+ + In nomine Patri et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Mark12:44
Theme: All or Nothing
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus was observant. He was watching how much money people put into the temple offering box. But He wasn't a casual observer. He always took the opportunity to teach. The most important lessons aren't necessarily learned in classrooms, but in the experiences of life. Today a humble widow was at the centre of His object lesson. Our Lord elevates her above the rich and ostentatious saying, "She out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." It was a stark contrast to those who gave out of their excess. It was a commentary on her faith.
She gave all she had to live on. Think of the implications. This widow is a superlative example of unconditional trust. There is no hedging, no rationalising, no questioning of whether she is doing the prudent thing. The widow's mite story cannot be turned into a moralism or used tritely as the basis for a stewardship campaign. Without earthly hope she looks to the God of hope. Materially poor, she is spiritually rich. It sounds like a nice religious platitude doesn't it? One we would all nod our heads in agreement to while simultaneously hoping the label never applies to us. Many people say they'd never want to win the lottery either!
The Bible says a lot about generosity. Giving should be cheerful, regular, and proportionate. It should not be a matter of legalistic regulation but a movement of the heart and an expression
of the will. Where we direct our resources says a lot about what and who we believe in. It's a window into the soul. The widow understood that she was a steward; a caretaker on behalf of the true owner. She believed that the Creator would provide for her needs.
Dear friends, it's a great lie of Satan to believe there other ways to meet every human need. In Psalm 12 David laments the depravity of the human race. "Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man." The complaint has been repeated countless times over the centuries. Most every generation has reason to question whether evil is prospering more than ever before. Have the foundations of godliness crumbled so badly that the thought of rebuilding them seems like a Herculean task? Any effort at judging should begin with a look in the mirror.
Our own sins are never as insignificant as we'd like to think they are. We are naturally geniuses at minimalizing our own culpability. Today Jesus warned people not to be like the scribes. They were experts at pointing out other people's sins while downplaying their own. We don't have to search very long to discover the sins that condemn us. The psalmist writes, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long." In other words when we try to conceal our sins from God the burden of guilt weighs on us. We know our tendencies. We know the temptations we are prone to; greed, selfishness, lust, deceit, gossip, hard-heartedness towards others. And God knows us better than we know ourselves.
He knows our condition precisely and that's why He sent His Son. That is why the Spirit has been poured out. And His blessings are not merger. Faith grasps all of God's mercy or it has nothing. There is nothing piecemeal about salvation. We don't have some forgiveness or rely on just enough spiritual capital to carry us over the line. In a worldly sense everything is quantified; measured in units. We have just so much money, just so many possessions, a certain level of health, a career status with parameters, relationships with finite limits. We count, measure, quantify, and track. It's a necessary way of life. But the love of God in Christ defies all of these categories and methods. In Christ we have treasures beyond calculation.
Baptised, forgiven, and freed, we stand in debt to no human power or to Satan's claims. The word of absolution spoken to you is not conditional. It is sheer grace; pure mercy. You are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We live in the shadow of the cross and the light of Easter morning. Divine food is our regular diet; the table set by the King. And still so many labour under the burden of life without unconditional love and starved for spiritual food.
That's where our vocations come in as God's holy people. One person's crisis is another person's opportunity. It's true not only in business ventures. When people become vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life and schemes of Satan the opportunity for spiritual balm presents itself. The downtrodden and the broken are especially open to the gospel. Those labouring under a search for meaning in the hollowness of a broken world are especially open to the Good News of purpose and permanence. The Holy Spirit uses the hard experiences of life to chip away at our veneer of invincibility.
Forgiveness is the currency of healthy relationships. Absent forgiveness, relationships either become shallow or embittered. They will stiffen, become brittle, and break. The genuine pardoning of offences is the cement that rebuilds the foundation- sometimes one brick at a time. We have the privilege of being God's agents of healing. Christ reminds us of great rejoicing in heaven over one soul who repents, one person who learns forgiveness, one lamb that's gathered into the fold.
Our Messiah is no religious guru who lives on only by His message of a bygone era. He is no washed-up zealot whose cause faded when His first followers lost momentum. Our Redeemer bore the world's transgressions on a Roman instrument of torture. His spent frame was placed in the tomb but did not decay. In His risen and glorified body He lives and rules eternally. He has tender words for the timid, strength for the weak, light for those in the shadows and hope for those on the verge of despair. Christ embraces us in our frailty. He journeys with us through prosperity and adversity. He assures us the destination has been secured. He is our Redeemer and Shepherd and King.
The Spirit reminds us today that Christ will not return to deal with sin. He will return to deal with sinners. He will not return to handle sin because that necessity has already been accomplished. Christ died for sins, all sins, every sin- past, present, and future- once and for all. The sacrifice has been made; the debt has been paid. He is coming to reward the faithful. That day is coming, the final day, the last day, the consummation of all things. God's people have awaited it since the first promise of the Messiah. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."
The widow waited on the Lord, a beggar, she depended on Him for everything. We are no different, beggars too, we await the full enjoyment of of heavenly treasures. Amen.
+ in Nomine Jesu +
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
8 November, 2015
Mark 12:44 2 Psalm 12:1 Rev Darrin L Kohrt
Friday, November 13, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 9:42-50
Theme: Of Sin and Salvation
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
What is your greatest hope? Does it involve career, family, assets, or accomplishments? Is it spiritual? What is your greatest fear? Does it relate to health, reputation, or relationships? Does it take seriously your mortality? Is your greatest worry offset by an even greater confidence? These questions, though perhaps not posed precisely as such, relate to the very meaning and purpose of our existence. We are blessed with so much, yet it’s easy to forget that to lose connection with God is to, finally, lose everything. But when we have Christ, even if we have nothing else, we have all things. The Scripture says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish.”1
Of course, it’s not quite so simple as to say that apart from God we have nothing. Jesus makes it crystal clear today that without Him we have a horrifying set of realities to face. The summation of which is hell. A place called the Hinnom Valley lies to the southwest of Jerusalem. For centuries it was used as a garbage dump and a place of human sacrifice. Smoldering fires often burned there continuously. Christ references it today as an analogy for the eternal fires of hell. The Scripture says in regard to the wicked king Manasseh “He burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers.”2 The Greek word for hell derives its name from this point of reference.
An image of destruction and punishment, Jesus uses it to warn people about being a stumbling block to the faith of others. The imagery Jesus uses is vivid and confronting. Fire and water are given spiritual dimensions of retribution. “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”3 How often even in our present day is a raging bushfire likened to the fires of hell! How easily an unrestrained flood is compared to an agent of destruction! Today we are called to account for our actions as sinners. Judgment is neither uncertain nor negotiable.
Dear friends, God demands perfection but only Christ could achieve it. The holy will of God is only achieved through the past, present, and future work of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we pray in the Lord’s Pray, “Your will be done,”4 we are not simply referring to sweeping generalities regarding the work of God in the world. We are not praying for things remote from daily life. Nor are we only praying for God-pleasing resolutions to things like the refugee crisis in Syria or the violent extremism of ISIS. We are praying that Christ’s work of salvation would govern our attitudes and actions. We are praying for understanding and acceptance of our vocations and how we serve others through them. The will of God is that we understand the privileges and responsibilities that we have as redeemed members of His body.
The Scriptures never assume the average believer is a supra-spiritual person, a holier-than-thou fanatic unconnected to the real lives of real people. The Bible isn’t full of hyped-up piety or false aspiration that denies the hard realities of mortal existence. The Psalms teach us to pour out our complaints as much as they inspire us to lift our voices in praise. The prophets teach us to rend our hearts as often as they encourage us to be resolute in our convictions. The patriarchs were vulnerable as often as they were stalwart. The apostles faltered as frequently as they rose to the occasion. Elijah despaired. Jonah resented the grace shown to unbelievers. Thomas doubted the crucified Jesus could be living. Abraham laughed at God’s promises. Sarah too! Rahab was a prostitute. Matthew was a tax-collector. Zaccheus was too! All became agents and servants of the most high God.
