+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 16:22
Theme: Not My Messiah
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Life is as precarious as it is precious. The devil knows this. He is not an idiot. His arguments always have some appeal. He understands sinful human nature very, very well. His lies are woven with half-truths. He targets our vulnerabilities. He plays on our fears. His goal is always to get us to question the promises of God. He knows how precious the things of the world are to us and so he uses that as his angle to discount the blessings of Christ’s kingdom.
Today Satan targets the church’s leadership. Peter struggled to deal with the fact that his own salvation meant that Jesus would have to die. That’s not the type of Messiah he envisioned. It was not a light-hearted exchange of words when Peter rebuked Jesus and then Christ turned to him and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”1 What exactly did Peter have in mind? Only he and Jesus know for sure. But it certainly wasn’t God’s plan. Peter was vehemently opposed to the idea of Jesus’ death. It didn’t fit His understanding of how his Master should constitute a kingdom. Peter was struggling to give up a worldly way of thinking.
We’re not so different from Peter. We have our own ideas about the Messiah. We too like to have God on our terms. Our natural frame of reference is hopelessly self-focused. We often make contingency plans that show we don’t fully trust in God’s promises. Like the young man who went to the jeweler to have a ring engraved. He told the jeweler he wanted the words, “William, to his dearest Susan” engraved on the inside of the ring. The jeweler asked if Susan was his sister. “No; she is my fiancée.” Well, if I were you he said, I wouldn’t use those words because if Susan changes her mind you can’t use this ring again. “What would you suggest,” the man asked. The jeweler said, “I would suggest ‘William, to his first and only love,’ you see with that you can use the ring a half a dozen times.”
As sinners we will always be prone to making contingency plans without God’s advice. For this we are called to repentance. Today Jesus reduces the matter to the essential question: Do we believe life with God is better than life of our own making? Does God value your life? The question is not, “Does God value life?”, but, “Do your believe God values your life?” We find the answer not by searching our hearts but by looking to His promises. You are His baptized child. The Scripture says, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”2 That is the beginning and end of the matter. Jesus places a valuation on you in His own death.
There is no way to have Christ, or God, or heaven, or salvation on our own terms. Did you rob Satan of His power? Did you close the jaws of hell? Did you put demons and darkness to flight? Did you suffer the punishment for the sins of the human race? Are you able to stare down death? Can you name the terms of Satan’s surrender? Of entry into heaven? Can you name the terms for appeasing God’s wrath? The only terms that matter are a cross and resurrection. In these events our lives are given infinite value.
A Christian must become lost in the way of self and found in the grace of Christ. The two modes of existence are mutually exclusive and so that’s exactly where the struggle lies; where the rubber meets the road. The proof of faith is the struggle against sin; the struggle of obedience. When the struggle ceases either faith has been lost or immortality has been realized. That is, either the Holy Spirit has been driven away by persistent denial of the need for repentance, or our journey in this body and life has ended.
The baptismal life is a life of cross-bearing. It is a life that suffers with those who suffer but rejoices with those who rejoice. Believers are knit together as one communion of faith and as such all participate in the common blessings of God in Christ. “We who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”3 There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”4 The fruits of faith follow accordingly. The apostle says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”5
Dear friends, it’s not the mission of the church to go out into the world with religious options for consideration. It’s not our aim to just provide food for thought while people form their own opinions. 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 who know very little about Christian truth, but they are very discerning and perceptive about whether that truth is proclaimed and lived with integrity, clarity, and conviction. It’s easy to spot people who don’t really believe what they are saying. It’s easy to identify those who are just trying to sell you something.
Today the proclamation of Christianity is often marked by confusion and contradiction. Think of the mixed messages that are given. Does the church believe God created the universe or did biological organisms evolve under their own power? Does the church teach the Bible’s doctrine of sin and all its consequences or is that all a matter of human opinion? Is a conviction about Satan and hell lacking? Does the church teach the sanctity of marriage warning against the dangers of all types of sexual immorality including homosexuality? Does the church believe in the sanctity of life, supporting the safety of the unborn and the dignity of the elderly? Is Christ seen as the sole and sufficient means of salvation or is our contribution required? Does the church stand on the authority of the Scriptures or human consensus? These are serious questions and challenges.
But a great opportunity lies before us. We can’t control the half-truths that other people promote but we can be faithful. The gospel doesn’t need to be dressed up to make it more appealing. The gospel has the power of transformation. The Holy Spirit provides a timeless message, rich and relevant and presented in various ways throughout the breadth and depth of Scripture. Today Jesus asks, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”6 The answer is not a mystery.
Life is precarious. But that doesn’t mean that for the believer everything hangs in the balance. The work of Christ has been weighed on the scales of divine measurement and has not been found wanting. The inestimable value of His life-given in sacrifice- is the sufficient ransom price for the accumulated sins of humanity. It was the payment for your sins and mine. The Scripture says, “You were redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ.”7 Life is precious and God will never allow the repentant believer to come to eternal ruin. Satan has his “little day” and so does our earthly journey, but Christ owns eternity. He is our Messiah. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Matthew 16:23 2 Romans 6:3 3 1 Corinthians 10:17
4 Ephesians 4:5 5 Romans 12:12-13 6 Matthew 16:26
7 1 Peter 1:18-19
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
31 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 16:15-16
Theme: Jesus The I Am
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is eternally and inconceivably captivating. But human life is mostly mundane. Those who believe Christianity will be a cure for mundaneness have misplaced hopes. Jesus Himself often seemed pedestrian. In a culture in which the ordinary has little appeal anything appearing regular is a tuff sell. Consider the approach of advertising: Hype is amplified to mania, mania raised to frenzy, frenzy intensified to hysteria, and hysteria is crowned with absolute madness. And all this to promote the watching of a contest in which grown men stampede one another in full physical exertion to control a small oblong object and move it to a specific geographical location! Ticket prices at this year’s Grand Final have been frozen. Maybe the threshold of hype has been reached?
But don’t think for a moment that society’s expectation that we deserve to be spellbound isn’t a contributing factor to the emptying of churches all across the West. People aren’t naturally captivated by the word of God. Yes, a celebrity-status, miracle-cure, emergency-worker, personal-life-coach-type Jesus is appealing to some, but the true nature of things is discovered sooner or later. Freedom from sin’s power is not something the average person is all that excited about.
Into this milieu of searching, satiation, and dis-satisfaction the timeless message of truth dares to assert its relevance. What should we get excited about? What should we fear? And on what basis? Today Jesus Christ poses this question to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”1
Finally Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”2 In this short exchange we have either the boldest confession of the greatest truth with the most far-reaching consequences ever predicted, or we have foolish hope in a deceptive claim with little influence in the final measure. The identity of Jesus is always pivotal.
The question is no less decisive today. It cannot be answered by consensus, surveys of popular opinion or even estimates of historical probability. Who is this Jesus? The question can be ignored but never completely avoided; forestalled but never escaped; denied but never eliminated. The person of Christ, the Son of the living God, His work, His mission, His rule, are decisive components no matter how we draw up the equation. To face mortality is to face this question. Mercy and justice are reconciled only in the person of Jesus.
As for Peter, so too for us, the answer is beyond us. It is revealed from above. Jesus said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”3 The Bible says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”4 But the work was completed here below. This Jesus was put to death by a Roman instrument of torture under the rule of Pontius Pilate. After three days He was seen alive and interacted with many witnesses. The darkness of the crucifixion gave way to the light of the resurrection and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
So who is this Jesus? He’s not an overlord who dictates your allegiance. He is a servant that suffers your punishment. He doesn’t make commands He fulfills them. He doesn’t organize a program to put you in good stead with the Almighty- a moral regime, a philosophical system, or a mystical routine- He declares the repentant sinner absolved by pure grace. He doesn’t give you negotiating tools to gain access to heaven, He Himself is the portal. The gates are flung wide open. He ties His promise to baptismal water. He feeds you with a little bread and wine invested also with divine power. Outwardly these things appear pretty ordinary yet He promises they are the stimulus of extraordinary transformation.
The apostle says today, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.”5 Naivety or arrogance cannot excuse us from imitating the ways of the world. What is the nature of your conformity? Do you find yourself easily slipping into a secular mindset? Have you given yourself over to hedonistic pursuits? Conformity to a secular mindset can also be masked by pious appearances. Is church just a place to ease your conscience when you see God’s accusing finger pointing at you? Do you wish to feel forgiven and yet continue whole-heartedly in your sins? Are you struggling with addiction, greed, anger, or despair? Is there an even deeper darkness that shadows your life; an emptiness of soul? Are you on the precipice of losing hope, peering into the abyss?
