+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 21:10-18
Theme: The End: Destruction but Deliverance
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The Holy Spirit has a theatre of war. It’s not in some obscure mystical dimension. It’s not remote from the interface of our daily lives. He engages the struggle in your heart, in your will, in your soul. His weapon is the Word of God. His foe is Satanic. His goal is to cheat death. His authority was conferred through the conquest of a cross and open tomb. He vests water, word, bread and wine with the power to forgive. He seeks glory only for the One who redeems. His campaign must continue until the One who was slain returns in majesty.
So here we are in our little sector of the spiritual battlefield. Here we are in our unassuming corner of the world. But did you know this is ground zero? Or did you think you were residing in a ceasefire zone? Did you think that struggle became obsolete when you were baptized? When you were confirmed? Have you misunderstood the peace you have because of Christ’s sacrificial death for your sins to mean that Satan now has other things to do?
The Scripture says, “The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other.”1 Each Lord’s Day you return to the power and promise of your baptism in repentance not because evil desires and deeds have ceased in your life but precisely because temptation still rages. You kneel at the altar to receive the true body and blood of Christ not as a casual gesture to remind yourself the struggle has ended, but precisely because you need strength, peace, and pardon to go back into the fray.
Christ describes the fray today in apocalyptic terms. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events.”2 We might say the events of the end times are not for the faint of heart. I’m not sure where that leaves me! We need not discuss very long about how Jesus’ words have proven true again and again. The world will remain in turmoil. Don’t waste anytime speculating when the exact end will come or try to measure its signs. The end times began with Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Each day is one closer.
And each day brings the possibility that the followers of Christ will be put to the test. Persecution similar to that in the early Church exists in parts of the world today. Even where it is not overt subtle pressure is brought to bear. The warnings and promises of Christ are always relevant. Jesus says to His disciples, “They will lay hands on you and persecute you…You will be betrayed…and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of Me.”3 But then in the same breath, “But not a hair of your head will perish.”4 How can both be true?
Christianity involves grappling with this apparent contradiction. Satan wants you to think God’s protection of you is a hollow and deceptive promise. Our sinful nature too powerfully testifies to us that this physical, earthly life is all that matters. We cling to it with tenacity. If God isn’t overseeing your material prosperity then how can you trust God loves you? Doubt niggles us. Certainly it’s not worth risking life and limb to defend His truth- we wonder. Satan need not shout this at you; he need only whisper it in your ear.
Without being irreverent we must learn to defend against the masked impression that Christ- though well-meaning and compassionate- was the greatest fraud to ever live. Really it can be put in be no other way. If Jesus is not the very Son of God then is He not the greatest of all deceivers? The logic is parallel to St. Paul’s reasoning about the resurrection. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead.”5If He is not the author of life and defeater of death then must He not be deceptive or delusional?
This is one of the great battlegrounds for the skeptic. It is accordingly the Holy Spirit’s theater of war. For the person who reflects as they stand aloof the question is “How can a supposedly gracious God let bad things happen to people?” In this case- other people. How could God let people die in the typhoon in the Philippines or in any so-called natural disaster? In short, how can death, destruction, and tragedy be reconciled with the claim that God is love? But for the person who suffers the pain of hardship themselves the question often becomes, “How could God let this happen- to me?”
Now the rubber really meets the road. So how do we witness? Here we quickly meet the limits of human competence. You can never reason a person who has been struck with tragedy- whether death, pain, or betrayal- into believing that God is nevertheless attentive and well-meaning. The Spirit must speak. It must speak nail-pierced, blood-drenched words. It must pierce the deepest darkness with a ray of divine light. That doesn’t make your witness unimportant. Your witness is to show others love, compassion, and sympathy; to show patience and be hospitable. But these are shown always as an expression of holding uncompromisingly to the truth.
Remember unchanging truth must be passed to each generation. We do well to consider this as we reflect on Christ’s imminent return. Such passing on is the Bible’s definition of tradition. The gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for sins and for sinners is taught to new souls as “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints”6 is lived and confessed by those who have gone before.
We’re not talking about just keeping the next generation from “going off the rails.” We’re speaking of forming mature believers who cherish how their life fits into the divine agenda in its totality rather than those who seek to fit a little bit of the divine into their own agenda with minimal loyalty. Is it a matter of prosperity or priority? Do we lack the resources or the resolve? Honest reflection quickly reveals the answer.