God uses the frail and the faulty. If He didn’t there would be no one worthy to serve Him. The baptized are not perfected; they are forgiven. We have perfect forgiveness from a faultless Saviour. You are an agent of God’s perfect love clothed in human frailty. You can save no one; Christ does that. Yet in every circumstance and in every way the compassion of God can come to others through you. Remember what James says today, “Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”5
Alignment with God’s will is the test of faithfulness. The LCA will soon meet in national synod. This too will be a test of corporate integrity. We pray that our will becomes conformed to God’s will even when we don’t understand how it will be of benefit to ourselves or others. Our trust for His daily provision is built upon the completed act of salvation already accomplished through His atoning death and glorious resurrection. You are declared blameless through Christ’s blood. You, the sinner, me the scoundrel; we are delivered from the threat of everlasting condemnation as a sheer act of grace. His mercy cannot be earned; it is freely given. It is lavishly poured out upon us.
Fire and water are used as imagery for redemption too. Christ was drowned in the ocean of our sins. We are baptized into His death and resurrection. Jesus endured the fire of God’s wrath on the cross. The Holy Spirit cleanses us- as with fire. Daily bread is critical for our bodies. Sacramental food is essential for our well-being overall. Liquid is vital for our physiology. The Living Water is crucial for the whole of our existence. These things strengthen us for His service.
Your faith sprouts legs when you carry the burdens of others. Your faith takes flight when you send words of hope to those separated from loved ones by time and distance. Your faith grows ears when you patiently listen to those who have no one to pour out their problems to. Your faith develops voice when you speak on behalf of those who have been suppressed. Your faith shows integrity when you gently correct those who wander from the truth. The timid soul may need a confidante. The guilty conscience may need to hear words of forgiveness. The despondent heart may need words of encouragement. The weak in spirit may need to be lifted by the strength of another.
Jesus left the heights of heaven to spare us from the depths of hell. He handled the unclean. He exorcised demons. He healed every disease. He dined with tax-collectors and prostitutes. These were not religious stunts of a Messianic hopeful. These were the activities of the Son of God in human flesh; activities through which people enslaved by the manifestations of evil- in a creation hampered and harassed by sin- were redeemed and restored as His cherished sons and daughters. Christ continues such work of reclamation today. He already shouldered the millstone. He was drowned in the ocean of our sins that we might sail on the ocean of His grace safely in the ark- His holy church. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
27 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Peter 1:3-4
2 2 Chronicles 33:36
3 Mark 9:42
4Matthew 6:10
5 James 5:20
Text: Mark 9:42-50
Theme: Of Sin and Salvation
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
What is your greatest hope? Does it involve career, family, assets, or accomplishments? Is it spiritual? What is your greatest fear? Does it relate to health, reputation, or relationships? Does it take seriously your mortality? Is your greatest worry offset by an even greater confidence? These questions, though perhaps not posed precisely as such, relate to the very meaning and purpose of our existence. We are blessed with so much, yet it’s easy to forget that to lose connection with God is to, finally, lose everything. But when we have Christ, even if we have nothing else, we have all things. The Scripture says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish.”1
Of course, it’s not quite so simple as to say that apart from God we have nothing. Jesus makes it crystal clear today that without Him we have a horrifying set of realities to face. The summation of which is hell. A place called the Hinnom Valley lies to the southwest of Jerusalem. For centuries it was used as a garbage dump and a place of human sacrifice. Smoldering fires often burned there continuously. Christ references it today as an analogy for the eternal fires of hell. The Scripture says in regard to the wicked king Manasseh “He burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers.”2 The Greek word for hell derives its name from this point of reference.
An image of destruction and punishment, Jesus uses it to warn people about being a stumbling block to the faith of others. The imagery Jesus uses is vivid and confronting. Fire and water are given spiritual dimensions of retribution. “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”3 How often even in our present day is a raging bushfire likened to the fires of hell! How easily an unrestrained flood is compared to an agent of destruction! Today we are called to account for our actions as sinners. Judgment is neither uncertain nor negotiable.
Dear friends, God demands perfection but only Christ could achieve it. The holy will of God is only achieved through the past, present, and future work of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we pray in the Lord’s Pray, “Your will be done,”4 we are not simply referring to sweeping generalities regarding the work of God in the world. We are not praying for things remote from daily life. Nor are we only praying for God-pleasing resolutions to things like the refugee crisis in Syria or the violent extremism of ISIS. We are praying that Christ’s work of salvation would govern our attitudes and actions. We are praying for understanding and acceptance of our vocations and how we serve others through them. The will of God is that we understand the privileges and responsibilities that we have as redeemed members of His body.
The Scriptures never assume the average believer is a supra-spiritual person, a holier-than-thou fanatic unconnected to the real lives of real people. The Bible isn’t full of hyped-up piety or false aspiration that denies the hard realities of mortal existence. The Psalms teach us to pour out our complaints as much as they inspire us to lift our voices in praise. The prophets teach us to rend our hearts as often as they encourage us to be resolute in our convictions. The patriarchs were vulnerable as often as they were stalwart. The apostles faltered as frequently as they rose to the occasion. Elijah despaired. Jonah resented the grace shown to unbelievers. Thomas doubted the crucified Jesus could be living. Abraham laughed at God’s promises. Sarah too! Rahab was a prostitute. Matthew was a tax-collector. Zaccheus was too! All became agents and servants of the most high God.
God uses the frail and the faulty. If He didn’t there would be no one worthy to serve Him. The baptized are not perfected; they are forgiven. We have perfect forgiveness from a faultless Saviour. You are an agent of God’s perfect love clothed in human frailty. You can save no one; Christ does that. Yet in every circumstance and in every way the compassion of God can come to others through you. Remember what James says today, “Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”5
Alignment with God’s will is the test of faithfulness. The LCA will soon meet in national synod. This too will be a test of corporate integrity. We pray that our will becomes conformed to God’s will even when we don’t understand how it will be of benefit to ourselves or others. Our trust for His daily provision is built upon the completed act of salvation already accomplished through His atoning death and glorious resurrection. You are declared blameless through Christ’s blood. You, the sinner, me the scoundrel; we are delivered from the threat of everlasting condemnation as a sheer act of grace. His mercy cannot be earned; it is freely given. It is lavishly poured out upon us.
Fire and water are used as imagery for redemption too. Christ was drowned in the ocean of our sins. We are baptized into His death and resurrection. Jesus endured the fire of God’s wrath on the cross. The Holy Spirit cleanses us- as with fire. Daily bread is critical for our bodies. Sacramental food is essential for our well-being overall. Liquid is vital for our physiology. The Living Water is crucial for the whole of our existence. These things strengthen us for His service.
Your faith sprouts legs when you carry the burdens of others. Your faith takes flight when you send words of hope to those separated from loved ones by time and distance. Your faith grows ears when you patiently listen to those who have no one to pour out their problems to. Your faith develops voice when you speak on behalf of those who have been suppressed. Your faith shows integrity when you gently correct those who wander from the truth. The timid soul may need a confidante. The guilty conscience may need to hear words of forgiveness. The despondent heart may need words of encouragement. The weak in spirit may need to be lifted by the strength of another.
Jesus left the heights of heaven to spare us from the depths of hell. He handled the unclean. He exorcised demons. He healed every disease. He dined with tax-collectors and prostitutes. These were not religious stunts of a Messianic hopeful. These were the activities of the Son of God in human flesh; activities through which people enslaved by the manifestations of evil- in a creation hampered and harassed by sin- were redeemed and restored as His cherished sons and daughters. Christ continues such work of reclamation today. He already shouldered the millstone. He was drowned in the ocean of our sins that we might sail on the ocean of His grace safely in the ark- His holy church. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
27 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Peter 1:3-4
2 2 Chronicles 33:36
3 Mark 9:42
4Matthew 6:10
5 James 5:20
Monday, September 21, 2015
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 9:35
Theme: Less is More
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The transparency of the gospels not only commends their integrity to us, it allows us to be tutored in the successes and failures of real people. Time and again we hear of the indiscretions of Jesus’ closest followers. Today the disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest. It’s now 2000 years later and nothing’s changed. Real sinners need a real Saviour. It’s both as simple and as profound as that. It’s also a simplified way to understand the profound reasons why so many absent themselves from God’s house. Why is Christianity struggling? Either people don’t believe they are real sinners; or they don’t believe that here they will find a real Saviour- or both!
