenda? Do we shape Him to meet our expectations instead of the other way around?
The challenges to Christ’s rule that are raised in the hearts of individuals are as formidable as the external threats marshaled by the world. It should not escape our notice that when Jesus poses these questions He is in a town called Caesarea, named for Caesar, the king. Caesar was worshipped as a god. His bloodline was considered to be divine. Any rival claims of deity were taken very seriously. Any threats to his rule or power were quickly addressed.
Sin makes people rebellious by nature. People may follow commands because they are convinced of their benefit or they fear punishment for transgression. But this is not the motivation for following that God is looking for. Despite the "Do Not Touch" signs placed prominently around, a popular museum was having no success in keeping patrons from touching--and soiling--priceless furniture and art. But the problem evaporated overnight when a clever museum employee replaced the signs with ones that read: "Caution: Wash Hands After Touching!"
It illustrates well the rebelliousness of human nature. We are happy to take the law into our own hands when we believe we can be spared from any painful consequences. At the core of sinfulness is our human desire to be a law unto ourselves. And if we can gain consent from others in society, especially in official ways, we are all the more emboldened in our sins. There is strength in numbers (or at least the illusion there is because God is not actually threatened should all the powers of earth and hell be marshaled against Him).
God’s will for our well-being is then brushed aside. The result is clear. Societies seek to legitimize all manner of unfaithfulness-sexual impurity, including homosexuality. No one bats an eye at adultery and divorce. The most vulnerable, the unborn and aged, are threatened by abortion and euthanasia and these practices are defended as progress for the betterment of humanity. Dishonesty is so common in business and personal affairs that the truth is lost sight of. Gossip is rampant and the litany goes on and on.
And what is the motivation? It’s not only arrogance or a rebellious disposition. It is the honest belief that we know what is best for us- no exceptions- not even the Almighty knows better. It is the conviction that we must serve our own desires first. Understandably this belief drives our activities. If you think such self-centredness is not a liability expressed in your life then you are blinded by your own prejudice. The Holy Spirit calls us to repentance.
Today Jesus’ asks the big questions. At what price would you sell your soul? Many seem to go quite cheaply. These big questions come into play from the very beginning. Christianity is not a pastime for adults with leisure time on their hands it is a way of life from day one. Who is God for a child? God for a child will be determined by the teaching and example of parents. Even before a child is born he or she starts to learn the faith- or lack of- of the parents. The lack of Christian nurture of children today is so widespread one wonders if the church will have to be reborn in a future generation. Only the Holy Spirit knows the answer. Meanwhile, we are called to faithfulness.
We have the command to teach and to baptize trusting that the Holy Spirit works powerfully and effectively through His word and sacraments. We have the promise of the forgiveness of sins for every person, at any age, in any condition. We hear the Good News proclaimed. We see the water poured. We taste the Saviour’s body and blood. We have the assurance and comfort of knowing we are justified before God by grace alone. We have the joy of knowing Satan is disarmed and hell is powerless over us. We have divine peace even in the face of death.
We are here in God’s house to celebrate these truths and grow deeper in our baptismal lives so we are better prepared to go back into the fray. Here we meet Christ and He supplies all that is lacking. Rituals have never gotten anyone into heaven. Neither have good works, self-righteousness, holy living, exceptional knowledge, privileged status, or good intentions. “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?”3 The answer is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Certain questions demand answers. Christ does not leave us in the dark. He is the Light of the world. He is the Resurrection and the Life. But we shouldn’t be so naïve or presumptuous to think that we should be privy to the answers for all the puzzling questions of life. God has revealed to us everything essential we need to know. Faith waits patiently and humbly for a level of understanding that now far exceeds our capacities. St. Paul says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”4 A full and intimate knowledge and experience of God is part of the hope for which our faith waits. Meanwhile, we pray the Holy Spirit would continually give us eyes of faith.
It doesn’t mean we can’t ask “Why?” The Psalmist does this repeatedly. Life taxes and perplexes us. King David teaches us to pour out our complaints to the Lord. His language is poignant, passionate, and persistent. At times it seems demanding. It all reveals a true expression of our frail mortality as we yearn for resolution and release. Why God? Why me? Why this person? Why that family? Why this trial? Why? So that God’s power might be revealed in mercy! Even when we can’t yet see it.
Jesus Christ never forsakes those who call on His name. He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”5 He said to Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you…that your faith may not fail.”6 He said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”7 His says to His faithful, His baptized, “Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”8 God grant it in Christ’s name. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
16 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:27
2 Mark 9:28-29
3 Mark 9:37
4 1 Corinthians 13:12
5 Matthew 9:2
6 Luke 22:31-32
7 Luke 23:43
8 John 5:24
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 7:28
Theme: Crumbs
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God can only appear to sinners as unpredictable, even erratic or fickle. He may appear selective, even showing favouritism. One person is blessed extensively. Another suffers. Some calamities are checked by His power. Others wreak havoc uncontrolled. As we grapple and struggle with changes and challenges let us remember that we live only in the short moment of time. The ‘long day’ lies ahead. As the hymn-writer says,
“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day:
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”1
Christ does abide with His people. Unchanged Himself He is able to transform even the most calcified in heart and mind. And He does this not as a matter of convenience but as the result of His passion. The Holy Spirit is not indifferent. The Father is zealous for your soul.
Today we find Jesus in hostile territory. The gospel is always a public matter, but Christ didn’t yet want attention from the public authorities. Such attention would only serve as a distraction from the work He was trying to accomplish. It wasn’t yet time for His trial or arrest. But seldom were His requests for anonymity realized. The gifts He possessed were more powerful than human ability to obey His requested restraint.
Christ was a magnet for those in need. Could it be any other way? Sin cries out for resolution. The blood of Abel cries out- the appeal for justice that rings out across the ages. Many join the chorus. The sick plead for healing. The lost look for direction. The needy long for provision. The grieving look for comfort. Even the demon-possessed have advocates seeking their release. All look to the Messiah for hope. Only His blood could pacify Abel’s plea.
Yet it appeared at first on this occasion that Jesus would turn a cold shoulder to the plea before Him. He had more pressing concerns: the sheep of Israel were suffering. The Jews had to be tended to before the Gentiles. “‘First let the children eat all they want,’” He told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.’” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, ‘but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’”2 He would not deny her. When she went home she found her daughter freed.
Dear friends, in this case of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman as with so many others we see that Christ addressed human need holistically. Forgiveness heals both body and soul. This is necessary because the pathology of sin affects us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We aren’t fractional Christians. Remember what James says today, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”3
We cannot compartmentalize the living of our faith. Everything hangs together. It stands or falls together. Sinners are never completely righteous and holy in one aspect of their obedience while being transgressors in another. Every sin implicates us wholly in rebellion against God. Every transgression exposes our selfishness and reveals original sin as the cause and source. Just as we cannot be Sunday only Christians, so too, we cannot be selective or convenient followers of God’s will. We may fool some of the people some of the time but we’ll fool God none of the time. The question is: Are we deceiving ourselves? Sin is not to be trifled with. Repentance is not for pretense.