Dear friends, Christianity is not a game of chance. We are not playing the odds. It’s not a matter of hedging our bets reasoning “In case the Bible does prove to be true,” it’s safer to be on God’s side. The Almighty quickly sees through any so-called faith born out of carnal fear and self-preservation. Christ is the curator of souls. Only He holds the future. His promises are too good to be true- in human terms. But we cannot fathom what it means that death has been undone. The Scriptures take great pains to convey these truths like Isaiah says today, “They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.”7
Each Lord’s Day- like St. John8- you are in the Spirit because the Spirit is in Christ’s Bride, the Church. This is His theatre of war, here and now. But rejoice and do not fear “because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”9 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Twenty Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
17 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Galatians 5:17
2 Luke 21:10-11
3 Luke 21:12, 16-17
4 Luke 21:18
5 1 Corinthians 15:14-15
6 Jude 3
7 1 Corinthians 15:14-15
8 See Revelation 1:10
7 1 John 4:4
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Twenty Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 20:35
Theme: In the Age of the Resurrection
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Does God have secrets? Well, where would we start? Jesus once said to His disciples, “The secret of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables.”1 People like to know secrets. To couch something in terms of a secret adds a dimension or aura of intrigue. It implies access to privileged information. The marketing world has long been onto this tactic. What is the secret to losing weight while still eating everything you want? What is the secret to a happy marriage? What is the secret to a high-paying, satisfying career? What’s the secret to children who are obedient and well-adjusted; and on and on it goes. These are important questions.
Still, these passing particularities of life are more or less trivial in the bigger picture. The Christian is finally concerned with the establishment of Christ’s kingdom and the well-being of body and soul for eternity. As we approach the end of the Church Year we are mindful that one of the impenetrable ‘secrets’ of God is the hour of Christ’s return. But God does not keep secrets out of arrogance or because He enjoys seeing people driven to vain speculation. He always has our well-being in mind. St. Paul says today, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers, not become easily unsettled or alarmed…don’t let anyone deceive you.”2
At first glance this text may not seem to relate to the gospel reading. But both speak of the realities of the life to come. Jesus was approached by a group of Jewish religious leaders called the Sadducees. Generally well-off and part of the upper echelons of society they were somewhat of a counter-balance to the more legalist Pharisees. They did not believe in angels or the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees posed an almost absurd question to Jesus to test Him. Suppose a woman who was following the Levitical law of marriage3 had seven husbands die, all brothers, and all before she bore any children? Whose wife would she be in heaven?
Without downplaying the sanctity of marriage Jesus shifted the conversation to the nature and reality of heaven. Earthly marriage will be superseded in heaven by the union between Christ and His bride, the Church. Marriage in the here and now is a reflection of a higher reality. As with the angels, human marriage will not exist in heaven. More importantly, He affirms the resurrection.
Jesus was not revealing secrets but opening their minds to what the Scriptures had always said. By the time God met Moses at the burning bush the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for hundreds of years. But they were not dead; they were alive in God! Here Jesus makes a stunning declaration. Deceased believers have not ceased to exist. They do not reside in some type of spiritual coma. They are alive. They await the general resurrection of the dead. And they can no longer die!
Do you hear what the Lord is saying here? Death has been rendered powerless. God is the God of the living. This is the answer to the deepest human dilemma. Oh the grief, pain and loneliness of death. The separation it causes is one of the great adversities of human existence. Everyone must face it. For many it is the ultimate cause of despair. But in Christ death has been overcome.
Matthew tells us that the primary criticism of Jesus is that these Sadducees didn’t know the Scriptures. Or maybe they didn’t really believe them. “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”4 How appropriate is that critique today! There is such a widespread loss of confidence in the Scriptures that hardly anyone takes notice of it or sees it as a serious problem. Dare we admit that even many of the most ‘committed’ Christians today seldom worry about the integrity of biblical truth or the following of God’s will?
Do the Scriptures inform and empower our beliefs and actions? Or do we just use them to defend what we’ve already decided we’re going to do? We don’t need the powerful Word; we have prosperity! We don’t need the mystery of the Almighty’s creation; we have the answers of science. We don’t need to honour the sacredness of life; we have the convenience of abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. But when Christ comes, who will stand at His summons? Who will give account: The self-made millionaire, the scholar of evolutionary theory, the architect of secular social engineering?