No matter your darkness, Christ has been there and His light was not extinguished. The cross frees us from bondage to selfishness and fear. In Christ our few days treading this earth are no longer an end in themselves. But don’t ever promise people Christianity will make their life easier. That is a promise you cannot keep. Carrying convictions you’re asked to make sacrifices for can be a real headache. It’s not the kind of character-building many people are looking for. Seekers who invest in the church as a therapeutic cure-all soon find themselves disaffected. The baptized of Christ are not unaffected observers of religious theatre; they are participants in a tangible, personal, and epic struggle. Sin is not a theatrical tactic for TV drama; it is a real and present power in your life. The Holy Spirit is not theoretical concept found in books or stored in computer hard drives, the Spirit dwells in you.
It’s in the real struggles of life and in our carrying of the burdens of others that the answer to the question of who Jesus is starts to take on meaning. Think of the baby Moses today. Did Moses’ mother ever expect to see her child again? What anguish of soul must have seized her as she left him to the elements against her will! Many infants today- still unborn- are left to the clinical ‘elements’ of medical procedure. They do not fare as well as Moses. Only Christ can rectify such tragedy.
The Scriptures use every circumstance to teach. The basket in which the baby Moses was rescued was an ark, a vessel of salvation. It serves to remind us of God’s deliverance of the human race at the time of Noah and previews our rescue in the saving waters of baptism. The Scripture says, “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also…it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”6 The fundamental promise of baptism is the same for infants and adults alike: The grace of Christ secured at the cross cancels the eternal judgment of sin against the individual. In baptism the Holy Spirit is present both to engender faith and to foster that faith which already exists. A renewal of life is also effected. It is a life that for each of us is always a work in progress.
Dear friends, mortals cannot escape monotony. But Christ is immortal. How inadequately do we appreciate that He was a pedestrian among us pedestrians. He did not come to cure our present boredom but to free us from the tyranny of sin, death, and hell. Rest assured that in the resurrection all present questions about the ordinariness of Christian truth will be decisively moot. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Matthew 16:15 2 Matthew 16:16 3 Matthew 16:17
4 1 Corinthians 12:3 5 Romans 12:2 6 1 Peter 3:20-21
7 Psalm 142:2-3 8 John 14:6
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
24 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 16:15-16
Theme: Jesus The I Am
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is eternally and inconceivably captivating. But human life is mostly mundane. Those who believe Christianity will be a cure for mundaneness have misplaced hopes. Jesus Himself often seemed pedestrian. In a culture in which the ordinary has little appeal anything appearing regular is a tuff sell. Consider the approach of advertising: Hype is amplified to mania, mania raised to frenzy, frenzy intensified to hysteria, and hysteria is crowned with absolute madness. And all this to promote the watching of a contest in which grown men stampede one another in full physical exertion to control a small oblong object and move it to a specific geographical location! Ticket prices at this year’s Grand Final have been frozen. Maybe the threshold of hype has been reached?
But don’t think for a moment that society’s expectation that we deserve to be spellbound isn’t a contributing factor to the emptying of churches all across the West. People aren’t naturally captivated by the word of God. Yes, a celebrity-status, miracle-cure, emergency-worker, personal-life-coach-type Jesus is appealing to some, but the true nature of things is discovered sooner or later. Freedom from sin’s power is not something the average person is all that excited about.
Into this milieu of searching, satiation, and dis-satisfaction the timeless message of truth dares to assert its relevance. What should we get excited about? What should we fear? And on what basis? Today Jesus Christ poses this question to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”1
Finally Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”2 In this short exchange we have either the boldest confession of the greatest truth with the most far-reaching consequences ever predicted, or we have foolish hope in a deceptive claim with little influence in the final measure. The identity of Jesus is always pivotal.
The question is no less decisive today. It cannot be answered by consensus, surveys of popular opinion or even estimates of historical probability. Who is this Jesus? The question can be ignored but never completely avoided; forestalled but never escaped; denied but never eliminated. The person of Christ, the Son of the living God, His work, His mission, His rule, are decisive components no matter how we draw up the equation. To face mortality is to face this question. Mercy and justice are reconciled only in the person of Jesus.
As for Peter, so too for us, the answer is beyond us. It is revealed from above. Jesus said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”3 The Bible says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”4 But the work was completed here below. This Jesus was put to death by a Roman instrument of torture under the rule of Pontius Pilate. After three days He was seen alive and interacted with many witnesses. The darkness of the crucifixion gave way to the light of the resurrection and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
So who is this Jesus? He’s not an overlord who dictates your allegiance. He is a servant that suffers your punishment. He doesn’t make commands He fulfills them. He doesn’t organize a program to put you in good stead with the Almighty- a moral regime, a philosophical system, or a mystical routine- He declares the repentant sinner absolved by pure grace. He doesn’t give you negotiating tools to gain access to heaven, He Himself is the portal. The gates are flung wide open. He ties His promise to baptismal water. He feeds you with a little bread and wine invested also with divine power. Outwardly these things appear pretty ordinary yet He promises they are the stimulus of extraordinary transformation.
The apostle says today, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.”5 Naivety or arrogance cannot excuse us from imitating the ways of the world. What is the nature of your conformity? Do you find yourself easily slipping into a secular mindset? Have you given yourself over to hedonistic pursuits? Conformity to a secular mindset can also be masked by pious appearances. Is church just a place to ease your conscience when you see God’s accusing finger pointing at you? Do you wish to feel forgiven and yet continue whole-heartedly in your sins? Are you struggling with addiction, greed, anger, or despair? Is there an even deeper darkness that shadows your life; an emptiness of soul? Are you on the precipice of losing hope, peering into the abyss?
No matter your darkness, Christ has been there and His light was not extinguished. The cross frees us from bondage to selfishness and fear. In Christ our few days treading this earth are no longer an end in themselves. But don’t ever promise people Christianity will make their life easier. That is a promise you cannot keep. Carrying convictions you’re asked to make sacrifices for can be a real headache. It’s not the kind of character-building many people are looking for. Seekers who invest in the church as a therapeutic cure-all soon find themselves disaffected. The baptized of Christ are not unaffected observers of religious theatre; they are participants in a tangible, personal, and epic struggle. Sin is not a theatrical tactic for TV drama; it is a real and present power in your life. The Holy Spirit is not theoretical concept found in books or stored in computer hard drives, the Spirit dwells in you.
It’s in the real struggles of life and in our carrying of the burdens of others that the answer to the question of who Jesus is starts to take on meaning. Think of the baby Moses today. Did Moses’ mother ever expect to see her child again? What anguish of soul must have seized her as she left him to the elements against her will! Many infants today- still unborn- are left to the clinical ‘elements’ of medical procedure. They do not fare as well as Moses. Only Christ can rectify such tragedy.
The Scriptures use every circumstance to teach. The basket in which the baby Moses was rescued was an ark, a vessel of salvation. It serves to remind us of God’s deliverance of the human race at the time of Noah and previews our rescue in the saving waters of baptism. The Scripture says, “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also…it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”6 The fundamental promise of baptism is the same for infants and adults alike: The grace of Christ secured at the cross cancels the eternal judgment of sin against the individual. In baptism the Holy Spirit is present both to engender faith and to foster that faith which already exists. A renewal of life is also effected. It is a life that for each of us is always a work in progress.
Dear friends, mortals cannot escape monotony. But Christ is immortal. How inadequately do we appreciate that He was a pedestrian among us pedestrians. He did not come to cure our present boredom but to free us from the tyranny of sin, death, and hell. Rest assured that in the resurrection all present questions about the ordinariness of Christian truth will be decisively moot. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Matthew 16:15 2 Matthew 16:16 3 Matthew 16:17
4 1 Corinthians 12:3 5 Romans 12:2 6 1 Peter 3:20-21
7 Psalm 142:2-3 8 John 14:6
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
24 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, August 18, 2014
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Genesis 45:5
Theme: Sent Ahead By God
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
It was a family fractured by sin. Jealousy, deceit, anger, and selfishness had characterized the dynamic between Joseph and his brothers. Does it sound familiar? There was little reason for the brothers to be hopeful. And yet when Joseph reveals himself he says, “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”1 The brothers were at first too crippled with fear to respond. After all they had left him for dead and now he had the power to execute them
Joseph was looking for humility in his brothers but he was not seeking revenge. Had you walked a mile in the shoes of Joseph would you have come to the same destination? Having the upper hand would you have wielded it with such wisdom and humility? The urge to get revenge never helps to facilitate repentance in the person who has wronged us. Forgiving others is not optional; it is a command. “If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”2 These are the words of Jesus. He isn’t saying that the forgiveness He offers is contingent upon ours. His pardon is complete, perfect, and entirely independent of our actions. But an unwillingness to forgive others is a cause to question whether we really believe God has forgiven us. We have no power to forgive if we don’t believe God has forgiven us. When we hold grudges we usually hurt ourselves more than others.