Jesus thoroughly knows human nature. He understands our weaknesses. Today He says, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”1 In a society captivated by high-profile athletes, schooled in attitudes of self-promotion, and generally bathed in the philosophy of self-indulgence, the model that Christ emulates here is largely a foreign concept. Political happenings are, perhaps, exhibit A. We aren’t inclined to sacrificial service by nature and the secular world won’t teach it to us. It must be taught by the Spirit. Christ is not merely the example for us; His work is substitutionary. Jesus was born into this world in humble estate and He died under the most humiliating of circumstances. He is the holy, unapproachable God, yet He lowered Himself to embrace our humanity and bear the full consequences of our sins.
The world sees little wisdom in this, but God does not see things through sinful human eyes. God sees things with a view to the resurrection. Sin blinds us to the significance of being estranged from God. Jesus says, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.”2 These are serious words. The person who is ensnared in his sins will end up perishing eternally. How can this be prevented? Christ is talking about how one avoids hell, eternal destruction. The matter is so serious the cause of sin must be removed. Therefore Jesus speaks of removing the hand, foot, or eye if it causes one to sin. Nothing is more important than one’s eternal destination.
There is more to this issue than the avoidance of sin in outward, physical form. The hands or the feet or the eyes do not act independently of the body. The heart, mind and will form the essence of what constitutes a human being; especially spiritually. They are also the seat of sin. Our Lord Himself says, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”3 If the foot is infected with gangrene, removing it can save the entire body. So, too, with the hand, and so forth. Still, taken to its logical conclusion, Jesus’ illustration becomes reduced to an absurdity. At some point the amputation of parts of the body no longer saves the body, but brings death to the entire body. Jesus is pointing to something more here. Yes, we must be aware of the temptations we are particularly prone to and steadfastly avoid them, but the matter isn’t thereby resolved. The desire to sin still remains.
Sinful desire is just as worthy of eternal condemnation in God’s eyes as are sinful deeds. Desire is the motivation of action. Sinful desire cannot be removed from the heart by amputation. The heart must be changed. The entire sinful nature must be crucified and raised to life again. We can’t do this on our own. That is really Jesus’ point. We cannot avoid hell on our own, we are doomed. But God, through His word and Spirit makes new people of us. In baptism our sinful nature is drowned and our hearts are cleansed. We are forgiven. Christ laid to rest the punishment for our sins by suffering for us. We could not do it. Salvation, rescue from the perils of hell is by grace, through faith.
As new creations we now live in that grace even though sin still clings to us. After conversion the Holy Spirit engages the struggle within us against the sinful nature. Remember, baptism changes us from the inside out. The heart, mind and will control those members of the body that would participate in sin. What the eyes see is filtered through eyes of faith. What the ears receive is vetted by hearing attuned to God’s truth. A purely motivated heart will lead to godly action, but no outward performance will change the heart inwardly.
Christ turned the popular idea of leadership on its head. He came only to serve. That is what He continues to do. He serves us with the forgiveness of sins declared emphatically in the absolution. He serves us with the strength and power of His body and blood through which we participate in the fruits of His suffering and death. He serves us through the support, comfort, encouragement, and even chastisement we receive from fellow believers. He is the suffering servant who was victorious through sacrifice.
Christ is always engaged in re-forging a proper understanding of relationships. It was completely counter-cultural to suggest that hospitality to children- who had no status in ancient society- should be the model for relating to one another in a godly fashion. It was a reversal- lifting up the lowest and humbling the self-revered. This isn’t a legalistic decree, but the supreme illustration of a Christ-like attitude.
Christ, of course, is pointing us beyond this temporal life. The Christ, crucified for you, lives for you- and with you, and in you, and among us. Through Him we have fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the very essence of life. The hope of receiving the inheritance of heaven independent of a relationship with Christ is a mere illusion. God is not an anonymous benefactor obligated to grant wishes like a genie let out of a bottle. He doesn’t run a government services or charitable organization that issues grants or subsidies through a screening process. Heaven is not a place where we privately or independently indulge in all the activities that most take our fancy.
The unmitigated presence of the Trinity is the essence of heaven. We look forward to eternity not because we’ll be free to occupy ourselves with personal agendas. We look forward to heaven not because we’ll be left unattended and unsupervised to pursue our interests. We will be fully, freely and fearlessly engaged in the sharing of perfected life. The perfection of untarnished relationships will be paramount.
What frees our tongues to sing in joyful praise of God? What opens our hearts to express gratitude for innumerable blessings? What releases us to invest our time and energies in those who are downtrodden, traumatized, lost, lonely, forlorn, living in the shadows of despair, enslaved to the capricious whims of the world? It is the absolute certainty that in Christ the last will be first. We are the last but Christ has prioritized our well-being for eternity. Every Sunday is a celebration of these truths.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
20 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:35
2 Mark 9:45-46
3 Matthew 15:19
Text: Mark 9:35
Theme: Less is More
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The transparency of the gospels not only commends their integrity to us, it allows us to be tutored in the successes and failures of real people. Time and again we hear of the indiscretions of Jesus’ closest followers. Today the disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest. It’s now 2000 years later and nothing’s changed. Real sinners need a real Saviour. It’s both as simple and as profound as that. It’s also a simplified way to understand the profound reasons why so many absent themselves from God’s house. Why is Christianity struggling? Either people don’t believe they are real sinners; or they don’t believe that here they will find a real Saviour- or both!
Jesus thoroughly knows human nature. He understands our weaknesses. Today He says, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”1 In a society captivated by high-profile athletes, schooled in attitudes of self-promotion, and generally bathed in the philosophy of self-indulgence, the model that Christ emulates here is largely a foreign concept. Political happenings are, perhaps, exhibit A. We aren’t inclined to sacrificial service by nature and the secular world won’t teach it to us. It must be taught by the Spirit. Christ is not merely the example for us; His work is substitutionary. Jesus was born into this world in humble estate and He died under the most humiliating of circumstances. He is the holy, unapproachable God, yet He lowered Himself to embrace our humanity and bear the full consequences of our sins.
The world sees little wisdom in this, but God does not see things through sinful human eyes. God sees things with a view to the resurrection. Sin blinds us to the significance of being estranged from God. Jesus says, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.”2 These are serious words. The person who is ensnared in his sins will end up perishing eternally. How can this be prevented? Christ is talking about how one avoids hell, eternal destruction. The matter is so serious the cause of sin must be removed. Therefore Jesus speaks of removing the hand, foot, or eye if it causes one to sin. Nothing is more important than one’s eternal destination.
There is more to this issue than the avoidance of sin in outward, physical form. The hands or the feet or the eyes do not act independently of the body. The heart, mind and will form the essence of what constitutes a human being; especially spiritually. They are also the seat of sin. Our Lord Himself says, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”3 If the foot is infected with gangrene, removing it can save the entire body. So, too, with the hand, and so forth. Still, taken to its logical conclusion, Jesus’ illustration becomes reduced to an absurdity. At some point the amputation of parts of the body no longer saves the body, but brings death to the entire body. Jesus is pointing to something more here. Yes, we must be aware of the temptations we are particularly prone to and steadfastly avoid them, but the matter isn’t thereby resolved. The desire to sin still remains.
Sinful desire is just as worthy of eternal condemnation in God’s eyes as are sinful deeds. Desire is the motivation of action. Sinful desire cannot be removed from the heart by amputation. The heart must be changed. The entire sinful nature must be crucified and raised to life again. We can’t do this on our own. That is really Jesus’ point. We cannot avoid hell on our own, we are doomed. But God, through His word and Spirit makes new people of us. In baptism our sinful nature is drowned and our hearts are cleansed. We are forgiven. Christ laid to rest the punishment for our sins by suffering for us. We could not do it. Salvation, rescue from the perils of hell is by grace, through faith.
As new creations we now live in that grace even though sin still clings to us. After conversion the Holy Spirit engages the struggle within us against the sinful nature. Remember, baptism changes us from the inside out. The heart, mind and will control those members of the body that would participate in sin. What the eyes see is filtered through eyes of faith. What the ears receive is vetted by hearing attuned to God’s truth. A purely motivated heart will lead to godly action, but no outward performance will change the heart inwardly.
Christ turned the popular idea of leadership on its head. He came only to serve. That is what He continues to do. He serves us with the forgiveness of sins declared emphatically in the absolution. He serves us with the strength and power of His body and blood through which we participate in the fruits of His suffering and death. He serves us through the support, comfort, encouragement, and even chastisement we receive from fellow believers. He is the suffering servant who was victorious through sacrifice.