Though the Sadducees were reluctant to believe God could raise the dead the greater threat to Jesus’ teaching was the Pharisees. They vehemently opposed the gospel. And they had far more influence over the common people; those who sought to be god-fearing, especially. And so it is that those controlled by the principles of secularism and the pursuit of innumerable idols will always replace God with other forms of security; but those who seek salvation through their own goodness assault the very reason for which Christ died. It is no small thing to attempt to rob Christ of His glory.
Dear friends, the temptation to which the Pharisees succumbed is a constant danger. A sanctified life is not about reaching a point where you feel that you’ve so gotten the upper-hand on your sins, your short-comings and your weakness that sin is no longer a major concern. There is no threshold where you become godly enough that forgiveness becomes an unnecessary formality. There is no baseline of civility and good-manneredness that can give you confidence that you’re keeping yourself in God’s good graces.
Rather, as you accumulate the scars of life, as you struggle again and again with your own temptations and doubts, your anxieties and fears- the more you see the power of sin for what it is. The more you recognize your own failings. Life is abrasive. It wounds and scars; not by accident, but because of the destructive force of sin. You cannot stand aloof from it. No one is an objective observer. And no one is exempt from bearing their own guilt.
The gospel confronts the darkness of unbelief and superstition but also the self-righteousness of those who either foolishly or ignorantly presume to contribute all, or in part, what only Christ can provide. Grace tolerates no augmentation. He hung alone on the cross. Only He could. He was crucified for you. He rose for you. You are baptized into His death and resurrection. You are fed with His body and blood. His mercy meets you are every opportunity.
We’re not playing a spiritual or religious game here. The absolution announced to you from the “called and ordained servant of the Word” is not merely some therapeutic ritual honoured for the sake of decorum. The keys are exercised as Christ’s instruments for binding and losing sins. Recall what the catechism says, “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command…this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”5 The need for divine pardon never becomes obsolete. How appropriate and powerful are the words of the prophet Haggai, “‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear…In this place I will grant peace.”6
God doesn’t have secrets per se. We might do better to use the term mystery. Christ is the perfect revelation of God’s compassion and glory. He is the crucified, scarred, but living Saviour. It’s just that the facts of our sinful condition prevent us from fully appreciating this truth. Hence the Holy Spirit gifts us with faith. Faith waits steadfastly and waits eagerly for these mysteries to be resolved. In God’s time they will. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Twenty Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
10 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 4:11
2 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
3 See Deuteronomy 25:5
4 Matthew 22:29
5 Luther’s Small Catechism, Confession
6 Haggai 2:4-5, 9
Text: Luke 20:35
Theme: In the Age of the Resurrection
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Does God have secrets? Well, where would we start? Jesus once said to His disciples, “The secret of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables.”1 People like to know secrets. To couch something in terms of a secret adds a dimension or aura of intrigue. It implies access to privileged information. The marketing world has long been onto this tactic. What is the secret to losing weight while still eating everything you want? What is the secret to a happy marriage? What is the secret to a high-paying, satisfying career? What’s the secret to children who are obedient and well-adjusted; and on and on it goes. These are important questions.
Still, these passing particularities of life are more or less trivial in the bigger picture. The Christian is finally concerned with the establishment of Christ’s kingdom and the well-being of body and soul for eternity. As we approach the end of the Church Year we are mindful that one of the impenetrable ‘secrets’ of God is the hour of Christ’s return. But God does not keep secrets out of arrogance or because He enjoys seeing people driven to vain speculation. He always has our well-being in mind. St. Paul says today, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers, not become easily unsettled or alarmed…don’t let anyone deceive you.”2
At first glance this text may not seem to relate to the gospel reading. But both speak of the realities of the life to come. Jesus was approached by a group of Jewish religious leaders called the Sadducees. Generally well-off and part of the upper echelons of society they were somewhat of a counter-balance to the more legalist Pharisees. They did not believe in angels or the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees posed an almost absurd question to Jesus to test Him. Suppose a woman who was following the Levitical law of marriage3 had seven husbands die, all brothers, and all before she bore any children? Whose wife would she be in heaven?
