+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: John 19:10-11
Theme: The Greater Power
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
Something unrepeatable happens on Calvary. It is a singular even of unparalleled consequence. Humanly it is inconceivable and immeasurable. It is inconceivable not in the sense that we would be appalled that this righteous man would be sentenced to die, but in the sense that God would undertake to redeem the world in this way. Human beings do not- they cannot- naturally think in this way. According to human wisdom the cross is the pinnacle of irony, tragedy, and failure. It is pure nonsense.
All others miracles aside, at His death Jesus appears to succumb to weakness. How could His passivity accomplish redemption! History records the role of human powers. Pilate was accustomed to an unchallenged use of his authority. “Don’t you realize I have the power either to free you or crucify you?”1 He could not fully understand what Jesus meant when He responded, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”2 Yet he sensed that it was something to be reckoned with and it caused him fear. “From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free.”3
Many deaths have happened and will happen, but only this death, His death, is the sacrifice for sins. The countless sacrifices carefully numbered by the priests generation after generation now reach their obsolescence. It was the goal for which they were destined. The significance does not escape the writer to the Hebrews. “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”4
But old habits die hard. We always prefer to do things our way- in all things- spiritual pursuits included. People sometimes try to seek comfort in the death of Christ while still rejecting its full implications. They doubt it is at the centre of existence to the extent that it gives meaning to absolutely everything. This doubt can be dressed up in all kinds of sophistication. The universe seems much too large and complex to be finally explained and governed by the crucifixion of a First Century Jewish man. In harboring this doubt modern people share the proclivities of the ancient Greeks who believed matter was eternal and the soul was trapped in the body waiting for release. Contemporary thinking resonates with such skepticism: Time passes, old events become obsolete, new ideas are embraced, things change, meaning is elusive. But original false teachings are only re-introduced with new images and there is nothing new under the sun. Human wisdom always doubts God would limit Himself to such historical circumstances.
But God did chose to define reality and meaning within such parameters. These events are historical. Their meaning is not the putty for religious theory. Christ died because you are a sinner. No other reason is finally relevant to you. Christ bore your punishment on the cross. Everything else you know is secondary to that. The law leaves you no escape. But the gospel offers you full pardon. You partake of His body and blood as a concrete expression of these truths. To trust that Christ did this out of unconditional love for you is to see God- and approach life- in a different light.
There was a sculptor who invested painstaking time and effort crafting a life-sized statue of Christ. It was considered by even the strongest critics to be a masterpiece. When it was unveiled people came and admired it from every angle and perspective. They praised the detail and skill that it displayed. But they approached it only as a work of art. The artist, however, had a different intention. He said, “If you want to see it rightly, it’s best to kneel.” This is the spiritual posture of the baptismal life.
God sees us through the challenges we encounter. Pain, doubt, fear, sickness, disappointment, confusion, apathy, and the list is endless. But on this Good Friday what takes centre stage is the resolution of our mortality. Only Christ has this power. The questions faced at the threshold of death are quickly sifted. Trivial matters immediately become irrelevant. Weightier matters come to the fore: relationships yet unreconciled, dreams still unfulfilled, hopes never realized- these things occupy the heart and mind when death draws near. But one concern dominates them all: On what basis will God be faced? What confidence do I have in His acceptance? When your own conscience threatens to desert you where will you turn?
When you are dying you want the assurance of someone who’s been there. Finally no half-way measures will do; no equivocation. There are no negotiations, no other options; the believer will pass this way. There is no other gateway, no other portal, no other entrance. When the believer reclines in death the soul completes its journey in the footsteps of Christ and there reposes until the glorification of the body. The approximations, and the guesswork, and the naïve speculations about what it really means to die can only be resolved in Him who has the power over death. For those without faith consideration of death may quickly become not only a time of intense doubt, but of frantic disillusionment and despair.
For the believer too it comes with its challenges and temptations. The Old Adam fights within us to the end. Yet we face the throne as saints declared righteous by grace. We can stand before Him illuminated in Easter glow. We need not fear what He has conquered. Christ teaches us how to die. We cannot by-pass death, but Jesus has the greater power. Equal to the Father; one with the Spirit; superior to angels; a Redeemer of mortals, Jesus the Christ died once for all. In that one death He died as if suffering innumerable deaths and immeasurable pain. Sin cannot rule Him. Satan cannot judge Him. Hell cannot contain Him. Death cannot hold Him.
Dear friends, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was unpreventable and is unrepeatable. It makes possible for us an unchanging eternity. This one event of death effects the resurrection of the many. Our participation in the death of Christ is not the same as our participation in His resurrection. When our sins are put to death in His body we are spared the pain, torment, and condemnation which He endured. But in the resurrection we will fully experience in our glorified bodies the vibrancy of His life. In death He bears the sentence. In life we enjoy the victory. His sacrifice is the commentary on all existence- for from it all who are consecrated by Him and for Him receive immortal life. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
April 2 2010
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 19:10
2 John 19:11
3 John 19:12
4 Hebrews 10:11-12
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Maundy Thursday
'For You'
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:24
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The blood of Jesus was shed for you. That’s what the Scripture says. Our focus on this Maundy Thursday is the foundational realities that underpin this truth. Holy Communion was never considered to be a supplemental sacrament appended to the otherwise standard worship of the Christian church. From the beginning it was the sacred but regular meal that nourished the faithful. In this gift we have a convergence of mysteries. Christ is present in a unique way with the power of forgiveness. Holy Communion is a participation in the mystery of the incarnation.
The “for you” nature of Holy Communion is rooted in the fact of Jesus’ presence. Appreciating the importance of this is challenging in an age of skepticism about anything not scientifically verifiable. Christian teaching must be careful not to capitulate to a theology of the absence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for the human nature of Jesus. The ascension is sometimes misunderstood as a loss of the presence of Christ; almost as if at His ascension Jesus went back to being a spirit being only- a sort of “dis-incarnation.” The Holy Spirit is not a replacement for the bodily presence of Christ. The Holy Spirit unites the church in the blessings and benefits of His bodily presence. The Holy Spirit does no other work than this. If the Spirit is not leading a person to a deeper affirmation of the truth of Jesus’ body given for them then it’s not the Holy Spirit that’s doing the leading.
The ascension of Jesus into heaven doesn’t mean He confines Himself to that dimension or is no longer present here on earth. At His ascension Jesus was fully exalted and enthroned at the Father’s right hand. The sacrifice completed, death overcome, He began His rule as true God and true man for eternity. The ascension was truly a gain, not a loss. He is present bodily with His church on earth wherever and whenever He desires it. He has ordained that He will be present in the sacrament of Holy Communion in that way.
Here we not only “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes,”1 as Paul says, but also receive the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ. Hidden under these elements of bread and wine Jesus comes to you with the forgiveness of sins. We commune always in the pale of the cross but in the light of the resurrection. When we commune we make ourselves vulnerable to the purifying work of the cross. Grace can only be received in repentance. To approach the throne in unbelief invites only judgment.
Therefore the unrepentant sinner seeks anonymity. If not ruled by self-righteousness his thoughts easily turn to excuse and avoidance. Perhaps the tangled mass of sinful humanity can become an advantage after all? Maybe in the menagerie of sorting out the judgment we can just be lost in the shuffle? Maybe our deeds won’t be revealed and the evil intentions of our hearts remain undiscovered? Of course Scripture says otherwise. “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”2
The heart knows that God sees. And the piercing eyes of God do not allow the smallest sin to escape unnoticed. False piety is also an offense to Him. Try to claim that you’re not worth His effort and see how quickly your intended humility is shown to be arrogance. Precisely in your ‘noble’ desire to be of no trouble to Him you end up discounting His sacrifice. We might do this not by any intentional slander or rejection of His suffering and crucifixion but by questioning whether we were worth the effort. In doing so we rob Christ of the fullness of His glory. You are trouble to Him, everyone is. That is precisely the point.
But you have never committed a sin He has not seen before. You cannot shock Him. You will not surprise Him. Even if you did something so original and evil that it has never happened in the history of the world, still God can see the potential for such wickedness conceived in the original fall. There is no actual sin that is more pernicious than the total corruption of human nature which is its source. Christ was crucified not only for the actual sins of men but for the very possibilities which complete rebellion against God- idolatry- leads to.
No soul is expendable to God. God does not follow a utilitarian ethic. He will not overlook the one for the good of the many. He is not constrained to make decisions which would throw humans into a quandary. He is not forced to choose the well-being of one above the other. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”3 Christ did this for the world and He did it for you.