God opens and frees us for the receiving of His word and grace. But sin seeks to close, bind and distance us from Christ’s love. Satan can foster estrangement from God even in His house and in the proximity of His word. Are we there but not present? Are we looking but not seeing? Are we listening but not hearing? God is not honoured by mere formality. It’s like the Lutheran pastor who always started each service by saying "The Lord be with you." The people would respond, "and also with you.” But, one Sunday the PA system wasn’t working so the first thing he said was "There’s something wrong with this microphone." The people responded, "and also with you." Hollow responses are not expressions of faith.
Dear friends, the Holy Scripture says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.”4 It says of the Almighty, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”5 Perhaps one small measure of Christian maturity is the decreasing effort expended trying to get God to change His mind. If only God would see it our way- and more often. Maybe we simply start to run out of energy and strength. We cannot outlast Him. But the Holy Spirit draws the believer to a deeper reflection. Our queries and complaints are resolved only in the conviction that Christ who was sacrificed for us and for our salvation always keeps the final goal in mind even if the circumstances aren’t palatable to us.
Can we have a more convincing case than the Apostle Paul who reflected on his extreme hardships in proclaiming the gospel in Asia! “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life…But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”6 Jesus Christ, the crucified and living Lord has bigger, higher, and holier plans for us than a comfortable stroll through life’s short little day. He intends to fuse us to Himself for eternity despite our momentary distresses.
Christ remains a magnet for the needy still today. Full comprehension of sin leaves no one unmoved. The true believer craves His forgiveness. In faith the Holy Spirit allows us to hold onto mysteries not yet tangible to us. His death is the end of death. His resurrection is the foundation of life. His compassion is not fickle or piece-meal. His grace is not stingy.
God grant us the humility to see these things in true perspective. Are we entitled to be so richly blessed? The Syrophoenician woman was happy to receive crumbs. She didn’t demand Jesus make her request a priority. St. James poses the question today, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?”7 Her humility is an example for us to follow.
What do we expect to receive from our Saviour? We receive from the Master’s table far more than crumbs. We receive His true body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. We receive the food of immortality. We receive grace, life, and eternal salvation. We receive not leftovers, tidbits, or crumbs but a fully supplied heavenly banquet. Ultimately we receive an eternal inheritance. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
9 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 LHS # 543, stanza 2
2 Mark 7:27-28
3 James 2:10
4 Isaiah 66:2
5 Isaiah 57:15
6 2 Corinthians 1:8-9
7 James 2:15
Text: Mark 7:28
Theme: Crumbs
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God can only appear to sinners as unpredictable, even erratic or fickle. He may appear selective, even showing favouritism. One person is blessed extensively. Another suffers. Some calamities are checked by His power. Others wreak havoc uncontrolled. As we grapple and struggle with changes and challenges let us remember that we live only in the short moment of time. The ‘long day’ lies ahead. As the hymn-writer says,
“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day:
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”1
Christ does abide with His people. Unchanged Himself He is able to transform even the most calcified in heart and mind. And He does this not as a matter of convenience but as the result of His passion. The Holy Spirit is not indifferent. The Father is zealous for your soul.
Today we find Jesus in hostile territory. The gospel is always a public matter, but Christ didn’t yet want attention from the public authorities. Such attention would only serve as a distraction from the work He was trying to accomplish. It wasn’t yet time for His trial or arrest. But seldom were His requests for anonymity realized. The gifts He possessed were more powerful than human ability to obey His requested restraint.
Christ was a magnet for those in need. Could it be any other way? Sin cries out for resolution. The blood of Abel cries out- the appeal for justice that rings out across the ages. Many join the chorus. The sick plead for healing. The lost look for direction. The needy long for provision. The grieving look for comfort. Even the demon-possessed have advocates seeking their release. All look to the Messiah for hope. Only His blood could pacify Abel’s plea.
Yet it appeared at first on this occasion that Jesus would turn a cold shoulder to the plea before Him. He had more pressing concerns: the sheep of Israel were suffering. The Jews had to be tended to before the Gentiles. “‘First let the children eat all they want,’” He told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.’” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, ‘but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’”2 He would not deny her. When she went home she found her daughter freed.
Dear friends, in this case of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman as with so many others we see that Christ addressed human need holistically. Forgiveness heals both body and soul. This is necessary because the pathology of sin affects us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We aren’t fractional Christians. Remember what James says today, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”3
We cannot compartmentalize the living of our faith. Everything hangs together. It stands or falls together. Sinners are never completely righteous and holy in one aspect of their obedience while being transgressors in another. Every sin implicates us wholly in rebellion against God. Every transgression exposes our selfishness and reveals original sin as the cause and source. Just as we cannot be Sunday only Christians, so too, we cannot be selective or convenient followers of God’s will. We may fool some of the people some of the time but we’ll fool God none of the time. The question is: Are we deceiving ourselves? Sin is not to be trifled with. Repentance is not for pretense.
God opens and frees us for the receiving of His word and grace. But sin seeks to close, bind and distance us from Christ’s love. Satan can foster estrangement from God even in His house and in the proximity of His word. Are we there but not present? Are we looking but not seeing? Are we listening but not hearing? God is not honoured by mere formality. It’s like the Lutheran pastor who always started each service by saying "The Lord be with you." The people would respond, "and also with you.” But, one Sunday the PA system wasn’t working so the first thing he said was "There’s something wrong with this microphone." The people responded, "and also with you." Hollow responses are not expressions of faith.
Dear friends, the Holy Scripture says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.”4 It says of the Almighty, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”5 Perhaps one small measure of Christian maturity is the decreasing effort expended trying to get God to change His mind. If only God would see it our way- and more often. Maybe we simply start to run out of energy and strength. We cannot outlast Him. But the Holy Spirit draws the believer to a deeper reflection. Our queries and complaints are resolved only in the conviction that Christ who was sacrificed for us and for our salvation always keeps the final goal in mind even if the circumstances aren’t palatable to us.
Can we have a more convincing case than the Apostle Paul who reflected on his extreme hardships in proclaiming the gospel in Asia! “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life…But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”6 Jesus Christ, the crucified and living Lord has bigger, higher, and holier plans for us than a comfortable stroll through life’s short little day. He intends to fuse us to Himself for eternity despite our momentary distresses.
Christ remains a magnet for the needy still today. Full comprehension of sin leaves no one unmoved. The true believer craves His forgiveness. In faith the Holy Spirit allows us to hold onto mysteries not yet tangible to us. His death is the end of death. His resurrection is the foundation of life. His compassion is not fickle or piece-meal. His grace is not stingy.
God grant us the humility to see these things in true perspective. Are we entitled to be so richly blessed? The Syrophoenician woman was happy to receive crumbs. She didn’t demand Jesus make her request a priority. St. James poses the question today, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?”7 Her humility is an example for us to follow.