Christ is always engaged in re-forging a proper understanding of relationships. It was completely counter-cultural to suggest that hospitality to children- who had no status in ancient society- should be the model for relating to one another in a godly fashion. It was a reversal- lifting up the lowest and humbling the self-revered. This isn’t a legalistic decree, but the supreme illustration of a Christ-like attitude.
Christ, of course, is pointing us beyond this temporal life. The Christ, crucified for you, lives for you- and with you, and in you, and among us. Through Him we have fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the very essence of life. The hope of receiving the inheritance of heaven independent of a relationship with Christ is a mere illusion. God is not an anonymous benefactor obligated to grant wishes like a genie let out of a bottle. He doesn’t run a government services or charitable organization that issues grants or subsidies through a screening process. Heaven is not a place where we privately or independently indulge in all the activities that most take our fancy.
The unmitigated presence of the Trinity is the essence of heaven. We look forward to eternity not because we’ll be free to occupy ourselves with personal agendas. We look forward to heaven not because we’ll be left unattended and unsupervised to pursue our interests. We will be fully, freely and fearlessly engaged in the sharing of perfected life. The perfection of untarnished relationships will be paramount.
What frees our tongues to sing in joyful praise of God? What opens our hearts to express gratitude for innumerable blessings? What releases us to invest our time and energies in those who are downtrodden, traumatized, lost, lonely, forlorn, living in the shadows of despair, enslaved to the capricious whims of the world? It is the absolute certainty that in Christ the last will be first. We are the last but Christ has prioritized our well-being for eternity. Every Sunday is a celebration of these truths.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
20 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:35
2 Mark 9:45-46
3 Matthew 15:19
Monday, September 14, 2015
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 8:29
Theme: Big Questions
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Do not doubt for a moment that God is honest in His intentions. Do not question for a second that God is transparent in His motives. Do not query for an instant whether God will hold without wavering to the promises He has made. “He remembers His covenant forever, the word He commanded, for a thousand generations.”1 God has no hidden agendas.
His plan is to fully reclaim, restore, and resurrect humans condemned to eternal judgment. You are the object of His agenda. He pursues you with clarity and determination.
Today we’re privy to a conversation that involves a defining moment in the lives of the disciples. Christ poses to them the question of His identity. “Who do people say I am?”
He follows up with parallel questions on the value of temporal and eternal life. “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”3 Peter has the right answer to the biggest question but he doesn’t understand the consequences. The suffering of Christ was more than he bargained for. It wasn’t a theoretical question for him either. The path of all of Christ’s followers necessarily mirrors that of the Master. Peter thought he was signing up for crown-wearing instead of cross-bearing. He was looking for a place of glory in Christ’s earthly dominion. Christ was preparing him for the glory of the heavenly kingdom. The crown of life indeed awaited Peter, but it could only be achieved through Jesus’ crown of thorns.
The “big question” regarding Christ’s identity remains perennially relevant. It can be restated (in fact it must) but it cannot be revised. It can be ignored, but only until the judgment at the longest. The answer to the question is of course nothing more, but certainly nothing less, than the confession of truth that defines Christianity. The question first posed privately to the disciples now occupies the public mission of the church. The answer to Christ’s identity is the only answer to the power of sin. It concerns us all. The confession of divine truth is a public matter by definition.
People have always maintained private opinions. They always will. Not every opinion is worth, contesting, challenging, or imposing upon others. We learn to vet them and focus on the most significant matters. It hardly means, however, there is consensus on what these are. Sinful human beings typically downplay the dangers and effects of transgressing God’s will. We often marginalize the risk of affirming falsehood and its associated implications. God’s patience in judging is misread as leniency. His swift chastisement is misinterpreted as callousness. Whether we’re seeking to be excused for our unrighteous actions towards others or praised for our hypocritical piety, we like God to share in our failure by overlooking it or approving it. The call to repentance entails the full range of our indiscretions.
The critical matter at issue in today’s gospel account is the very nature of God’s self-disclosure to us. Merely naming Jesus as the Christ doesn’t embrace what that means. The path of the cross is self-effacing to the core. The crucifixion is the definitive revelation of God’s love to us in Christ. Do you think it was unimportant for the prophets to define exactly who Jesus is when Isaiah wrote of Him 600 years before His birth? “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”4
Do you think it was not important for the apostles to define exactly who Jesus is when they wrote after His death and resurrection, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”5 Do you think it was not important for the church in the early centuries to define exactly who Jesus is when they labored to summarize the Christian faith in the Nicene Creed? “Jesus Christ… God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” Our salvation depends upon the fact that Jesus is who He says He is and does what He says He does. The more clearly we understand Him the better off we are and the more effectively we can be His witnesses.
Dear friends, it is not the mission of the church to go out into the world with religious options for consideration. It is not our mission to provide food-for-thought and encourage people to form their own opinions. It is not our charge to present the biblical doctrine as one set of truths among many. Least of all is it helpful to go out with a message marked by uncertainty, confusion and apathy. The world may be full of people that are largely uninformed about the Christian truth, but they are very perceptive and discerning about whether that truth is proclaimed with authority and clarity. It is easy to spot people who do not really believe what they are saying. The Holy Spirit refines our faith for this very reason. We must be purged of the tendency to act contrary to what we believe.
There are many falsehoods, half-truths, and misperceptions we may have to live with in this life. Life is often beset with complexity and confusion. But it is truth that we seek to die in. What matters in the end is not a faith that we can live with but a faith we can die with. When the final breath exhales from our lungs we want to die in the clarity of truth. All ideologies and philosophies that have figured prominently in our lives will be nothing but cherished or bitter memories depending upon our experience. The forgiveness of sins, however, is the passport to the permanency of the unending experience of joy.
Dear friends, God doesn’t have opinions. He does not lie. He speaks to us about things high and holy things, yes; but these things also relate to our daily life in the body of Christ. God speaks in an orderly way. God orders things in a purposeful way. God speaks with specificity but He doesn’t speak privately. He speaks in reference to vocation, and thus He speaks preferentially.
Everyone serves, but in different ways, with different responsibility and different accountability. A student doesn’t have the same accountability as a teacher. An employee doesn’t have the same responsibility as a boss. A carpenter doesn’t have the same accountability as a judge. A waiter doesn’t have the same responsibility as a surgeon. Children are not equipped to make decisions for the family and they are not called to do so. Fathers have different God-given obligations than mothers. Pastors are accountable to God for their flocks in a way that lay people aren’t. All pursue integrity. All consider the well-being of others first. All serve the common good. And as believers we all seek to build up the body of Christ.
Dear friends, in the pursuit of these things in truth, our confession of Christ’s identity is revealed. But our failures do not change the reality of who He is. It doesn’t matter how many times you have failed, Christ has not and will not fail you. He has gone through death for you. You are baptized into His death and resurrection. He lives to intercede for you. He offers you pardon in His body and blood. He wipes your slate clean. He puts a value on your soul that is incomparable by any human measure. What can a person give in exchange for their soul?6 That’s a big question. Not anything! Not everything! Christ gave His blood. The greatest was required. The greatest was given. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
13 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Psalm 105:8 2 Mark 8:27 3 Mark 8:36
4 Isaiah 53:4-5 5 Hebrews 1:3-4 6 See Mark 9:37
Text: Mark 8:29
Theme: Big Questions
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Do not doubt for a moment that God is honest in His intentions. Do not question for a second that God is transparent in His motives. Do not query for an instant whether God will hold without wavering to the promises He has made. “He remembers His covenant forever, the word He commanded, for a thousand generations.”1 God has no hidden agendas.
His plan is to fully reclaim, restore, and resurrect humans condemned to eternal judgment. You are the object of His agenda. He pursues you with clarity and determination.
Today we’re privy to a conversation that involves a defining moment in the lives of the disciples. Christ poses to them the question of His identity. “Who do people say I am?”
He follows up with parallel questions on the value of temporal and eternal life. “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”3 Peter has the right answer to the biggest question but he doesn’t understand the consequences. The suffering of Christ was more than he bargained for. It wasn’t a theoretical question for him either. The path of all of Christ’s followers necessarily mirrors that of the Master. Peter thought he was signing up for crown-wearing instead of cross-bearing. He was looking for a place of glory in Christ’s earthly dominion. Christ was preparing him for the glory of the heavenly kingdom. The crown of life indeed awaited Peter, but it could only be achieved through Jesus’ crown of thorns.