Christ suffered for you. Luther says, “Of what help is it to you that God is God, if he is not God to you?”4 The sacrificial nature of Jesus is shown with clarity during His last meal with His disciples before His arrest. There He was, nearing His last hour, facing all the forces of darkness and what does Jesus do? He performs the task of a servant. He washes their feet. He models the humility that the disciples would need to imitate in their apostolic ministry. It was important symbolically, but it wasn’t merely an object lesson. Christians don’t just occasionally swallow their pride to perform lowly tasks on behalf of others; servanthood is the Christian way of life in all circumstances. Christians walk the path of humility not as a matter of personality or individual choice but as evidence they are bearing the cross and being conformed to Christ.
Dear friends, our Lord holds nothing back as He offers Himself for the forgiveness of your sins. In the Upper Room He blessed His followers before His death. In this place where He meets you He offers the same blessings. The Bible says, “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, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”5 The cross was raised for you. For you the nails were hammered. His blood was shed for you. For you His body was broken. The stone was rolled for you. For you death was conquered. For you He bore the insults, the humility, the curses and the shame. For you He lives and intercedes before the Father. For you baptismal water is poured. For you the Spirit is given. For you He will return. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Maundy Thursday
April 1 2010
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Corinthians 11:26
2 Hebrews 4:13
3 Romans 4:25
4 “A Meditation On Christ’s Passion”
5 Romans 8:31-32
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:24
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The blood of Jesus was shed for you. That’s what the Scripture says. Our focus on this Maundy Thursday is the foundational realities that underpin this truth. Holy Communion was never considered to be a supplemental sacrament appended to the otherwise standard worship of the Christian church. From the beginning it was the sacred but regular meal that nourished the faithful. In this gift we have a convergence of mysteries. Christ is present in a unique way with the power of forgiveness. Holy Communion is a participation in the mystery of the incarnation.
The “for you” nature of Holy Communion is rooted in the fact of Jesus’ presence. Appreciating the importance of this is challenging in an age of skepticism about anything not scientifically verifiable. Christian teaching must be careful not to capitulate to a theology of the absence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for the human nature of Jesus. The ascension is sometimes misunderstood as a loss of the presence of Christ; almost as if at His ascension Jesus went back to being a spirit being only- a sort of “dis-incarnation.” The Holy Spirit is not a replacement for the bodily presence of Christ. The Holy Spirit unites the church in the blessings and benefits of His bodily presence. The Holy Spirit does no other work than this. If the Spirit is not leading a person to a deeper affirmation of the truth of Jesus’ body given for them then it’s not the Holy Spirit that’s doing the leading.
The ascension of Jesus into heaven doesn’t mean He confines Himself to that dimension or is no longer present here on earth. At His ascension Jesus was fully exalted and enthroned at the Father’s right hand. The sacrifice completed, death overcome, He began His rule as true God and true man for eternity. The ascension was truly a gain, not a loss. He is present bodily with His church on earth wherever and whenever He desires it. He has ordained that He will be present in the sacrament of Holy Communion in that way.
Here we not only “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes,”1 as Paul says, but also receive the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ. Hidden under these elements of bread and wine Jesus comes to you with the forgiveness of sins. We commune always in the pale of the cross but in the light of the resurrection. When we commune we make ourselves vulnerable to the purifying work of the cross. Grace can only be received in repentance. To approach the throne in unbelief invites only judgment.
Therefore the unrepentant sinner seeks anonymity. If not ruled by self-righteousness his thoughts easily turn to excuse and avoidance. Perhaps the tangled mass of sinful humanity can become an advantage after all? Maybe in the menagerie of sorting out the judgment we can just be lost in the shuffle? Maybe our deeds won’t be revealed and the evil intentions of our hearts remain undiscovered? Of course Scripture says otherwise. “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”2
The heart knows that God sees. And the piercing eyes of God do not allow the smallest sin to escape unnoticed. False piety is also an offense to Him. Try to claim that you’re not worth His effort and see how quickly your intended humility is shown to be arrogance. Precisely in your ‘noble’ desire to be of no trouble to Him you end up discounting His sacrifice. We might do this not by any intentional slander or rejection of His suffering and crucifixion but by questioning whether we were worth the effort. In doing so we rob Christ of the fullness of His glory. You are trouble to Him, everyone is. That is precisely the point.
But you have never committed a sin He has not seen before. You cannot shock Him. You will not surprise Him. Even if you did something so original and evil that it has never happened in the history of the world, still God can see the potential for such wickedness conceived in the original fall. There is no actual sin that is more pernicious than the total corruption of human nature which is its source. Christ was crucified not only for the actual sins of men but for the very possibilities which complete rebellion against God- idolatry- leads to.
No soul is expendable to God. God does not follow a utilitarian ethic. He will not overlook the one for the good of the many. He is not constrained to make decisions which would throw humans into a quandary. He is not forced to choose the well-being of one above the other. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”3 Christ did this for the world and He did it for you.
Christ suffered for you. Luther says, “Of what help is it to you that God is God, if he is not God to you?”4 The sacrificial nature of Jesus is shown with clarity during His last meal with His disciples before His arrest. There He was, nearing His last hour, facing all the forces of darkness and what does Jesus do? He performs the task of a servant. He washes their feet. He models the humility that the disciples would need to imitate in their apostolic ministry. It was important symbolically, but it wasn’t merely an object lesson. Christians don’t just occasionally swallow their pride to perform lowly tasks on behalf of others; servanthood is the Christian way of life in all circumstances. Christians walk the path of humility not as a matter of personality or individual choice but as evidence they are bearing the cross and being conformed to Christ.
Dear friends, our Lord holds nothing back as He offers Himself for the forgiveness of your sins. In the Upper Room He blessed His followers before His death. In this place where He meets you He offers the same blessings. The Bible says, “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, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”5 The cross was raised for you. For you the nails were hammered. His blood was shed for you. For you His body was broken. The stone was rolled for you. For you death was conquered. For you He bore the insults, the humility, the curses and the shame. For you He lives and intercedes before the Father. For you baptismal water is poured. For you the Spirit is given. For you He will return. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Maundy Thursday
April 1 2010
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Corinthians 11:26
2 Hebrews 4:13
3 Romans 4:25
4 “A Meditation On Christ’s Passion”
5 Romans 8:31-32
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Palm Sunday
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Luke 19:38
Theme: “In the Name of the Lord”
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
As Jesus enters Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week people greet Him with hope and praise. They adorn His route with palm branches and lay down their garments indicating their high view of what He has done and might further do. The first Palm Sunday was about expectations- and they were high. The prophet from Nazareth had already changed the lives of many. He impressed people with His authoritative teaching and His miracles. Now maybe something could happen on a grander scale. Would He overturn the political and social institutions? Would he usher in a new era? The people were abuzz wondering about the possibilities.
It was a stark contrast to the mood five days later. There He hung dying tragically on a cross. What kind of hope could be realized in the pending death of this man? More than 2000 years later the debate still rages about the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Was it all in vain or did it really change the world? The Bible calls us to clear witness of what these events means and warns us about engaging in the sophistry of the world. When rebuked by the Pharisees for letting His followers publicly worship Him as God Jesus replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”1 The church’s cry must be unequivocal: Christ is crucified for sins!
The way an issue is “spun” is often critical for its public acceptance. For example, supporters of abortion are careful to say little or nothing about the victim or the procedure itself, focusing only on the alleged rights of the mother. Advocates know that if people saw the process of late-term abortion, many would be horrified. Even if people understood the emotional and spiritual trauma involved the matter would be much more strongly opposed: Out of sight out of mind. Christians recognize life as sacred. From conception to grave it is pure gift. Made in His image each person is endowed by Him with a soul. Sin throws the orientation, understanding, and appreciation of this God-given life into chaos and darkness. Like Cain wandering in exile2 we find no permanent resting place until we rest in God alone.
But human reason fights desperately against arriving at this destination. We’d rather construct a refuge of our own. People may be open to the idea of God facilitating their understanding of happiness, security and well-being; but to risk leaving all things to the wisdom of God is another matter. The bottom line is we don’t readily trust God to look after our well-being and we don’t naturally believe that the most important thing we need from Him is salvation. Like the first Palm Sunday worshippers were soon to discover, Jesus comes to address what we need not necessarily what we’d prefer. To clarify and come to terms with this is the unending work of the church.
