Seventh Sunday of Easter (C) 2019

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

Text: Revelation 22:13
Theme: Stability in Jesus



Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Stability is located in Christ. He is our anchor in the storms of life. Many of the things we fret about never come to pass. Did you know that? Are you prone to worrying? We’re masters at constructing doomsday scenarios that never eventuate. Some of these are very limited scenarios relevant only to our personal phobias. Others are apocalyptic fantasies about the demise of the universe. We’re much better at wringing our hands in despair than we are at taking things to God in prayer. That’s why Jesus tells us not to worry. Why worry about possibilities that were never going to transpire anyway? Unpleasant experiences are inevitable. Instead of fretting about how to avoid them, the Holy Spirit want us to see how God is present with us in them. The shoulders of Jesus are very broad and the piling on of your worries and woes is not going to tip the scales.

So, be at peace. Christ is not inept. It’s no excuse to be reckless, though. Faith does not presume God’s forbearance is without parameters. Certain realities are unavoidable. We will face mortality and the judgment of sin will come to pass. How can our frettings and fears about these perils be overcome? How can our conscience be at peace with God when we fall so far short of His commands? The temptation to find comfort in human accomplishment is always before us. Satan seeks to lead us down the garden path. He’s always in our ear.
“You’re a self-made person. If God can’t recognize that you don’t want Him as your God. Look after yourself first because God won’t take any notice of you.” In this way Satan makes the promises of God appear remote and irrelevant, and soon he gains the upper hand. The decline of Christianity in our generation is powerful witness to this tragedy.

It’s not accidental that in today’s Scripture from the last chapter, of the last book, of the entire biblical witness, we’re cautioned about forsaking or tampering with God’s word. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city…”1 It’s a resolute and categorical warning. There is an outside of the place of God’s benevolence. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”2 Outside of Jesus there is no access to the Father, no entrance to heaven, no enjoyment of eternity. Outside there is darkness and despair.

But we know the One on the inside. This past Thursday marked the ascension of Jesus- forty days since His resurrection from the dead. The ascension of Jesus doesn’t mean He disappeared. At His ascension the Father received Jesus to His right hand of power. The historic creeds of the church describe this truth with the phrase “and sits at the right hand of the Father.”3 But what does sitting at God’s right hand mean? It’s not a symbolic or ceremonial position. The Son has been granted the authority to rule by the Father. The session of Christ (session is the term for Jesus being ‘seated’ at the right hand of power) is evidence that God the Father has deemed the work of Christ, His suffering and death, to be a sufficient ransom for sinners. The once-for-all sacrifice4 of Jesus is complete and it is sufficient. No more blood needs to be shed.

Why though, is the enthronement of Jesus’ human nature so important? Because death is not a theoretical enemy. Sin is not an ideological framework. Evil is not merely a state of mind. Ours is a tangible, tactile, physical, concrete world made for our benefit and God’s glory. Yet, it is completely broken by sin. Not one part of it functions with the perfection with which God originally ordered it. Not one person has the luxury of speaking of sin from the standpoint of an objective observer. No one lives outside of the scope of sin’s influence.

We might diligently isolate ourselves from the world’s influences, but that is no path to righteousness. Sin is lodged within. It’s in the heart. It infects the mind. It contaminates the will. “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”5 If you can’t see your own brokenness in the mirror of God’s perfect law, then either you’re using a trick mirror like they do in the circus or your eyes are closed to the truth. Sin is not abstract. It breaks things, it hurts things, it kills things; peoples’ lives, their relationships, their hopes and dreams, their souls. The problem won’t be fixed by paying sin lip-service or down-playing the extent of the damage.

The problem is only fixed by Christ and He fixes it completely. He uses no half-measures. Our restoration in the resurrection will be bodily. The Scripture says, “The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed…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.’”6 The bodily resurrection means the end of all injury, ageing, trauma or pain. It means full and vibrant life will be our continual enjoyment. No wonder the apostle Paul said, “I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far.”7 The glorified saints have no regrets.

But many saints- not yet glorified- remain in this world and we are among them. Paul finished his thought saying, “But is it more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”8 And that’s our circumstance too. So, as we await the great and awesome day of the resurrection of the dead let us not forget we already have the resurrection of faith. It happened at our baptisms. We were granted spiritual life though the gospel. Therefore, the same apostle says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above.”9 We do that with every thought, prayer, and action that shows His love here below. People whose lives are unsettled by sin can only find stability in Him.

After His ascension, Jesus now rules in both His human and divine natures. His human nature is no longer voluntarily humbled. Now, the mind-blowing truth about the session of Jesus (remember that is His ruling at the Father’s right hand) is that God’s right hand, meaning His rule, is everywhere. This is different than His omnipresence in which His power is able to inhabit or effect all existence spiritually. The incarnate Lord Jesus is able to be present bodily when and where He pleases. It pleases Him to be present in the sacrament of Holy Communion according to His human nature also. The body of Jesus is not confined to heaven.
The immortal Son of God is present with us through His true body and blood offered in the Lord’s Supper. Forgiveness is communicated to you through these means. It is an incomparable source of comfort. He quenches your thirsting soul and satisfies your hungering spirit.

Dear friends, Jesus is the Root and Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star10, “The Alpha and the omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”11 All things exist by virtue of His presence and power. No one who puts their trust in Him has anything to fear. In every peril of life, in the face of death, He stabilizes us with His promises. He says today, “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory.”12 He says, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”13 He makes good on those promises. Amen.


+ In nomine Jesu +

Seventh Sunday Of Easter
2 June 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Revelation 22:18-19
2 John 14:6
3 The Nicene Creed
4 See Hebrews 9:28
5 Matthew 5:19
6 1 Corinthians 15:52, 54-55
7 Philippians 1:23
8 Philippians 1:24
9 Colossians 3:1
10 See Revelation 22:16
11 Revelation 22:13
12 John 17:24
13 Matthew 28:20