The “big question” regarding Christ’s identity remains perennially relevant. It can be restated (in fact it must) but it cannot be revised. It can be ignored, but only until the judgment at the longest. The answer to the question is of course nothing more, but certainly nothing less, than the confession of truth that defines Christianity. The question first posed privately to the disciples now occupies the public mission of the church. The answer to Christ’s identity is the only answer to the power of sin. It concerns us all. The confession of divine truth is a public matter by definition.
People have always maintained private opinions. They always will. Not every opinion is worth, contesting, challenging, or imposing upon others. We learn to vet them and focus on the most significant matters. It hardly means, however, there is consensus on what these are. Sinful human beings typically downplay the dangers and effects of transgressing God’s will. We often marginalize the risk of affirming falsehood and its associated implications. God’s patience in judging is misread as leniency. His swift chastisement is misinterpreted as callousness. Whether we’re seeking to be excused for our unrighteous actions towards others or praised for our hypocritical piety, we like God to share in our failure by overlooking it or approving it. The call to repentance entails the full range of our indiscretions.
The critical matter at issue in today’s gospel account is the very nature of God’s self-disclosure to us. Merely naming Jesus as the Christ doesn’t embrace what that means. The path of the cross is self-effacing to the core. The crucifixion is the definitive revelation of God’s love to us in Christ. Do you think it was unimportant for the prophets to define exactly who Jesus is when Isaiah wrote of Him 600 years before His birth? “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”4
Do you think it was not important for the apostles to define exactly who Jesus is when they wrote after His death and resurrection, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”5 Do you think it was not important for the church in the early centuries to define exactly who Jesus is when they labored to summarize the Christian faith in the Nicene Creed? “Jesus Christ… God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” Our salvation depends upon the fact that Jesus is who He says He is and does what He says He does. The more clearly we understand Him the better off we are and the more effectively we can be His witnesses.
Dear friends, it is not the mission of the church to go out into the world with religious options for consideration. It is not our mission to provide food-for-thought and encourage people to form their own opinions. It is not our charge to present the biblical doctrine as one set of truths among many. Least of all is it helpful to go out with a message marked by uncertainty, confusion and apathy. The world may be full of people that are largely uninformed about the Christian truth, but they are very perceptive and discerning about whether that truth is proclaimed with authority and clarity. It is easy to spot people who do not really believe what they are saying. The Holy Spirit refines our faith for this very reason. We must be purged of the tendency to act contrary to what we believe.
There are many falsehoods, half-truths, and misperceptions we may have to live with in this life. Life is often beset with complexity and confusion. But it is truth that we seek to die in. What matters in the end is not a faith that we can live with but a faith we can die with. When the final breath exhales from our lungs we want to die in the clarity of truth. All ideologies and philosophies that have figured prominently in our lives will be nothing but cherished or bitter memories depending upon our experience. The forgiveness of sins, however, is the passport to the permanency of the unending experience of joy.
Dear friends, God doesn’t have opinions. He does not lie. He speaks to us about things high and holy things, yes; but these things also relate to our daily life in the body of Christ. God speaks in an orderly way. God orders things in a purposeful way. God speaks with specificity but He doesn’t speak privately. He speaks in reference to vocation, and thus He speaks preferentially.
Everyone serves, but in different ways, with different responsibility and different accountability. A student doesn’t have the same accountability as a teacher. An employee doesn’t have the same responsibility as a boss. A carpenter doesn’t have the same accountability as a judge. A waiter doesn’t have the same responsibility as a surgeon. Children are not equipped to make decisions for the family and they are not called to do so. Fathers have different God-given obligations than mothers. Pastors are accountable to God for their flocks in a way that lay people aren’t. All pursue integrity. All consider the well-being of others first. All serve the common good. And as believers we all seek to build up the body of Christ.
Dear friends, in the pursuit of these things in truth, our confession of Christ’s identity is revealed. But our failures do not change the reality of who He is. It doesn’t matter how many times you have failed, Christ has not and will not fail you. He has gone through death for you. You are baptized into His death and resurrection. He lives to intercede for you. He offers you pardon in His body and blood. He wipes your slate clean. He puts a value on your soul that is incomparable by any human measure. What can a person give in exchange for their soul?6 That’s a big question. Not anything! Not everything! Christ gave His blood. The greatest was required. The greatest was given. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
13 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Psalm 105:8 2 Mark 8:27 3 Mark 8:36
4 Isaiah 53:4-5 5 Hebrews 1:3-4 6 See Mark 9:37
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 7:24-37
Theme: Deafness, Dumbness and Demons
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The goodness of God is extravagant. But humans are deficient in every capacity to receive what He desires to lavish on us. Therefore, God Himself must prepare us to be receptacles of His love. God’s favour does not rest upon us because we are lovable. Rather, the meticulous mercy of God in Christ makes us His cherished people. He tunes us in to the frequency of His grace.
Today Christ dealt with deafness, dumbness, and demons. He freed a little girl from Satan’s tyranny and restored to a man his hearing and speech. Both were miracles giving evidence that He was the Messiah. They were freed from sin’s grip on their physical frames. But something more enduring is going on here. This is not just a passing encounter with a traveling physician. When ears are opened and hearts are circumcised the kingdom of God comes. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Remember Luther’s simple but penetrating explanation of that petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”1
Dear friends, it is only through continual contact with God’s Word that His kingdom keeps coming to us. This is a great challenge in an age when regard for the efficiency of truth is in serious decline. There is a growing disconnect between people’s perception of their spirituality, their morality and their actual confession of truth. They are coasting along with momentum- the moral and spiritual capital of previous generations. But they are driving with their foot on the clutch, and momentum can only carry you so far. Gravity and friction exert their influence. When you disengage the engine from the driveshaft there is no longer any power transferred to turn the wheels. Christ is the engine. The word of God is the power. A Christian cannot keep coasting through life with the transmission in neutral. We cannot disconnect from biblical truth, from the source of our strength- which is Christ as He is present to us in word and sacrament- and expect to still be safely traveling the narrow road.
Your house may have a Bible, your child may have a catechism, your family may have a church, but does that mean these things are powering your life? Are you coasting along with your foot on the clutch? More are those who wander from the faith gradually, over time, than those who go abruptly off the rails. The wax builds up in their ears. Spiritual sight degenerates and no remedy is sought. Satan gets his foot in the door and is soon trying to run the house. The seriousness of sin is soft-soaped. The desire for forgiveness wanes. Repentance becomes merely a religious exercise of hollow piety or just a fading memory.
But God’s baptized and forgiven people receive the assurance and understanding of faith. God has united Himself to us. In baptism God gives. The sacrament of baptism is God’s mechanism by which we become receptive of divine benevolence. The gospel is the unequivocal message that God has spared no effort or expense to qualify us to live with Him forever. The Bible says He, “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”2 And again, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”3 And again, “Now [God] has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”4
Jesus Christ descended from the celestial community to our earthly community that we might be freed from earthly bondage and joined with the heavenly communion. Your sins are forgiven. You are restored to the Father’s favor, through the Son’s love. When you hear the pastor say, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” you are receiving the declaration of pardon from Calvary. When you are given His body and blood, you are receiving the life of Him who is the Living One, whom you will be in heaven with forevermore.
Dear friends, the Gospel is the story of divine compassion and it is inexplicable in the world’s eyes. Maybe in terms of human empathy we can say we have been where some others have been. But Christ went where others could never go. Only He was qualified. Think of what the Son of God endured. The piercing nails, the stinging crown, the agonizing pain, the suffocating air, the parched throat, the mocking crowds, the absent followers, the silent Father, and yet the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”5 That is compassion beyond understanding. His is not a sentimental sympathy but a sacrificial self-denial. Christ became the very substitute for sinners. He destroys in Himself the cause of corruption in us. He does not merely direct us because we are drifting; He resurrects us because we are ruined. He does not merely pity us because we are pathetic; He sanctifies us because we are sinners. His compassion is displayed in His condescension.
