+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Theme: Flight of the Newborn
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The shepherds depart. The angels ascend. The holy family retreats. The announcement of peace soon turns to a threat of danger. The celebration of Christ’s birth into the world does not long remain open for public participation. The Prince of Peace soon meets with hostility. It wasn’t long after Jesus’ birth that a price was put on His head. Wanted: Dead or alive- but preferably dead! King Herod, hopeful of help from the Magi, sought to terminate His young life. Why would Herod fear this child born not to royalty but to common Jewish people? What chance would this son of a carpenter have of coming to reign? Still, the prophecy had reached his ears and he was in no mood to take any chances.
Already the words of Simeon were coming to fulfillment, “This Child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.1 The person and work of Jesus still causes great hostility because He is a threat to the power structures of the world and the way in which they operate. Yet His kingdom is not of this world. He comes to rule hearts, not command armies.
So, early in His life the Lord of Creation becomes a fugitive in a foreign land. Joseph is told by an angel to take the family and flee to Egypt. The hope of Israel, the deliverer of God’s people had to take refuge in the very place the Israelites had once been held in slavery for over 400 years. Reflecting on their exodus St. Paul reminds us, “Our forefathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”2 Now that same Christ returns as a child clothed in human flesh.
Jesus was fugitive from earthly rulers so that we might be freed from satanic powers. The Scripture says, “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”3 Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be placed under the law so that He might fulfill it perfectly; and do so on our behalf. He was perfectly obedient to the Father and we are credited with His holiness. In addition, all the prophecies of old have come to fulfillment in Him. He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”4
Apart from Christ we are always fugitives from the law. There is no place to run to, no place to hide. All transgressions are transparent to God. We find refuge only in Christ. Dear friends, you can never be comfortable about meeting the requirements of the law. You can never be confident you have satisfied it. But you can be at peace. The law always condemns you; always finds you guilty. But the one who made entrance into the world through a dark little nook in Bethlehem has fulfilled it. He has not made the law obsolete. He has fulfilled it.
God knows when we try to play Him as the fool. We should never confuse forgiveness with apathy. Absolution is never a license to sin. Exoneration of guilt is never to be taken as evidence that fault was misplaced. Forgiveness, rightly received, never inflates the ego (as if somehow we deserved to be forgiven), but always cultivates humility. In other words, as a forgiven child of God I cannot debate or negotiate the necessity of divine pardon. The moment I do the sincerity of my repentance is called into question. We cannot feign ignorance or weakness; we are all alike condemned. A person of ego never fulfills the law of God or the law of love. The person of faith always does.
The person of faith always does because faith is a Spirit-given gift that anchors us to Christ who has offered perfect obedience on our behalf. Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrifice is more than just a supernatural but immaterial truth. The Bible says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death”5
Freed from the ultimate fear we can forego our self-interests to serve others. Consider how Luther teaches vocation using the circumstances of the Bethlehem shepherds. “Who would have thought that men whose job was tending unreasonable animals would be so praised that not a pope or bishop is worthy to hand them a cup of water? It is the very devil that no one wants to follow the shepherds. The married man wants to be without a wife or the nobleman a prince. It is: ‘If I were this! If I were that! You fool! The best job is the one you have. If you are married, you cannot have higher status. If you are a servant, you are in the very best position. Be diligent and know that there are no greater saints on earth than servants. Do not say, ‘If I were,’ say, ‘I am.’ Luther wants us to see that God is pleased with whatever vocation we are in, no matter how lowly or seemingly insignificant it is. Luther continues, “Next to faith this is the highest art- to be content with the calling in which God has placed you.” The person who is godly in his or her vocation is not the one who always wishes they had someone else’s position, but the one who fulfills his own position to the best of his ability, to the benefit of neighbours and to the glory of God.
Dear friends, like our Lord Himself as an infant we are always fleeing the dark powers of this world. But we are neither running scared or helpless. Rather, through the Spirit’s power we are salt; we are light; we are vessels of mercy, we are beacons of hope to those caught in vicious cycles of darkness, addiction and despair. We are baptized for these very tasks. We are people of the incarnation. “To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”6 “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things.”7
+ In nomine Jesu +
First Sunday After Christmas
29 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 2:34-35
2 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
3 Galatians 4:4-5
4 Matthew 5:17
5 Hebrews 2:14-15
6 Isaiah 9:6
7 Psalm 98:1
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Friday, December 27, 2013
Christmas Day 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Hebrews 1:3
Theme: God, Christ, Love
Dear Worshippers of the Newborn King,
“God is love.”1 This is at once the most simple and the most complex truth that exists. It is also the most relevant truth. God is love. What does this mean? Christmas begins to give us a picture. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”2 Good Friday is the most vivid image. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”3 Easter is the celebration of its truth. “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…and God raised us up with Christ.”4 Only in eternity will it be revealed completely to our senses. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”5
Pure love is completely non-reflexive, that is, it never focuses on itself, but always upon another. It is never self-directed. Even God’s love within the Trinity is not self-directed. The Father loves the Son and the Son the Father through the Spirit.
Because God’s pure love could not be self-contained, it flowed out to creation. Human beings especially, as beings created in God’s image, were the recipients of God’s love. His desire was to have that love freely returned. It lasted only for a while.
Our sin necessitated a new expression of God’s unconditional love. Jesus Christ in the flesh is that expression. Jesus Christ, love incarnate, is the centre of Christmas. He is love. In baptism we are embraced in His love. In communion we are nurtured with it.
The rest of this sermon is in its entirety a quotation of Holy Scripture on love, false and true. I invite you to listen afresh to these words of the Spirit, hearing His voice not in the form of obligatory verses peppered throughout a sermon, but as the life-giving declarations of God. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.”6 “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.”7 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But what will they do in the end?”8
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”9 “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.”10 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”11
“We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”12 “Dear children, let us love not with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”13 “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”14
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”15
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”16 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”17
“When the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. 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 Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”18 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might have life through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”19
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”20 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”21
Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
The Nativity of Our Lord
December 25, 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
11 John 4:16 2 John 3:16 3 Romans 5:8 4 Ephesians 2:4-6
5 1 John 3:2 6 1 John 2:15-16 7 Numbers 14:18 8 Jeremiah 5:31
9 2 Timothy 3:1-4 10 2 Timothy 2:22 11 Matthew 22:37-40 12 1 John 4:19-20
13 1 John 3:18 14 1 John 5:3-4 15 1 John 4:16-18 16 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
17 1 Corinthians 13:13
18 Titus 3:4-7 19 1 John 4:9-10 20 Romans 8:35 21 Romans 8:37-39
Text: Hebrews 1:3
Theme: God, Christ, Love
Dear Worshippers of the Newborn King,
“God is love.”1 This is at once the most simple and the most complex truth that exists. It is also the most relevant truth. God is love. What does this mean? Christmas begins to give us a picture. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”2 Good Friday is the most vivid image. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”3 Easter is the celebration of its truth. “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…and God raised us up with Christ.”4 Only in eternity will it be revealed completely to our senses. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”5
Pure love is completely non-reflexive, that is, it never focuses on itself, but always upon another. It is never self-directed. Even God’s love within the Trinity is not self-directed. The Father loves the Son and the Son the Father through the Spirit.
Because God’s pure love could not be self-contained, it flowed out to creation. Human beings especially, as beings created in God’s image, were the recipients of God’s love. His desire was to have that love freely returned. It lasted only for a while.
Our sin necessitated a new expression of God’s unconditional love. Jesus Christ in the flesh is that expression. Jesus Christ, love incarnate, is the centre of Christmas. He is love. In baptism we are embraced in His love. In communion we are nurtured with it.
