Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Exodus 2:10
Theme: Moses In The ‘Ark’

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The biblical storyline is too candid to be suspect of fabrication. The frank descriptions of the faults and foibles of people and nations lends great credibility to the Scriptures. Today the saga of the saints continues. The ending won’t be written until Christ returns in glory. Joseph died in Egypt. He was embalmed according to their customs. More than 400 years later his bones were carried to the Promised Land, according to his own prophecy1. What key events occurred before his words were fulfilled?

The providence of God brought the Israelites to Egypt. In the land of Goshen, they prospered. When a new Pharaoh came to power that prosperity was the cause of fear. Had the Hebrews become too powerful? Would they join the enemy in a time of war? Concerns about the sovereignty of the nation were raised. The Pharaoh took action. The first decision was hard labour. It backfired. The second decree was infanticide. All the male newborns of the Hebrews were to be thrown into the Nile. Girls were exempt. The implementation was another matter, however. The Hebrew midwives named, Shiphrah and Puah, were evidently at the head of the obstetrics guild. How did they respond? The Scripture says, “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”2

The decree previews that of King Herod’s 1500 years later. The parallels in the storyline of salvation are clear. Pharaoh wanted to weaken the vitality of the Hebrew population. Herod’s goal was more precise. He wanted to destroy the true King of Israel. Neither one was successful. In the first case, the infant Moses was protected and groomed to become the deliverer from Egypt. In the greater case, the baby Jesus would survive to become the victim of the cross. Tyrants of great power could not derail divine plans. Satan has his puppets, but God has His servants.

Things were going well for the Israelites, but times changed. Just as a new king arose in Egypt that did not know Joseph, so a new power is rising in the West that has waning interest in the of the faith of its forbearers. The secularization of society is happening at a rapid pace right before our eyes. How does God want us to respond? Paul gave this advice to Christians living at a very difficult time, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the Living God…”3 If we simply capitulate to falsehood and unrighteousness we make a mockery of God’s holiness. Some things cannot be reconciled…. They might find ways to coexist- and often they do- but black is not white and white is not black, wet is not dry and dry is not wet, light is not darkness, and darkness is not light, faith is not unbelief and unbelief is not faith. If they were, truth would have no real meaning.

But that doesn’t mean we separate ourselves from society or shun it. St. Paul also said, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those who are outside.”4 So, we make distinctions. We strive to be in the world, but not of the world.

Christians have historically never been alarmists. There are always fringe exceptions, of course. The world is corrupted by sin. Tangible and substantial consequences result. We expect that self-interest will lead to a desire for power that departs from the law of God. Many expressions of lawlessness and tyranny are inevitable. The Scriptures don’t advise us to panic or bury our heads in the sand. The God who created the universe knows well enough how to manage human schemes that presume autonomy. Pharaoh thought he was a god on earth. He was soon shown the limits of his strength. The power structures of every age are subject to the higher authority of God. Jesus said to Pilate “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above.”5 That truth still stands. It is why Christians are not pessimistic doomsayers.

Remember, dear friends, what the Lord said today, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”6 Jesus is not talking about a particular congregation or church body. Christianity has essentially ceased to exist even within whole nations. We have no special status or protection because of our location or the era in which we live. North Africa used to be a stronghold of the Christian faith and now it’s been almost completely wiped out. We dare not think we could be an exception. The sinful human nature is always prone to reassert its idols.

Yet, here is the unbreakable promise about the church from the Lord of the church. The Bride will not be parted from the Bridegroom. Satan will not prevail. The church will be attacked from within and without, it will be vexed and flayed, persecuted and punished, but it will never be completely destroyed. The fortress will not be breached because God is in the midst of it7. Christ has already been raised from death. He will not submit to it again. He has broken its power.

The crucifixion was an assault on all the autonomous power structures of the world. The power of sin was demolished by the sacrifice of the Innocent One. Christ destroyed the eternal punishment of guilt due to you, me, and every sinner. We need never despair. We are His baptized. The day will come when the sun will not set. That is the lens and prism through which we view and assess everything in the world. The cross takes every sinful, selfish, skewed, and imbalanced perspective, filters out every poisonous illusion, and realigns it to the clarity of truth in Christ. The Holy Spirit does that through the word. The crucified and risen Jesus is not frightened by the dark specter of the world. He is your Shepherd; the good One. He is your Saviour; the gracious One. He is your Brother; the gentle One. He is your bridegroom; the faithful One.

God cherishes life. Moses was placed in a small basket and floated onto the Nile. The Hebrew word is the word used for ‘ark’. Do you think that’s a coincidence? Moses had a tiny ark. Noah made a bigger one. The tiny one saved the future deliverer of God’s people in the time of their bondage. The bigger one saved the entire human race. The church is sometimes referred to as an ark also. In it we are saved from drowning in sin and death and transported safely to the port of heaven. We should never underestimate what God can accomplish even in the most unlikely of circumstances. The cross and empty tomb prove that. Amen.


+ In nomine Jesu +

Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
27 August 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 See Exodus 13:19
2 Exodus 1:17
3 2 Corinthians 6:14-16
4 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, 12-13
5 John 19:11
6 Matthew 16:18-19
7 See Psalm 46:5