What do we expect to receive from our Saviour? We receive from the Master’s table far more than crumbs. We receive His true body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. We receive the food of immortality. We receive grace, life, and eternal salvation. We receive not leftovers, tidbits, or crumbs but a fully supplied heavenly banquet. Ultimately we receive an eternal inheritance. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
9 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 LHS # 543, stanza 2
2 Mark 7:27-28
3 James 2:10
4 Isaiah 66:2
5 Isaiah 57:15
6 2 Corinthians 1:8-9
7 James 2:15
Monday, September 3, 2012
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: James 1:21
Theme: The Implanted Word
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God cannot be unnerved. The Spirit cannot be spooked. The Son cannot be rattled. There is always urgency for the mission of gospel. But it is not a panic. God is orderly. His orderliness establishes stability. The chaos and disorder caused by sin is reversed only as creation is restored and reordered in the Son. Christ is not merely a signpost pointing to God’s kingdom; He is the foundation, the scaffolding, the framework and the capstone. He is the centre and the substance of the saints gathered together as the one holy, Christian and apostolic church. He calls us and places us within His order.
Today, as we assemble again to hear the Spirit speak, we are called to consider the wisdom of the apostle James. Each time we gather on the Lord’s Day the state of the world, the condition of our souls, and the mission of the church lay before us. Today James talks about those who immediately ‘forget’ God’s truth. The retention of the truth is always our first priority for from God’s holy word and its power flow life, and grace, and every blessing. It is only when grounded in His truth that we have anything meaningful to say to the world. May God grant us a sense of urgency in this regard.
There is a fable which tells of three apprentice demons who were being sent to earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin people. The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for most know in their heart that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell them that there is no hell." Satan answered, "You might not do much better; many people still know even today that there is a hell for sinners." The third said, "I will tell them that there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin people in countless numbers."
One of the most dangerous (and prevalent) of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. Our society might be described as being asset rich but time poor. We are blessed with abundant material wealth but we can’t seem to find time even to have regular meals with our families. Work, family, sport and recreation- how can there still be time for God and church? But if we are honest with ourselves we know it is a matter of priority. We have no more and no less time than the people of ages past. But how much our time is spent pursuing our own agendas at the expense of God’s kingdom and the spiritual well-being of others! How much are we involved in the establishment of human society that is cut adrift from the anchor of our souls?
Christ warns today about those who have “let go of the commands of God and are holding to the traditions of men.”1 Dear friends, the greatest ‘tradition’ of men is the effort to eliminate the place of God in human destiny. This tradition is marked by continual efforts to displace, replace, unseat, usurp, supplant, and supersede God in order to elevate human ideals and pursuits above the Almighty. This tradition reaches right back to the initial disobedience. It is underscored by high profile rebellion requiring judgment involving events like Noah’s flood, the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the exile into Babylon, and the destruction of the temple. This tradition is characterized spiritually by the arrogance that believes human beings have righteousness and virtue of their own making.
It is a tradition in which people become impatient with God when He doesn’t meet their needs or condone their opinions. It is a tradition in which people block their ears to shut out God’s truth and shout at the top of their lungs desperate to be heard. No wonder James says today, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.”2 A penitent is God’s most effective tool in leading others to repentance.
Repentance is not an end in itself but the avenue to continually access the forgiveness of God. The word is our interface with His life-giving grace. James reminds us, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.”3 He says, “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”4 Speaking to believers, he is not telling them to believe the word for the first time but to keep returning to it and grasping it more fully- inscribing it on their hearts. Every Trinitarian invocation is a remembrance of your baptism. Every reception of Christ’s body and blood is a remembrance of His sacrificial death. In these things we return again and again to the Divine Word.
This Word gives true life. How? The Holy Spirit says through James, “the perfect law (word) gives freedom.”5 What is true liberty? What is freedom that far outstrips the privilege to live where we please, express opinions that others don’t hold, arrange our schedules with flexibility or democratically elect our leaders? It is the freedom the baptized have in Christ- that which we possess through the implanted word. It is freedom from the accusing conscience; freedom from the doubting the mind; freedom from the unhappy will. Where will you find freedom to look back over your life with gratitude rather than complaint?
From a human perspective we always have regrets. There are things that bother us, gnaw at us- things we would do differently. We are sinners. We are frail. We miscalculate and misrepresent. But Christ has borne our burdens all the way to the cross. The apostle says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”6 It is finally freedom from Satan’s deception, hell’s torment and death’s power. It is freedom to rest in the eternal protection of the Great Shepherd. It is freedom to face mortality with the complete confidence that death is just the prelude to the great and glorious resurrection of the body.
The Word gives us freedom to serve without fear. It frees us for the calling of advancing His truth in the mission to the world through careful planning, committed resourcing, and courageous action. We are frail vessels but He is a mighty fortress. He leaves nothing unattended. Is there any sin left unaddressed? The One who hung upon the cross said, “It is finished”7 All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Our Christ is risen! He lives! He reigns! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
2 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 7:18
2 James 1:19-21
3 James 1:18
4 James 1:21
5 James 1:25
6 Romans 8:1-2
7 John 19:30
Text: James 1:21
Theme: The Implanted Word
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God cannot be unnerved. The Spirit cannot be spooked. The Son cannot be rattled. There is always urgency for the mission of gospel. But it is not a panic. God is orderly. His orderliness establishes stability. The chaos and disorder caused by sin is reversed only as creation is restored and reordered in the Son. Christ is not merely a signpost pointing to God’s kingdom; He is the foundation, the scaffolding, the framework and the capstone. He is the centre and the substance of the saints gathered together as the one holy, Christian and apostolic church. He calls us and places us within His order.
Today, as we assemble again to hear the Spirit speak, we are called to consider the wisdom of the apostle James. Each time we gather on the Lord’s Day the state of the world, the condition of our souls, and the mission of the church lay before us. Today James talks about those who immediately ‘forget’ God’s truth. The retention of the truth is always our first priority for from God’s holy word and its power flow life, and grace, and every blessing. It is only when grounded in His truth that we have anything meaningful to say to the world. May God grant us a sense of urgency in this regard.
There is a fable which tells of three apprentice demons who were being sent to earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin people. The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for most know in their heart that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell them that there is no hell." Satan answered, "You might not do much better; many people still know even today that there is a hell for sinners." The third said, "I will tell them that there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin people in countless numbers."
One of the most dangerous (and prevalent) of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. Our society might be described as being asset rich but time poor. We are blessed with abundant material wealth but we can’t seem to find time even to have regular meals with our families. Work, family, sport and recreation- how can there still be time for God and church? But if we are honest with ourselves we know it is a matter of priority. We have no more and no less time than the people of ages past. But how much our time is spent pursuing our own agendas at the expense of God’s kingdom and the spiritual well-being of others! How much are we involved in the establishment of human society that is cut adrift from the anchor of our souls?