The rest of this sermon is in its entirety a quotation of Holy Scripture on love, false and true. I invite you to listen afresh to these words of the Spirit, hearing His voice not in the form of obligatory verses peppered throughout a sermon, but as the life-giving declarations of God. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.”6 “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.”7 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But what will they do in the end?”8
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”9 “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.”10 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”11
“We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”12 “Dear children, let us love not with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”13 “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”14
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”15
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”16 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”17
“When the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. 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 Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”18 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might have life through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”19
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”20 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”21
Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
The Nativity of Our Lord
December 25, 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
11 John 4:16 2 John 3:16 3 Romans 5:8 4 Ephesians 2:4-6
5 1 John 3:2 6 1 John 2:15-16 7 Numbers 14:18 8 Jeremiah 5:31
9 2 Timothy 3:1-4 10 2 Timothy 2:22 11 Matthew 22:37-40 12 1 John 4:19-20
13 1 John 3:18 14 1 John 5:3-4 15 1 John 4:16-18 16 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
17 1 Corinthians 13:13
18 Titus 3:4-7 19 1 John 4:9-10 20 Romans 8:35 21 Romans 8:37-39
Christmas Eve 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Luke 2:14
Theme: “Peace On Earth”
Dear Travelers to the Manger,
That first Christmas the news was announced by melodious, angelic voices, “A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and ….peace.”1 Celestial beings heralded an event beyond earthly understanding. God had broached the dimensions of time and space. Christmas is about all things heavenly confronting all things earthly. In the person of Jesus, light meets darkness, good meets evil, grace meets sin, truth meets falsehood, life meets death.
There are many emphases of Christ’s presence that could be the focus of a Christmas discussion. This Christmas Eve, one particular word of the angels will not escape our notice: peace. “Peace to men on whom His favor rests.”2 How are we to understand this peace? Because of sin, there will always be conflict. Christmas is firstly and primarily about the resolution to the greatest conflict. Through Christ, every human being can have peace with God. It is this peace alone which is indispensable for our salvation.
The struggle that took place to win that peace is what fills our Christmas with the deepest and most mysterious love and drives our hope for the future. Underneath the Christmas tree in the Copper family home in Winona Lake, Indiana sits a token that symbolizes, in a very small way, the struggle to share that peace. Under their tree sits a prominently displayed piece of red cardboard. It says “Merry Christmas” and has clippings of the three wisemen on it. The cardboard card has been placed under the tree every year for 45 years. The Cooper’s only son had made the card for his father in school when he was a young boy. On his way home some bullies threatened to tear it up. Though not used to fighting, he fought them off to save this gift for his dad. His parents never knew until a neighbor told them what happened. And so in deep appreciation that only parents can know, that old card has been set in front of all others presents under their tree for nearly half a century.
There may be many gifts under our tree this Christmas, but all that matters is what we treasure in our hearts. Because of a great and cosmic struggle, a struggle involving the greatest sacrifice, we have secured for us an eternal peace. The prophet Isaiah gave lofty titles to the coming Messiah, “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”3 Of the fulfillment of this prophecy, the New Testament says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”4
Who could have guessed that we would have peace because Christ left the world with even greater humiliation than that with which He entered? The wood of His manger was made into the beams of His cross. His death was consistent with His birth. The King of Kings was not born in the temple palace. His subjects were not royal officials. No fuss was made over His needs. There was a celestial choir of angels to announce His birth, but only to lowly shepherds in the field. In just this way, God begins His great reversal of the world’s decay. In this humble way, as a helpless and vulnerable child He enters the kingdom of mature spiritual darkness. He comes as the Prince of Peace to a world of turmoil and division.
His is a divine power to change hearts and minds, to mend lives, to impart peace.
If there has been unfaithfulness in your marriage it can be restored with healing. If there has been falsehood in your words, it can be forgiven with repentance. If there has been bitterness in your heart, it can be drained of its potency. If there has been anger in your actions, it can be pacified with love. If there has been despair in your thoughts, it can be replaced with hope. If there has been doubt in your mind, it can be overcome by faith. It there has been selfishness in your life, it can be replaced with sacrifice for the Savior. There is nothing done that the Christchild’s forgiveness cannot undo. There is nothing lacking that His grace cannot supply.
Dear friends, our lives are never completely restored until the life to come. But we are in the process and we can have peace. Even as recovering sinners, we are called to add flesh to the words of Christmas joy and peace. At the manger Christ was born into our physical world to bring spiritual peace. At the baptismal font, we are reborn into His spiritual kingdom to embody that peace. We are given new life to address physical and spiritual needs. We are His agents to rescue souls and secure hearts. We do this as He did. Not with force. Not driven by self-interest or in hopes of recognition. Not to ease our guilt over some quota we think has been levied on us. Not with pomp and circumstance, but with humble bearing of our cross.
Dear friends, Christmas is not an excuse to indulge in excess, but an occasion to be immersed in essentials. The essentials are not expensive gifts, extravagant parties, and showy decorations. The essentials are purity of heart, integrity of will, and humbleness of mind displayed in gathering around the celebration of Christ’s birth. The true gifts of Christmas are not what we buy or construct or accomplish, but what we receive from His grace. The Christchild says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”5
May your Christmas this day and the whole season through be filled with the abiding peace and joy that comes only from the Son of God born into human flesh. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christmas Eve
24 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 2:13-14
2 Luke 2:14
3 Isaiah 9:6
4 Colossians 1:19-20
5 John 16:33
Text: Luke 2:14
Theme: “Peace On Earth”
Dear Travelers to the Manger,
That first Christmas the news was announced by melodious, angelic voices, “A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and ….peace.”1 Celestial beings heralded an event beyond earthly understanding. God had broached the dimensions of time and space. Christmas is about all things heavenly confronting all things earthly. In the person of Jesus, light meets darkness, good meets evil, grace meets sin, truth meets falsehood, life meets death.
There are many emphases of Christ’s presence that could be the focus of a Christmas discussion. This Christmas Eve, one particular word of the angels will not escape our notice: peace. “Peace to men on whom His favor rests.”2 How are we to understand this peace? Because of sin, there will always be conflict. Christmas is firstly and primarily about the resolution to the greatest conflict. Through Christ, every human being can have peace with God. It is this peace alone which is indispensable for our salvation.
The struggle that took place to win that peace is what fills our Christmas with the deepest and most mysterious love and drives our hope for the future. Underneath the Christmas tree in the Copper family home in Winona Lake, Indiana sits a token that symbolizes, in a very small way, the struggle to share that peace. Under their tree sits a prominently displayed piece of red cardboard. It says “Merry Christmas” and has clippings of the three wisemen on it. The cardboard card has been placed under the tree every year for 45 years. The Cooper’s only son had made the card for his father in school when he was a young boy. On his way home some bullies threatened to tear it up. Though not used to fighting, he fought them off to save this gift for his dad. His parents never knew until a neighbor told them what happened. And so in deep appreciation that only parents can know, that old card has been set in front of all others presents under their tree for nearly half a century.
There may be many gifts under our tree this Christmas, but all that matters is what we treasure in our hearts. Because of a great and cosmic struggle, a struggle involving the greatest sacrifice, we have secured for us an eternal peace. The prophet Isaiah gave lofty titles to the coming Messiah, “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”3 Of the fulfillment of this prophecy, the New Testament says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”4
Who could have guessed that we would have peace because Christ left the world with even greater humiliation than that with which He entered? The wood of His manger was made into the beams of His cross. His death was consistent with His birth. The King of Kings was not born in the temple palace. His subjects were not royal officials. No fuss was made over His needs. There was a celestial choir of angels to announce His birth, but only to lowly shepherds in the field. In just this way, God begins His great reversal of the world’s decay. In this humble way, as a helpless and vulnerable child He enters the kingdom of mature spiritual darkness. He comes as the Prince of Peace to a world of turmoil and division.