Without downplaying the sanctity of marriage Jesus shifted the conversation to the nature and reality of heaven. Earthly marriage will be superseded in heaven by the union between Christ and His bride, the Church. Marriage in the here and now is a reflection of a higher reality. As with the angels, human marriage will not exist in heaven. More importantly, He affirms the resurrection.
Jesus was not revealing secrets but opening their minds to what the Scriptures had always said. By the time God met Moses at the burning bush the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for hundreds of years. But they were not dead; they were alive in God! Here Jesus makes a stunning declaration. Deceased believers have not ceased to exist. They do not reside in some type of spiritual coma. They are alive. They await the general resurrection of the dead. And they can no longer die!
Do you hear what the Lord is saying here? Death has been rendered powerless. God is the God of the living. This is the answer to the deepest human dilemma. Oh the grief, pain and loneliness of death. The separation it causes is one of the great adversities of human existence. Everyone must face it. For many it is the ultimate cause of despair. But in Christ death has been overcome.
Matthew tells us that the primary criticism of Jesus is that these Sadducees didn’t know the Scriptures. Or maybe they didn’t really believe them. “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”4 How appropriate is that critique today! There is such a widespread loss of confidence in the Scriptures that hardly anyone takes notice of it or sees it as a serious problem. Dare we admit that even many of the most ‘committed’ Christians today seldom worry about the integrity of biblical truth or the following of God’s will?
Do the Scriptures inform and empower our beliefs and actions? Or do we just use them to defend what we’ve already decided we’re going to do? We don’t need the powerful Word; we have prosperity! We don’t need the mystery of the Almighty’s creation; we have the answers of science. We don’t need to honour the sacredness of life; we have the convenience of abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. But when Christ comes, who will stand at His summons? Who will give account: The self-made millionaire, the scholar of evolutionary theory, the architect of secular social engineering?
Though the Sadducees were reluctant to believe God could raise the dead the greater threat to Jesus’ teaching was the Pharisees. They vehemently opposed the gospel. And they had far more influence over the common people; those who sought to be god-fearing, especially. And so it is that those controlled by the principles of secularism and the pursuit of innumerable idols will always replace God with other forms of security; but those who seek salvation through their own goodness assault the very reason for which Christ died. It is no small thing to attempt to rob Christ of His glory.
Dear friends, the temptation to which the Pharisees succumbed is a constant danger. A sanctified life is not about reaching a point where you feel that you’ve so gotten the upper-hand on your sins, your short-comings and your weakness that sin is no longer a major concern. There is no threshold where you become godly enough that forgiveness becomes an unnecessary formality. There is no baseline of civility and good-manneredness that can give you confidence that you’re keeping yourself in God’s good graces.
Rather, as you accumulate the scars of life, as you struggle again and again with your own temptations and doubts, your anxieties and fears- the more you see the power of sin for what it is. The more you recognize your own failings. Life is abrasive. It wounds and scars; not by accident, but because of the destructive force of sin. You cannot stand aloof from it. No one is an objective observer. And no one is exempt from bearing their own guilt.
The gospel confronts the darkness of unbelief and superstition but also the self-righteousness of those who either foolishly or ignorantly presume to contribute all, or in part, what only Christ can provide. Grace tolerates no augmentation. He hung alone on the cross. Only He could. He was crucified for you. He rose for you. You are baptized into His death and resurrection. You are fed with His body and blood. His mercy meets you are every opportunity.
We’re not playing a spiritual or religious game here. The absolution announced to you from the “called and ordained servant of the Word” is not merely some therapeutic ritual honoured for the sake of decorum. The keys are exercised as Christ’s instruments for binding and losing sins. Recall what the catechism says, “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command…this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”5 The need for divine pardon never becomes obsolete. How appropriate and powerful are the words of the prophet Haggai, “‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear…In this place I will grant peace.”6
God doesn’t have secrets per se. We might do better to use the term mystery. Christ is the perfect revelation of God’s compassion and glory. He is the crucified, scarred, but living Saviour. It’s just that the facts of our sinful condition prevent us from fully appreciating this truth. Hence the Holy Spirit gifts us with faith. Faith waits steadfastly and waits eagerly for these mysteries to be resolved. In God’s time they will. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Twenty Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
10 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 4:11
2 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
3 See Deuteronomy 25:5
4 Matthew 22:29
5 Luther’s Small Catechism, Confession
6 Haggai 2:4-5, 9
Sunday, November 3, 2013
All Saints' (Observed) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Theme: Blessed!