Christ warns today about those who have “let go of the commands of God and are holding to the traditions of men.”1 Dear friends, the greatest ‘tradition’ of men is the effort to eliminate the place of God in human destiny. This tradition is marked by continual efforts to displace, replace, unseat, usurp, supplant, and supersede God in order to elevate human ideals and pursuits above the Almighty. This tradition reaches right back to the initial disobedience. It is underscored by high profile rebellion requiring judgment involving events like Noah’s flood, the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the exile into Babylon, and the destruction of the temple. This tradition is characterized spiritually by the arrogance that believes human beings have righteousness and virtue of their own making.
It is a tradition in which people become impatient with God when He doesn’t meet their needs or condone their opinions. It is a tradition in which people block their ears to shut out God’s truth and shout at the top of their lungs desperate to be heard. No wonder James says today, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.”2 A penitent is God’s most effective tool in leading others to repentance.
Repentance is not an end in itself but the avenue to continually access the forgiveness of God. The word is our interface with His life-giving grace. James reminds us, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.”3 He says, “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”4 Speaking to believers, he is not telling them to believe the word for the first time but to keep returning to it and grasping it more fully- inscribing it on their hearts. Every Trinitarian invocation is a remembrance of your baptism. Every reception of Christ’s body and blood is a remembrance of His sacrificial death. In these things we return again and again to the Divine Word.
This Word gives true life. How? The Holy Spirit says through James, “the perfect law (word) gives freedom.”5 What is true liberty? What is freedom that far outstrips the privilege to live where we please, express opinions that others don’t hold, arrange our schedules with flexibility or democratically elect our leaders? It is the freedom the baptized have in Christ- that which we possess through the implanted word. It is freedom from the accusing conscience; freedom from the doubting the mind; freedom from the unhappy will. Where will you find freedom to look back over your life with gratitude rather than complaint?
From a human perspective we always have regrets. There are things that bother us, gnaw at us- things we would do differently. We are sinners. We are frail. We miscalculate and misrepresent. But Christ has borne our burdens all the way to the cross. The apostle says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”6 It is finally freedom from Satan’s deception, hell’s torment and death’s power. It is freedom to rest in the eternal protection of the Great Shepherd. It is freedom to face mortality with the complete confidence that death is just the prelude to the great and glorious resurrection of the body.
The Word gives us freedom to serve without fear. It frees us for the calling of advancing His truth in the mission to the world through careful planning, committed resourcing, and courageous action. We are frail vessels but He is a mighty fortress. He leaves nothing unattended. Is there any sin left unaddressed? The One who hung upon the cross said, “It is finished”7 All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Our Christ is risen! He lives! He reigns! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
2 September 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 7:18
2 James 1:19-21
3 James 1:18
4 James 1:21
5 James 1:25
6 Romans 8:1-2
7 John 19:30
Monday, August 27, 2012
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 6:63
Theme: ‘Spiritual’ In Christ
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Vigilance is an inescapable consequence of Christian life. Popular characterizations of God and His truth must constantly be assessed. Today many turned away from Christ. Jesus upset the apple cart nearly everywhere He went. The image of Him as a congenial, easy-going sage whose tolerance encompassed all manner of human sinfulness is patently false. To confess that God is love does not mean that Jesus came to excuse and legitimize every pursuit of wicked humanity. That such a belief is so widely held speaks of the shallowness of Christianity today. If there were no need for forgiveness there would be no need for a Redeemer.
Perhaps for many this is exactly the sticking point. Are humans sufficient unto themselves? Can they be self-authenticating in regards to their purpose and self-controlling as to their destiny? The answers in the positive are both overt- those who publicly assert a philosophy of life conspicuously absent of God; and evasive- those who, while not actively defaming faith, go about their life as if God were not part of the picture. These temptations strain the believer also.
The sinner is never ‘out of the woods’. The moment we begin to assert our independence from God (even if it is subconsciously) is the moment God’s law needs to call us again to repentance. You come here every Sunday because you are a sinner. You are dependent on God and His mercy. Typically God uses mundane circumstances to drive our contrition. How often God has to use the lever of adversity. Prosperity more often breeds apathy or arrogance than it does an attitude of thanksgiving. Adversity gets our attention and makes us call out. When you experience adversity be sure that God is ‘working’ on you- shaping, refining, renovating- from the inside out. Remember you are always a work in progress. Only God can see the final product.
Of course, being a work in progress is often taxing. Some are just beginning their journey of faith. Others have been on the road for some time. Some are stumbling. Others are lost. Still others are moving in fits and starts. Some of us may feel like we’re going in slow motion. Most will experience different phases across a range of experiences; confusion, apathy, frustration, but also excitement, inspiration, and consolation. A number of you may feel like you are ready for the journey to end. And not everyone will finish the race of faith.
What we are certain of is that God Himself both initiates and tends to the process to the very end- from font to grave. The Bible says, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”1 And the Lord says today, “The Spirit gives life.”2 Where there is life, there is hope. He who has called us to be His own does not fail to nurture our faith according to our needs. Some need milk like infants, others solid food for maturity. The Spirit is in the milk as well as the meat. Christ is the Bread from heaven with which we are fed.
In Him we “are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices.”3 This is a holy but mostly hidden truth, counter-cultural to the pursuits of the world. How much of what is praised as spirituality is actually a deeply subjective, emotive, and personal romanticism mistaken for religious devotion? An interest in supernatural, magical, or mystical phenomena doesn’t automatically make a person spiritual. Neither does a resonance with and sensitivity to the feelings and emotions of others. Are we spiritual people of our own shaping? To the extent that we are, we are in need of deconstruction and renovation. We have no resources of our own with which to build our spirituality. But the devil will gladly supply what is ‘lacking’.
The Holy Spirit makes people spiritual. He does this by communicating to us the gifts of Christ. You see, it’s not even that you possess spirituality per se. Rather you have fellowship with Christ who is spiritual in the most complete and proper way. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”4 Your participation in Him is your spirituality. The Scripture says, “You are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”5 In baptism you are clothed with His clothing; righteousness, holiness, purity. You are named with His name. You are endowed with His inheritance. You are naturalized into His kingdom. These blessings you have by faith.
An unbeliever cannot be spiritual in the biblical sense whatsoever. To the degree that we speak this way about people we know to be unbelievers- kind and well-meaning as they are- we do them an injustice. We do them an injustice because we confirm in them a false sense of security. We misrepresent the absolute necessity of Christ. No one is inherently spiritual. Rather, we are inherently sinful. And no one can achieve a state of godliness or altruism that will be sufficient to gain access to the next life. In fact, the attempt to achieve godliness by one’s own merit is the highest expression of sinfulness precisely because it eliminates the need for Christ’s sacrifice. Therefore, that which can appear most pious in human eyes is actually the most depraved in the sight of God.
Jesus spoke to many crowds who were vulnerable, confused, and misguided. His burning desire was that they find life; its meaning, its purpose and its fulfillment in Him.