On this Father’s Day we could hardly site a more appropriate biblical image than the story of the Father who receives back his wayward child. The forgiving heavenly Father graciously welcomes back all the prodigal sons. Christ dealt with deafness, dumbness, and demons. He healed the ailing, the injured, and the anemic. He forgave Pharisees, priests and peasants. He humbled the arrogant, enlightened the ignorant, and calmed the belligerent. He gives eyes to the heart and ears to the soul. Today the Gentile woman was satisfied with crumbs. She was rewarded for her faith. Her soul was fed and that feeding was directly tied to her daughter being freed from Satan’s power.
The compassion of God, then, involves actual substance. How marvelous that when we are called upon to show compassion to others, to those who are suffering and hurting and those seeking fulfillment through other means; how marvelous that we can offer something and someone not fleeting or temporary, but the eternal word of God and the incarnate Jesus Christ! This substance fortifies us with a strength of incomparable greatness in this life; something not temporal, but eternal.
We should perhaps not then be surprised that when St. Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” he includes hunger. “Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine…“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.”6 Deafness and demons are no threat. May God give us the spiritual hearing and sight to perceive these truths! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
6 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luther’s Small Catechism
2 Colossians 1:12
3 2 Corinthians 5:19
4 Colossians 1:22
5 Luke 23:34
6 Romans 8:35-39
Text: Mark 7:24-37
Theme: Deafness, Dumbness and Demons
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The goodness of God is extravagant. But humans are deficient in every capacity to receive what He desires to lavish on us. Therefore, God Himself must prepare us to be receptacles of His love. God’s favour does not rest upon us because we are lovable. Rather, the meticulous mercy of God in Christ makes us His cherished people. He tunes us in to the frequency of His grace.
Today Christ dealt with deafness, dumbness, and demons. He freed a little girl from Satan’s tyranny and restored to a man his hearing and speech. Both were miracles giving evidence that He was the Messiah. They were freed from sin’s grip on their physical frames. But something more enduring is going on here. This is not just a passing encounter with a traveling physician. When ears are opened and hearts are circumcised the kingdom of God comes. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Remember Luther’s simple but penetrating explanation of that petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”1
Dear friends, it is only through continual contact with God’s Word that His kingdom keeps coming to us. This is a great challenge in an age when regard for the efficiency of truth is in serious decline. There is a growing disconnect between people’s perception of their spirituality, their morality and their actual confession of truth. They are coasting along with momentum- the moral and spiritual capital of previous generations. But they are driving with their foot on the clutch, and momentum can only carry you so far. Gravity and friction exert their influence. When you disengage the engine from the driveshaft there is no longer any power transferred to turn the wheels. Christ is the engine. The word of God is the power. A Christian cannot keep coasting through life with the transmission in neutral. We cannot disconnect from biblical truth, from the source of our strength- which is Christ as He is present to us in word and sacrament- and expect to still be safely traveling the narrow road.
Your house may have a Bible, your child may have a catechism, your family may have a church, but does that mean these things are powering your life? Are you coasting along with your foot on the clutch? More are those who wander from the faith gradually, over time, than those who go abruptly off the rails. The wax builds up in their ears. Spiritual sight degenerates and no remedy is sought. Satan gets his foot in the door and is soon trying to run the house. The seriousness of sin is soft-soaped. The desire for forgiveness wanes. Repentance becomes merely a religious exercise of hollow piety or just a fading memory.
But God’s baptized and forgiven people receive the assurance and understanding of faith. God has united Himself to us. In baptism God gives. The sacrament of baptism is God’s mechanism by which we become receptive of divine benevolence. The gospel is the unequivocal message that God has spared no effort or expense to qualify us to live with Him forever. The Bible says He, “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”2 And again, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”3 And again, “Now [God] has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”4
Jesus Christ descended from the celestial community to our earthly community that we might be freed from earthly bondage and joined with the heavenly communion. Your sins are forgiven. You are restored to the Father’s favor, through the Son’s love. When you hear the pastor say, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” you are receiving the declaration of pardon from Calvary. When you are given His body and blood, you are receiving the life of Him who is the Living One, whom you will be in heaven with forevermore.
Dear friends, the Gospel is the story of divine compassion and it is inexplicable in the world’s eyes. Maybe in terms of human empathy we can say we have been where some others have been. But Christ went where others could never go. Only He was qualified. Think of what the Son of God endured. The piercing nails, the stinging crown, the agonizing pain, the suffocating air, the parched throat, the mocking crowds, the absent followers, the silent Father, and yet the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”5 That is compassion beyond understanding. His is not a sentimental sympathy but a sacrificial self-denial. Christ became the very substitute for sinners. He destroys in Himself the cause of corruption in us. He does not merely direct us because we are drifting; He resurrects us because we are ruined. He does not merely pity us because we are pathetic; He sanctifies us because we are sinners. His compassion is displayed in His condescension.
On this Father’s Day we could hardly site a more appropriate biblical image than the story of the Father who receives back his wayward child. The forgiving heavenly Father graciously welcomes back all the prodigal sons. Christ dealt with deafness, dumbness, and demons. He healed the ailing, the injured, and the anemic. He forgave Pharisees, priests and peasants. He humbled the arrogant, enlightened the ignorant, and calmed the belligerent. He gives eyes to the heart and ears to the soul. Today the Gentile woman was satisfied with crumbs. She was rewarded for her faith. Her soul was fed and that feeding was directly tied to her daughter being freed from Satan’s power.
The compassion of God, then, involves actual substance. How marvelous that when we are called upon to show compassion to others, to those who are suffering and hurting and those seeking fulfillment through other means; how marvelous that we can offer something and someone not fleeting or temporary, but the eternal word of God and the incarnate Jesus Christ! This substance fortifies us with a strength of incomparable greatness in this life; something not temporal, but eternal.
We should perhaps not then be surprised that when St. Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” he includes hunger. “Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine…“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.”6 Deafness and demons are no threat. May God give us the spiritual hearing and sight to perceive these truths! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
6 September, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luther’s Small Catechism
2 Colossians 1:12
3 2 Corinthians 5:19
4 Colossians 1:22
5 Luke 23:34
6 Romans 8:35-39
Christian Burial of Margaret Nickolai 3 September 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 14:2
Theme: Now Occupied
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Margaret; Lisa, John, and especially you, Eric,
When the body of a believer on earth falls silent, the angelic spirits in heaven commence their celebrations. With song and chant and rejoicing a believer is received into the heavenly realms with revelry beyond comprehension. The place prepared for Margaret is now occupied. Death is a transition from life to life. It is a transition from a decaying, corrupted, weakening life; to a restored, perfected, and strengthened life. Death is a transition from doubt to certainty, from fear to security, from hope to attainment, from the temporary to the eternal. These truths are so because Jesus Christ was not given to speculation or philosophy or mere theoretical propositions. He is “the resurrection and the Life.”1 He has faced death and overcome it. He has now done this for Margaret Nickolai. Margaret has transitioned from a fragile life here, to a glorified life there.
In her last years Margaret suffered from a serious decline in her mental and physical faculties. It was a situation that contrasted with the vibrancy of most of her days. She had lived a full life. She courageously and patiently made the transition from city life to life on a Mallee farm. Though challenged in many ways she learned to be content. She adjusted to her new circumstances cheerfully. Margaret’s contentment was evidence of her faith. St. Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”2 And so too Margaret. The only true contentment in this life and the life to come is to rest securely in the care of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd; the Light of the world; the Living Water; the resurrection and the Life!
How desperately the world needs such contentment! The curse of living in this fallen world; the reality of lives ruled by sin; the struggle of hearts and minds absorbed in selfish pre-occupation is that one can never be truly content. The claim of contentment apart from faith in Christ is nothing but a mirage and illusion. Of course, there is always a worldly sort of contentment- enjoyment in accomplishments and participation in the things we love.
But this life is just a short dash. There are bigger issues that we must face. How will we stand at the judgment and still be content? People can be defiant or in denial or ignorant, but that in no way changes the outcome. When sin is left unaddressed and unresolved there can be no contentment and Margaret wanted people to know that. As we celebrate her life and recognize her death, we also reflect on our own mortality. No one can atone for their own sins. Only in Christ is there forgiveness that opens the gates of heaven. Thanks be to God that His Son has granted immortality to mere mortals! Christ is crucified and He is living and the Scripture says He “Abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”3 Immortality is eternal life.