But the crux of the narrative is not that it’s an example of a moral imperative we are bound to follow; that is, because Joseph forgave his brothers we must forgive others. The scope is much larger than that of the dynamic of a restored family. The life of Joseph is one thread woven into a rich tapestry depicting God’s plan of salvation. Joseph believed that God sent him to Egypt so that a remnant of the faithful might be preserved. The actions of God are at the centre of the story. His brothers sold Joseph into slavery but God transferred him to a position of authority. There is a view from below and a view from above. The eyes of faith see in Joseph an image of Christ.
But the blindness of sin can only attribute the events of history to chance or the triumph or defeat of human endeavor. Dear friends, as we seek to honestly assess the shortcomings which characterize the times in which we live we must consider whether we truly believe that God is at work in human affairs. Do we believe that in Christ God has made tangible intervention into our world? Or are we playing religious games and trying to keep up moral appearances? Jesus said, “When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.”3
Christ sheds light into our darkness. God embraces us in our brokenness. Christ was sent ahead to the cross. He was sent ahead to bear the judgment of God’s righteous wrath against all humanity. He has gone ahead of us as the first one to be resurrected from the dead. The Scripture says, “Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.”4 It says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.”5
Where there is forgiveness there is freedom. It was a hard-fought freedom secured at the price of Christ’s blood. But we shouldn’t think for a minute this freedom means an effortless existence. The baptismal life is a life of struggle. The Holy Spirit must continually fortify us to resist the temptations that surround us and engage the opportunities before us. Old habits die hard. Like caged animals that crawl back to the safety of what they know even though freed, we have the tendency to crawl back to the ‘safety’ of the law and live under the legalism of self-determination and self-focus.
Dear friends, the gospel changes things. It frees us to see things from God’s perspective. If it doesn’t change things then it’s not the message of Christ crucified, of Christ for us, of Christ the Redeemer and Deliverer, of Christ the wellspring of grace, life and peace that we are trusting in but some fabrication of false hope. Every falsification of the gospel has this trait: It denies to us the certainty of God’s unlimited compassion and the freedom that it brings. It always does so by robbing Christ of His glory in some measure. Only in knowing that “God our Saviour, (who) desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”6 can we have absolute certainty. God reveals His will for us in the work of Christ.
Was it God’s will that Joseph was treated so unfairly and sold into slavery by his brothers? It was certainly God’s will that he became ruler in Egypt. And it was certainly God’s will that through his provision the Israelites would be spared during the famine. It is never God’s will that evil would befall us yet it is always God’s will to accomplish His purposes even in the most difficult of circumstances. He seeks always to draw us closer to Himself. Adversity is often the best occasion for this. The Psalmist cries out to the Lord saying, “I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.”7 It is always God’s will that we know His Son who is the “way and the truth and the life”8
A sincere Christian will always want to know the will of God also for their personal situation. Here we must understand that God molds us to our circumstances. People too often set up a false dichotomy- a right verses wrong, good verses bad choice. Then they agonize about “finding” out what God’s will is so that they don’t make the wrong choice. We must be careful not to confuse our strong desires or fears with God’s will. In fact, Christian freedom often allows us many options that may be equally God-pleasing. We’re better off asking how our opportunity to witness to His name might be affected. Does the change we’re considering- change of career, change of location, change of the way we use our time, talents or treasures, change of perspective- give us greater opportunity to impact people’s spiritual well-being?
Joseph was sent ahead to Egypt to prepare for a seven-year famine. There is never famine in God’s presence. We have the feast of His body and blood. We have the nurture of His word and Spirit. We can have a temporal famine while enjoying a spiritual feast. He restores the fractured human race through Jesus. He promises to resurrect our broken mortal frames. Christ has been sent ahead and He prepares the way for us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Genesis 45:5 2 Matthew 6:15 3 John 12:44-46
4 Hebrews 9:24 5 John 3:17-18 6 1 Timothy 2:3-4
7 Psalm 142:2-3 8 John 14:6
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
17 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Genesis 45:5
Theme: Sent Ahead By God
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
It was a family fractured by sin. Jealousy, deceit, anger, and selfishness had characterized the dynamic between Joseph and his brothers. Does it sound familiar? There was little reason for the brothers to be hopeful. And yet when Joseph reveals himself he says, “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”1 The brothers were at first too crippled with fear to respond. After all they had left him for dead and now he had the power to execute them
Joseph was looking for humility in his brothers but he was not seeking revenge. Had you walked a mile in the shoes of Joseph would you have come to the same destination? Having the upper hand would you have wielded it with such wisdom and humility? The urge to get revenge never helps to facilitate repentance in the person who has wronged us. Forgiving others is not optional; it is a command. “If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”2 These are the words of Jesus. He isn’t saying that the forgiveness He offers is contingent upon ours. His pardon is complete, perfect, and entirely independent of our actions. But an unwillingness to forgive others is a cause to question whether we really believe God has forgiven us. We have no power to forgive if we don’t believe God has forgiven us. When we hold grudges we usually hurt ourselves more than others.
But the crux of the narrative is not that it’s an example of a moral imperative we are bound to follow; that is, because Joseph forgave his brothers we must forgive others. The scope is much larger than that of the dynamic of a restored family. The life of Joseph is one thread woven into a rich tapestry depicting God’s plan of salvation. Joseph believed that God sent him to Egypt so that a remnant of the faithful might be preserved. The actions of God are at the centre of the story. His brothers sold Joseph into slavery but God transferred him to a position of authority. There is a view from below and a view from above. The eyes of faith see in Joseph an image of Christ.
But the blindness of sin can only attribute the events of history to chance or the triumph or defeat of human endeavor. Dear friends, as we seek to honestly assess the shortcomings which characterize the times in which we live we must consider whether we truly believe that God is at work in human affairs. Do we believe that in Christ God has made tangible intervention into our world? Or are we playing religious games and trying to keep up moral appearances? Jesus said, “When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.”3
Christ sheds light into our darkness. God embraces us in our brokenness. Christ was sent ahead to the cross. He was sent ahead to bear the judgment of God’s righteous wrath against all humanity. He has gone ahead of us as the first one to be resurrected from the dead. The Scripture says, “Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.”4 It says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.”5
Where there is forgiveness there is freedom. It was a hard-fought freedom secured at the price of Christ’s blood. But we shouldn’t think for a minute this freedom means an effortless existence. The baptismal life is a life of struggle. The Holy Spirit must continually fortify us to resist the temptations that surround us and engage the opportunities before us. Old habits die hard. Like caged animals that crawl back to the safety of what they know even though freed, we have the tendency to crawl back to the ‘safety’ of the law and live under the legalism of self-determination and self-focus.
Dear friends, the gospel changes things. It frees us to see things from God’s perspective. If it doesn’t change things then it’s not the message of Christ crucified, of Christ for us, of Christ the Redeemer and Deliverer, of Christ the wellspring of grace, life and peace that we are trusting in but some fabrication of false hope. Every falsification of the gospel has this trait: It denies to us the certainty of God’s unlimited compassion and the freedom that it brings. It always does so by robbing Christ of His glory in some measure. Only in knowing that “God our Saviour, (who) desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”6 can we have absolute certainty. God reveals His will for us in the work of Christ.
Was it God’s will that Joseph was treated so unfairly and sold into slavery by his brothers? It was certainly God’s will that he became ruler in Egypt. And it was certainly God’s will that through his provision the Israelites would be spared during the famine. It is never God’s will that evil would befall us yet it is always God’s will to accomplish His purposes even in the most difficult of circumstances. He seeks always to draw us closer to Himself. Adversity is often the best occasion for this. The Psalmist cries out to the Lord saying, “I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.”7 It is always God’s will that we know His Son who is the “way and the truth and the life”8
A sincere Christian will always want to know the will of God also for their personal situation. Here we must understand that God molds us to our circumstances. People too often set up a false dichotomy- a right verses wrong, good verses bad choice. Then they agonize about “finding” out what God’s will is so that they don’t make the wrong choice. We must be careful not to confuse our strong desires or fears with God’s will. In fact, Christian freedom often allows us many options that may be equally God-pleasing. We’re better off asking how our opportunity to witness to His name might be affected. Does the change we’re considering- change of career, change of location, change of the way we use our time, talents or treasures, change of perspective- give us greater opportunity to impact people’s spiritual well-being?