Remember how Jesus taught His disciples to pray? “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”3 Here is the heart of the matter. Yet this forgiveness often seems to people to be so irrelevant, so peripheral, even perhaps, so unnecessary. This type of thinking underpins the modern drive to change the church into primarily a social and therapeutic community. People don’t see the point in making a big issue about the forgiveness of sins. This is how the devil would have it. He desires to make the forgiveness of sins appear so mundane, uninteresting, and ineffective so as to almost be a waste of time. But without it we are crippled to one degree or another and finally we would be lost
Dear friends, we are all sinners. Believe that the greatest human need is always to be reconciled to the Father. This happens only through His Son. The Holy Spirit draws you here for that very purpose. The minister stands in the stead of Christ and declares in the name of the triune God that the sins of the repentant are forgiven. This assurance of absolution is valid before God in heaven. Your lapses into lust or selfishness or greed; your worry and doubt about your image among peers; your tactless indiscretions and mishandling of truth; your intentional unkindness and ingratitude towards co-workers, family, and friends; your cold-hearted lack of concern for those in need; the transgressions of your dark past and the failings of the present; these are washed away by the blood of the Lamb.
The gift of your baptism is the divine pledge that the punishment for your sins was laid upon Jesus at the cross. It involves entrance into new life because those who die with Him live with Him through the power of His resurrection. You bear that new life even in the midst of this world of decay. The struggle of baptismal living, of bearing the cross, is the struggle of confessing with your very life that which seems to contradict the evidence at hand. You may scarcely feel like you’re able to forgive yourself, let alone be reconciled to your spouse or others. But Christ bears this burden. What we desperately want to grasp with tangible reliability the Holy Spirit makes all the more certain through divine promise. The Spirit spares you from your own unstable assessment of whether the forgiveness offered to you is really true and piles all the accountability on Christ.
Then it is our privilege to make forgiveness tangible to others. Despite our intense feelings of hurt and anger we are called to accept those who seek to be reconciled to us in true repentance. Jesus said, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”4 Not surprisingly the apostles responded by saying to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”5 Remember, the forgiveness you extend to others is a small reflection of divine absolution. Most crucially, in this aspect: The giving and receiving of grace. Forgiveness doesn’t settle all matters of fairness, justice, or who is in the right; in fact, it often overlooks these.
If you’ve become accustomed to thinking that forgiveness in your relationships is contingent upon first sorting out who is in the wrong, then you’ve completely misunderstood the gospel. You are operating under a human standard of justice that is necessary for the functioning of society but is not the basis upon which Christians imitate the reconciliation of Christ. We typically want others brought to justice, but do we understand what justice means for us spiritually! It would mean certain and unequivocal condemnation. Before God- our sins exposed and exposed as sinners- we are guilty, unholy, powerless, and spiritually naked. But divine love settled the matter of justice at the cross. Believers are freed from the sentence of condemnation. The gates to hell are slammed shut and locked. Christ has the only key.
What those first Palm Sunday worshippers wanted was a man who would overturn the institutions of society what they got was a Redeemer who overthrew much greater and sinister powers. They sought someone who would give them temporal provision and freedom from political tyranny, they received a Saviour that provided spiritual sustenance and freedom from the consequences of sin and death. But they didn’t understand this at the time. We might ask whether we understand it any better today. Christ doesn’t take you out of the world but He ultimately liberates you from its fallenness. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”6 Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Palm/Passion Sunday
28 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 19:40
2 See Genesis 4:12
3 Luke 11:4
4 Luke 17:3-4
5 Luke 17:5
6 Luke 19:38
Text: Luke 19:38
Theme: “In the Name of the Lord”
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
As Jesus enters Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week people greet Him with hope and praise. They adorn His route with palm branches and lay down their garments indicating their high view of what He has done and might further do. The first Palm Sunday was about expectations- and they were high. The prophet from Nazareth had already changed the lives of many. He impressed people with His authoritative teaching and His miracles. Now maybe something could happen on a grander scale. Would He overturn the political and social institutions? Would he usher in a new era? The people were abuzz wondering about the possibilities.
It was a stark contrast to the mood five days later. There He hung dying tragically on a cross. What kind of hope could be realized in the pending death of this man? More than 2000 years later the debate still rages about the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Was it all in vain or did it really change the world? The Bible calls us to clear witness of what these events means and warns us about engaging in the sophistry of the world. When rebuked by the Pharisees for letting His followers publicly worship Him as God Jesus replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”1 The church’s cry must be unequivocal: Christ is crucified for sins!
The way an issue is “spun” is often critical for its public acceptance. For example, supporters of abortion are careful to say little or nothing about the victim or the procedure itself, focusing only on the alleged rights of the mother. Advocates know that if people saw the process of late-term abortion, many would be horrified. Even if people understood the emotional and spiritual trauma involved the matter would be much more strongly opposed: Out of sight out of mind. Christians recognize life as sacred. From conception to grave it is pure gift. Made in His image each person is endowed by Him with a soul. Sin throws the orientation, understanding, and appreciation of this God-given life into chaos and darkness. Like Cain wandering in exile2 we find no permanent resting place until we rest in God alone.
But human reason fights desperately against arriving at this destination. We’d rather construct a refuge of our own. People may be open to the idea of God facilitating their understanding of happiness, security and well-being; but to risk leaving all things to the wisdom of God is another matter. The bottom line is we don’t readily trust God to look after our well-being and we don’t naturally believe that the most important thing we need from Him is salvation. Like the first Palm Sunday worshippers were soon to discover, Jesus comes to address what we need not necessarily what we’d prefer. To clarify and come to terms with this is the unending work of the church.
Remember how Jesus taught His disciples to pray? “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”3 Here is the heart of the matter. Yet this forgiveness often seems to people to be so irrelevant, so peripheral, even perhaps, so unnecessary. This type of thinking underpins the modern drive to change the church into primarily a social and therapeutic community. People don’t see the point in making a big issue about the forgiveness of sins. This is how the devil would have it. He desires to make the forgiveness of sins appear so mundane, uninteresting, and ineffective so as to almost be a waste of time. But without it we are crippled to one degree or another and finally we would be lost
Dear friends, we are all sinners. Believe that the greatest human need is always to be reconciled to the Father. This happens only through His Son. The Holy Spirit draws you here for that very purpose. The minister stands in the stead of Christ and declares in the name of the triune God that the sins of the repentant are forgiven. This assurance of absolution is valid before God in heaven. Your lapses into lust or selfishness or greed; your worry and doubt about your image among peers; your tactless indiscretions and mishandling of truth; your intentional unkindness and ingratitude towards co-workers, family, and friends; your cold-hearted lack of concern for those in need; the transgressions of your dark past and the failings of the present; these are washed away by the blood of the Lamb.
The gift of your baptism is the divine pledge that the punishment for your sins was laid upon Jesus at the cross. It involves entrance into new life because those who die with Him live with Him through the power of His resurrection. You bear that new life even in the midst of this world of decay. The struggle of baptismal living, of bearing the cross, is the struggle of confessing with your very life that which seems to contradict the evidence at hand. You may scarcely feel like you’re able to forgive yourself, let alone be reconciled to your spouse or others. But Christ bears this burden. What we desperately want to grasp with tangible reliability the Holy Spirit makes all the more certain through divine promise. The Spirit spares you from your own unstable assessment of whether the forgiveness offered to you is really true and piles all the accountability on Christ.
Then it is our privilege to make forgiveness tangible to others. Despite our intense feelings of hurt and anger we are called to accept those who seek to be reconciled to us in true repentance. Jesus said, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”4 Not surprisingly the apostles responded by saying to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”5 Remember, the forgiveness you extend to others is a small reflection of divine absolution. Most crucially, in this aspect: The giving and receiving of grace. Forgiveness doesn’t settle all matters of fairness, justice, or who is in the right; in fact, it often overlooks these.
If you’ve become accustomed to thinking that forgiveness in your relationships is contingent upon first sorting out who is in the wrong, then you’ve completely misunderstood the gospel. You are operating under a human standard of justice that is necessary for the functioning of society but is not the basis upon which Christians imitate the reconciliation of Christ. We typically want others brought to justice, but do we understand what justice means for us spiritually! It would mean certain and unequivocal condemnation. Before God- our sins exposed and exposed as sinners- we are guilty, unholy, powerless, and spiritually naked. But divine love settled the matter of justice at the cross. Believers are freed from the sentence of condemnation. The gates to hell are slammed shut and locked. Christ has the only key.
What those first Palm Sunday worshippers wanted was a man who would overturn the institutions of society what they got was a Redeemer who overthrew much greater and sinister powers. They sought someone who would give them temporal provision and freedom from political tyranny, they received a Saviour that provided spiritual sustenance and freedom from the consequences of sin and death. But they didn’t understand this at the time. We might ask whether we understand it any better today. Christ doesn’t take you out of the world but He ultimately liberates you from its fallenness. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”6 Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Palm/Passion Sunday
28 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 19:40
2 See Genesis 4:12
3 Luke 11:4
4 Luke 17:3-4
5 Luke 17:5
6 Luke 19:38
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Midweek Lenten Series Sermon
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Isaiah 53:1
Theme: Who Has Believed Our Message?