The death of a Christian always involves the fulfillment of God’s promises. Margaret was called through the gospel. She was baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In baptism she received the forgiveness of her sins, the Holy Spirit, and the promised inheritance of eternal life. She gave public testimony to her faith through the Rite of Confirmation and was a faithful hearer of the Word in God’s house. She regularly received Holy Communion, being blessed with the very body and blood of Him in whose presence she now resides. Her faithfulness was evidenced in her devotion as a wife, mother, grandmother, and Christian friend. Always hospitable she welcomed people cheerfully.
Margaret was never a person who wanted a big deal made over her. She was humble in heart and spirit. But to God every soul that is saved is a big deal. If Jesus said, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent,”4 imagine how much joy there is when that repentant sinner actually reaches heaven! The salvation of souls is such a big deal that the Son of God assumed our human nature, fulfilled the Law to perfection, conquered the power and temptations of Satan, bore the burden of our transgressions, and endured the suffering of the cross to cover the debt of our sin. It is such a big deal that He died so we could live eternally.
Dear friends, eternal life is a big deal. It is beyond compare. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”5 He says, “In My Father’s house are many rooms…I am going there to prepare a place for you.”6Today we may mourn the loss of a beloved sister, relative and friend; but we celebrate life. Not only is Margaret’s battle with frailty done; her battle with sin and death itself is over. She has received her crown. She participates in Christ’s victory. The Bible’s words of acclamation ring out, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”6 Margaret’s earthly life is over, but her eternal life has just begun! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Margaret Catherine Nickolai
3 September 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 11:25
2 Philippians 4:11
3 2 Timothy 1:10
4 Luke 15:7
5 John 11:25-26
6 John 14:2
7 1 Corinthians 15:54-55
Text: John 14:2
Theme: Now Occupied
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Margaret; Lisa, John, and especially you, Eric,
When the body of a believer on earth falls silent, the angelic spirits in heaven commence their celebrations. With song and chant and rejoicing a believer is received into the heavenly realms with revelry beyond comprehension. The place prepared for Margaret is now occupied. Death is a transition from life to life. It is a transition from a decaying, corrupted, weakening life; to a restored, perfected, and strengthened life. Death is a transition from doubt to certainty, from fear to security, from hope to attainment, from the temporary to the eternal. These truths are so because Jesus Christ was not given to speculation or philosophy or mere theoretical propositions. He is “the resurrection and the Life.”1 He has faced death and overcome it. He has now done this for Margaret Nickolai. Margaret has transitioned from a fragile life here, to a glorified life there.
In her last years Margaret suffered from a serious decline in her mental and physical faculties. It was a situation that contrasted with the vibrancy of most of her days. She had lived a full life. She courageously and patiently made the transition from city life to life on a Mallee farm. Though challenged in many ways she learned to be content. She adjusted to her new circumstances cheerfully. Margaret’s contentment was evidence of her faith. St. Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”2 And so too Margaret. The only true contentment in this life and the life to come is to rest securely in the care of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd; the Light of the world; the Living Water; the resurrection and the Life!
How desperately the world needs such contentment! The curse of living in this fallen world; the reality of lives ruled by sin; the struggle of hearts and minds absorbed in selfish pre-occupation is that one can never be truly content. The claim of contentment apart from faith in Christ is nothing but a mirage and illusion. Of course, there is always a worldly sort of contentment- enjoyment in accomplishments and participation in the things we love.
But this life is just a short dash. There are bigger issues that we must face. How will we stand at the judgment and still be content? People can be defiant or in denial or ignorant, but that in no way changes the outcome. When sin is left unaddressed and unresolved there can be no contentment and Margaret wanted people to know that. As we celebrate her life and recognize her death, we also reflect on our own mortality. No one can atone for their own sins. Only in Christ is there forgiveness that opens the gates of heaven. Thanks be to God that His Son has granted immortality to mere mortals! Christ is crucified and He is living and the Scripture says He “Abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”3 Immortality is eternal life.
The death of a Christian always involves the fulfillment of God’s promises. Margaret was called through the gospel. She was baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In baptism she received the forgiveness of her sins, the Holy Spirit, and the promised inheritance of eternal life. She gave public testimony to her faith through the Rite of Confirmation and was a faithful hearer of the Word in God’s house. She regularly received Holy Communion, being blessed with the very body and blood of Him in whose presence she now resides. Her faithfulness was evidenced in her devotion as a wife, mother, grandmother, and Christian friend. Always hospitable she welcomed people cheerfully.
Margaret was never a person who wanted a big deal made over her. She was humble in heart and spirit. But to God every soul that is saved is a big deal. If Jesus said, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent,”4 imagine how much joy there is when that repentant sinner actually reaches heaven! The salvation of souls is such a big deal that the Son of God assumed our human nature, fulfilled the Law to perfection, conquered the power and temptations of Satan, bore the burden of our transgressions, and endured the suffering of the cross to cover the debt of our sin. It is such a big deal that He died so we could live eternally.
Dear friends, eternal life is a big deal. It is beyond compare. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”5 He says, “In My Father’s house are many rooms…I am going there to prepare a place for you.”6Today we may mourn the loss of a beloved sister, relative and friend; but we celebrate life. Not only is Margaret’s battle with frailty done; her battle with sin and death itself is over. She has received her crown. She participates in Christ’s victory. The Bible’s words of acclamation ring out, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”6 Margaret’s earthly life is over, but her eternal life has just begun! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Margaret Catherine Nickolai
3 September 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 11:25
2 Philippians 4:11
3 2 Timothy 1:10
4 Luke 15:7
5 John 11:25-26
6 John 14:2
7 1 Corinthians 15:54-55
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2015
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: James 1:17
Theme: From Above
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Change- in-so-far-as it is a measure of decay- is an indicator of the fallenness of this existence. The Scripture says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”1 The God who creates is the same God who provides, and He is the same, again, who redeems. The fact that these truths are continually contested means the Holy Spirit has a lot of work to do before Christ returns.
All attempts at explaining the existence of the universe involve the entity of faith. The origin of the cosmos can obviously never be repeated in laboratory experiments and there were certainly no humans around to observe it. Therefore, it necessarily involves mystery. It involves, trust, conviction, and acceptance that it is beyond the rationale. One of the great delusions of our times is the belief that science can explain how the universe can to exist. But how does matter appear out of nothing? Science serves us by uncovering the mechanisms of how things work. It doesn’t attach value to the big questions. It cannot explain that which is not repeatable.
In the end we’re really left with only two possibilities; either the universe came to exist by random chance or the Almighty God created it. If it happened randomly then it has no design, no purpose, and ultimately no consistent meaning. In this scenario humans have no higher power to answer to, and conversely, no God who will be their ultimate refuge. Value and meaning in society then become purely human constructs. It is in this very direction that culture is now digressing. One need not be a Christian at all, only a deist, to see the dilemma.
Dear friends, under our own powers we are completely unable to love God, revere Him, and trust in Him above all things. Not only does it not suit the natural way we think it is diametrically opposed to our own instinctive worldview. We instinctively believe that we possess the ability to do good at our own discretion. God’s word denies this emphatically. Sin is firstly internal. Jesus says, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that make him ‘unclean’….for from within, out of men’s hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”2 Therefore, repentance firstly concerns internal things also.
God’s law always reminds us that the rot starts within. The law always puts us back in front of the mirror. We are caused to confront our imperfections. But we are good at cosmetically covering them up; at keeping up appearances. The law is actually more powerful than a mirror. More like an X-ray machine or an MRI, it sees right into us. It gets beneath our skin and it makes us very uncomfortable. It must do this. We need a radical type of surgery. Our consciences must be driven from mindsets of self-reliance and self-service to humble repentance. We learn how to look in the spiritual mirror and see an image of ourselves that is quite different from the actual reflection.
But when God looks at us He sees clearly. He knows that no matter how hastily He looks He sees sinners. That’s why He looks at us through the cross. His sight- like rays passing through a prism- is refracted by the spectacle of His crucified Son. He sees us covered with Christ’s holiness. He observes that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. He sees Jesus first. The Scripture says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”3
Sin is primarily internal, but the word of God is external. Believers are declared righteous, holy in God’s sight- because of the merits of Christ-as an act of mercy that takes place solely outside of themselves. The mercy of God is not contingent upon our precondition. Christianity alone truly possesses the gospel. It is good news with no strings attached. Reconciliation with God requires no contribution on the human side of the equation even in the smallest measure. Christ has done it all. He has made the sacrifice. He has paid the debt. He has demonstrated the perfect obedience. He has defeated Satan on his own terms. He has slammed shut the gates of hell. He has thrown open the gates of heaven.