Joseph was sent ahead to Egypt to prepare for a seven-year famine. There is never famine in God’s presence. We have the feast of His body and blood. We have the nurture of His word and Spirit. We can have a temporal famine while enjoying a spiritual feast. He restores the fractured human race through Jesus. He promises to resurrect our broken mortal frames. Christ has been sent ahead and He prepares the way for us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Genesis 45:5 2 Matthew 6:15 3 John 12:44-46
4 Hebrews 9:24 5 John 3:17-18 6 1 Timothy 2:3-4
7 Psalm 142:2-3 8 John 14:6
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
17 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 14:27
Theme: “Take Courage!”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Christ is present with His people. Our confidence should be no less than that of the disciples on the lake of Galilee. It was no magician’s trick as Jesus walked on the sea towards their fishing vessel. His divinity was soon to be definitively verified by His resurrection.
It wasn’t the first time they had witnessed Jesus’ command over nature. Previously they saw Him calm the storm at sea and they marveled and questioned what kind of man He could be. Now their response is much more resolute- they bow down and worship Him, they confess Him to be the Son of God. Though it will falter in days to come, their faith is strengthening.
Jesus bid Peter to come out to Him on the water. What would you have done? The rest of the disciples remained huddled in the boat. Who dares to claim the courage and audacity of Peter! Yet faith is not constituted by its owner, but by its object. Our command from God, though lacking the immediate context of Peter, is no less authentic. In the midst of the chaos and turmoil of the world and while the storms of life whip up winds and waves all around we are told to remain tethered to the anchor. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”1
Easier said than done! Especially when we’re eager to play around in deep water out of sight of the shore or the boat! The untamed sea has always been a biblical symbol of a world gone feral because of sin. In this fallen world right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and evil can only be distinguished by the declaration of God. We can debate all we want about appropriate values and ethics for a free and democratic society. We can seek consensus on those things that contribute to the common good. It is necessary that we do these things. But all agreements and conclusions cannot ease the conscience of the believer if they conflict with the clear word of God. Neither strength of sentiment nor degree of popularity trump the decrees of the Almighty.
We must face the truth, for instance, that there is pressure to change the definition of marriage partly because Christians have long since been complicit in the abandonment of fidelity in marriage. Perhaps the handwriting was on the wall and we didn’t see it. We can hardly complain when the sanctity of life is not honoured when we stand by as euthanasia, abortion, and violence gain legal protection. Sinners sink in an ocean of sin just as Peter sunk in a sea of water. For these failures we are called to repentance.
Peter had an experience reminiscent of his baptism. Baptism involves a drowning of the sinful, doubting nature and a rising of faith that finds new life in Christ. Every time we cry out to God in repentance, every time we petition Him for deliverance, we return to the baptismal promise. Jesus’ rescue of Peter is immediate. He chastises him for doubting but he doesn’t let Him drown. The Holy Spirit will never snuff out even the most tenuous flicker of faith.
Dear friends, our faith does not rest on the mere possibility that Christ may one day be summoned before us to prove His divinity. Nor does it rely on a mental image of God appearing to us. Nor is it contingent upon our efforts to prove God’s existence. We have the Word. We have the testimony of many witnesses. Christ has been raised from the dead. The Messiah that was foretold was sacrificed for the sins of the world. He bore the penalty of all humanity’s guilt. The Holy Spirit connects us to the benefits of this redemption through the word and sacraments. Through the same Spirit we confess a suffering Saviour who went to the cross.
Consider carefully the words of the apostle. “The righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the deep?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”2
Such confession has connotations of a public witness that has very tangible and serious consequences. The more Christianity gets pushed to the fringes the more courage it will take to confess Christ. A believer is never a strictly private being. The heart is moved and the mouth speaks. The heart is moved and the arms reach out. The heart is moved and the feet stride forth. The righteousness of Christ dwelling in an individual by faith is like a beam of light that cannot be completely concealed because it will bounce around actively and vibrantly until it finds an angle to shine forth.
The more Christianity gets pushed to the fringes the more courage it will take to confess Christ. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the decline of the churches over the recent decades. It’s comfortable to associate with things that aren’t opposed or questioned by the majority in society. That is no longer the case for Christian truth. Is the Holy Spirt purging Christ’s church? Is He doing so to make it stronger in the face of what’s to come? In a warning to the church at Laodicea Christ said, “Because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”3 There weren’t may half-hearted Christians in the centuries of the Roman persecutions. There probably aren’t many half-hearted Christians in Iraq or Syria today.
The Bible contains a catalogue of testimonies of people throughout the millennia who faced harrowing circumstances. Hebrews says they were, “destitute, persecuted and mistreated- the world was not worthy of them.”4 But we have more than the encouragement of the saints; we have the promise of Him who is the victor over death. This truth keeps everything in perspective, as the Psalmist says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?”5And Isaiah the prophet says, “Do not call conspiracy everything these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.” The Lord Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy, He is the One you are to fear, He is the One you are to dread.”6 “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”7 He will not fail us.
Come illness, injury, or loss; accident, incident or misfortune, persecution or suffering; come what may, still, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Finally, we can be intrepid though the prospect of death looms over us. Humanly we may tremble and our faith may near the limits of its elasticity but the truth to which that faith clings cannot be moved. “We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”8 The Scripture says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”9 Those arms that were stretched out on the cross for us will embrace us for eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Hebrews 12:2 2 Romans 10:6-9 3 Revelation 3:17
4 Hebrews 11:37-38 5 Psalm 27:1 6 Isiah 8:12-13
7 Luther’s Small Catechism 8 Hebrews 12:28 9Deuteronomy 33:27
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
10 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 14:27
Theme: “Take Courage!”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Christ is present with His people. Our confidence should be no less than that of the disciples on the lake of Galilee. It was no magician’s trick as Jesus walked on the sea towards their fishing vessel. His divinity was soon to be definitively verified by His resurrection.
It wasn’t the first time they had witnessed Jesus’ command over nature. Previously they saw Him calm the storm at sea and they marveled and questioned what kind of man He could be. Now their response is much more resolute- they bow down and worship Him, they confess Him to be the Son of God. Though it will falter in days to come, their faith is strengthening.
Jesus bid Peter to come out to Him on the water. What would you have done? The rest of the disciples remained huddled in the boat. Who dares to claim the courage and audacity of Peter! Yet faith is not constituted by its owner, but by its object. Our command from God, though lacking the immediate context of Peter, is no less authentic. In the midst of the chaos and turmoil of the world and while the storms of life whip up winds and waves all around we are told to remain tethered to the anchor. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”1
Easier said than done! Especially when we’re eager to play around in deep water out of sight of the shore or the boat! The untamed sea has always been a biblical symbol of a world gone feral because of sin. In this fallen world right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and evil can only be distinguished by the declaration of God. We can debate all we want about appropriate values and ethics for a free and democratic society. We can seek consensus on those things that contribute to the common good. It is necessary that we do these things. But all agreements and conclusions cannot ease the conscience of the believer if they conflict with the clear word of God. Neither strength of sentiment nor degree of popularity trump the decrees of the Almighty.
We must face the truth, for instance, that there is pressure to change the definition of marriage partly because Christians have long since been complicit in the abandonment of fidelity in marriage. Perhaps the handwriting was on the wall and we didn’t see it. We can hardly complain when the sanctity of life is not honoured when we stand by as euthanasia, abortion, and violence gain legal protection. Sinners sink in an ocean of sin just as Peter sunk in a sea of water. For these failures we are called to repentance.
Peter had an experience reminiscent of his baptism. Baptism involves a drowning of the sinful, doubting nature and a rising of faith that finds new life in Christ. Every time we cry out to God in repentance, every time we petition Him for deliverance, we return to the baptismal promise. Jesus’ rescue of Peter is immediate. He chastises him for doubting but he doesn’t let Him drown. The Holy Spirit will never snuff out even the most tenuous flicker of faith.
Dear friends, our faith does not rest on the mere possibility that Christ may one day be summoned before us to prove His divinity. Nor does it rely on a mental image of God appearing to us. Nor is it contingent upon our efforts to prove God’s existence. We have the Word. We have the testimony of many witnesses. Christ has been raised from the dead. The Messiah that was foretold was sacrificed for the sins of the world. He bore the penalty of all humanity’s guilt. The Holy Spirit connects us to the benefits of this redemption through the word and sacraments. Through the same Spirit we confess a suffering Saviour who went to the cross.
Consider carefully the words of the apostle. “The righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the deep?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”2
Such confession has connotations of a public witness that has very tangible and serious consequences. The more Christianity gets pushed to the fringes the more courage it will take to confess Christ. A believer is never a strictly private being. The heart is moved and the mouth speaks. The heart is moved and the arms reach out. The heart is moved and the feet stride forth. The righteousness of Christ dwelling in an individual by faith is like a beam of light that cannot be completely concealed because it will bounce around actively and vibrantly until it finds an angle to shine forth.