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
The Holy Spirit reminds us, “We live by faith, not by sight.”1 The currently unobservable promises of God will one day be realized, while the tangible struggles that now press upon us will become like fleeting memories, phantoms which never caused a moment’s stress. This is our conviction. God will not fail to deliver.
But this conviction is hardly a widely-held consensus. Isaiah inquires “Who has believed our message?”2 The piercing question of the prophet continues to ring out through the ages. How commonly people turn a deaf ear. The message is easily naysayed. The need: A Saviour from sin, death, and hell. The provision: A victim hung on a cross, a sacrifice, a humble King, a Suffering Servant. Not very stunning by the world’s standards! Oh how the wisdom of God sounds like foolishness to men!
So the skeptic asks: Why doesn’t God do something more dramatic and undeniable if He wants more people to believe in Him? Why not something beyond questioning and of inescapable relevance to all? Well, He will when Christ comes again in glory. The Scripture says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”3 Every knee, every tongue, great or small, wicked or faithful,
skeptic or disciple, no exceptions; all will recognize Christ for who He is.
Meanwhile, we live in this dimension of time and space and that requires faith. Not that God hasn’t provided enough incontrovertible evidence already! Christ was publicly crucified by the Roman authorities outside of the city of Jerusalem and laid to rest in a rock-hewn tomb. Three days later He rose and then walked the earth for forty more days before His ascension. This is the central event upon which Christianity is founded. What need is there for more evidence? But remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. As the rich man languished in hell Abraham responded to his request that his brothers be warned by saying, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”4 This is a categorical indictment on all humanity.
The issue is deeper. Faith does not finally rely on tangible evidence of God’s power. Such signs maybe an aide to faith-witnessing the healing of the sick, the subjugation of nature, and the raising of the dead. But acknowledging God’s power is not the same thing as believing He is gracious to you.
“Who has believed our message?” Faith can never be grounded on an assent to a collection of abstractions about God. It is proper and necessary to believe that God is holy, righteous, and eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and all-knowing; these are essential characteristics of His nature. He transcends time and space. He foresees the future. But a general concept of a deity is not yet saving faith. Of the three great ecumenical creeds of the Christian church- the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian- only the Athanasian contains a list of these intangible virtues of the Divinity. And the reason for listing these characteristics is to assert the equality of the Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father. Rather the creeds purposefully compile the essential historical facts about Jesus the Christ- in His humanity- and confess Him as Lord.
Here is where Christianity emerges from the generic mass of ideas and assertions about a ‘god-concept’ to stand uniquely upon the doctrine of the incarnation. We proclaim unapologetically that there is no God apart from the flesh and blood of Jesus the Christ. It is an ambitiously monumental claim! God makes Himself accessible in the man Jesus. He says “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.”5
Here is the critical and decisive thing: The mystery of the Christian teaching is that the Deity, who in His absolute holiness completely separates Himself from sin, nevertheless unites Himself to you, the sinner, in the person of the crucified Jesus- His Suffering Servant. The God who does this, though profoundly mysterious, is not anonymous or enigmatic. He reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have access to Him and saving knowledge of Him only through Jesus who came in human flesh. He is distributed to you through word and water, bread and wine. Luther says bluntly that apart from Christ people cannot distinguish between God and the devil.
Who has believed the message? What is the most common religion in Australia and much of the Western world? Most common not in terms of numbers associated with a particular denomination or religious group but of actual beliefs about the person, activity, and will of God? It is probably best described as a generic deism. The deist believes in the existence of a ‘supreme being’ and may even commit time and resources to religious causes. Yet how is this relationship characterized. Is it not this uneasy tension with a God to whom people concede existence and power but are reluctant to trust as gracious? In the civic religion that grows from a decaying Christianity God is granted some providence yet not even recognized as the Creator. We’re told time and chance have gotten us to where we are now? Is it not claimed that God’s advice is particularly obsolete in regards to ethical and morals issues? Is God not merely one resource among many for those seeking therapeutic healing, spiritual enlightenment, or meaningful resolution to life-shattering experiences- and always with the understanding that God’s input is optional?
“Who has believed our message?” Dear friends, how important it its return regularly to the words of the catechism about the Third Article! “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him.”6 To confess the inability to believe on one’s own is to truly lay bare the ego and humble the will. The dead are always at the mercy of Him who gives life. God grants this gift in baptism. Acknowledgment that unbelief, including the inability to believe, is the most profound consequence of sin in this life is a true measure of contrition. It is this type penitential heart which the exercise of Lent seeks to mold.
“But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”7 The EVENT- a 1st century Judean man dying the pathetic death of a criminal- was God’s way of atoning for your sin. His unassuming act of vacating His own grave under His own power was no less subdued. He didn’t alert the religious elite to announce it in the temple or send notice to the Roman authorities to make a civil declaration. Instead He commissions a small band comprised mostly of fishermen to proclaim to the world that the crucified Christ is alive and His kingdom far surpasses all earthly dominions.
Isaiah is our companion and teacher this Lenten season. He writes as if he was an eye-witness to the crucifixion and commissioned to explain the event. He refers to the Messiah as God’s Servant; the One who suffers for us. This Suffering Servant takes up our infirmities, carries our sorrows, is pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, punished that we might have peace, and wounded that we might be healed. Your peace of mind doesn’t depend on the fickle whim of a faceless ‘supreme being.’ It is rooted in the actions and promises of Him who died upon the tree. He turns His face toward you on the cross. He carries you through the grave. This is our message and we have no other. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Midweek Lenten Series
2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 2 Corinthians 5:7
2 Isaiah 53:1 3 Philippians 2:10-11
4 Luke 16:31 5 John 12:44-45
6 Luther’s Small Catechism 7 same
Text: Isaiah 53:1
Theme: Who Has Believed Our Message?
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
The Holy Spirit reminds us, “We live by faith, not by sight.”1 The currently unobservable promises of God will one day be realized, while the tangible struggles that now press upon us will become like fleeting memories, phantoms which never caused a moment’s stress. This is our conviction. God will not fail to deliver.
But this conviction is hardly a widely-held consensus. Isaiah inquires “Who has believed our message?”2 The piercing question of the prophet continues to ring out through the ages. How commonly people turn a deaf ear. The message is easily naysayed. The need: A Saviour from sin, death, and hell. The provision: A victim hung on a cross, a sacrifice, a humble King, a Suffering Servant. Not very stunning by the world’s standards! Oh how the wisdom of God sounds like foolishness to men!
So the skeptic asks: Why doesn’t God do something more dramatic and undeniable if He wants more people to believe in Him? Why not something beyond questioning and of inescapable relevance to all? Well, He will when Christ comes again in glory. The Scripture says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”3 Every knee, every tongue, great or small, wicked or faithful,
skeptic or disciple, no exceptions; all will recognize Christ for who He is.
Meanwhile, we live in this dimension of time and space and that requires faith. Not that God hasn’t provided enough incontrovertible evidence already! Christ was publicly crucified by the Roman authorities outside of the city of Jerusalem and laid to rest in a rock-hewn tomb. Three days later He rose and then walked the earth for forty more days before His ascension. This is the central event upon which Christianity is founded. What need is there for more evidence? But remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. As the rich man languished in hell Abraham responded to his request that his brothers be warned by saying, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”4 This is a categorical indictment on all humanity.
The issue is deeper. Faith does not finally rely on tangible evidence of God’s power. Such signs maybe an aide to faith-witnessing the healing of the sick, the subjugation of nature, and the raising of the dead. But acknowledging God’s power is not the same thing as believing He is gracious to you.
“Who has believed our message?” Faith can never be grounded on an assent to a collection of abstractions about God. It is proper and necessary to believe that God is holy, righteous, and eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and all-knowing; these are essential characteristics of His nature. He transcends time and space. He foresees the future. But a general concept of a deity is not yet saving faith. Of the three great ecumenical creeds of the Christian church- the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian- only the Athanasian contains a list of these intangible virtues of the Divinity. And the reason for listing these characteristics is to assert the equality of the Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father. Rather the creeds purposefully compile the essential historical facts about Jesus the Christ- in His humanity- and confess Him as Lord.