We often think that our greatest challenges involve the day to day struggles of relationships, parenting, finances, health, and career. Yet during all these activities Satan is seeking to undermine and destroy our faith. It’s easy to get things out of perspective. And that’s exactly what the devil wants you to do. When we lose perspective we forget which battles are most important. It’s like the Kentucky mountaineer who while fighting overseas in WW1 kept getting nagging letters from his wife back home. He was too busy fighting to write letters, even to his wife. At last, angered by his wife’s scolding letters, he sat down and wrote her: "Dear Nancy: I been a-gittin yore naggin letters all along. Now I want to tell ye, I’m tired of them. For the first time in my life I’m a-fightin in a big war, and I want to enjoy it in peace as long as it lasts."
Dear friends, you do battle against “the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.”6 In baptism you are wrestled from the kingdom of darkness and Satan wants you back. Christ Himself tells us not to fear those who can harm the body only. Look at the armor with which He supplies you! Righteousness! Peace! Faith! The gospel! The word of God! And the Holy Spirit Himself! You are fitted with sacred weapons and defences of such caliber that Satan, death, and hell cannot overpower you. You are under the protection of the crucified and risen Lord. He is your master. He is your servant. He is the Living Bread from heaven that serves you now with His own body and blood. He seals you with His Spirit for eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
26 August 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Titus 3:5-7
2 John 6:63
3 1 Peter 2:5
4 Colossians 2:9
5 Romans 8:9
6 Ephesians 6:12
Text: John 6:63
Theme: ‘Spiritual’ In Christ
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Vigilance is an inescapable consequence of Christian life. Popular characterizations of God and His truth must constantly be assessed. Today many turned away from Christ. Jesus upset the apple cart nearly everywhere He went. The image of Him as a congenial, easy-going sage whose tolerance encompassed all manner of human sinfulness is patently false. To confess that God is love does not mean that Jesus came to excuse and legitimize every pursuit of wicked humanity. That such a belief is so widely held speaks of the shallowness of Christianity today. If there were no need for forgiveness there would be no need for a Redeemer.
Perhaps for many this is exactly the sticking point. Are humans sufficient unto themselves? Can they be self-authenticating in regards to their purpose and self-controlling as to their destiny? The answers in the positive are both overt- those who publicly assert a philosophy of life conspicuously absent of God; and evasive- those who, while not actively defaming faith, go about their life as if God were not part of the picture. These temptations strain the believer also.
The sinner is never ‘out of the woods’. The moment we begin to assert our independence from God (even if it is subconsciously) is the moment God’s law needs to call us again to repentance. You come here every Sunday because you are a sinner. You are dependent on God and His mercy. Typically God uses mundane circumstances to drive our contrition. How often God has to use the lever of adversity. Prosperity more often breeds apathy or arrogance than it does an attitude of thanksgiving. Adversity gets our attention and makes us call out. When you experience adversity be sure that God is ‘working’ on you- shaping, refining, renovating- from the inside out. Remember you are always a work in progress. Only God can see the final product.
Of course, being a work in progress is often taxing. Some are just beginning their journey of faith. Others have been on the road for some time. Some are stumbling. Others are lost. Still others are moving in fits and starts. Some of us may feel like we’re going in slow motion. Most will experience different phases across a range of experiences; confusion, apathy, frustration, but also excitement, inspiration, and consolation. A number of you may feel like you are ready for the journey to end. And not everyone will finish the race of faith.
What we are certain of is that God Himself both initiates and tends to the process to the very end- from font to grave. The Bible says, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”1 And the Lord says today, “The Spirit gives life.”2 Where there is life, there is hope. He who has called us to be His own does not fail to nurture our faith according to our needs. Some need milk like infants, others solid food for maturity. The Spirit is in the milk as well as the meat. Christ is the Bread from heaven with which we are fed.
In Him we “are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices.”3 This is a holy but mostly hidden truth, counter-cultural to the pursuits of the world. How much of what is praised as spirituality is actually a deeply subjective, emotive, and personal romanticism mistaken for religious devotion? An interest in supernatural, magical, or mystical phenomena doesn’t automatically make a person spiritual. Neither does a resonance with and sensitivity to the feelings and emotions of others. Are we spiritual people of our own shaping? To the extent that we are, we are in need of deconstruction and renovation. We have no resources of our own with which to build our spirituality. But the devil will gladly supply what is ‘lacking’.
The Holy Spirit makes people spiritual. He does this by communicating to us the gifts of Christ. You see, it’s not even that you possess spirituality per se. Rather you have fellowship with Christ who is spiritual in the most complete and proper way. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”4 Your participation in Him is your spirituality. The Scripture says, “You are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”5 In baptism you are clothed with His clothing; righteousness, holiness, purity. You are named with His name. You are endowed with His inheritance. You are naturalized into His kingdom. These blessings you have by faith.
An unbeliever cannot be spiritual in the biblical sense whatsoever. To the degree that we speak this way about people we know to be unbelievers- kind and well-meaning as they are- we do them an injustice. We do them an injustice because we confirm in them a false sense of security. We misrepresent the absolute necessity of Christ. No one is inherently spiritual. Rather, we are inherently sinful. And no one can achieve a state of godliness or altruism that will be sufficient to gain access to the next life. In fact, the attempt to achieve godliness by one’s own merit is the highest expression of sinfulness precisely because it eliminates the need for Christ’s sacrifice. Therefore, that which can appear most pious in human eyes is actually the most depraved in the sight of God.
Jesus spoke to many crowds who were vulnerable, confused, and misguided. His burning desire was that they find life; its meaning, its purpose and its fulfillment in Him.
We often think that our greatest challenges involve the day to day struggles of relationships, parenting, finances, health, and career. Yet during all these activities Satan is seeking to undermine and destroy our faith. It’s easy to get things out of perspective. And that’s exactly what the devil wants you to do. When we lose perspective we forget which battles are most important. It’s like the Kentucky mountaineer who while fighting overseas in WW1 kept getting nagging letters from his wife back home. He was too busy fighting to write letters, even to his wife. At last, angered by his wife’s scolding letters, he sat down and wrote her: "Dear Nancy: I been a-gittin yore naggin letters all along. Now I want to tell ye, I’m tired of them. For the first time in my life I’m a-fightin in a big war, and I want to enjoy it in peace as long as it lasts."