His is a divine power to change hearts and minds, to mend lives, to impart peace.
If there has been unfaithfulness in your marriage it can be restored with healing. If there has been falsehood in your words, it can be forgiven with repentance. If there has been bitterness in your heart, it can be drained of its potency. If there has been anger in your actions, it can be pacified with love. If there has been despair in your thoughts, it can be replaced with hope. If there has been doubt in your mind, it can be overcome by faith. It there has been selfishness in your life, it can be replaced with sacrifice for the Savior. There is nothing done that the Christchild’s forgiveness cannot undo. There is nothing lacking that His grace cannot supply.
Dear friends, our lives are never completely restored until the life to come. But we are in the process and we can have peace. Even as recovering sinners, we are called to add flesh to the words of Christmas joy and peace. At the manger Christ was born into our physical world to bring spiritual peace. At the baptismal font, we are reborn into His spiritual kingdom to embody that peace. We are given new life to address physical and spiritual needs. We are His agents to rescue souls and secure hearts. We do this as He did. Not with force. Not driven by self-interest or in hopes of recognition. Not to ease our guilt over some quota we think has been levied on us. Not with pomp and circumstance, but with humble bearing of our cross.
Dear friends, Christmas is not an excuse to indulge in excess, but an occasion to be immersed in essentials. The essentials are not expensive gifts, extravagant parties, and showy decorations. The essentials are purity of heart, integrity of will, and humbleness of mind displayed in gathering around the celebration of Christ’s birth. The true gifts of Christmas are not what we buy or construct or accomplish, but what we receive from His grace. The Christchild says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”5
May your Christmas this day and the whole season through be filled with the abiding peace and joy that comes only from the Son of God born into human flesh. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christmas Eve
24 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 2:13-14
2 Luke 2:14
3 Isaiah 9:6
4 Colossians 1:19-20
5 John 16:33
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Fourth Sunday Of Advent (A) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 1:23
Theme: New Birth For Life
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Everyone has ancestors. Christmas involves the reconnection of human ancestry to divine patronage. We all have- whether we are informed of the full details or not- a paternal and maternal lineage. If we pause to reflect on that our minds might be flooded with memories. Our mother was brought to birth by her mother and so forth before her. Our father was fathered by his father and so on before him. Christ is the lone exception. His Father has no father. Yes, we have the ancestry of Joseph, but God the Father is uncreated. He exists eternally, transcending time and space.
The birth of Jesus Christ involves the re-association of God with the human race. Christ stands in a unique position and the peerlessness of His existence can hardly be overstated. The fact of His full divinity and full humanity is the incomparable truth we celebrate in the humility of a feeding trough for animals. The Child born during Caesar-induced transit is the unchanging Lord of creation. At the mercy of world powers He brings a reign of divine compassion. Remote from the amenities of luxury, and removed from the privileges of position, His retinue is comprised beasts of the stable. Shepherds are His subjects. A manger is His throne.
This then, is the Redeemer of the world! Hear again what the angelic messenger said. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”1 Is this just a pious but fanciful wish? What do we need saving from? What are these sins? Are they general lapses in judgment or common failures of conduct God wishes to tidy up? Are the sins the Messiah came to address moral indiscretions or transparent transgressions? Are they outward expressions of fear, greed, anger, selfishness, cruelty, and disobedience? These realities are surely foreign to none of us and we cannot be excused.
But there is something more. Christ came for a deeper crisis. He knows you. He knows what makes you tick. The Father did not send His Son to demand artificial expressions of loyalty from wayward children. God needs nothing that we can offer Him. He came to make payment; to be the sacrifice; to appease the wrath. He came to suffer and die. Christ came to soften hearts of stone. He came to thaw frozen spirits. He came to draw the poison from the wound. He came to breathe life into perishing souls.
In the coming of Christ, God-in-the-flesh, Emmanuel, life itself has new birth. The womb of Mary nurtures the resuscitator of life. Yes, that means life’s own vitality, its power and virility, had become hopelessly subjugated to the death and decay of sin. Life under the domination of the fall does not press forwards vibrantly, creatively, and progressively. Rather it groans, it bends, it slows; it withers under the weight of bondage and the poison of iniquity. Without His intervention life would decompose and cease to exist. Yes, souls would live on but only in service to Satan.
Christ doesn’t merely make a guest appearance in a stable; He makes a home in human flesh. He grants us identity and purpose. The last thing Satan wants you to know is that your very existence only has ultimate meaning in relation to God’s eternal election of you in Christ. Paul said it most succinctly, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”2 And again he said, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”3 You are God’s baptized child, resurrected spiritually even now so that you can live sacrificially until the day of your physical resurrection.
Now as individuals personally and as the church corporately we can aspire to embody His incarnational love. Yet we should never expect the world to receive this without reservation. Consider what Luther says in this regard, “Righteousness, holiness, power, life, salvation, everything the church has in Christ, are incomprehensible to reason and hidden to the world. If you judge the church by reason and outward appearance, you will err, for then you will see people who are sinful, weak, fearful, sorrowful, suffering, persecuted, and hunted down. But if you look at this, that they are baptized, believe on Christ, bear out their faith with godly fruits, carry their cross with patience and in hope, that is a true picture…”4
Are you riddled with anxiety? Are you plagued by doubt? Are you fraught with fear? Christ is your Emmanuel; God-in-the-flesh; your strength in frailty, your certainty in doubt, your peace in turmoil, and your refuge in times of fear. He walked in the shoes of humanity. He suffered the greatest indignity. He faced the harshest infirmity. He was a foil for self-made saints and a companion of sinners. He was a comrade of the downtrodden and an antagonist of the self-righteous. Most of all He was the sacrificial Lamb for the transgressions of the world.
The incarnation cannot be drained of its mystery. The Godhead- His entire power and majesty- fully dwelling in human form can never be fully grasped by us empirically, intellectually or emotionally. Yet you receive its fruits- its forgiveness and power- every time you receive His blood to your lips and body to your mouth in the Lord’s Supper. The lowly manger houses the exalted King and common bread contains divine food. Humble Mary cradles the immortal God and ordinary wine holds sacred blood. Faith welcomes an enigma reason can only despise.
Dear friends, it might be too late to curtail your Christmas commotion. Expectations are high and plans are set in motion that can’t be easily reversed. The credit card has been crunched. Busyness and bustle has you bushed. The tension and trauma can’t be tamed. Someone might be left out or neglected. You might fear it could be your fault. Perhaps you feel it might be you. Still, the window of opportunity does not suddenly close.
Remember- and when the Scriptures call us to remember they are not simply trying to jog particular sectors of grey matter that remind us of trivial data; they are beckoning us to rehearse, review, and rejoice- Christmas is not a fleeting flourish of indulgence. It is participation in the life of Him, once a child, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Water, the Bread, the Gate, the Vine, the Light, the Shepherd, and finally, the Resurrection and the Life. From earthy Bethlehem to heavenly Jerusalem He has prepared for His people an eternal kingdom. That kingdom will have the same angels and the same Son of God in human shape. But it won’t have stress. It won’t have fear. It won’t have irreconcilable relationships. It won’t have pain. It won’t have death. His kingdom will not end because the Child born in Bethlehem has permanently re-established the relationship with God’s people. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday of Advent
22 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Matthew 1:21
2 Philippians 1:21
3 Galatians 2:20
4 Martin Luther, 1532 sermon
Text: Matthew 1:23
Theme: New Birth For Life
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Everyone has ancestors. Christmas involves the reconnection of human ancestry to divine patronage. We all have- whether we are informed of the full details or not- a paternal and maternal lineage. If we pause to reflect on that our minds might be flooded with memories. Our mother was brought to birth by her mother and so forth before her. Our father was fathered by his father and so on before him. Christ is the lone exception. His Father has no father. Yes, we have the ancestry of Joseph, but God the Father is uncreated. He exists eternally, transcending time and space.