The more Christianity gets pushed to the fringes the more courage it will take to confess Christ. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the decline of the churches over the recent decades. It’s comfortable to associate with things that aren’t opposed or questioned by the majority in society. That is no longer the case for Christian truth. Is the Holy Spirt purging Christ’s church? Is He doing so to make it stronger in the face of what’s to come? In a warning to the church at Laodicea Christ said, “Because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”3 There weren’t may half-hearted Christians in the centuries of the Roman persecutions. There probably aren’t many half-hearted Christians in Iraq or Syria today.
The Bible contains a catalogue of testimonies of people throughout the millennia who faced harrowing circumstances. Hebrews says they were, “destitute, persecuted and mistreated- the world was not worthy of them.”4 But we have more than the encouragement of the saints; we have the promise of Him who is the victor over death. This truth keeps everything in perspective, as the Psalmist says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?”5And Isaiah the prophet says, “Do not call conspiracy everything these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.” The Lord Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy, He is the One you are to fear, He is the One you are to dread.”6 “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”7 He will not fail us.
Come illness, injury, or loss; accident, incident or misfortune, persecution or suffering; come what may, still, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Finally, we can be intrepid though the prospect of death looms over us. Humanly we may tremble and our faith may near the limits of its elasticity but the truth to which that faith clings cannot be moved. “We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”8 The Scripture says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”9 Those arms that were stretched out on the cross for us will embrace us for eternity. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Hebrews 12:2 2 Romans 10:6-9 3 Revelation 3:17
4 Hebrews 11:37-38 5 Psalm 27:1 6 Isiah 8:12-13
7 Luther’s Small Catechism 8 Hebrews 12:28 9Deuteronomy 33:27
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
10 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, August 4, 2014
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Genesis 32:30
Theme: Struggle and Blessing
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is not secretive. Yet His blessings are often wrapped in mystery. As we live in the tension of already being God’s redeemed children but not yet being released from the effects of sin, life inevitably involves struggle. Satan seeks to hide God’s promises and blessings from our sight. He wants to create doubt. He has no ability to derail God’s plans but that doesn’t stop him from trying. Often we allow ourselves to be easy targets because we are so absorbed with the mundane issues of life. We may find ourselves wondering what happened to God.
“Out of sight out of mind.” You’ve probably said it yourself many times; undoubtedly you’ve experienced the truth that it contains. It is easy to lose track of, lose focus on, or forget about all together things that are not in our immediate field of vision or have no triggers to recall our attention to them. We have limited capacity. The age of technology is meant to assist us but it can also confuse us and give us a false sense of being organized. Think how many millions of dollars of super have been lost track of which if people had right in their grasp they would never let go of! But out of sight out of mind!
Today the patriarch Jacob is an intriguing example of struggling with the hiddenness of God’s blessings. Afraid of the imminent meeting with his brother Esau whom he had deceived out of his birthright Jacob put his affairs in order and settled in for the night. There Jacob was alone. He had sent his family and possessions ahead in preparation for appeasing his brother. That night he wrestled with God. The exact nature of the encounter is hard to visualize. It is certainly described as a physical tussle. We can see in it an analogy for the struggle of faith.
It’s important to realize that it’s our sinfulness that makes faith a struggle at all. Were we not blinded by love for self and love for idols our trust in God would be unimpeded. If we claim that our trust in God never meets with any challenge or misgiving then we are only fooling ourselves. Your sin cannot be lightly passed over and faith that is only a mental exercise or religious association is not authentic. Christ came for real sinners and to believe that we are real sinners and Christ is the real Saviour is exactly where the struggle lies. Only the Holy Spirit can bridge that chasm.
At the end of the encounter Jacob had his named changed to Israel. Implicit in the name is the idea of struggle. It becomes the covenant name for God’s people. The Israelites become the people blessed by God since the establishment of the covenant with Abraham, though the promise of deliverance goes back to Adam and Eve. St. Paul refers to the New Testament church also as “the Israel of God.”1 Jews do not become Gentiles, but in the proper spiritual sense Gentiles become Jews, true believers. Strictly secular Jews however, are excluded from the benefits of the covenant because of their rejection of the Messiah. Baptismal water is thicker than Jewish blood.
More importantly, Jesus becomes Israel reduced to one. He alone embodies faithfulness to Yahweh. In Him is reconstituted the true church and in Him humanity is re-ordered. Christ is the new Adam, the ruler par excellance in the line of David, the prophet that supersedes Moses and the true heir of Abraham. As the second, or new Adam He restores the image of God. As the King in David’s line He rules over an eternal kingdom that eliminates all sin, death, and decay. As the greatest of all prophets He is the Word become flesh who continues to proclaim His gospel of salvation through word and sacrament. As the seed of Abraham He is the fulfillment of God’s covenant forged with His own blood. Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”2
Christ is your Lord and Master, but He is the Servant King. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”3 That was a radical message for His age. To the extent that it doesn’t sound radical to us credit is due to centuries of Christian influence on society. The concept of rulers understanding their vocations as one of service is a thoroughly Christian understanding of leadership. Culture is quickly departing again from that understanding. Modern humanistic philosophies of the welfare state and their claims to be motivated by compassion have only superficial similarities. Secular humanism recognizes no objective truth, is answerable to no higher power, and fears no divine judgment. The power of coercion is finally how it rules. Might makes right. We’re seeing already that policy isn’t necessarily driven by consensus or democratic processes, but rather by those who have the means and the will to push their agenda on others.
One of the greatest misunderstandings of Christians is to correlate faith with a life of ease or success. Temporal prosperity is not a promised reward of faith. Perhaps you’ve heard it before: If only your faith is strong enough you will be healthy, wealthy, and wise. If only you’re obedient you will be spared from trial and struggle. Wrong! No! Not even close! The Bible teaches exactly the opposite correlation. Obedience to God will bring conflict with the world.
God’s blessings are often revealed most clearly in the midst of struggle. In fact, sometimes that’s the only way we see them at all. Precious metal is purified by extreme heat. Faith is refined as it passes through the crucible of life’s trials. Testing helps us sort out our priorities and reminds us who and what we believe in. What does the Redeemer say? The One who delivers His people? “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”4
Jacob called the place where He wrestled with God Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’”5 Dear friends, you will see God face to face. The Scripture says this of the saints in glory, “They will be with His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”6 But even now God’s baptized people see Him in the person of His Son. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”7 And not only with the eyes of faith but with the mouth and tongue you meet Him as you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
Just as we can call this place Bethel, meaning ‘house of God’ so too we can call it Peniel, meaning ‘face of God’. How appropriate that we are sent out into God’s mission field to live as His witnesses with those words of blessing- words which denote our reconciliation with Him- that have rung in His people’s ears for thousands of years, “The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”8 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Galatians 6:16 2 Romans 4:25 3 Matthew 20:28
4 John 16:33 5 Genesis 32:30 6 Revelation 21:3-4
7 2 Corinthians 4:6
8 Number 6:25-26
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
3 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Genesis 32:30
Theme: Struggle and Blessing
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is not secretive. Yet His blessings are often wrapped in mystery. As we live in the tension of already being God’s redeemed children but not yet being released from the effects of sin, life inevitably involves struggle. Satan seeks to hide God’s promises and blessings from our sight. He wants to create doubt. He has no ability to derail God’s plans but that doesn’t stop him from trying. Often we allow ourselves to be easy targets because we are so absorbed with the mundane issues of life. We may find ourselves wondering what happened to God.
“Out of sight out of mind.” You’ve probably said it yourself many times; undoubtedly you’ve experienced the truth that it contains. It is easy to lose track of, lose focus on, or forget about all together things that are not in our immediate field of vision or have no triggers to recall our attention to them. We have limited capacity. The age of technology is meant to assist us but it can also confuse us and give us a false sense of being organized. Think how many millions of dollars of super have been lost track of which if people had right in their grasp they would never let go of! But out of sight out of mind!
Today the patriarch Jacob is an intriguing example of struggling with the hiddenness of God’s blessings. Afraid of the imminent meeting with his brother Esau whom he had deceived out of his birthright Jacob put his affairs in order and settled in for the night. There Jacob was alone. He had sent his family and possessions ahead in preparation for appeasing his brother. That night he wrestled with God. The exact nature of the encounter is hard to visualize. It is certainly described as a physical tussle. We can see in it an analogy for the struggle of faith.