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Can you identify blessings when you see them? The answer probably seems both obvious and incontestable. We know what things we are striving for in life and the acquisition of these things is considered to be a blessing. Good heath, strong relationships, financial stability, a sense of satisfaction and achievement are common things people seek for a sense of well-being. Yet God would have us see a broader and deeper perspective.
In today’s gospel reading- containing the Beatitudes- Jesus speaks of being blessed in a way that is unfamiliar and even antithetical to our culture. It’s an appropriate focus for our celebration of All Saint’s Day. Falling on the 1st of November All Saints’ recognizes the faithful who have finished the race of faith and now wait in the presence of God for the consummation of all things. The Church is a living organism that stretches back through history to the beginning of time. Those in heaven await the gathering of all believers. We on earth await the return of Christ in glory as we prepare to meet Him at any hour. The crown of life awaits all who trust in Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is, of course, the final and ultimate blessing.
So what does it mean to be blessed? Does it mean being lucky or fortunate? Does it mean winning the lottery, surviving a near-miss catastrophe, or coming into some form of material prosperity? Does it mean being on the winning team or having good health in old age? The natural human tendency is to see only those things we enjoy as blessings. It is easy to label things that make our lives more happy or prosperous as godsends. Yet Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”1, etc., even, “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.”2
Something deeper is revealed here. There is a conflict between our natural cataloguing of who or what we consider either blessed or unfortunate and what God reckons. The credibility of God’s promises cannot be assessed only by the tangible judgments we make. If it could be there would be no place for faith. The Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see how hardships are often the greatest blessings. Can you be blessed in the midst of illness? Can you be blessed in the midst of trial? Can those who lose their jobs, their livelihoods, their hopes and dreams and even their loved ones be blessed? Yes, often these experiences reveal blessings most clearly.
The truth is we are too often not on the same page with God? We make assumptions according to our opinions or feeling and not according to His Word. When it comes to the matters of sin and grace, life and death, our will verses God’s truth, there is no place for assumptions about what true blessings are. A man is walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle. He picks it up, pulls out the cork and out pops a genie. The genie says, "Thank you for freeing me from the bottle. In return I will grant you three wishes." The man says "Great! I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want. First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account." Poof! There is a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appears in his hand. He continues, "Next, I want a brand new red Ferrari right here." Poof! There is a flash of light and a bright red brand-new Ferrari appears right next to him. He continues, "Finally, I want to be irresistible to women." Poof! There is a flash of light and he turns into a box of chocolates. Never assume!
What we judge as good and valuable must always be measured against God’s revealed truth. To trust in our own appraisals is the very definition of sin. And designations aren’t reached by consensus or democratic process. There is strength in numbers. But this is a double-edged sword. As Christians we must be wise about how others embolden us in our sins. This happens at the cultural level and the individual level. How powerful is the claim,
“Everybody else is doing it?”
Even if every other person in the world insisted that it is acceptable to gossip, gossiping is still a sin because God says otherwise. If everyone else committed adultery as a matter of course, it nevertheless remains a harmful transgression of His will. He trumps all human opinion. He overrides all human standards of truth, ethics and morality. The Scripture says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world accountable to God.”3 Consider well which sins you’re quick to justify. Believe that God will accept no excuse.
A saint is a holy one. The saints of the past aren’t saintly because they were sinless. In repentance and faith they trusted in the atoning death of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. The same act of grace makes us saintly too. In baptism the Holy Spirit applies this act of unconditional love to you. Christ has willingly made Himself accountable for us all. He is the Blessed One because His patient suffering and steadfast obedience acquired our salvation. The horror of the cross did not deter Him. The terror of death and subtlety of Satan did not daunt Him. Our resurrected and living Lord has opened the gates of heaven for us and the powers of hell will not prevail against Him. We are blessed beyond human comprehension.
Dear friends, in a few minutes we will sing in the communion liturgy, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”4 We are celebrating the truth that Christ comes to us as the God-in-the-flesh Saviour who left heaven, condescended to us, disarmed Satan and frees us from our sins. He meets us with forgiveness in the life-giving power of His body and blood.