The birth of Jesus Christ involves the re-association of God with the human race. Christ stands in a unique position and the peerlessness of His existence can hardly be overstated. The fact of His full divinity and full humanity is the incomparable truth we celebrate in the humility of a feeding trough for animals. The Child born during Caesar-induced transit is the unchanging Lord of creation. At the mercy of world powers He brings a reign of divine compassion. Remote from the amenities of luxury, and removed from the privileges of position, His retinue is comprised beasts of the stable. Shepherds are His subjects. A manger is His throne.
This then, is the Redeemer of the world! Hear again what the angelic messenger said. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”1 Is this just a pious but fanciful wish? What do we need saving from? What are these sins? Are they general lapses in judgment or common failures of conduct God wishes to tidy up? Are the sins the Messiah came to address moral indiscretions or transparent transgressions? Are they outward expressions of fear, greed, anger, selfishness, cruelty, and disobedience? These realities are surely foreign to none of us and we cannot be excused.
But there is something more. Christ came for a deeper crisis. He knows you. He knows what makes you tick. The Father did not send His Son to demand artificial expressions of loyalty from wayward children. God needs nothing that we can offer Him. He came to make payment; to be the sacrifice; to appease the wrath. He came to suffer and die. Christ came to soften hearts of stone. He came to thaw frozen spirits. He came to draw the poison from the wound. He came to breathe life into perishing souls.
In the coming of Christ, God-in-the-flesh, Emmanuel, life itself has new birth. The womb of Mary nurtures the resuscitator of life. Yes, that means life’s own vitality, its power and virility, had become hopelessly subjugated to the death and decay of sin. Life under the domination of the fall does not press forwards vibrantly, creatively, and progressively. Rather it groans, it bends, it slows; it withers under the weight of bondage and the poison of iniquity. Without His intervention life would decompose and cease to exist. Yes, souls would live on but only in service to Satan.
Christ doesn’t merely make a guest appearance in a stable; He makes a home in human flesh. He grants us identity and purpose. The last thing Satan wants you to know is that your very existence only has ultimate meaning in relation to God’s eternal election of you in Christ. Paul said it most succinctly, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”2 And again he said, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”3 You are God’s baptized child, resurrected spiritually even now so that you can live sacrificially until the day of your physical resurrection.
Now as individuals personally and as the church corporately we can aspire to embody His incarnational love. Yet we should never expect the world to receive this without reservation. Consider what Luther says in this regard, “Righteousness, holiness, power, life, salvation, everything the church has in Christ, are incomprehensible to reason and hidden to the world. If you judge the church by reason and outward appearance, you will err, for then you will see people who are sinful, weak, fearful, sorrowful, suffering, persecuted, and hunted down. But if you look at this, that they are baptized, believe on Christ, bear out their faith with godly fruits, carry their cross with patience and in hope, that is a true picture…”4
Are you riddled with anxiety? Are you plagued by doubt? Are you fraught with fear? Christ is your Emmanuel; God-in-the-flesh; your strength in frailty, your certainty in doubt, your peace in turmoil, and your refuge in times of fear. He walked in the shoes of humanity. He suffered the greatest indignity. He faced the harshest infirmity. He was a foil for self-made saints and a companion of sinners. He was a comrade of the downtrodden and an antagonist of the self-righteous. Most of all He was the sacrificial Lamb for the transgressions of the world.
The incarnation cannot be drained of its mystery. The Godhead- His entire power and majesty- fully dwelling in human form can never be fully grasped by us empirically, intellectually or emotionally. Yet you receive its fruits- its forgiveness and power- every time you receive His blood to your lips and body to your mouth in the Lord’s Supper. The lowly manger houses the exalted King and common bread contains divine food. Humble Mary cradles the immortal God and ordinary wine holds sacred blood. Faith welcomes an enigma reason can only despise.
Dear friends, it might be too late to curtail your Christmas commotion. Expectations are high and plans are set in motion that can’t be easily reversed. The credit card has been crunched. Busyness and bustle has you bushed. The tension and trauma can’t be tamed. Someone might be left out or neglected. You might fear it could be your fault. Perhaps you feel it might be you. Still, the window of opportunity does not suddenly close.
Remember- and when the Scriptures call us to remember they are not simply trying to jog particular sectors of grey matter that remind us of trivial data; they are beckoning us to rehearse, review, and rejoice- Christmas is not a fleeting flourish of indulgence. It is participation in the life of Him, once a child, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Water, the Bread, the Gate, the Vine, the Light, the Shepherd, and finally, the Resurrection and the Life. From earthy Bethlehem to heavenly Jerusalem He has prepared for His people an eternal kingdom. That kingdom will have the same angels and the same Son of God in human shape. But it won’t have stress. It won’t have fear. It won’t have irreconcilable relationships. It won’t have pain. It won’t have death. His kingdom will not end because the Child born in Bethlehem has permanently re-established the relationship with God’s people. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday of Advent
22 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Matthew 1:21
2 Philippians 1:21
3 Galatians 2:20
4 Martin Luther, 1532 sermon
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Second Sunday Of Advent (A) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 3:2
Theme: Present But Coming
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God speaks. Advents reminds us that His declarations have consequences. Yet God seems to take unnecessary risk with His communiques. He uses mere mortals to communicate His indestructible truth. Angels were not fitted for the task. Though privileged to deliver strategic announcements angels are not the regular servants in that capacity. God often equipped eccentric people to bear His message. The intriguing figure of John the Baptist is inseparably associated with Advent. His proclamation is the summation of all the prophetic voices of the past. He is the figure that straddles the Old and New Testament eras. Unconventional and undaunted he strides forth with the timeless message: Prepare the way; the Lord will come.
His message is direct and his actions are focused. He administers a baptism of repentance to prepare people for the coming kingdom. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”1 This truth has lost none of its relevance. The distance between the sinner and God is no different today. The chasm of sin is an impassible crevasse. Advent takes us back to the basics. The distance is covered only by Christ’s initiative and the Spirit’s work. For us this involves the journey of repentance and faith.
To believe God exists is not yet germane to your predicament. Your soul is in danger of exclusion from His eternal presence. The perpetual liability of humanity is the illusion of self-sufficiently. Somehow we think we’ll manage on our own. We’ll get through. We’ll mitigate the hardships of life with determined distraction, anaesthetizing intoxicants, or indulgent extravagance. We may end up jaded, depressed, sensationless, or ridden with anxiety. We may become ruled by fear, arrogance, or apathy. We think we’re coping, even flourishing, but really we haven’t faced the truth. The body deteriorates and the mind becomes frail. What happens to the soul?
The vicinity of the Jordan where John was baptizing was near to where the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land. Not coincidentally John is connecting the past with the future. He announces that God is preparing a new exodus. Centuries prior the Israelites were taken on a demanding physical journey during their desert wanderings. But the real journey was spiritual. It was an examination they did not pass. Grumbling and complaining they yearned even to return to slavery and finally committed idolatry by forging the golden calf.
Yet God did not forsake them. The work of Moses would be surpassed. Christ will break the yoke of sin by bearing it Himself. Freedom comes not by the outstretched staff of Moses but by the outstretched arms of the Crucified. The relationship to Abraham was also exceeded. Baptismal water is redemptive. Jewish bloodlines are not. Just as God can create ‘Jews’ out of Gentiles so too, He creates saints out of sinners. He makes light shine in the darkness and generates life where there is only death.