It’s important to realize that it’s our sinfulness that makes faith a struggle at all. Were we not blinded by love for self and love for idols our trust in God would be unimpeded. If we claim that our trust in God never meets with any challenge or misgiving then we are only fooling ourselves. Your sin cannot be lightly passed over and faith that is only a mental exercise or religious association is not authentic. Christ came for real sinners and to believe that we are real sinners and Christ is the real Saviour is exactly where the struggle lies. Only the Holy Spirit can bridge that chasm.
At the end of the encounter Jacob had his named changed to Israel. Implicit in the name is the idea of struggle. It becomes the covenant name for God’s people. The Israelites become the people blessed by God since the establishment of the covenant with Abraham, though the promise of deliverance goes back to Adam and Eve. St. Paul refers to the New Testament church also as “the Israel of God.”1 Jews do not become Gentiles, but in the proper spiritual sense Gentiles become Jews, true believers. Strictly secular Jews however, are excluded from the benefits of the covenant because of their rejection of the Messiah. Baptismal water is thicker than Jewish blood.
More importantly, Jesus becomes Israel reduced to one. He alone embodies faithfulness to Yahweh. In Him is reconstituted the true church and in Him humanity is re-ordered. Christ is the new Adam, the ruler par excellance in the line of David, the prophet that supersedes Moses and the true heir of Abraham. As the second, or new Adam He restores the image of God. As the King in David’s line He rules over an eternal kingdom that eliminates all sin, death, and decay. As the greatest of all prophets He is the Word become flesh who continues to proclaim His gospel of salvation through word and sacrament. As the seed of Abraham He is the fulfillment of God’s covenant forged with His own blood. Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”2
Christ is your Lord and Master, but He is the Servant King. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”3 That was a radical message for His age. To the extent that it doesn’t sound radical to us credit is due to centuries of Christian influence on society. The concept of rulers understanding their vocations as one of service is a thoroughly Christian understanding of leadership. Culture is quickly departing again from that understanding. Modern humanistic philosophies of the welfare state and their claims to be motivated by compassion have only superficial similarities. Secular humanism recognizes no objective truth, is answerable to no higher power, and fears no divine judgment. The power of coercion is finally how it rules. Might makes right. We’re seeing already that policy isn’t necessarily driven by consensus or democratic processes, but rather by those who have the means and the will to push their agenda on others.
One of the greatest misunderstandings of Christians is to correlate faith with a life of ease or success. Temporal prosperity is not a promised reward of faith. Perhaps you’ve heard it before: If only your faith is strong enough you will be healthy, wealthy, and wise. If only you’re obedient you will be spared from trial and struggle. Wrong! No! Not even close! The Bible teaches exactly the opposite correlation. Obedience to God will bring conflict with the world.
God’s blessings are often revealed most clearly in the midst of struggle. In fact, sometimes that’s the only way we see them at all. Precious metal is purified by extreme heat. Faith is refined as it passes through the crucible of life’s trials. Testing helps us sort out our priorities and reminds us who and what we believe in. What does the Redeemer say? The One who delivers His people? “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”4
Jacob called the place where He wrestled with God Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’”5 Dear friends, you will see God face to face. The Scripture says this of the saints in glory, “They will be with His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”6 But even now God’s baptized people see Him in the person of His Son. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”7 And not only with the eyes of faith but with the mouth and tongue you meet Him as you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
Just as we can call this place Bethel, meaning ‘house of God’ so too we can call it Peniel, meaning ‘face of God’. How appropriate that we are sent out into God’s mission field to live as His witnesses with those words of blessing- words which denote our reconciliation with Him- that have rung in His people’s ears for thousands of years, “The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”8 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Galatians 6:16 2 Romans 4:25 3 Matthew 20:28
4 John 16:33 5 Genesis 32:30 6 Revelation 21:3-4
7 2 Corinthians 4:6
8 Number 6:25-26
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
3 August 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 13:49
Theme: “The Angels Will Come.”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Humanity moves towards a divinely determined end. It is moving towards finality. That is the belief of Christians. Life doesn’t unfold randomly, chaotically, open-endedly with no organized purpose or aim. Though no one knows when Christ will return we do know that we don’t have to worry about the triumph of uncertainty or indefiniteness. Christ has been vested with immortality and He promises the same to all of His followers. The Scripture says, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’”1
Again today Jesus teaches about these things in parables. Mustard seeds, yeast, treasure, pearls, and catches of fish are all points of comparison. All illustrate some aspect or dimension of the kingdom of God. Its blessings cannot be assessed by worldly standards; it’s presence measured by human wisdom; or its final consummation understood by human logic. The parables describe joy for those who hold dear heavenly treasures and weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who do not. The wicked and the evil will be sorted in the end. The angels will come.
Angels will be key players at the Second Coming of Christ. But we need not think that in the meantime their role is insignificant or irrelevant. Angels are not the delicate cherubs depicted in some medieval artwork. They don’t flit around trying to facilitate romantic connections or hover about like celestial birds. Angels are creatures of stature and purpose. They are commissioned with great tasks and vested with awe-inspiring power. They serve the King of kings and bear the authority of their master. We would do well to be more cognizant of their presence and more appreciative of their assistance. They are God’s agents for our benefit.
It is not the ministry of angels, however, that brings us to repentance. That is the work of the Spirit through the clear teaching of God’s word. The Spirit has a deeply entrenched worldview to overcome- one that puts the individual at the centre of existence. The sooner we understand that we are not self-existing, self-supporting, and self-directed the sooner we understand truth. There is no other path to healing; no other avenue to grace. We can say all the right things, play all the right games, make all the appropriate appearances in church, participate in all available works of service and charity, take all the right steps to pacify our consciences and still be living a facade. Why? Because we haven’t come to terms with or we have forgotten who and what we really are. Grace doesn’t exist for the self-righteous. It’s not in their vocabulary. It’s certainly not in our genes.
Therefore, sinners cannot be self-diagnosed. Like the sufferer of brain trauma we cannot accurately assess our own condition. Don’t draw in that breath that will attempt to breathe out some justification for your sins. The Old Adam must be suffocated. Take God at His word. He knows the evil that hides in your heart and takes form in your deeds. Don’t raise your ego to confront Him, bow your heart before Him.
He knows the seriousness of your guilt because He endured it. Christ has been in deeper darkness that we can ever know; His pain more profound than we can begin to image. He endured the weight of humanity’s transgressions. He was the sacrifice and He made atonement not with cooperation, but alone with His own blood. He willingly gave Himself over to death for our sins and for our salvation. He triumphed over death draining it of its power. Hear again the words of the Spirit, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, long with Him, graciously give us all things…Christ Jesus, who died- more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”2
And so in His grace you stand. You stand not under your own power, not vested with your own armor, not equipped with your own strategies, not needing to endure unspecified trials; you stand resurrected, you stand in the RISEN One, you stand in His truth, His light, His love; you stand in your baptismal promise. You stand in the Spirit embraced by the arms of the Father. Apart from Him we would fall into the abyss of darkness, pushed over like a house of cards, flattened an ant under the sole of a shoe; demolished like a sandcastle before a tidal wave.
Believers can stare down death. Our confidence is not arrogance. And our confidence cannot be maintained independently or indefinitely under its own steam. The church is always a hospital for sinners. Sensible people know they cannot survive without food and water. Honest Christians know their spiritual lives cannot survive without Christ’s body and blood, without the continual renewal and restoration of His forgiveness. His word and sacraments continually sustain our faith. Detached from them we fall into immediate spiritual decline.
The church is at times more or less compromised by many believers remaining in a state of suspended spiritual adolescence. It’s up to the experts or future historians to determine where we are on the scale today. But what is abundantly clear biblically is that faith can never be stagnant. Faith that remains in a state of suspended animation is a sham. Faith is living, breathing, and active. It cannot be still.
Even for the newly baptized infant the activities of the heart are dynamic. They are being influenced by the Spirit’s activity through God’s word; through hearing and learning the truth of God’s love. The activities of the heart are also being influenced by the corrosive power of sin and selfishness as sin always tries to reassert its dominance. While the believer rests in Christ and the promise of sins forgiven, he or she is at the same time engaged in the tension and struggle of living in the world but no longer being of the world. Christians yearn for a permanent home.
But we don’t sit around idly pondering heavenly mysteries. We are purposeful member of the kingdom. The more surgeons advance in their skill and experience the more opportunity they have to make a remarkable difference in peoples’ lives. But they also have more responsibility and the cost of making a mistake is greater. The more military personnel advance in their training the more opportunity they have to protect and rescue those at risk. But they also have greater responsibility and the consequence of failure is more significant. The more believers mature through the challenges they face the more responsibility God gives them to share the burdens of others. The Bible says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”3 Of course the resultant damage from failure is greater too, but Christ more than covers the risk.