Here is where Christianity emerges from the generic mass of ideas and assertions about a ‘god-concept’ to stand uniquely upon the doctrine of the incarnation. We proclaim unapologetically that there is no God apart from the flesh and blood of Jesus the Christ. It is an ambitiously monumental claim! God makes Himself accessible in the man Jesus. He says “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.”5
Here is the critical and decisive thing: The mystery of the Christian teaching is that the Deity, who in His absolute holiness completely separates Himself from sin, nevertheless unites Himself to you, the sinner, in the person of the crucified Jesus- His Suffering Servant. The God who does this, though profoundly mysterious, is not anonymous or enigmatic. He reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have access to Him and saving knowledge of Him only through Jesus who came in human flesh. He is distributed to you through word and water, bread and wine. Luther says bluntly that apart from Christ people cannot distinguish between God and the devil.
Who has believed the message? What is the most common religion in Australia and much of the Western world? Most common not in terms of numbers associated with a particular denomination or religious group but of actual beliefs about the person, activity, and will of God? It is probably best described as a generic deism. The deist believes in the existence of a ‘supreme being’ and may even commit time and resources to religious causes. Yet how is this relationship characterized. Is it not this uneasy tension with a God to whom people concede existence and power but are reluctant to trust as gracious? In the civic religion that grows from a decaying Christianity God is granted some providence yet not even recognized as the Creator. We’re told time and chance have gotten us to where we are now? Is it not claimed that God’s advice is particularly obsolete in regards to ethical and morals issues? Is God not merely one resource among many for those seeking therapeutic healing, spiritual enlightenment, or meaningful resolution to life-shattering experiences- and always with the understanding that God’s input is optional?
“Who has believed our message?” Dear friends, how important it its return regularly to the words of the catechism about the Third Article! “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him.”6 To confess the inability to believe on one’s own is to truly lay bare the ego and humble the will. The dead are always at the mercy of Him who gives life. God grants this gift in baptism. Acknowledgment that unbelief, including the inability to believe, is the most profound consequence of sin in this life is a true measure of contrition. It is this type penitential heart which the exercise of Lent seeks to mold.
“But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”7 The EVENT- a 1st century Judean man dying the pathetic death of a criminal- was God’s way of atoning for your sin. His unassuming act of vacating His own grave under His own power was no less subdued. He didn’t alert the religious elite to announce it in the temple or send notice to the Roman authorities to make a civil declaration. Instead He commissions a small band comprised mostly of fishermen to proclaim to the world that the crucified Christ is alive and His kingdom far surpasses all earthly dominions.
Isaiah is our companion and teacher this Lenten season. He writes as if he was an eye-witness to the crucifixion and commissioned to explain the event. He refers to the Messiah as God’s Servant; the One who suffers for us. This Suffering Servant takes up our infirmities, carries our sorrows, is pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, punished that we might have peace, and wounded that we might be healed. Your peace of mind doesn’t depend on the fickle whim of a faceless ‘supreme being.’ It is rooted in the actions and promises of Him who died upon the tree. He turns His face toward you on the cross. He carries you through the grave. This is our message and we have no other. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Midweek Lenten Series
2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 2 Corinthians 5:7
2 Isaiah 53:1 3 Philippians 2:10-11
4 Luke 16:31 5 John 12:44-45
6 Luther’s Small Catechism 7 same
Monday, March 22, 2010
Fifth Sunday in Lent
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: John 12:1-8
Theme: Service and Devotion
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
Jesus has spoken repeatedly of His impending arrest and crucifixion. There was no question that His time was nearing its end. Mary seems to sense this. As a touching and poignant act of love she wished to anoint Him with perfume that would generally be used at burial. Judas condemns her act as wasteful. The poor could have been helped, he said. But his motivations were far from pure. Judas was a thief. The sinner always finds a better use for someone else’s possessions. But Jesus does not reprimand him or reveal his transgression. Instead He commends Mary’s act of devotion. God will judge. God will bring all things to light whether good or evil. But it was not quite Judas’s time.
One of the early preachers of the church speaks of the folly of all who would follow in Judas’ footsteps. “They indeed defraud you of your money, but they strip themselves of the good will and help of God. And he that is stripped of that, though he clothe himself with the whole wealth of the world, is of all people most poor, just as he who is poorest of all, if he has God’s help, is the wealthiest of all.”1 But who in the world really believes this? How many would forego material luxury to acquire spiritual treasure? Are we any different than those who lived centuries ago? The more things change the more they stay the same.
There will never be a utopia on earth because people are utterly selfish and sinful.
One person is lacking food, while the next is starved for attention. One person is given physical support while the next remains bereft of emotional help. Perhaps the stomach is indulged while the soul withers. Or one individual is granted great personal freedom but becomes enslaved to his own lack of self-control. We selfishly confuse our wants with needs and people uncharitably make judgments about what is best for others. These complexities of human existence and sinfulness will always be with us. Christians are called to be bearers of mercy and hope. But we harbor no naïve ideals about the perfection of the human race. Pure sacrifice seeks no hope of having the favour returned. The Christian serves others because there is need, not because of reward. And we do it not to build people’s confidence in the goodness of the world but to point them to Christ.
What does the Bible say? “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”2 This power is the Word of God. Oh, what confidence has been lost in the word of God! How seldom we find it taken seriously. The bible is scarcely viewed as anything more than a dusty collection of stories of a by-gone age. Even amongst many Christians the biblical accounts are often marginalized as nothing more than harmless moralistic stories for children. Such attitudes betray the degree to which arrogance and unbelief so easily rule hearts and minds. Satan doesn’t need overly-cunning deceptions or temptations to outwit humans; he need only maintain enough cynicism, ignorance, or apathy to render God’s promises ineffective.
But the Word of God still commands its own audience and the Holy Spirit gathers His own followers. God works despite our foibles, faults, forgetfulness, and faithlessness.
Lent draws us right into the fray, and, angst, and paradox of remembering that we may forget. That is, of recalling Christ’s suffering that our sins may be forgotten; of claiming the reason for His crucifixion, that we might be identified with Him in the resurrection; of appreciating the past to make sense of the present and look toward the future. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”3 And the prophet says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”4
Dear friends, we believe that the doctrine of Christ crucified and risen has far-reaching consequences. Christ initiated a great reversal which presses on in the face of ridicule and doubt and is often unobserved. Sometimes we are privileged to witness great flashes of God’s power but more often than not the gospel does its work quietly and always in the midst of struggle and tension. By it the Holy Spirit converts hearts and transforms minds; yet our righteousness is by declaration and our holiness not our own, but Christ’s. And though this righteousness seems less tangible because it isn’t fully grasped by human senses, it is all the more certain because it rests on Christ’s work alone. He claims you as His child in baptism and no one can gainsay His testimony or overturn His claim. He declares to the penitent that his or her sins are forgiven and nothing can give greater freedom. He provides His own body and blood, and better nourishment for the soul cannot be found.
Even in the midst of decay the old is being made new. In the midst of dying the power of life gathers force. In the face of despair hope springs anew. The Christ hidden from our senses nevertheless lives in our souls. Human eyes search vainly in the darkness but the eyes of faith plainly behold the image of the cross. God is no less Creator now than He was in the beginning. Darkness fled when He commanded light to shine. Demons still flee whenever and wherever the Light of the World holds sway.
That which is broken can be repaired. Those who are estranged can be reconciled. All who have transgressed can be forgiven. The lost are sought and found. The enslaved are identified and freed. The weak are given strength, the ignorant wisdom, the sorrowful joy. Those whose appreciation for the beauty and elegance of creation has gone pass all memory are reintroduced to a remade Eden. The thankless are given a reason to praise. This is the work of the gospel even now. Mary’s act of devotion will always be remembered because Christ says it will.
Christ does all these things. Now in the piecemeal manner that suppresses our arrogance, subdues our selfishness, and increases our dependence on His mercy. Only in this manner is our faith now served. As the apostle says, “Not that I have already attained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”5 But then, on the Last Day, at the last trumpet, in dramatic and comprehensive fashion, when we see Him face to face and as He IS- then will the consequence of sin and evil of death be swallowed up by life. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Fifth Sunday in Lent
21 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Chrysostom
2 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
3 Hebrews 13:8
4 Isaiah 43:18-19
5 Philippians 3:12
Text: John 12:1-8
Theme: Service and Devotion
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
Jesus has spoken repeatedly of His impending arrest and crucifixion. There was no question that His time was nearing its end. Mary seems to sense this. As a touching and poignant act of love she wished to anoint Him with perfume that would generally be used at burial. Judas condemns her act as wasteful. The poor could have been helped, he said. But his motivations were far from pure. Judas was a thief. The sinner always finds a better use for someone else’s possessions. But Jesus does not reprimand him or reveal his transgression. Instead He commends Mary’s act of devotion. God will judge. God will bring all things to light whether good or evil. But it was not quite Judas’s time.