With the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith comes a new beginning. This is the implication of baptism. A believer has a new perspective, a different orientation; a new purpose. But every believer is always a work in progress. There is no perfection this side of heaven. The baptized are already citizens of heaven, yet they remain sinners in need of grace. Still, believers are saints and we have great privileges.
We are truly freed by the gospel. We’re not free to sin, but free to serve. And that means your vocations matter. There is nothing that you do in faith- be it the most simple, the most tedious, the most repetitive, or the most challenging task- that is not important to someone in the body of Christ. Often that person is your closest neighbour: your spouse, your parent, your child, your friend. Maybe that act, or attitude, or prayer, is a blessing to a stranger in need or an assistance to someone half-way around the globe. But all are reflections in some way or in some measure of the love of God shown to you, His beloved.
We must be rid of the misunderstanding that only exceptional acts of Christian devotion with high visibility are a true measure of one’s faith. Faithfulness in the daily grind is far more important in God’s sight than occasional acts of generosity. The phrase daily grind refers to the necessity of grinding the grain so there would be flour to make bread. If it wasn’t ground consistently and faithfully there would be no food. Stability was at stake. Mouths had to be fed. The family had to be provided for. Spiritually we may compare it to bearing the cross. Is it easier for me to put a green note in the offering or to love the person who is particularly unlovable? The Holy Spirit leads the charge in our daily endeavor to mirror God’s love in Christ.
Dear friends, the love of God is unrelenting. He pursues us. He embraces us. He never gives up on us. He is hope in the midst of despair. He is peace in the midst of chaos. He is truth in a milieu of deception. There is no burden so heavy that the Almighty cannot lift it from us. There is no darkness so consuming that divine rays cannot penetrate it. There is no coldness so debilitating that the warmth of the Spirit cannot thaw it. There is no death so final, whether physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, that Jesus, who is “the resurrection and the life,”4 cannot rekindle new and incorruptible life.
In Christ we have every good and perfect gift. He came from above; journeyed here below, and now lives as the bridge between time and eternity. He is the gateway between this fraying and decaying existence and the perfection that awaits all who believe. The end game is that what was previously external to you, that which you now possess by faith, that very power of God, will transform you completely into the image of Christ, the Son of God. That is the stupefying reality that awaits us at the time of the resurrection from the dead. The Scripture says that He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”5 May God make it so for Jesus’ sake, amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
30 August, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 James 1:17 2 Mark 7:15, 21-23 3 Hebrews 1:3 4 John 11:25 5 Philippians 3:20
Text: James 1:17
Theme: From Above
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Change- in-so-far-as it is a measure of decay- is an indicator of the fallenness of this existence. The Scripture says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”1 The God who creates is the same God who provides, and He is the same, again, who redeems. The fact that these truths are continually contested means the Holy Spirit has a lot of work to do before Christ returns.
All attempts at explaining the existence of the universe involve the entity of faith. The origin of the cosmos can obviously never be repeated in laboratory experiments and there were certainly no humans around to observe it. Therefore, it necessarily involves mystery. It involves, trust, conviction, and acceptance that it is beyond the rationale. One of the great delusions of our times is the belief that science can explain how the universe can to exist. But how does matter appear out of nothing? Science serves us by uncovering the mechanisms of how things work. It doesn’t attach value to the big questions. It cannot explain that which is not repeatable.
In the end we’re really left with only two possibilities; either the universe came to exist by random chance or the Almighty God created it. If it happened randomly then it has no design, no purpose, and ultimately no consistent meaning. In this scenario humans have no higher power to answer to, and conversely, no God who will be their ultimate refuge. Value and meaning in society then become purely human constructs. It is in this very direction that culture is now digressing. One need not be a Christian at all, only a deist, to see the dilemma.
Dear friends, under our own powers we are completely unable to love God, revere Him, and trust in Him above all things. Not only does it not suit the natural way we think it is diametrically opposed to our own instinctive worldview. We instinctively believe that we possess the ability to do good at our own discretion. God’s word denies this emphatically. Sin is firstly internal. Jesus says, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that make him ‘unclean’….for from within, out of men’s hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”2 Therefore, repentance firstly concerns internal things also.
God’s law always reminds us that the rot starts within. The law always puts us back in front of the mirror. We are caused to confront our imperfections. But we are good at cosmetically covering them up; at keeping up appearances. The law is actually more powerful than a mirror. More like an X-ray machine or an MRI, it sees right into us. It gets beneath our skin and it makes us very uncomfortable. It must do this. We need a radical type of surgery. Our consciences must be driven from mindsets of self-reliance and self-service to humble repentance. We learn how to look in the spiritual mirror and see an image of ourselves that is quite different from the actual reflection.
But when God looks at us He sees clearly. He knows that no matter how hastily He looks He sees sinners. That’s why He looks at us through the cross. His sight- like rays passing through a prism- is refracted by the spectacle of His crucified Son. He sees us covered with Christ’s holiness. He observes that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. He sees Jesus first. The Scripture says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”3
Sin is primarily internal, but the word of God is external. Believers are declared righteous, holy in God’s sight- because of the merits of Christ-as an act of mercy that takes place solely outside of themselves. The mercy of God is not contingent upon our precondition. Christianity alone truly possesses the gospel. It is good news with no strings attached. Reconciliation with God requires no contribution on the human side of the equation even in the smallest measure. Christ has done it all. He has made the sacrifice. He has paid the debt. He has demonstrated the perfect obedience. He has defeated Satan on his own terms. He has slammed shut the gates of hell. He has thrown open the gates of heaven.
With the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith comes a new beginning. This is the implication of baptism. A believer has a new perspective, a different orientation; a new purpose. But every believer is always a work in progress. There is no perfection this side of heaven. The baptized are already citizens of heaven, yet they remain sinners in need of grace. Still, believers are saints and we have great privileges.
We are truly freed by the gospel. We’re not free to sin, but free to serve. And that means your vocations matter. There is nothing that you do in faith- be it the most simple, the most tedious, the most repetitive, or the most challenging task- that is not important to someone in the body of Christ. Often that person is your closest neighbour: your spouse, your parent, your child, your friend. Maybe that act, or attitude, or prayer, is a blessing to a stranger in need or an assistance to someone half-way around the globe. But all are reflections in some way or in some measure of the love of God shown to you, His beloved.
We must be rid of the misunderstanding that only exceptional acts of Christian devotion with high visibility are a true measure of one’s faith. Faithfulness in the daily grind is far more important in God’s sight than occasional acts of generosity. The phrase daily grind refers to the necessity of grinding the grain so there would be flour to make bread. If it wasn’t ground consistently and faithfully there would be no food. Stability was at stake. Mouths had to be fed. The family had to be provided for. Spiritually we may compare it to bearing the cross. Is it easier for me to put a green note in the offering or to love the person who is particularly unlovable? The Holy Spirit leads the charge in our daily endeavor to mirror God’s love in Christ.
Dear friends, the love of God is unrelenting. He pursues us. He embraces us. He never gives up on us. He is hope in the midst of despair. He is peace in the midst of chaos. He is truth in a milieu of deception. There is no burden so heavy that the Almighty cannot lift it from us. There is no darkness so consuming that divine rays cannot penetrate it. There is no coldness so debilitating that the warmth of the Spirit cannot thaw it. There is no death so final, whether physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, that Jesus, who is “the resurrection and the life,”4 cannot rekindle new and incorruptible life.
In Christ we have every good and perfect gift. He came from above; journeyed here below, and now lives as the bridge between time and eternity. He is the gateway between this fraying and decaying existence and the perfection that awaits all who believe. The end game is that what was previously external to you, that which you now possess by faith, that very power of God, will transform you completely into the image of Christ, the Son of God. That is the stupefying reality that awaits us at the time of the resurrection from the dead. The Scripture says that He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”5 May God make it so for Jesus’ sake, amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
30 August, 2015
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 James 1:17 2 Mark 7:15, 21-23 3 Hebrews 1:3 4 John 11:25 5 Philippians 3:20
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