When at the conclusion of the Divine Service I raise my arm as a servant of the Chief Shepherd and say, “The Lord bless you and keep you,”5 I am not merely offering to you a pious, sentimental wish. The words of the Almighty are never hollow. I am announcing to you that the Redeemer intends never to leave you or forsake you. I am sending you into the world with the promise, presence and peace of God just as has occurred for nearly 3,500 years6. I am reminding you that as God’s baptized child you can look forward through the darkness of this life to the dawn of the eternal day.
The Psalmist says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”6 And St. John heard the voice directly from heaven say, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”7On the occasion of this All Saints’ festival we rejoice that God provides greater blessings than we can comprehend. We look forward to the fulfillment of today’s Scripture that says, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, not any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”9 May the Father bring it to pass for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
All Saints’ Day (Observed)
3 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See Matthew 5:3-6
2 Matthew 5:10
3 Romans 3:19
4 LH p.16
5 LH p.27
6 See Number 6:24
7 Psalm 116:15
8 Revelation 14:13
9 Revelation 7:16-17
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Theme: Blessed!
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Can you identify blessings when you see them? The answer probably seems both obvious and incontestable. We know what things we are striving for in life and the acquisition of these things is considered to be a blessing. Good heath, strong relationships, financial stability, a sense of satisfaction and achievement are common things people seek for a sense of well-being. Yet God would have us see a broader and deeper perspective.
In today’s gospel reading- containing the Beatitudes- Jesus speaks of being blessed in a way that is unfamiliar and even antithetical to our culture. It’s an appropriate focus for our celebration of All Saint’s Day. Falling on the 1st of November All Saints’ recognizes the faithful who have finished the race of faith and now wait in the presence of God for the consummation of all things. The Church is a living organism that stretches back through history to the beginning of time. Those in heaven await the gathering of all believers. We on earth await the return of Christ in glory as we prepare to meet Him at any hour. The crown of life awaits all who trust in Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is, of course, the final and ultimate blessing.
So what does it mean to be blessed? Does it mean being lucky or fortunate? Does it mean winning the lottery, surviving a near-miss catastrophe, or coming into some form of material prosperity? Does it mean being on the winning team or having good health in old age? The natural human tendency is to see only those things we enjoy as blessings. It is easy to label things that make our lives more happy or prosperous as godsends. Yet Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”1, etc., even, “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.”2
Something deeper is revealed here. There is a conflict between our natural cataloguing of who or what we consider either blessed or unfortunate and what God reckons. The credibility of God’s promises cannot be assessed only by the tangible judgments we make. If it could be there would be no place for faith. The Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see how hardships are often the greatest blessings. Can you be blessed in the midst of illness? Can you be blessed in the midst of trial? Can those who lose their jobs, their livelihoods, their hopes and dreams and even their loved ones be blessed? Yes, often these experiences reveal blessings most clearly.
The truth is we are too often not on the same page with God? We make assumptions according to our opinions or feeling and not according to His Word. When it comes to the matters of sin and grace, life and death, our will verses God’s truth, there is no place for assumptions about what true blessings are. A man is walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle. He picks it up, pulls out the cork and out pops a genie. The genie says, "Thank you for freeing me from the bottle. In return I will grant you three wishes." The man says "Great! I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want. First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account." Poof! There is a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appears in his hand. He continues, "Next, I want a brand new red Ferrari right here." Poof! There is a flash of light and a bright red brand-new Ferrari appears right next to him. He continues, "Finally, I want to be irresistible to women." Poof! There is a flash of light and he turns into a box of chocolates. Never assume!
What we judge as good and valuable must always be measured against God’s revealed truth. To trust in our own appraisals is the very definition of sin. And designations aren’t reached by consensus or democratic process. There is strength in numbers. But this is a double-edged sword. As Christians we must be wise about how others embolden us in our sins. This happens at the cultural level and the individual level. How powerful is the claim,
“Everybody else is doing it?”
Even if every other person in the world insisted that it is acceptable to gossip, gossiping is still a sin because God says otherwise. If everyone else committed adultery as a matter of course, it nevertheless remains a harmful transgression of His will. He trumps all human opinion. He overrides all human standards of truth, ethics and morality. The Scripture says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world accountable to God.”3 Consider well which sins you’re quick to justify. Believe that God will accept no excuse.