One of the early preachers of the church speaks of the folly of all who would follow in Judas’ footsteps. “They indeed defraud you of your money, but they strip themselves of the good will and help of God. And he that is stripped of that, though he clothe himself with the whole wealth of the world, is of all people most poor, just as he who is poorest of all, if he has God’s help, is the wealthiest of all.”1 But who in the world really believes this? How many would forego material luxury to acquire spiritual treasure? Are we any different than those who lived centuries ago? The more things change the more they stay the same.
There will never be a utopia on earth because people are utterly selfish and sinful.
One person is lacking food, while the next is starved for attention. One person is given physical support while the next remains bereft of emotional help. Perhaps the stomach is indulged while the soul withers. Or one individual is granted great personal freedom but becomes enslaved to his own lack of self-control. We selfishly confuse our wants with needs and people uncharitably make judgments about what is best for others. These complexities of human existence and sinfulness will always be with us. Christians are called to be bearers of mercy and hope. But we harbor no naïve ideals about the perfection of the human race. Pure sacrifice seeks no hope of having the favour returned. The Christian serves others because there is need, not because of reward. And we do it not to build people’s confidence in the goodness of the world but to point them to Christ.
What does the Bible say? “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”2 This power is the Word of God. Oh, what confidence has been lost in the word of God! How seldom we find it taken seriously. The bible is scarcely viewed as anything more than a dusty collection of stories of a by-gone age. Even amongst many Christians the biblical accounts are often marginalized as nothing more than harmless moralistic stories for children. Such attitudes betray the degree to which arrogance and unbelief so easily rule hearts and minds. Satan doesn’t need overly-cunning deceptions or temptations to outwit humans; he need only maintain enough cynicism, ignorance, or apathy to render God’s promises ineffective.
But the Word of God still commands its own audience and the Holy Spirit gathers His own followers. God works despite our foibles, faults, forgetfulness, and faithlessness.
Lent draws us right into the fray, and, angst, and paradox of remembering that we may forget. That is, of recalling Christ’s suffering that our sins may be forgotten; of claiming the reason for His crucifixion, that we might be identified with Him in the resurrection; of appreciating the past to make sense of the present and look toward the future. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”3 And the prophet says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”4
Dear friends, we believe that the doctrine of Christ crucified and risen has far-reaching consequences. Christ initiated a great reversal which presses on in the face of ridicule and doubt and is often unobserved. Sometimes we are privileged to witness great flashes of God’s power but more often than not the gospel does its work quietly and always in the midst of struggle and tension. By it the Holy Spirit converts hearts and transforms minds; yet our righteousness is by declaration and our holiness not our own, but Christ’s. And though this righteousness seems less tangible because it isn’t fully grasped by human senses, it is all the more certain because it rests on Christ’s work alone. He claims you as His child in baptism and no one can gainsay His testimony or overturn His claim. He declares to the penitent that his or her sins are forgiven and nothing can give greater freedom. He provides His own body and blood, and better nourishment for the soul cannot be found.
Even in the midst of decay the old is being made new. In the midst of dying the power of life gathers force. In the face of despair hope springs anew. The Christ hidden from our senses nevertheless lives in our souls. Human eyes search vainly in the darkness but the eyes of faith plainly behold the image of the cross. God is no less Creator now than He was in the beginning. Darkness fled when He commanded light to shine. Demons still flee whenever and wherever the Light of the World holds sway.
That which is broken can be repaired. Those who are estranged can be reconciled. All who have transgressed can be forgiven. The lost are sought and found. The enslaved are identified and freed. The weak are given strength, the ignorant wisdom, the sorrowful joy. Those whose appreciation for the beauty and elegance of creation has gone pass all memory are reintroduced to a remade Eden. The thankless are given a reason to praise. This is the work of the gospel even now. Mary’s act of devotion will always be remembered because Christ says it will.
Christ does all these things. Now in the piecemeal manner that suppresses our arrogance, subdues our selfishness, and increases our dependence on His mercy. Only in this manner is our faith now served. As the apostle says, “Not that I have already attained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”5 But then, on the Last Day, at the last trumpet, in dramatic and comprehensive fashion, when we see Him face to face and as He IS- then will the consequence of sin and evil of death be swallowed up by life. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Fifth Sunday in Lent
21 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Chrysostom
2 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
3 Hebrews 13:8
4 Isaiah 43:18-19
5 Philippians 3:12
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Fourth Sunday in Lent
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Luke 15:15
Theme: “Still a Long Way Off”
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
Grace and wrath cannot be measured by human parameters. Judgment for sin and unbelief are inevitable and the persistent unbeliever never emerges from the dark shadow of this uncompromising truth. But God is love and the believer’s entire existence revolves around this reality. Today Jesus instructs us in the limitless nature of God’s grace using the parable of the prodigal son. We couldn’t go too far wrong calling this parable a symbolic narrative of the entire scheme of redemption. At the centre of the story lies the Father’s unconditional acceptance of his son. He doesn’t send a servant ahead to verify if the son has had a change of attitude or heart. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”1 Here is truly divine compassion.
Yes, the son was moved to repentance and that is what caused him to return in humility. Had he remained hard-hearted, had he continued ignoring and rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work on his conscience, he might well have continued in his selfish ways. But his repentance is in no way the cause of his father’s compassion. This crucial point cannot be understood too clearly. Dear friends, never, never, never, attempt to assess God’s acceptance of you based on your own feeling of repentance or measurement of your humility. But you say, “Isn’t it a great thing to know that if we are certain we have turned to God in true repentance, and God sees that, He will receive us.” No! Don’t confuse the cause with the effect. God has already accepted you in Christ. That is the fruit of His sacrifice. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”2
It is impossible to judge whether the son’s initial repentance was unreserved. In rehearsing his confession he ends by asking that the father make him like one of the hired men. This may well have been a way of saving some dignity. At least he would have an income and the opportunity to repay. But after being greeted by the father he leaves this part off. He has sinned and is unworthy. Overwhelmed by the father’s compassion, his repentance is complete.
The son was not taking advantage of a soft-hearted father. You’ve sinned and you are ashamed and you begin to question whether you have lost God’s favour. How will you win it back? Already your thinking is wrong-headed. You can never win God’s favour back. God doesn’t play games with you. He doesn’t exchange emotional trading cards. God is not some blubbering, sentimental fool who cannot control His emotions. When you seek to use God, or by-pass Him to achieve your own agenda you risk His judgment. He will not fail to bring unbelief to judgment and sin to resolution. God forgives unconditionally. He does not force His grace on people. Your repentance needs to be unconditional. No wondering or wagering about when it’s enough to just get you over the line. “Do not test the Lord our God.”3 He reads the heart.
The grace of God is in no way contingent upon your repentance, or lack thereof, your obedience, your failure, your humility, your ignorance, your good intentions, your confusion, your anger or your apathy. The Scripture says, “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved.”4 Still, people will ask, and ponder, and try to discern what the cause is of God loving us. What does God notice about one person that He doesn’t about another? How can we put ourselves in the category of His favour? As soon as we even begin to think this way we are seeking to justify ourselves, or at least be the cause- if even in a very small way- of our own justification. This is human nature. What is the cause of God’s unconditional love and compassion, for you or for anyone? It is not you, or me, it is Christ, and Him alone!
He was crucified. He is risen! The Father declares believers righteous on account of His merit. That promise is applied specifically to you in baptism. In that event- the washing of rebirth5- the Father who reconciles the world to Himself reconciles you; the Son who gave His life on the cross redeems you; and the Spirit who spoke of the faith in ages past speaks faith into your heart. And from that moment on, though it happens in fits and starts and with mighty struggles, you have a new lease on life.
This has profound and practical consequences. The privilege and duty of loving our neighbor is approached from a different perspective. Recall the Scripture, “So from now on regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”6 Paul says literally that we should think of no one “according to the flesh.” We might say, that is, from a carnal or unspiritual mindset. What does it mean to regard no one “from a worldly point of view?”