Today’s final parable describes a net with the angels separating the fish at the end of the age. For the believer this brings together three realities; the eternal purpose of God before creation, the saving work of Christ on the cross, and the baptism of the believer into His death and resurrection. In baptism the Holy Spirit goes fishing. He pulls sinners out of the vast ocean of aimlessness and self-servitude and places them in communion with Himself and proper order with one another. The fish was one of the earliest symbols of the Christian faith. The Greek letters formed an acronym that meant Jesus Christ God’s Son, Saviour. This Saviour, our Saviour will not fail us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 1 Corinthians 15:54
2 Romans 8:31-32, 34
3 Galatians 6:2
4 1 Corinthians 5:12
5 Genesis 28:17
6 Romans 8:18
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
27 July 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 13:49
Theme: “The Angels Will Come.”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Humanity moves towards a divinely determined end. It is moving towards finality. That is the belief of Christians. Life doesn’t unfold randomly, chaotically, open-endedly with no organized purpose or aim. Though no one knows when Christ will return we do know that we don’t have to worry about the triumph of uncertainty or indefiniteness. Christ has been vested with immortality and He promises the same to all of His followers. The Scripture says, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’”1
Again today Jesus teaches about these things in parables. Mustard seeds, yeast, treasure, pearls, and catches of fish are all points of comparison. All illustrate some aspect or dimension of the kingdom of God. Its blessings cannot be assessed by worldly standards; it’s presence measured by human wisdom; or its final consummation understood by human logic. The parables describe joy for those who hold dear heavenly treasures and weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who do not. The wicked and the evil will be sorted in the end. The angels will come.
Angels will be key players at the Second Coming of Christ. But we need not think that in the meantime their role is insignificant or irrelevant. Angels are not the delicate cherubs depicted in some medieval artwork. They don’t flit around trying to facilitate romantic connections or hover about like celestial birds. Angels are creatures of stature and purpose. They are commissioned with great tasks and vested with awe-inspiring power. They serve the King of kings and bear the authority of their master. We would do well to be more cognizant of their presence and more appreciative of their assistance. They are God’s agents for our benefit.
It is not the ministry of angels, however, that brings us to repentance. That is the work of the Spirit through the clear teaching of God’s word. The Spirit has a deeply entrenched worldview to overcome- one that puts the individual at the centre of existence. The sooner we understand that we are not self-existing, self-supporting, and self-directed the sooner we understand truth. There is no other path to healing; no other avenue to grace. We can say all the right things, play all the right games, make all the appropriate appearances in church, participate in all available works of service and charity, take all the right steps to pacify our consciences and still be living a facade. Why? Because we haven’t come to terms with or we have forgotten who and what we really are. Grace doesn’t exist for the self-righteous. It’s not in their vocabulary. It’s certainly not in our genes.
Therefore, sinners cannot be self-diagnosed. Like the sufferer of brain trauma we cannot accurately assess our own condition. Don’t draw in that breath that will attempt to breathe out some justification for your sins. The Old Adam must be suffocated. Take God at His word. He knows the evil that hides in your heart and takes form in your deeds. Don’t raise your ego to confront Him, bow your heart before Him.
He knows the seriousness of your guilt because He endured it. Christ has been in deeper darkness that we can ever know; His pain more profound than we can begin to image. He endured the weight of humanity’s transgressions. He was the sacrifice and He made atonement not with cooperation, but alone with His own blood. He willingly gave Himself over to death for our sins and for our salvation. He triumphed over death draining it of its power. Hear again the words of the Spirit, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, long with Him, graciously give us all things…Christ Jesus, who died- more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”2
And so in His grace you stand. You stand not under your own power, not vested with your own armor, not equipped with your own strategies, not needing to endure unspecified trials; you stand resurrected, you stand in the RISEN One, you stand in His truth, His light, His love; you stand in your baptismal promise. You stand in the Spirit embraced by the arms of the Father. Apart from Him we would fall into the abyss of darkness, pushed over like a house of cards, flattened an ant under the sole of a shoe; demolished like a sandcastle before a tidal wave.
Believers can stare down death. Our confidence is not arrogance. And our confidence cannot be maintained independently or indefinitely under its own steam. The church is always a hospital for sinners. Sensible people know they cannot survive without food and water. Honest Christians know their spiritual lives cannot survive without Christ’s body and blood, without the continual renewal and restoration of His forgiveness. His word and sacraments continually sustain our faith. Detached from them we fall into immediate spiritual decline.
The church is at times more or less compromised by many believers remaining in a state of suspended spiritual adolescence. It’s up to the experts or future historians to determine where we are on the scale today. But what is abundantly clear biblically is that faith can never be stagnant. Faith that remains in a state of suspended animation is a sham. Faith is living, breathing, and active. It cannot be still.
Even for the newly baptized infant the activities of the heart are dynamic. They are being influenced by the Spirit’s activity through God’s word; through hearing and learning the truth of God’s love. The activities of the heart are also being influenced by the corrosive power of sin and selfishness as sin always tries to reassert its dominance. While the believer rests in Christ and the promise of sins forgiven, he or she is at the same time engaged in the tension and struggle of living in the world but no longer being of the world. Christians yearn for a permanent home.
But we don’t sit around idly pondering heavenly mysteries. We are purposeful member of the kingdom. The more surgeons advance in their skill and experience the more opportunity they have to make a remarkable difference in peoples’ lives. But they also have more responsibility and the cost of making a mistake is greater. The more military personnel advance in their training the more opportunity they have to protect and rescue those at risk. But they also have greater responsibility and the consequence of failure is more significant. The more believers mature through the challenges they face the more responsibility God gives them to share the burdens of others. The Bible says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”3 Of course the resultant damage from failure is greater too, but Christ more than covers the risk.
Today’s final parable describes a net with the angels separating the fish at the end of the age. For the believer this brings together three realities; the eternal purpose of God before creation, the saving work of Christ on the cross, and the baptism of the believer into His death and resurrection. In baptism the Holy Spirit goes fishing. He pulls sinners out of the vast ocean of aimlessness and self-servitude and places them in communion with Himself and proper order with one another. The fish was one of the earliest symbols of the Christian faith. The Greek letters formed an acronym that meant Jesus Christ God’s Son, Saviour. This Saviour, our Saviour will not fail us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 1 Corinthians 15:54
2 Romans 8:31-32, 34
3 Galatians 6:2
4 1 Corinthians 5:12
5 Genesis 28:17
6 Romans 8:18
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
27 July 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, July 21, 2014
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 13:36-43
Theme: Growing To Maturity
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God allows us to live in ambiguity and uncertainty. But how magnificent will it be when we enjoy the clarity and certitude of His unveiled presence! Paul encourages the baptized, saying, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above…set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”1 Christian hope is nothing less than the confidence that these things will come to pass.
But we are not spectators in this divine drama we are participants. Chapter 13 of Matthew is a collection of parables that together give a sweeping view of the mission of Christ and the consummation of His kingdom. Jesus was not a simpleton. His use of parables was not a way to simplify the truths of the kingdom for the illiterate or uninitiated. Instead they often revealed truths that weren’t easily digestible. The disciples themselves often struggled to comprehend. Again today they asked Jesus to explain it to them. The parable of the weeds and the wheat echoes the parable of the sower. It is, however, more confronting because it draws the listener past the human time-line to the final judgment and the consummation of His kingdom.
Jesus changes the points of comparison slightly. Now the good seed is the “sons of the kingdom”2, that is, believers. The weeds are the wicked, children of the devil, sown by him. Both are growing together and until the harvest nears and look much the same to the naked eye. The pivotal question of the parable is what should be done? The servants ask the master if they should go pull up the weeds. He says no “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.”3 God suffers an evil world to endure for the sake of the elect. But in the final measure, the angels will come to reap and everything will be sorted.
Meanwhile, life for believers is not tidy. Satan sees to that. The devil’s plans are not haphazard. His work is focused and intentional. And His troops are not always marshalled in clear and obvious distinction to the saints of the kingdom. Often they are scattered as spies or undercover agents in the midst of God’s people. Christ warns us not to make us panicked or paranoid but so that we have a sober and authentic understanding of spiritual realities that are often hidden from plain sight.
The good things of life, the blessings of God are often so inextricably enmeshed and entangled with the evil things, with those things Satan poisons and controls that they cannot be easily separated in this life. We persevere in the midst of evil. We are not objective observers standing aloof or watching from the outside. Your baptism clothes you with a spiritual armor. You don’t sit idly by in some separated enclave. You rub shoulders with the people of the world. We are always in the fray.