The paradox of Advent is that the coming Christ is already present. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End2. He is the same yesterday and today and forever3. He is the Coming One, the Advent Messiah, and at the very same time He is truly here. He chooses to be here in the bread and wine administered for the forgiveness of sins. And He is here in the bread and wine not through some pious aspiration of the heart or irrational acquiescence of the mind, but through the mystery of His promise to communicate Himself through His body and blood. He is here in the sacrament by virtue of His own oath and He achieves it with the Holy Spirit.
The omnipresence of God is one of the great tools of Satan. If we’re not informed enough in our Christian knowledge to make the proper distinctions then we are probably better off not referring to it. Of course there is no place from which God is absent insofar as He rules the universe with His power. He is sovereign over all His creation. But creation is not divinized. That is, God is not using creation as a whole to convict people of their sin or reveal the gospel to them. He is not lurking in the birds or the trees, the stars or the sea. He will not communicate His forgiveness to you in the beauty of a garden or tranquility of the river.
He can’t simply be found anywhere we wish Him to be. The intensity of our feelings cannot validate His attendance. You can construct an image of God in your mind- and many do. But apart from the parameters of Scripture it is only a fallacy. Oxygen is nearly omnipresent in our atmosphere but it will do you no good unless it comes in contact with your alveoli. These are the terminal structures of your respiratory tree where the oxygen enters your blood. You have about 700 million of them. Unless this exchange takes place you will die within minutes. In short, God’s saving presence is specifically located in the places He has ordained it to be. It is in the prophetic and apostolic word and it is in properly administered baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This truth has profound implications for the nature of the Christian Church. The gospel is not a private possession.
God has seen fit to entrust the unchanging message to hapless humans. Pastors are called to proclaim it publicly. He equips you too, a mere mortal to be a witness to His incomparable truth. He doesn’t require that you’re eccentric like John the Baptist. He doesn’t demand that you have the eloquence of Paul. He asks that you be faithful. There is no test you have to pass to qualify. He knows your weaknesses. He knows the temptations you are prone to. He will give you the passion that’s lacking, the knowledge that’s wanting, the generosity that’s missing.
St. Paul said today, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”4 Advent hope is conviction that the particularity of God’s presence in Christ will mean something fabulous in the end. God has ‘decreed’ it in person. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.”5 This very Son died and rose for our salvation. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Second Sunday of Advent
8 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Matthew 3:2
2 See Revelation 1:8, 17-18
3 See Hebrews 13:8
4 Romans 15:4
5 Hebrews 1:1-2
Text: Matthew 3:2
Theme: Present But Coming
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God speaks. Advents reminds us that His declarations have consequences. Yet God seems to take unnecessary risk with His communiques. He uses mere mortals to communicate His indestructible truth. Angels were not fitted for the task. Though privileged to deliver strategic announcements angels are not the regular servants in that capacity. God often equipped eccentric people to bear His message. The intriguing figure of John the Baptist is inseparably associated with Advent. His proclamation is the summation of all the prophetic voices of the past. He is the figure that straddles the Old and New Testament eras. Unconventional and undaunted he strides forth with the timeless message: Prepare the way; the Lord will come.
His message is direct and his actions are focused. He administers a baptism of repentance to prepare people for the coming kingdom. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”1 This truth has lost none of its relevance. The distance between the sinner and God is no different today. The chasm of sin is an impassible crevasse. Advent takes us back to the basics. The distance is covered only by Christ’s initiative and the Spirit’s work. For us this involves the journey of repentance and faith.
To believe God exists is not yet germane to your predicament. Your soul is in danger of exclusion from His eternal presence. The perpetual liability of humanity is the illusion of self-sufficiently. Somehow we think we’ll manage on our own. We’ll get through. We’ll mitigate the hardships of life with determined distraction, anaesthetizing intoxicants, or indulgent extravagance. We may end up jaded, depressed, sensationless, or ridden with anxiety. We may become ruled by fear, arrogance, or apathy. We think we’re coping, even flourishing, but really we haven’t faced the truth. The body deteriorates and the mind becomes frail. What happens to the soul?
The vicinity of the Jordan where John was baptizing was near to where the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land. Not coincidentally John is connecting the past with the future. He announces that God is preparing a new exodus. Centuries prior the Israelites were taken on a demanding physical journey during their desert wanderings. But the real journey was spiritual. It was an examination they did not pass. Grumbling and complaining they yearned even to return to slavery and finally committed idolatry by forging the golden calf.
Yet God did not forsake them. The work of Moses would be surpassed. Christ will break the yoke of sin by bearing it Himself. Freedom comes not by the outstretched staff of Moses but by the outstretched arms of the Crucified. The relationship to Abraham was also exceeded. Baptismal water is redemptive. Jewish bloodlines are not. Just as God can create ‘Jews’ out of Gentiles so too, He creates saints out of sinners. He makes light shine in the darkness and generates life where there is only death.
The paradox of Advent is that the coming Christ is already present. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End2. He is the same yesterday and today and forever3. He is the Coming One, the Advent Messiah, and at the very same time He is truly here. He chooses to be here in the bread and wine administered for the forgiveness of sins. And He is here in the bread and wine not through some pious aspiration of the heart or irrational acquiescence of the mind, but through the mystery of His promise to communicate Himself through His body and blood. He is here in the sacrament by virtue of His own oath and He achieves it with the Holy Spirit.
The omnipresence of God is one of the great tools of Satan. If we’re not informed enough in our Christian knowledge to make the proper distinctions then we are probably better off not referring to it. Of course there is no place from which God is absent insofar as He rules the universe with His power. He is sovereign over all His creation. But creation is not divinized. That is, God is not using creation as a whole to convict people of their sin or reveal the gospel to them. He is not lurking in the birds or the trees, the stars or the sea. He will not communicate His forgiveness to you in the beauty of a garden or tranquility of the river.
He can’t simply be found anywhere we wish Him to be. The intensity of our feelings cannot validate His attendance. You can construct an image of God in your mind- and many do. But apart from the parameters of Scripture it is only a fallacy. Oxygen is nearly omnipresent in our atmosphere but it will do you no good unless it comes in contact with your alveoli. These are the terminal structures of your respiratory tree where the oxygen enters your blood. You have about 700 million of them. Unless this exchange takes place you will die within minutes. In short, God’s saving presence is specifically located in the places He has ordained it to be. It is in the prophetic and apostolic word and it is in properly administered baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This truth has profound implications for the nature of the Christian Church. The gospel is not a private possession.
God has seen fit to entrust the unchanging message to hapless humans. Pastors are called to proclaim it publicly. He equips you too, a mere mortal to be a witness to His incomparable truth. He doesn’t require that you’re eccentric like John the Baptist. He doesn’t demand that you have the eloquence of Paul. He asks that you be faithful. There is no test you have to pass to qualify. He knows your weaknesses. He knows the temptations you are prone to. He will give you the passion that’s lacking, the knowledge that’s wanting, the generosity that’s missing.
St. Paul said today, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”4 Advent hope is conviction that the particularity of God’s presence in Christ will mean something fabulous in the end. God has ‘decreed’ it in person. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.”5 This very Son died and rose for our salvation. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Second Sunday of Advent
8 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Matthew 3:2
2 See Revelation 1:8, 17-18
3 See Hebrews 13:8
4 Romans 15:4
5 Hebrews 1:1-2
Sunday, December 1, 2013
First Sunday Of Advent (A) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 24:44
Theme: Constant Readiness
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Repentance has a deadline. And there will be no allowances for late submissions. The coming of Christ will be arresting. The full scope of life’s activity will instantly come to a halt. Both revelry and drudgery will end. Indulgence and poverty will cease. Activity and apathy will stop. Instantly, the window of opportunity will close. The curtain of history will be drawn. But the vista to heaven will be opened. And the dawn of eternity will penetrate the believer’s vision. Advent involves anticipation and preparation for this spectacular day.