It means that our belief that Christ died for all colours the way we look at other people. Our jealously becomes supplanted with compassion. We learn to become gentle in our approach, but unyielding in our convictions. We grow in sensitivity towards people’s weaknesses and clarity in our responses. It means we understand that possessions and ideologies are temporary, but souls are eternal. Every soul will either reign with God in heaven or be exiled from Him in hell. Misfortune is soon forgotten, good fortune even sooner, but the sacred promises of God are enduring. It means we seek to understand the culture better that we may more effectively engage its challenges. It means having our entire outlook on the meaning of existence transformed. The Bible says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”7
So what about the older brother? Maybe you identify with him more than the prodigal. His sin is clearly that of being uncharitable and jealous. At first glance he appears to have a case. He complains to His father, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.”8 Christians are easily led to this thinking. Why should unbelievers indulge in all the pleasures and pursuits of worldliness and ungodliness and then still be received (sometimes at the last minute) in the kingdom of heaven!
The vigor of the world seems worthy of our allegiance. It offers tangible progress, opportunity, fortune, and praise from others. But it is held in bondage to ulterior motives, the corruption of sin, and certain condemnation. Regardless of how alluring its spectacles are for a time, death and judgment will swallow them up. People experience many different kinds of loneliness, but true loneliness is to be bereft of the favour of God. What can the world offer you that is not far surpassed by what Christ has prepared for you in eternity? What can give you greater comfort or security than the promises of God, who does not lie or change His mind? The father’s response to his older son completes the account and re-iterates the main truth. “My son…you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”9 He was never without the father’s acceptance or provision. And so it is with all the children of God. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday in Lent
14 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 15:20
2 Romans 5:8
3 Deuteronomy 6:16
4 Ephesians 2:4-5
5 See Titus 3:5
6 2 Corinthians 5:16 7 Romans 12:2
8 Luke 15:29 9 Luke 15:31
Text: Luke 15:15
Theme: “Still a Long Way Off”
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
Grace and wrath cannot be measured by human parameters. Judgment for sin and unbelief are inevitable and the persistent unbeliever never emerges from the dark shadow of this uncompromising truth. But God is love and the believer’s entire existence revolves around this reality. Today Jesus instructs us in the limitless nature of God’s grace using the parable of the prodigal son. We couldn’t go too far wrong calling this parable a symbolic narrative of the entire scheme of redemption. At the centre of the story lies the Father’s unconditional acceptance of his son. He doesn’t send a servant ahead to verify if the son has had a change of attitude or heart. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”1 Here is truly divine compassion.
Yes, the son was moved to repentance and that is what caused him to return in humility. Had he remained hard-hearted, had he continued ignoring and rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work on his conscience, he might well have continued in his selfish ways. But his repentance is in no way the cause of his father’s compassion. This crucial point cannot be understood too clearly. Dear friends, never, never, never, attempt to assess God’s acceptance of you based on your own feeling of repentance or measurement of your humility. But you say, “Isn’t it a great thing to know that if we are certain we have turned to God in true repentance, and God sees that, He will receive us.” No! Don’t confuse the cause with the effect. God has already accepted you in Christ. That is the fruit of His sacrifice. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”2
It is impossible to judge whether the son’s initial repentance was unreserved. In rehearsing his confession he ends by asking that the father make him like one of the hired men. This may well have been a way of saving some dignity. At least he would have an income and the opportunity to repay. But after being greeted by the father he leaves this part off. He has sinned and is unworthy. Overwhelmed by the father’s compassion, his repentance is complete.
The son was not taking advantage of a soft-hearted father. You’ve sinned and you are ashamed and you begin to question whether you have lost God’s favour. How will you win it back? Already your thinking is wrong-headed. You can never win God’s favour back. God doesn’t play games with you. He doesn’t exchange emotional trading cards. God is not some blubbering, sentimental fool who cannot control His emotions. When you seek to use God, or by-pass Him to achieve your own agenda you risk His judgment. He will not fail to bring unbelief to judgment and sin to resolution. God forgives unconditionally. He does not force His grace on people. Your repentance needs to be unconditional. No wondering or wagering about when it’s enough to just get you over the line. “Do not test the Lord our God.”3 He reads the heart.
The grace of God is in no way contingent upon your repentance, or lack thereof, your obedience, your failure, your humility, your ignorance, your good intentions, your confusion, your anger or your apathy. The Scripture says, “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved.”4 Still, people will ask, and ponder, and try to discern what the cause is of God loving us. What does God notice about one person that He doesn’t about another? How can we put ourselves in the category of His favour? As soon as we even begin to think this way we are seeking to justify ourselves, or at least be the cause- if even in a very small way- of our own justification. This is human nature. What is the cause of God’s unconditional love and compassion, for you or for anyone? It is not you, or me, it is Christ, and Him alone!
He was crucified. He is risen! The Father declares believers righteous on account of His merit. That promise is applied specifically to you in baptism. In that event- the washing of rebirth5- the Father who reconciles the world to Himself reconciles you; the Son who gave His life on the cross redeems you; and the Spirit who spoke of the faith in ages past speaks faith into your heart. And from that moment on, though it happens in fits and starts and with mighty struggles, you have a new lease on life.
This has profound and practical consequences. The privilege and duty of loving our neighbor is approached from a different perspective. Recall the Scripture, “So from now on regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”6 Paul says literally that we should think of no one “according to the flesh.” We might say, that is, from a carnal or unspiritual mindset. What does it mean to regard no one “from a worldly point of view?”
It means that our belief that Christ died for all colours the way we look at other people. Our jealously becomes supplanted with compassion. We learn to become gentle in our approach, but unyielding in our convictions. We grow in sensitivity towards people’s weaknesses and clarity in our responses. It means we understand that possessions and ideologies are temporary, but souls are eternal. Every soul will either reign with God in heaven or be exiled from Him in hell. Misfortune is soon forgotten, good fortune even sooner, but the sacred promises of God are enduring. It means we seek to understand the culture better that we may more effectively engage its challenges. It means having our entire outlook on the meaning of existence transformed. The Bible says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”7
So what about the older brother? Maybe you identify with him more than the prodigal. His sin is clearly that of being uncharitable and jealous. At first glance he appears to have a case. He complains to His father, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.”8 Christians are easily led to this thinking. Why should unbelievers indulge in all the pleasures and pursuits of worldliness and ungodliness and then still be received (sometimes at the last minute) in the kingdom of heaven!
The vigor of the world seems worthy of our allegiance. It offers tangible progress, opportunity, fortune, and praise from others. But it is held in bondage to ulterior motives, the corruption of sin, and certain condemnation. Regardless of how alluring its spectacles are for a time, death and judgment will swallow them up. People experience many different kinds of loneliness, but true loneliness is to be bereft of the favour of God. What can the world offer you that is not far surpassed by what Christ has prepared for you in eternity? What can give you greater comfort or security than the promises of God, who does not lie or change His mind? The father’s response to his older son completes the account and re-iterates the main truth. “My son…you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”9 He was never without the father’s acceptance or provision. And so it is with all the children of God. Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Fourth Sunday in Lent
14 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 15:20
2 Romans 5:8
3 Deuteronomy 6:16
4 Ephesians 2:4-5
5 See Titus 3:5
6 2 Corinthians 5:16 7 Romans 12:2
8 Luke 15:29 9 Luke 15:31
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Third Sunday in Lent
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen. +
Text: Luke 13:1-5
Theme: The Nature of Repentance
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
It is human nature to make comparisons. People want to know how they measure up against others. Comparing can be useful. Through it standards of quality or achievement can be set up. Healthy striving for excellence can be encouraged. God generally abhors the pursuit of mediocrity. No where does the Bible allow believers to be apathetic about the blessings they receive from His hand. The Holy Spirit always cultivates within the believer a deeper appreciation of His love and a more genuine concern that it be expressed to others. The devil is often the champion of apathy.
But Satan can champion the practice of comparison too. Comparing isn’t always helpful, and often it is not godly. The person who looks to justify himself often does so by making comparisons with others. The activity is often subtle and cannot be identified by any outward indicators. But the method is standard and straightforward: I feel better about my spiritual status because I believe I’m not quite as bad a sinner as the next person- whom I know has done some terrible things. On this basis we seek to build our confidence (which in reality balloons up as a false sense of security) that God is at least more likely to be favorably disposed towards us than the next person.
Today Jesus categorically renounces judging the degree of other’s sins. “Do you think that these Galileans were worse than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? I tell you, no!”1 Christ does not entertain a discussion on the nature or severity of their sinfulness. He confirms that they were, indeed, sinners. They weren’t simply victims of Pilate’s ruthless decisions. But they were not worse sinners than others. Jesus mentions a second example. “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?”2 It is clear that some reasoned their deaths involved divine retribution for specific unrighteousness they had committed. The idea was that there was a certain one-to-one correlation between certain sins and God’s punishment. Again, Jesus refutes this thinking.