Dear friends, you do battle against “the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.”6 In baptism you are wrestled from the kingdom of darkness and Satan wants you back. Christ Himself tells us not to fear those who can harm the body only. Look at the armor with which He supplies you! Righteousness! Peace! Faith! The gospel! The word of God! And the Holy Spirit Himself! You are fitted with sacred weapons and defences of such caliber that Satan, death, and hell cannot overpower you. You are under the protection of the crucified and risen Lord. He is your master. He is your servant. He is the Living Bread from heaven that serves you now with His own body and blood. He seals you with His Spirit for eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
26 August 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Titus 3:5-7
2 John 6:63
3 1 Peter 2:5
4 Colossians 2:9
5 Romans 8:9
6 Ephesians 6:12
Monday, August 20, 2012
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012 from 2003
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: John 6:51-58
Theme: An Organic but Mysterious Unity.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Unity with the triune God through Jesus Christ is not simply a matter of intellectual assent, heart-felt emotion or outward acts of devotion. It is a deep and un searchable mystery that through faith the totality of our being is in communion with Him in such a way that the Bible uses very organic terms to convey it. Jesus said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”1 These are profound, but difficult words. So much so that the Bible says, “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”2
Dear friends, we should not deem it to be a simple or lighthearted thing to be followers of the only true and living God, Jesus Christ. Each Sunday as we emphasize the deliberate teaching of God’s Word to young and old alike, we do well to review the manner in which the teaching of the faith is different from all other knowledge. Knowledge in temporal things enables one to function in life by making calculated decisions. Yet such knowledge is not life itself. But knowledge of the true God is the substance of spiritual life and fellowship with the Almighty. Therefore Christ speaks of the existence of this life as a participation in His own flesh and blood. We are parasites that can only live by feeding off another.
Jesus said to the Jews, “Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”3 When we eat to sustain our physical bodies, we are putting nourishment into a failing system. The amount or purity of the nutrients cannot overcome the fact that our bodies progress inextricably towards death. But the nourishment of Jesus Christ extends the life of the soul without end and promises the restoration of the body too.
But how can we gain an understanding of how these matters work. Perhaps a simple comparison would be helpful. Just as the saying is used, “What goes up, must come down, so too, “What goes in, must come out.” That is, what goes into us, will at some point be expressed. What “goes into” every human being at the time of conception is the corruption of body, mind and soul that results from the poison of sin. The results are constantly “coming out” in thoughts, words and deeds. We do not become sinners because we sin. We sin because we are and always have been sinners. The power of the expression of original sin is only strengthened when we feed upon the sinfulness of the world, when we absorb the ways of man and not the ways of God. We are only fooling ourselves if we think that we are unaffected by the unrighteousness that our eyes see, our ears hear and our hands participate in. These things sink into our minds and are etched on our hearts.
These truths are even more evident among you people. From day one we must be fed with the “living bread that came down from heaven,” and not the poison of the world. The challenge before us is great. It is a sign of the times when radio advertisements are coupled with obvious statements of public safety. A message from such and such business included this recommendation for the prevention of child abduction. “Always keep your children under your supervision or the supervision of someone you trust.”4 Such a statement, though sound advice, should cause us to reflect upon the perceived need to make it a public announcement. Have the foundations of our society so crumbled that people need to be told by public announcement that children need to be supervised?
Proverbs says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”5 The Biblical model of deliberate and consistent teaching of faith and values to children is at odds with modern philosophies of giving children an independent right to choose their own course. Here the Biblical foundations must be recovered. God charges parents with an awesome responsibility. “What goes in, must come out” is equally true with children. How many times have you heard your child repeat something you said yourself or something they picked up from school?
Children will not some how magically mature into morally sound individuals capable of making godly discernments and decisions.
When Saint Paul advises the young pastor Timothy he makes reference to his Christian upbringing, “Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”6 Timothy’s parents saw to it that he knew the Holy Scriptures from childhood. The Greek term for childhood is the same as that for infant. It was the customary duty for Jewish parents to teach their children the law of the Lord at age five.
Honest analysis reveals that the reason children live so distantly from Biblical teaching is because they simply imitate their parents. Or if they do not imitate them they assume when their parents are complicit about things such activities are acceptable. In a book7 on raising children a survey reveals that when teachers were asked 50 years ago to list the six greatest problems they face in dealing with young people in school their answers were chewing gum, making noise, running in halls, getting out of place in line, improper dating and not putting paper in waste baskets. Today the same question was answered in this way; drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape and assault and battery. In light of such facts, how appropriate are the words of today’s epistle, “Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”8
In such a state of affairs it might be easy to despair. Indeed, the days are evil. But evil cannot and will not prevail. We should never underestimate the strength and comfort of God’s promise. The Scripture says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”9 The “what goes in, must come out” principle also applies to the paradigm of salvation. My sins, yours sin, the sins of the world went “into” the body of Jesus and the righteousness which flows from Him alone comes out to us. The Bible says, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wound you have been healed.”10
Dear Friends, our lives are now sustained by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. His word is our food. His love is our nourishment. His life sustains our lives. The saints of old lived by the same reality. In referring to the Israelites the Bible says, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank for the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”11 How much more so we who are privileged to live after He has already died and risen again!
When we hear Jesus today speak of His flesh and blood we cannot help but think of the Lord’s Supper. In it we receive the body and blood of the crucified and risen Lord. From it we receive strength, forgiveness, life and salvation. And God is not stingy with His gifts. His grace comes to us also through the proclamation of the gospel’s promise and the life-giving waters of Holy Baptism. These things not only sustain our spiritual lives, they are life itself and they are the substance of our fellowship with God who is the Living One. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”12 Thanks be to God for His immeasurable gifts! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 7, 2003
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 6:56-57
2 John 6:66
3 John 6:58
4 From a local radio advertisement
5 Proverbs 22:6
6 2 Timothy 3:14-15
7 “The Lifelines of Love”, Peter Kurowski
8 Ephesians 5:15
9 1 John 3:8
10 1 Peter 2:24
11 1 Corinthians 10:3-4
12 John 6:51
Text: John 6:51-58
Theme: An Organic but Mysterious Unity.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Unity with the triune God through Jesus Christ is not simply a matter of intellectual assent, heart-felt emotion or outward acts of devotion. It is a deep and un searchable mystery that through faith the totality of our being is in communion with Him in such a way that the Bible uses very organic terms to convey it. Jesus said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”1 These are profound, but difficult words. So much so that the Bible says, “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”2
Dear friends, we should not deem it to be a simple or lighthearted thing to be followers of the only true and living God, Jesus Christ. Each Sunday as we emphasize the deliberate teaching of God’s Word to young and old alike, we do well to review the manner in which the teaching of the faith is different from all other knowledge. Knowledge in temporal things enables one to function in life by making calculated decisions. Yet such knowledge is not life itself. But knowledge of the true God is the substance of spiritual life and fellowship with the Almighty. Therefore Christ speaks of the existence of this life as a participation in His own flesh and blood. We are parasites that can only live by feeding off another.
Jesus said to the Jews, “Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”3 When we eat to sustain our physical bodies, we are putting nourishment into a failing system. The amount or purity of the nutrients cannot overcome the fact that our bodies progress inextricably towards death. But the nourishment of Jesus Christ extends the life of the soul without end and promises the restoration of the body too.
But how can we gain an understanding of how these matters work. Perhaps a simple comparison would be helpful. Just as the saying is used, “What goes up, must come down, so too, “What goes in, must come out.” That is, what goes into us, will at some point be expressed. What “goes into” every human being at the time of conception is the corruption of body, mind and soul that results from the poison of sin. The results are constantly “coming out” in thoughts, words and deeds. We do not become sinners because we sin. We sin because we are and always have been sinners. The power of the expression of original sin is only strengthened when we feed upon the sinfulness of the world, when we absorb the ways of man and not the ways of God. We are only fooling ourselves if we think that we are unaffected by the unrighteousness that our eyes see, our ears hear and our hands participate in. These things sink into our minds and are etched on our hearts.