Today is the beginning of a new Church Year. Advent is meant to jolt us out of our spiritual slumber. “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”1 The word advent means ‘coming’. Advent is a short season leading up to Christmas that primarily focuses on Christ’s coming in glory. The theme is preparation and repentance. St. Matthew says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”2
So what was it like in the days of Noah? People had become habitually self-absorbed. Habits are good when they foster stability, godliness, and physical and spiritual well-being. They keep us grounded. Conversely, habits are destructive when they reveal and participate in the dominance of sin. God ordered the cosmos in such a way that its creatures were to live in rhythm with His design. The daily cycle of light and darkness, and the observation of the Sabbath Rest governed the routine of Adam and Eve from the very beginning. Sin threw that routine into chaos. No longer did Adam and Eve walk with God in the Garden in the cool of the day3. No longer did humanity follow its Maker.
Integral to the message of Advent is God’s impending judgment for sin. As we consider the gravity of Christ’s word we do well to block out all speculation about others and focus on our own need to repent. No one else will account for our sins. No one else’s circumstances matter. Still, it should not escape our notice that history is filled with foreshadowing and repetition. Humanity has been there before: Absorbed in the pursuits of this temporal life but completely oblivious to the coming judgment; dazzled by the lights of the world but teetering on the edge of the abyss. God rendered judgment.
No wonder St. Paul says today, “Let us behave decently…not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”3These words are nearly 2000 years old yet who can accuse the Holy Spirit of being outdated! Human nature hasn’t changed.
Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature, says the apostle. Let’s not kid ourselves, that’s a big ask in our media-saturated, consumer-driven society. At every turn we are blitzed with advertizing encouraging us to indulge. The seed is planted in the mind again and again. It is nurtured and cultivated. “Everyone else has it!” “Everyone else is doing it!” “Don’t miss out!” “You deserve it!” “You’re worth it!” Even the most basic things are promoted as “must have”, “must buy”, “must own”. This relentless agenda often governs not only our economic choices but our emotional and spiritual well-being. It can lead to anxiety and even contribute to depression. Christ assures believers that their worth and identity are in Him.
There are few things more unsettling than unpleasant surprises. We like to be prepared for every eventuality. Nice surprises are always welcomed, but unexpected adversity tests our resolve. Yet in the hour of trial faith does not dawdle. Faith is a gift sustained by the Almighty Himself. Believers survive the storms of life anchored to the Rock of Ages4 We can be inspired in our troubles by those who have gone before. Who can speak of the loneliness of Noah? How surreal to see humanity wiped away! Would decades of hostility and ridicule, while the ark was being built, ease the profound sense of loss? The Scripture says, “By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”5 What about the agonizing grief of Job? All his children were killed and his prosperity ripped away. He did not know that later on blessing would be restored. How did he escape complete despair? Had his faith not already moved him to the future life? So too, our faith exists in the here and now but is buoyed by eternal promises.
The coming of Christ will disclose all hypocrisy. The packaging is no guarantee of the content. The book cannot always be judged by its cover. How many will be immersed in preparations for Christmas but never give a thought about Christ? The trappings are there but the substance is missing. It’s like a car without an engine, a bank with no money; a body without a soul. Jude says, like “clouds without rain…autumn trees without fruit.”6 And so too, a church without a confession of truth is merely a gathering of people without a higher purpose. Through the proclamation of God’s Word the Holy Spirit creates and nurtures living faith.
He promises to do this first in baptism. He does it not by some magical incantation but by speaking the Word of Life. He crucifies and makes alive. Today Addison has gone through a death and resurrection. Her life is now bound up with the Redeemer. She has been clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. Her sins are washed away. And she is a fresh example in an ongoing succession of souls embraced by Christ’s love. She is also a new illustration of human frailty cradled by divine tenderness.
Advent is a call to reality. You are not a self-sustaining being. You are mortal. Christ is the self-existing source of life. He is immortal. You and I are sinners. He is holy and blameless. And yet He ends up being labeled as the most notorious of all sinners. This is the miracle of the gospel: The great reversal. He is accused. He is mocked. He is sentenced. He is condemned. He suffers, is crucified, and dies. And in so doing secures our salvation. You are acquitted. You are pardoned. You are cherished. You are spared the cross and rescued from eternal wrath. You have been spiritually resurrected by Him who is the resurrection and the life.
Everything a believer does can then be cleansed of duplicity. Your ‘doing’ flows from your believing. Love for God flows from vital trust in Him. It cannot be feigned but it cannot be suppressed either. Does the anxious parent not search for the lost child? Does the smitten groom not sacrifice all for his beloved bride? Do the redeemed people of God not overflow with gratitude and express it in their support for the kingdom? You cannot legislate devotion in the heart but neither can the true desires of the heart remain hidden.
Dear friends, Advent’s call to be prepared does not mean we are to live in a perpetual state of anxiety. The peace of Christ is otherworldly. God has re-created us to live rhythmically in Christ. This happens as we live liturgically within a worshipping congregation. It happens as the ebb and flow of our lives are governed by the certainty of God’s grace in Christ. It happens as our hopes, our prayers, and our pleas are directed to Him who gave His life for the world. Amen
+ In nomine Jesu +
First Sunday of Advent
1 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 13:11
2 Matthew 24:38-39
3 Romans 13:13-14
4 See Isaiah 26:4
5 Hebrews 11:7
6 Jude 12
Text: Matthew 24:44
Theme: Constant Readiness
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Repentance has a deadline. And there will be no allowances for late submissions. The coming of Christ will be arresting. The full scope of life’s activity will instantly come to a halt. Both revelry and drudgery will end. Indulgence and poverty will cease. Activity and apathy will stop. Instantly, the window of opportunity will close. The curtain of history will be drawn. But the vista to heaven will be opened. And the dawn of eternity will penetrate the believer’s vision. Advent involves anticipation and preparation for this spectacular day.
Today is the beginning of a new Church Year. Advent is meant to jolt us out of our spiritual slumber. “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”1 The word advent means ‘coming’. Advent is a short season leading up to Christmas that primarily focuses on Christ’s coming in glory. The theme is preparation and repentance. St. Matthew says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”2
So what was it like in the days of Noah? People had become habitually self-absorbed. Habits are good when they foster stability, godliness, and physical and spiritual well-being. They keep us grounded. Conversely, habits are destructive when they reveal and participate in the dominance of sin. God ordered the cosmos in such a way that its creatures were to live in rhythm with His design. The daily cycle of light and darkness, and the observation of the Sabbath Rest governed the routine of Adam and Eve from the very beginning. Sin threw that routine into chaos. No longer did Adam and Eve walk with God in the Garden in the cool of the day3. No longer did humanity follow its Maker.
Integral to the message of Advent is God’s impending judgment for sin. As we consider the gravity of Christ’s word we do well to block out all speculation about others and focus on our own need to repent. No one else will account for our sins. No one else’s circumstances matter. Still, it should not escape our notice that history is filled with foreshadowing and repetition. Humanity has been there before: Absorbed in the pursuits of this temporal life but completely oblivious to the coming judgment; dazzled by the lights of the world but teetering on the edge of the abyss. God rendered judgment.
No wonder St. Paul says today, “Let us behave decently…not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”3These words are nearly 2000 years old yet who can accuse the Holy Spirit of being outdated! Human nature hasn’t changed.
Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature, says the apostle. Let’s not kid ourselves, that’s a big ask in our media-saturated, consumer-driven society. At every turn we are blitzed with advertizing encouraging us to indulge. The seed is planted in the mind again and again. It is nurtured and cultivated. “Everyone else has it!” “Everyone else is doing it!” “Don’t miss out!” “You deserve it!” “You’re worth it!” Even the most basic things are promoted as “must have”, “must buy”, “must own”. This relentless agenda often governs not only our economic choices but our emotional and spiritual well-being. It can lead to anxiety and even contribute to depression. Christ assures believers that their worth and identity are in Him.
There are few things more unsettling than unpleasant surprises. We like to be prepared for every eventuality. Nice surprises are always welcomed, but unexpected adversity tests our resolve. Yet in the hour of trial faith does not dawdle. Faith is a gift sustained by the Almighty Himself. Believers survive the storms of life anchored to the Rock of Ages4 We can be inspired in our troubles by those who have gone before. Who can speak of the loneliness of Noah? How surreal to see humanity wiped away! Would decades of hostility and ridicule, while the ark was being built, ease the profound sense of loss? The Scripture says, “By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”5 What about the agonizing grief of Job? All his children were killed and his prosperity ripped away. He did not know that later on blessing would be restored. How did he escape complete despair? Had his faith not already moved him to the future life? So too, our faith exists in the here and now but is buoyed by eternal promises.
The coming of Christ will disclose all hypocrisy. The packaging is no guarantee of the content. The book cannot always be judged by its cover. How many will be immersed in preparations for Christmas but never give a thought about Christ? The trappings are there but the substance is missing. It’s like a car without an engine, a bank with no money; a body without a soul. Jude says, like “clouds without rain…autumn trees without fruit.”6 And so too, a church without a confession of truth is merely a gathering of people without a higher purpose. Through the proclamation of God’s Word the Holy Spirit creates and nurtures living faith.
He promises to do this first in baptism. He does it not by some magical incantation but by speaking the Word of Life. He crucifies and makes alive. Today Addison has gone through a death and resurrection. Her life is now bound up with the Redeemer. She has been clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. Her sins are washed away. And she is a fresh example in an ongoing succession of souls embraced by Christ’s love. She is also a new illustration of human frailty cradled by divine tenderness.
Advent is a call to reality. You are not a self-sustaining being. You are mortal. Christ is the self-existing source of life. He is immortal. You and I are sinners. He is holy and blameless. And yet He ends up being labeled as the most notorious of all sinners. This is the miracle of the gospel: The great reversal. He is accused. He is mocked. He is sentenced. He is condemned. He suffers, is crucified, and dies. And in so doing secures our salvation. You are acquitted. You are pardoned. You are cherished. You are spared the cross and rescued from eternal wrath. You have been spiritually resurrected by Him who is the resurrection and the life.
Everything a believer does can then be cleansed of duplicity. Your ‘doing’ flows from your believing. Love for God flows from vital trust in Him. It cannot be feigned but it cannot be suppressed either. Does the anxious parent not search for the lost child? Does the smitten groom not sacrifice all for his beloved bride? Do the redeemed people of God not overflow with gratitude and express it in their support for the kingdom? You cannot legislate devotion in the heart but neither can the true desires of the heart remain hidden.
Dear friends, Advent’s call to be prepared does not mean we are to live in a perpetual state of anxiety. The peace of Christ is otherworldly. God has re-created us to live rhythmically in Christ. This happens as we live liturgically within a worshipping congregation. It happens as the ebb and flow of our lives are governed by the certainty of God’s grace in Christ. It happens as our hopes, our prayers, and our pleas are directed to Him who gave His life for the world. Amen
+ In nomine Jesu +
First Sunday of Advent
1 December 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 13:11
2 Matthew 24:38-39
3 Romans 13:13-14
4 See Isaiah 26:4
5 Hebrews 11:7
6 Jude 12
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Last Sunday of the Church Year (C) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 19:13
Theme: Reaching the Starting Line
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
You will see God face to face1. The Holy Spirit makes that promise. The majesty of God is presently hidden and His power mostly remains veiled. Satan wants you to believe that will always be the case. The devil uses both prosperity and adversity to propagate this myth. But he will not prevail. In the midst of the most severe trials Job exclaimed, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.”2 It is a fitting confession for this last Sunday of the Church Year. The end will come but for the believer things will just be getting started.
Meanwhile we have some preliminary matters to attend to. Viewing the Christian life as preliminary to the fully resurrected life may help to clarify our purpose in the here and now. It may help give meaning beyond the pursuit of personal, material, or self-centered goals. The analogy can’t be pushed too far. After all St. Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”3 It is appropriate that we talk about reaching the finish line. Yet in another sense, we’re just striving for the starting line. The would-be Olympic contestant strives to qualify- aiming to reach the start of the contest. Similarly we can understand ourselves not so much as seeking to win, but seeking to qualify and participate in the victory Christ has already won.
In no sense does this mean that we’re trying to earn our way to heaven. Christ has secured this by His sacrifice. It simply recognizes that our running of the “gauntlet” of life; our tussle with Satan and sin’s power, our morality and frailty ends not in us falling in an exhausted heap at the end, but in reaching the start of a vibrant and indescribable future called eternity. Christ’s kingdom is so much more than we can imagine and we cannot measure it with the parameters were are familiar with. Therefore His kingdom remains misunderstood.
The initiation of Christ’s kingdom was originally interpreted as a defeat. When Jesus entered Jerusalem many expected His elevation to earthly power and an immediate impact on their lives. Instead, He was cruelly, and seemingly helplessly, nailed to a cross. It’s wasn’t until after His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit that they began to understand the nature of His kingdom. Even with the Spirit we remain poor students of such a lofty subject.
Anyone who buys into the characterization that Jesus only spoke in simple stories with obvious meanings hasn’t read very far into the New Testament. His parables sometimes leave us scratching our heads. Sometimes they are frank to the point of being offensive and other times shocking in their portrayals. Humility requires that every failure to understand rests with our deficiencies and not with the Lord’s apparent ambiguity.
We certainly can’t pretend to understand exactly all the connections Christ intends to make in the parable of the ten minas today. Yet certain things are clear. The man who was appointed king represents Christ. Some contested His rule. His servants are expected to be faithful stewards of the gifts entrusted to them. And there will be judgment for unfaithfulness with severe punishment to be rendered. Aside from the severity of the judgment on those who oppose His kingship the most surprising part of the parable is that the man who has only one mina is required to forfeit it to the one who already has ten.
Yet this only emphasizes a truth taught clearly throughout the New Testament: The one who has Christ has everything, while the one who has everything now will have nothing without Christ. Each servant was given one mina and told to invest it wisely. What does this mean for us? It doesn’t just mean putting our extra cash on deposit with the LLL. It means investing in people and their spiritual well-being. It means fostering relationships built on the truth of the Scriptures. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Yet we often do just the opposite.
Do you keep a blacklist of those who have offended you? Do you find reasons to tear them down or, at least, avoid them? Do you justify your actions by your sense of fairness or revenge? Do you want your pound of flesh? But who are you putting on trial firstly and fore mostly? When you sin against others you firstly sin against God. Do you charge Him with apathy or neglect? Do you accuse Him of unfairness? Do you keep up an appearance of piety but disown Him in your heart? Have you forgotten that you are the sinner? Let our repentance be driven by a genuine desire to know this forgiveness.
This parable is appropriate today because it reminds us in a very practical way that the events of the end times are happening continually. We’re referring here not to those cosmic events, natural disasters, upheavals, wars, famines, earthquakes or revolutions. Rather we are speaking of the contest for people’s hearts and wills, their allegiances, their slavery or their freedom. We are in the firing line and sometimes the shelling is more intense than others. We can’t pretend that we can remain detached from the tension, the temptation, and the testing that characterizes life as a believer in a profane world. Remember you are at ground zero. Ground zero is the point of impact.