The bible teaches the universality of sin and the guilt it brings and there can be no equivocating. The call to repentance is always a call to the integrity of this truth, namely: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”3 And great danger lies in trying to make distinctions. This becomes an important premise for understanding the nature of forgiveness. Luther clarifies with these words, “This repentance is not partial or fragmentary like repentance for actual sins, nor is it uncertain like that. It does not debate what is sin and what is not sin, but lumps everything together and says, ‘We are wholly and altogether sinful.’ We need not spend our time weighing, distinguishing, differentiating. On this account there is no uncertainty in such repentance, for noting is left that we might imagine to be good enough to pay for our sin.”4
When our repentance has the certainty that we’re not holding anything in reserve with which we might still try to make a case in our favour, than we are much closer to appreciating the gospel. Isaiah says today, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, to our God, for He will freely pardon.”5 Nor is repentance a singular event. Though it is punctuated by regular and specific events of confession and forgiveness, it is nevertheless, not to be understood as wholly defined by such distinct occurrences. Rather repentance, which properly includes contrition and faith, is the very dynamic by which our relationship with God is characterized. It involves both attitude and activity. Repentance involves a constant returning to the source of life given in baptism. It’s as if God anchors His life-giving promise there like a well of pure water that can only be accessed in one place. But which spreads it benefits wherever the water is carried and consumed. So it is with the Word of God.
Dear friends, the season of Lent reminds us that daily bearing our cross involves the very thing repentance encompasses: exercising our baptismal faith in the midst of success and failure, adversity and prosperity. This means understanding that the Lamb who was slain is the Saviour who is risen. Everything flows to and from His powerful presence and merciful care. Here realities like humility and joy are important. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit apart from which we could live only in arrogance and a facade of happiness. And we can be certain of these blessings even in the midst of the most sever trial and temptations. Remember the fantastic promise we heard earlier, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”6
The believer’s desire to resist temptation, regardless of how weak, is always a sign that faith exists. Holy desires come from the Holy Spirit. They are never natural tendencies of human nature. And the Holy Spirit never equips us for spiritual autonomy. The power to overcome sin is not an independent possession. The wisdom and strength necessary to battle temptation are not absolute virtues which we can wield at will. We are neither capable of nor responsible for waging the struggle against evil and temptation in an autonomous fashion. We are not like firefighters equipped by God with all the necessary gear and sent out on our own to fight the fire. We’re not like soldiers, trained and equipped to engage the enemy and then sent out with best wishes but no commanders.
This common misunderstanding has far-reaching consequences. It tends toward an understanding of the Christina life which sees God and the church as spiritual ‘resourcers.’ They maybe accessed when we need equipping but otherwise we are led to believe we not only can, but even should have the wherewithal to carry on quite independently. It is important to be clear. The Bible does speak of being clothed with the armour of God. It does speak of employing our spiritual blessings and talents in the interests of others. But this is hardly done in self-reliance and autonomy.
Like the air that fills our lungs, the light that strikes our eyes and the blood that courses thorough our veins, the grace, mercy, compassion, and power of God enliven and sustain us continually. Jesus says, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”7 And again, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”8 Through the word we receive the Holy Spirit, not once, but again and again. Repeatedly we benefit from the dissemination of Christ’s forgiveness in the sacrament. “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ.”9 Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday in Lent
7 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:2-3
2 Luke 13:4
3 Romans 3:23
4 Martin Luther, Smalcald Articles
5 Isaiah 55:7
6 1 Corinthians 10:13 7 John 15:5
8 Matthew 28:20 9 1 Corinthians 10:16
Text: Luke 13:1-5
Theme: The Nature of Repentance
Dear baptized in the Lord Jesus,
It is human nature to make comparisons. People want to know how they measure up against others. Comparing can be useful. Through it standards of quality or achievement can be set up. Healthy striving for excellence can be encouraged. God generally abhors the pursuit of mediocrity. No where does the Bible allow believers to be apathetic about the blessings they receive from His hand. The Holy Spirit always cultivates within the believer a deeper appreciation of His love and a more genuine concern that it be expressed to others. The devil is often the champion of apathy.
But Satan can champion the practice of comparison too. Comparing isn’t always helpful, and often it is not godly. The person who looks to justify himself often does so by making comparisons with others. The activity is often subtle and cannot be identified by any outward indicators. But the method is standard and straightforward: I feel better about my spiritual status because I believe I’m not quite as bad a sinner as the next person- whom I know has done some terrible things. On this basis we seek to build our confidence (which in reality balloons up as a false sense of security) that God is at least more likely to be favorably disposed towards us than the next person.
Today Jesus categorically renounces judging the degree of other’s sins. “Do you think that these Galileans were worse than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? I tell you, no!”1 Christ does not entertain a discussion on the nature or severity of their sinfulness. He confirms that they were, indeed, sinners. They weren’t simply victims of Pilate’s ruthless decisions. But they were not worse sinners than others. Jesus mentions a second example. “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?”2 It is clear that some reasoned their deaths involved divine retribution for specific unrighteousness they had committed. The idea was that there was a certain one-to-one correlation between certain sins and God’s punishment. Again, Jesus refutes this thinking.
The bible teaches the universality of sin and the guilt it brings and there can be no equivocating. The call to repentance is always a call to the integrity of this truth, namely: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”3 And great danger lies in trying to make distinctions. This becomes an important premise for understanding the nature of forgiveness. Luther clarifies with these words, “This repentance is not partial or fragmentary like repentance for actual sins, nor is it uncertain like that. It does not debate what is sin and what is not sin, but lumps everything together and says, ‘We are wholly and altogether sinful.’ We need not spend our time weighing, distinguishing, differentiating. On this account there is no uncertainty in such repentance, for noting is left that we might imagine to be good enough to pay for our sin.”4
When our repentance has the certainty that we’re not holding anything in reserve with which we might still try to make a case in our favour, than we are much closer to appreciating the gospel. Isaiah says today, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, to our God, for He will freely pardon.”5 Nor is repentance a singular event. Though it is punctuated by regular and specific events of confession and forgiveness, it is nevertheless, not to be understood as wholly defined by such distinct occurrences. Rather repentance, which properly includes contrition and faith, is the very dynamic by which our relationship with God is characterized. It involves both attitude and activity. Repentance involves a constant returning to the source of life given in baptism. It’s as if God anchors His life-giving promise there like a well of pure water that can only be accessed in one place. But which spreads it benefits wherever the water is carried and consumed. So it is with the Word of God.
Dear friends, the season of Lent reminds us that daily bearing our cross involves the very thing repentance encompasses: exercising our baptismal faith in the midst of success and failure, adversity and prosperity. This means understanding that the Lamb who was slain is the Saviour who is risen. Everything flows to and from His powerful presence and merciful care. Here realities like humility and joy are important. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit apart from which we could live only in arrogance and a facade of happiness. And we can be certain of these blessings even in the midst of the most sever trial and temptations. Remember the fantastic promise we heard earlier, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”6
The believer’s desire to resist temptation, regardless of how weak, is always a sign that faith exists. Holy desires come from the Holy Spirit. They are never natural tendencies of human nature. And the Holy Spirit never equips us for spiritual autonomy. The power to overcome sin is not an independent possession. The wisdom and strength necessary to battle temptation are not absolute virtues which we can wield at will. We are neither capable of nor responsible for waging the struggle against evil and temptation in an autonomous fashion. We are not like firefighters equipped by God with all the necessary gear and sent out on our own to fight the fire. We’re not like soldiers, trained and equipped to engage the enemy and then sent out with best wishes but no commanders.
This common misunderstanding has far-reaching consequences. It tends toward an understanding of the Christina life which sees God and the church as spiritual ‘resourcers.’ They maybe accessed when we need equipping but otherwise we are led to believe we not only can, but even should have the wherewithal to carry on quite independently. It is important to be clear. The Bible does speak of being clothed with the armour of God. It does speak of employing our spiritual blessings and talents in the interests of others. But this is hardly done in self-reliance and autonomy.
Like the air that fills our lungs, the light that strikes our eyes and the blood that courses thorough our veins, the grace, mercy, compassion, and power of God enliven and sustain us continually. Jesus says, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”7 And again, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”8 Through the word we receive the Holy Spirit, not once, but again and again. Repeatedly we benefit from the dissemination of Christ’s forgiveness in the sacrament. “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ.”9 Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday in Lent
7 March 2010 Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 13:2-3
2 Luke 13:4
3 Romans 3:23
4 Martin Luther, Smalcald Articles
5 Isaiah 55:7
6 1 Corinthians 10:13 7 John 15:5
8 Matthew 28:20 9 1 Corinthians 10:16
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