These truths are even more evident among you people. From day one we must be fed with the “living bread that came down from heaven,” and not the poison of the world. The challenge before us is great. It is a sign of the times when radio advertisements are coupled with obvious statements of public safety. A message from such and such business included this recommendation for the prevention of child abduction. “Always keep your children under your supervision or the supervision of someone you trust.”4 Such a statement, though sound advice, should cause us to reflect upon the perceived need to make it a public announcement. Have the foundations of our society so crumbled that people need to be told by public announcement that children need to be supervised?
Proverbs says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”5 The Biblical model of deliberate and consistent teaching of faith and values to children is at odds with modern philosophies of giving children an independent right to choose their own course. Here the Biblical foundations must be recovered. God charges parents with an awesome responsibility. “What goes in, must come out” is equally true with children. How many times have you heard your child repeat something you said yourself or something they picked up from school?
Children will not some how magically mature into morally sound individuals capable of making godly discernments and decisions.
When Saint Paul advises the young pastor Timothy he makes reference to his Christian upbringing, “Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”6 Timothy’s parents saw to it that he knew the Holy Scriptures from childhood. The Greek term for childhood is the same as that for infant. It was the customary duty for Jewish parents to teach their children the law of the Lord at age five.
Honest analysis reveals that the reason children live so distantly from Biblical teaching is because they simply imitate their parents. Or if they do not imitate them they assume when their parents are complicit about things such activities are acceptable. In a book7 on raising children a survey reveals that when teachers were asked 50 years ago to list the six greatest problems they face in dealing with young people in school their answers were chewing gum, making noise, running in halls, getting out of place in line, improper dating and not putting paper in waste baskets. Today the same question was answered in this way; drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape and assault and battery. In light of such facts, how appropriate are the words of today’s epistle, “Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”8
In such a state of affairs it might be easy to despair. Indeed, the days are evil. But evil cannot and will not prevail. We should never underestimate the strength and comfort of God’s promise. The Scripture says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”9 The “what goes in, must come out” principle also applies to the paradigm of salvation. My sins, yours sin, the sins of the world went “into” the body of Jesus and the righteousness which flows from Him alone comes out to us. The Bible says, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wound you have been healed.”10
Dear Friends, our lives are now sustained by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. His word is our food. His love is our nourishment. His life sustains our lives. The saints of old lived by the same reality. In referring to the Israelites the Bible says, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank for the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”11 How much more so we who are privileged to live after He has already died and risen again!
When we hear Jesus today speak of His flesh and blood we cannot help but think of the Lord’s Supper. In it we receive the body and blood of the crucified and risen Lord. From it we receive strength, forgiveness, life and salvation. And God is not stingy with His gifts. His grace comes to us also through the proclamation of the gospel’s promise and the life-giving waters of Holy Baptism. These things not only sustain our spiritual lives, they are life itself and they are the substance of our fellowship with God who is the Living One. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”12 Thanks be to God for His immeasurable gifts! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 7, 2003
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 6:56-57
2 John 6:66
3 John 6:58
4 From a local radio advertisement
5 Proverbs 22:6
6 2 Timothy 3:14-15
7 “The Lifelines of Love”, Peter Kurowski
8 Ephesians 5:15
9 1 John 3:8
10 1 Peter 2:24
11 1 Corinthians 10:3-4
12 John 6:51
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2012
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 6:44
Theme: Raised at the Last Day
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus Christ is entirely above reproach. He was not merely well-intentioned. He was perfectly obedient to the Father’s decree. He actively pursued complete conformity to the Father’s will. This fact is more than just an aspect of His character. It is the exchange rendered to cover the deficit caused by our failure to heed God’s commands. The scripture says, “Just as through the disobedience of one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Christ) the many will be made righteous.”1 Ours is an attributed righteousness. It is not of our own making.
People pursue things other than God’s blessings. Individuals naturally (and by ‘naturally’ we mean as a result of inherent sinfulness) seek their own advantage first. Christianity cannot be taken seriously unless it is clear about the depth of corruption of humanity. No ground can be given up to those who contend for a humanistic ideal that is self-regulating. The law is always required to curb unrighteousness and keep order in the secular realm. More importantly, it is necessary to convict the sinner and prepare him or her for the forgiveness of the gospel. Dishonesty is common within the human race and it is often arrogant.
Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager.
Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant."
"Why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct," asked the rejected applicant.
"We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager.
"How would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired again.
"Simple," said the department manager.
"On question #5 your fellow applicant put down, 'I don't know.' You wrote, 'Neither do I.'"
We transgress God’s will and yet we dare to cry unfair. At least, we think, we deserve more consideration than the next person.
Today Jesus continues His discourse with Jews as He seeks to convince them that He is the Messiah. How will their eyes be opened? Christianity involves both revelation and mystery. God is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He is not merely one window into a Deity that can be viewed from many different portholes. You can peer through all the fish-eye door viewers at a hotel with one hundred rooms and you won’t see into any of them. They only permit one-way vision. You must have your telescope, your microscope and your binoculars the right way around. Christ is the only view-finder into the kingdom of God. Nor is He just the most direct highway within a system of roads and networks all leading to the same destination. All other roads- even the roads paved with good intentions- lead to hell.
Revelation is a crucial foundation of Christianity. The crucified and risen Jesus is the definitive revelation of God. His sacrifice reveals to us His compassion for all people. Still, God and His ways involve mystery. People participate in the life of God only when the Holy Spirit draws them by faith. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”2 The word and sacraments are the Spirit’s drawing and forgiving agents. By His promise we are drawn and by His truth we are forgiven.
No one can pry into the mystery of why some people reject God and are ultimately not saved. Human logic cannot solve that puzzle. Those who are finally lost have no one to blame but themselves. The Bible discloses this enigma no further. It doesn’t mean however that those who are saved have themselves to credit. The matters are not comparable. The ability to end life does not translate into the power to give it. The redeemed have no life in themselves, only in Christ. Life is a gift and will always remain so.
It’s not always easy to see that life is a gift. We are often hard-pressed by the concerns of the daily grind. Yet we are stewards whether we wish to be or not. We are entrusted with resources. We are entrusted with the well-being of others. We are entrusted with time. Every day we prioritize our time, treasures, and talents. Yet we may travel frequently on the edge of hopelessness. We may tarry in the shadows of darkness and doubt. Our resources are stretched. Our capacities are limited. We may even doubt God’s compassion. God knows all this.
We have resources far beyond our personal thresholds. The Holy Spirit makes us participants in the commonwealth of the kingdom. It is not without effect that you were baptized. Nor is the sacrament you receive from this altar without effect. We are empowered in the lives God calls us to. The apostle says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgive you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”3
Believers are not secular ambassadors that happen to devote some attention to Christian interests. They are citizens of heaven that happen to be residing in a secular world. Do we view the church from the vantage point to the world? Or do we see the world from the perspective of emissaries sent by the church? Are the desires of the heart more in tune with the world or with the kingdom?