Each time we are convicted of our sin and comforted by the grace of Christ the event that straddles time and eternity- His death and resurrection- impacts our lives. We can be assured we are already part of the future kingdom. It is a Pentecostal event because the Holy Spirit always attends the proclamation of the word. The word of God is the Spirit’s sword4. It is an incarnational event because only the Child of Bethlehem could redeem our flesh and blood through His own. “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.”5 It is a sacramental event because we are beneficiaries of His blessings through very tangible means: baptismal water, bread and wine communicating to us His body and blood.
The Apostle Paul says that the Father “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”6 This is language of adoption and legal standing. Christ incorporates believers through their baptism into His kingdom. We are no longer consigned to the fate of the world; to darkness, judgment and despair. Baptism qualifies us to share in the inheritance- all the blessings of the kingdom of light. We will wear the crown of life because Jesus bore the crown of thorns. We are children of the light and participants in His resurrection victory. This gospel truth remains unintelligible to those who don’t have the eyes of faith. Therefore we always pray for the clear proclamation of the forgiveness, life, and salvation found only in Christ and work for the establishment of His church here and throughout the world.
Dear friends, you may be here today because you got around in time to get yourself here. But, unless you are here under false pretenses, you are really here because the Holy Spirit has gathered you here. This is not crazy religious babble. It is the mystery and power of God’s work in Christ. It doesn’t mean you’re a puppet. It means a living faith exists within you. In the end that’s all that matters. When you meet God in judgment all that matters is Christ’s payment for your sins. He has already won the race. He remains faithful to the end so that we can reach the starting line. Christ will come again but the end will just be the beginning. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Last Sunday of the Church Year
24 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See 1 Corinthians 13:12
2 Job 19:25
3 2 Timothy 4:7
4 See Ephesians 6:17
5 Colossians 1:19-20
6 Colossians 1:12
Text: Luke 19:13
Theme: Reaching the Starting Line
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
You will see God face to face1. The Holy Spirit makes that promise. The majesty of God is presently hidden and His power mostly remains veiled. Satan wants you to believe that will always be the case. The devil uses both prosperity and adversity to propagate this myth. But he will not prevail. In the midst of the most severe trials Job exclaimed, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.”2 It is a fitting confession for this last Sunday of the Church Year. The end will come but for the believer things will just be getting started.
Meanwhile we have some preliminary matters to attend to. Viewing the Christian life as preliminary to the fully resurrected life may help to clarify our purpose in the here and now. It may help give meaning beyond the pursuit of personal, material, or self-centered goals. The analogy can’t be pushed too far. After all St. Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”3 It is appropriate that we talk about reaching the finish line. Yet in another sense, we’re just striving for the starting line. The would-be Olympic contestant strives to qualify- aiming to reach the start of the contest. Similarly we can understand ourselves not so much as seeking to win, but seeking to qualify and participate in the victory Christ has already won.
In no sense does this mean that we’re trying to earn our way to heaven. Christ has secured this by His sacrifice. It simply recognizes that our running of the “gauntlet” of life; our tussle with Satan and sin’s power, our morality and frailty ends not in us falling in an exhausted heap at the end, but in reaching the start of a vibrant and indescribable future called eternity. Christ’s kingdom is so much more than we can imagine and we cannot measure it with the parameters were are familiar with. Therefore His kingdom remains misunderstood.
The initiation of Christ’s kingdom was originally interpreted as a defeat. When Jesus entered Jerusalem many expected His elevation to earthly power and an immediate impact on their lives. Instead, He was cruelly, and seemingly helplessly, nailed to a cross. It’s wasn’t until after His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit that they began to understand the nature of His kingdom. Even with the Spirit we remain poor students of such a lofty subject.
Anyone who buys into the characterization that Jesus only spoke in simple stories with obvious meanings hasn’t read very far into the New Testament. His parables sometimes leave us scratching our heads. Sometimes they are frank to the point of being offensive and other times shocking in their portrayals. Humility requires that every failure to understand rests with our deficiencies and not with the Lord’s apparent ambiguity.
We certainly can’t pretend to understand exactly all the connections Christ intends to make in the parable of the ten minas today. Yet certain things are clear. The man who was appointed king represents Christ. Some contested His rule. His servants are expected to be faithful stewards of the gifts entrusted to them. And there will be judgment for unfaithfulness with severe punishment to be rendered. Aside from the severity of the judgment on those who oppose His kingship the most surprising part of the parable is that the man who has only one mina is required to forfeit it to the one who already has ten.
Yet this only emphasizes a truth taught clearly throughout the New Testament: The one who has Christ has everything, while the one who has everything now will have nothing without Christ. Each servant was given one mina and told to invest it wisely. What does this mean for us? It doesn’t just mean putting our extra cash on deposit with the LLL. It means investing in people and their spiritual well-being. It means fostering relationships built on the truth of the Scriptures. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Yet we often do just the opposite.
Do you keep a blacklist of those who have offended you? Do you find reasons to tear them down or, at least, avoid them? Do you justify your actions by your sense of fairness or revenge? Do you want your pound of flesh? But who are you putting on trial firstly and fore mostly? When you sin against others you firstly sin against God. Do you charge Him with apathy or neglect? Do you accuse Him of unfairness? Do you keep up an appearance of piety but disown Him in your heart? Have you forgotten that you are the sinner? Let our repentance be driven by a genuine desire to know this forgiveness.
This parable is appropriate today because it reminds us in a very practical way that the events of the end times are happening continually. We’re referring here not to those cosmic events, natural disasters, upheavals, wars, famines, earthquakes or revolutions. Rather we are speaking of the contest for people’s hearts and wills, their allegiances, their slavery or their freedom. We are in the firing line and sometimes the shelling is more intense than others. We can’t pretend that we can remain detached from the tension, the temptation, and the testing that characterizes life as a believer in a profane world. Remember you are at ground zero. Ground zero is the point of impact.
Each time we are convicted of our sin and comforted by the grace of Christ the event that straddles time and eternity- His death and resurrection- impacts our lives. We can be assured we are already part of the future kingdom. It is a Pentecostal event because the Holy Spirit always attends the proclamation of the word. The word of God is the Spirit’s sword4. It is an incarnational event because only the Child of Bethlehem could redeem our flesh and blood through His own. “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.”5 It is a sacramental event because we are beneficiaries of His blessings through very tangible means: baptismal water, bread and wine communicating to us His body and blood.
The Apostle Paul says that the Father “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”6 This is language of adoption and legal standing. Christ incorporates believers through their baptism into His kingdom. We are no longer consigned to the fate of the world; to darkness, judgment and despair. Baptism qualifies us to share in the inheritance- all the blessings of the kingdom of light. We will wear the crown of life because Jesus bore the crown of thorns. We are children of the light and participants in His resurrection victory. This gospel truth remains unintelligible to those who don’t have the eyes of faith. Therefore we always pray for the clear proclamation of the forgiveness, life, and salvation found only in Christ and work for the establishment of His church here and throughout the world.
Dear friends, you may be here today because you got around in time to get yourself here. But, unless you are here under false pretenses, you are really here because the Holy Spirit has gathered you here. This is not crazy religious babble. It is the mystery and power of God’s work in Christ. It doesn’t mean you’re a puppet. It means a living faith exists within you. In the end that’s all that matters. When you meet God in judgment all that matters is Christ’s payment for your sins. He has already won the race. He remains faithful to the end so that we can reach the starting line. Christ will come again but the end will just be the beginning. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Last Sunday of the Church Year
24 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See 1 Corinthians 13:12
2 Job 19:25
3 2 Timothy 4:7
4 See Ephesians 6:17
5 Colossians 1:19-20
6 Colossians 1:12
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