A saint is a holy one. The saints of the past aren’t saintly because they were sinless. In repentance and faith they trusted in the atoning death of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. The same act of grace makes us saintly too. In baptism the Holy Spirit applies this act of unconditional love to you. Christ has willingly made Himself accountable for us all. He is the Blessed One because His patient suffering and steadfast obedience acquired our salvation. The horror of the cross did not deter Him. The terror of death and subtlety of Satan did not daunt Him. Our resurrected and living Lord has opened the gates of heaven for us and the powers of hell will not prevail against Him. We are blessed beyond human comprehension.
Dear friends, in a few minutes we will sing in the communion liturgy, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”4 We are celebrating the truth that Christ comes to us as the God-in-the-flesh Saviour who left heaven, condescended to us, disarmed Satan and frees us from our sins. He meets us with forgiveness in the life-giving power of His body and blood.
When at the conclusion of the Divine Service I raise my arm as a servant of the Chief Shepherd and say, “The Lord bless you and keep you,”5 I am not merely offering to you a pious, sentimental wish. The words of the Almighty are never hollow. I am announcing to you that the Redeemer intends never to leave you or forsake you. I am sending you into the world with the promise, presence and peace of God just as has occurred for nearly 3,500 years6. I am reminding you that as God’s baptized child you can look forward through the darkness of this life to the dawn of the eternal day.
The Psalmist says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”6 And St. John heard the voice directly from heaven say, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”7On the occasion of this All Saints’ festival we rejoice that God provides greater blessings than we can comprehend. We look forward to the fulfillment of today’s Scripture that says, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, not any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”9 May the Father bring it to pass for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
All Saints’ Day (Observed)
3 November 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See Matthew 5:3-6
2 Matthew 5:10
3 Romans 3:19
4 LH p.16
5 LH p.27
6 See Number 6:24
7 Psalm 116:15
8 Revelation 14:13
9 Revelation 7:16-17
Monday, October 28, 2013
Reformation (Observed) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 8:36
Theme: Freed In Christ
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God never leaves unfinished business. The freedom we have in Jesus Christ from the penalty of sin and the punishment of death is not the result of God’s apathy about sin. Every violation of God’s holiness must be punished. In Christ it was. The Father does not overlook sin. He sent His Son as a sacrifice on behalf of the world. The Holy Spirit grants individuals the faith to believe that sacrifice is for them.
Today as we celebrate the renewal of the church through the rediscovery of the gospel we are mindful of these central truths from which the church continues to draw her life. The Reformation was not about a single man, a single issue, a single abuse, or a single error that had beset the church. It wasn’t simply about indulgences or papal abuses. It was about everything relating to and flowing from the certainty of how one received God’s favour in Christ.
The traditional date of the Reformation is marked by the pinning of 95 statements for discussion about Christian theology and practice to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany by an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, on October 31st, 1517. It was a small stone that started an avalanche. It was a tremor that started a tsunami. It changed the history of Christianity and the lives of millions of people.
How do we measure the import and impact of the Reformation today? A few pointed questions might be helpful. How important is the forgiveness of sins? What value do you place on it? What assurances do you need that you possess it? On what basis do you have peace of mind that God’s favour rests on you? The answers to these questions go a long way in determining if the struggle of the Reformation is still relevant to you.
Martin Luther was a man caught between heaven and hell. In the accusations of Satan Luther recognized the portal to hell. He longed to have his conscience freed. Freed not from some blatant sin but freed from doubt. He agonized over his failure to meet God’s righteous demands. The Saviour says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,”1 Luther brought to light again the meaning of true freedom in Christ.
He did this in a way many did not expect. Christ says also today, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”2 Here Luther was a faithful student of the Apostle Paul. The essence of sin cannot be assessed by our observation. We cannot quantify or define it.
Symptoms are often mistaken for the cause. The thoughts, words, and deeds that offend God and harm others are symptoms of a deeper reality. The act of sinning does not make one a sinner. We transgress because we are already sinners by nature. The water from the well of human procreation is deadly because it is poisoned.
Luther understood the implications of this truth with profound clarity. He said in the Smalcald Articles, “This hereditary sin is such a deep corruption of nature that no reason can understand it. Rather, it must be believed from the revelation of Scripture.”3This truth in no way downplays or makes light of the innumerable actual sins committed everyday. It does not excuse your lying, your lust, or your selfishness. It does not make light of your unkindness, your hard-heartedness, your apathy and your anger. You are still accountable for every misstep and guilty for every violation of God’s holy law.