But, dear friends, we should never think that we have a leg up, some inherent spiritual advantage over any other person that exists. We are all equally sinners. We are all equally under the demands of the law. Any transgression of God’s will invites judgment. The dilemma is serious. The scripture is unequivocally clear that we are to love God above all things. Yet if we seek to love God strictly out of fear of hell or hope of going to heaven we are not really loving God at all. What we are actually doing is loving ourselves; looking out for our own best interests. Under the guise of piety we are seeking to save our own skin. The good news is any fear of judgment shows there is evidence of contrition in the heart. It’s in this kind of soil that the seed of the gospel grows. Only a repentant person is ready to hear the gospel.
The Holy Spirit sings a sweet tune for ears that are aching for the comfort of God. Christ has made known to us the Father’s unconditional love. In the clarity of His grace we see that our sins have been paid for because we see the cross. We see in the blackness of the crucifixion the light of His profound mercy. He forever rules as the risen Lord to continually intercede for us. Our lives are often marked by greyness and shadow but His presence ensures that we are never alone. Christ can never lose His own way so we need never fear being lost in the chaos of the world.
The parable today teaches us that the world is moving towards the final judgment. We cannot expect humanity to be characterized by truth and light or even civility. As we anticipate the advent of the Son of Man coming in glory we have confidence that the most heinous crimes committed in the history of humanity will be brought into the light and divine retribution will be rendered. We have no illusions of creating a utopia on earth. While we are salt, light, and leaven in the world we have no power to convert anyone, let alone control an evil society. St. Paul says, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”4 God is the judge. We have confidence in this.
So how can the faithful be distinguished from the wicked in the here and now? A superficial glance often won’t reveal. But faith does have fruits and God can discern our motives. Faith is evidenced in the desires and efforts of Christians to look to the well-being of others. Excluded, of course, are all efforts to gain notoriety through ostentatious generosity or hidden pride in our own charitableness. Both reveal perverse motives. We are transparent before God. But from faith flows concern for the spiritual well-being of others which is substantiated by our support for the proclamation and dissemination of God’s truth at home and abroad.
We must expect and prepare for increasing resistance to Christian truth. Christians can easily be overcome by a sense of injustice. Horrifying things go on in the world and often with the approval of the highest authorities. We may feel powerless to help, disheartened, and even begin to lose hope. The instantaneous nature of communication makes us more aware of evil in the world and gives focus to our prayer. But it should also make us mindful that we have limitations. We cannot take on the burdens of everyone. Christ bears the sins of the world on His shoulders, we don’t. We gather here because here God gives strength and life to His people.
Today the patriarch Jacob laid his head upon a stone and there God met him. Jacob set up the stone as a memorial and called it Bethel. Every place the Spirit gathers His people in worship could rightly be called Bethel. Bethel means ‘house of God’. The residents of God’s house receive the blessings of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jacob said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”5 Every time you are absolved of your sins you are at the gate of heaven. Each time you take Christ body and blood upon your lips you have a foretaste of the heavenly feast. God’s word brings to pass what it promises. Yes, the weeds continue to grow all around us. And that will cause us strife. The testing of our faith will also be necessary. But take heart in the words of the apostle who says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”6 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Colossians 1:1-4
2 Matthew 13:38
3 Matthew 13:39
4 1 Corinthians 5:12
5 Genesis 28:17
6 Romans 8:18
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
20 July 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 13:36-43
Theme: Growing To Maturity
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God allows us to live in ambiguity and uncertainty. But how magnificent will it be when we enjoy the clarity and certitude of His unveiled presence! Paul encourages the baptized, saying, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above…set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”1 Christian hope is nothing less than the confidence that these things will come to pass.
But we are not spectators in this divine drama we are participants. Chapter 13 of Matthew is a collection of parables that together give a sweeping view of the mission of Christ and the consummation of His kingdom. Jesus was not a simpleton. His use of parables was not a way to simplify the truths of the kingdom for the illiterate or uninitiated. Instead they often revealed truths that weren’t easily digestible. The disciples themselves often struggled to comprehend. Again today they asked Jesus to explain it to them. The parable of the weeds and the wheat echoes the parable of the sower. It is, however, more confronting because it draws the listener past the human time-line to the final judgment and the consummation of His kingdom.
Jesus changes the points of comparison slightly. Now the good seed is the “sons of the kingdom”2, that is, believers. The weeds are the wicked, children of the devil, sown by him. Both are growing together and until the harvest nears and look much the same to the naked eye. The pivotal question of the parable is what should be done? The servants ask the master if they should go pull up the weeds. He says no “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.”3 God suffers an evil world to endure for the sake of the elect. But in the final measure, the angels will come to reap and everything will be sorted.
Meanwhile, life for believers is not tidy. Satan sees to that. The devil’s plans are not haphazard. His work is focused and intentional. And His troops are not always marshalled in clear and obvious distinction to the saints of the kingdom. Often they are scattered as spies or undercover agents in the midst of God’s people. Christ warns us not to make us panicked or paranoid but so that we have a sober and authentic understanding of spiritual realities that are often hidden from plain sight.
The good things of life, the blessings of God are often so inextricably enmeshed and entangled with the evil things, with those things Satan poisons and controls that they cannot be easily separated in this life. We persevere in the midst of evil. We are not objective observers standing aloof or watching from the outside. Your baptism clothes you with a spiritual armor. You don’t sit idly by in some separated enclave. You rub shoulders with the people of the world. We are always in the fray.
But, dear friends, we should never think that we have a leg up, some inherent spiritual advantage over any other person that exists. We are all equally sinners. We are all equally under the demands of the law. Any transgression of God’s will invites judgment. The dilemma is serious. The scripture is unequivocally clear that we are to love God above all things. Yet if we seek to love God strictly out of fear of hell or hope of going to heaven we are not really loving God at all. What we are actually doing is loving ourselves; looking out for our own best interests. Under the guise of piety we are seeking to save our own skin. The good news is any fear of judgment shows there is evidence of contrition in the heart. It’s in this kind of soil that the seed of the gospel grows. Only a repentant person is ready to hear the gospel.
The Holy Spirit sings a sweet tune for ears that are aching for the comfort of God. Christ has made known to us the Father’s unconditional love. In the clarity of His grace we see that our sins have been paid for because we see the cross. We see in the blackness of the crucifixion the light of His profound mercy. He forever rules as the risen Lord to continually intercede for us. Our lives are often marked by greyness and shadow but His presence ensures that we are never alone. Christ can never lose His own way so we need never fear being lost in the chaos of the world.
The parable today teaches us that the world is moving towards the final judgment. We cannot expect humanity to be characterized by truth and light or even civility. As we anticipate the advent of the Son of Man coming in glory we have confidence that the most heinous crimes committed in the history of humanity will be brought into the light and divine retribution will be rendered. We have no illusions of creating a utopia on earth. While we are salt, light, and leaven in the world we have no power to convert anyone, let alone control an evil society. St. Paul says, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”4 God is the judge. We have confidence in this.
So how can the faithful be distinguished from the wicked in the here and now? A superficial glance often won’t reveal. But faith does have fruits and God can discern our motives. Faith is evidenced in the desires and efforts of Christians to look to the well-being of others. Excluded, of course, are all efforts to gain notoriety through ostentatious generosity or hidden pride in our own charitableness. Both reveal perverse motives. We are transparent before God. But from faith flows concern for the spiritual well-being of others which is substantiated by our support for the proclamation and dissemination of God’s truth at home and abroad.
We must expect and prepare for increasing resistance to Christian truth. Christians can easily be overcome by a sense of injustice. Horrifying things go on in the world and often with the approval of the highest authorities. We may feel powerless to help, disheartened, and even begin to lose hope. The instantaneous nature of communication makes us more aware of evil in the world and gives focus to our prayer. But it should also make us mindful that we have limitations. We cannot take on the burdens of everyone. Christ bears the sins of the world on His shoulders, we don’t. We gather here because here God gives strength and life to His people.
Today the patriarch Jacob laid his head upon a stone and there God met him. Jacob set up the stone as a memorial and called it Bethel. Every place the Spirit gathers His people in worship could rightly be called Bethel. Bethel means ‘house of God’. The residents of God’s house receive the blessings of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jacob said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”5 Every time you are absolved of your sins you are at the gate of heaven. Each time you take Christ body and blood upon your lips you have a foretaste of the heavenly feast. God’s word brings to pass what it promises. Yes, the weeds continue to grow all around us. And that will cause us strife. The testing of our faith will also be necessary. But take heart in the words of the apostle who says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”6 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Colossians 1:1-4
2 Matthew 13:38
3 Matthew 13:39
4 1 Corinthians 5:12
5 Genesis 28:17
6 Romans 8:18
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
20 July 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
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