Most importantly we know the end game is not in doubt. Christ says today of the believer, “And I will raise him up at the last day.”4 We “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”5 This is our confession because it is Christ’s promise. At the threshold of death your body will succumb to the ravages of this mortal life. You will fall. But Christ will raise you up at the last day.
Oh how the inequities and grand triumphs of humanity miscalculate the sweeping equalization of death. At the grave all pride and vanity is crushed and Christian hope reaches its fulfillment. Who will stand in the face of death’s terror and God’s judgment? Olympians will be defeated. Rulers will be dethroned. The rich will meet with poverty. The celebrated will receive no accolades. The famous will go unnoticed. The strong will be feeble. The energetic will meet with exhaustion. Intellects will be ignorant. Orators will be speechless. The self-confident will be faint-hearted. The glories of kingdoms, institutions, and accomplishments will pass like the evening shadow. Who then will stand? Only the one who is embraced in the immortality of the Redeemer.
Christ is living! If this is not central to our creed, the premise of our dogma, and the hope to which we press; if the teaching that the Son of God receives condemned sinners purely through mercy and desires that they participate in His vibrant life for eternity; if this is not the source of our purpose and joy for living; then we best rename ourselves as a charitable or social organization which exists solely for the improvement of present circumstances and do what we can before this life ends in darkness and despair. But Christ lives and so life, light, and hope rule the day of this short span even as they will certainly rule eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
12 August 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 5:19
2 John 6:44
3 Ephesians 4:32-5:2
4 John 6:44
5 The Nicene Creed
Text: John 6:44
Theme: Raised at the Last Day
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus Christ is entirely above reproach. He was not merely well-intentioned. He was perfectly obedient to the Father’s decree. He actively pursued complete conformity to the Father’s will. This fact is more than just an aspect of His character. It is the exchange rendered to cover the deficit caused by our failure to heed God’s commands. The scripture says, “Just as through the disobedience of one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Christ) the many will be made righteous.”1 Ours is an attributed righteousness. It is not of our own making.
People pursue things other than God’s blessings. Individuals naturally (and by ‘naturally’ we mean as a result of inherent sinfulness) seek their own advantage first. Christianity cannot be taken seriously unless it is clear about the depth of corruption of humanity. No ground can be given up to those who contend for a humanistic ideal that is self-regulating. The law is always required to curb unrighteousness and keep order in the secular realm. More importantly, it is necessary to convict the sinner and prepare him or her for the forgiveness of the gospel. Dishonesty is common within the human race and it is often arrogant.
Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager.
Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant."
"Why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct," asked the rejected applicant.
"We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager.
"How would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired again.
"Simple," said the department manager.
"On question #5 your fellow applicant put down, 'I don't know.' You wrote, 'Neither do I.'"
We transgress God’s will and yet we dare to cry unfair. At least, we think, we deserve more consideration than the next person.
Today Jesus continues His discourse with Jews as He seeks to convince them that He is the Messiah. How will their eyes be opened? Christianity involves both revelation and mystery. God is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He is not merely one window into a Deity that can be viewed from many different portholes. You can peer through all the fish-eye door viewers at a hotel with one hundred rooms and you won’t see into any of them. They only permit one-way vision. You must have your telescope, your microscope and your binoculars the right way around. Christ is the only view-finder into the kingdom of God. Nor is He just the most direct highway within a system of roads and networks all leading to the same destination. All other roads- even the roads paved with good intentions- lead to hell.
Revelation is a crucial foundation of Christianity. The crucified and risen Jesus is the definitive revelation of God. His sacrifice reveals to us His compassion for all people. Still, God and His ways involve mystery. People participate in the life of God only when the Holy Spirit draws them by faith. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”2 The word and sacraments are the Spirit’s drawing and forgiving agents. By His promise we are drawn and by His truth we are forgiven.
No one can pry into the mystery of why some people reject God and are ultimately not saved. Human logic cannot solve that puzzle. Those who are finally lost have no one to blame but themselves. The Bible discloses this enigma no further. It doesn’t mean however that those who are saved have themselves to credit. The matters are not comparable. The ability to end life does not translate into the power to give it. The redeemed have no life in themselves, only in Christ. Life is a gift and will always remain so.
It’s not always easy to see that life is a gift. We are often hard-pressed by the concerns of the daily grind. Yet we are stewards whether we wish to be or not. We are entrusted with resources. We are entrusted with the well-being of others. We are entrusted with time. Every day we prioritize our time, treasures, and talents. Yet we may travel frequently on the edge of hopelessness. We may tarry in the shadows of darkness and doubt. Our resources are stretched. Our capacities are limited. We may even doubt God’s compassion. God knows all this.
We have resources far beyond our personal thresholds. The Holy Spirit makes us participants in the commonwealth of the kingdom. It is not without effect that you were baptized. Nor is the sacrament you receive from this altar without effect. We are empowered in the lives God calls us to. The apostle says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgive you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”3
Believers are not secular ambassadors that happen to devote some attention to Christian interests. They are citizens of heaven that happen to be residing in a secular world. Do we view the church from the vantage point to the world? Or do we see the world from the perspective of emissaries sent by the church? Are the desires of the heart more in tune with the world or with the kingdom?
Most importantly we know the end game is not in doubt. Christ says today of the believer, “And I will raise him up at the last day.”4 We “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”5 This is our confession because it is Christ’s promise. At the threshold of death your body will succumb to the ravages of this mortal life. You will fall. But Christ will raise you up at the last day.
Oh how the inequities and grand triumphs of humanity miscalculate the sweeping equalization of death. At the grave all pride and vanity is crushed and Christian hope reaches its fulfillment. Who will stand in the face of death’s terror and God’s judgment? Olympians will be defeated. Rulers will be dethroned. The rich will meet with poverty. The celebrated will receive no accolades. The famous will go unnoticed. The strong will be feeble. The energetic will meet with exhaustion. Intellects will be ignorant. Orators will be speechless. The self-confident will be faint-hearted. The glories of kingdoms, institutions, and accomplishments will pass like the evening shadow. Who then will stand? Only the one who is embraced in the immortality of the Redeemer.
Christ is living! If this is not central to our creed, the premise of our dogma, and the hope to which we press; if the teaching that the Son of God receives condemned sinners purely through mercy and desires that they participate in His vibrant life for eternity; if this is not the source of our purpose and joy for living; then we best rename ourselves as a charitable or social organization which exists solely for the improvement of present circumstances and do what we can before this life ends in darkness and despair. But Christ lives and so life, light, and hope rule the day of this short span even as they will certainly rule eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
12 August 2012
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 5:19
2 John 6:44
3 Ephesians 4:32-5:2
4 John 6:44
5 The Nicene Creed
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