Justification by faith- if it means anything earth-shattering, anything life-altering, anything mold-breaking- requires real sinners. Only the sick need a physician. Only the lost need finding. The grace secured and offered by the blood of the Lamb serves only souls truly bound for hell. Never underestimate the seriousness of the law’s condemnation. Never downplay the reality of your guilt. Doing so only robs Christ of His glory. Luther was intent on showing the glory of Christ was revealed on the cross and therefore the repentant soul should never despair over the favour of God.
For Luther the spiritual world was alive, palpable, and dynamic. Angels were not the flitting cherubs but powerful agents authorized by the highest power. Satan was not a paper tiger. Heaven was not a platonic state of mind. For Luther the cosmos was locked in a cosmic struggle between good and evil.
And yet Luther also understood things viscerally. He was immensely practical. He was no academic locked away in an ivory tower. For Luther faith was no pie-in-the sky, philosophical, esoteric religious triumph. It was not a theoretical achievement. He was no Humanist. Faith put the Christian at the coalface. The baptized are immersed in a cosmic struggle. The struggle with sin is the daily contest in which the Christian is necessarily engaged. There is no opting out, no exceptions.
The enduring relevance of Luther lies not only in the breadth of his theological genius but in his capacity to relate to the common person in the midst of struggle with extraordinary ability. Luther was a man for the people. Luther also felt Satan’s attacks and the attacks of his opponents very personally. He understood that false teachings in the church were well established and assiduously protected. The heart of what he fought for was where he most acutely felt the pressure. Where could the certainty of God’s grace be found? And in what did Luther take refuge? In his baptism! In the Scriptures! And in Christ, and Him crucified. The heart of God was revealed at the crucifixion.
What is more reliable the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit or human reason and assessment? Wherein is the certainty of salvation found; in our own efforts or in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God? For Luther the answer was clear. Sinners “are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,”4 as the Scriptures say. Christ was condemned and sentenced by sinners and yet hung there on the cross for their salvation.
Yet the grave could not hold Him so sin will not have dominion over you. Christ is living. He is reigning. The resurrection is not simply an historical anomaly; the risen Christ rules at the Father’s right hand. He has atoned for sin. He has conquered death. He comes to us here and now in time and space. You hear His word of absolution. You receive onto your lips His sacrificed body and into your mouth His holy, precious blood. He meets you in the holy meal with forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The Reformation helped Christians focus on ultimate things in a very practical way. The Christian learns to live in view of death. That doesn’t mean we have a morbid fixation with dying. It means we measure and value this life from the perspective of the much greater vitality that awaits us. We are not only freed from sin’ condemnation we are freed to love others selflessly as Christ has loved us. If we are not dying to self we are not living to God in Christ. We are practicing for eternity. We are already citizens of heaven. The church in glory continues to grow. The Holy Spirit continues to gather into eternal bliss the elect of God who finish the good fight of faith in this earthly life. He has already gathered the prophets and apostles, the martyrs and confessors, the Luthers and the saints numbered for heaven and through Christ has recorded you in the Lamb’s Book of Life5 too.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Reformation Observed
27 October 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 8:36
2 John 8:34
3 SA III, I
4 Romans 3:24
5 See Revelation 20:5
Text: John 8:36
Theme: Freed In Christ
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God never leaves unfinished business. The freedom we have in Jesus Christ from the penalty of sin and the punishment of death is not the result of God’s apathy about sin. Every violation of God’s holiness must be punished. In Christ it was. The Father does not overlook sin. He sent His Son as a sacrifice on behalf of the world. The Holy Spirit grants individuals the faith to believe that sacrifice is for them.
Today as we celebrate the renewal of the church through the rediscovery of the gospel we are mindful of these central truths from which the church continues to draw her life. The Reformation was not about a single man, a single issue, a single abuse, or a single error that had beset the church. It wasn’t simply about indulgences or papal abuses. It was about everything relating to and flowing from the certainty of how one received God’s favour in Christ.
The traditional date of the Reformation is marked by the pinning of 95 statements for discussion about Christian theology and practice to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany by an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, on October 31st, 1517. It was a small stone that started an avalanche. It was a tremor that started a tsunami. It changed the history of Christianity and the lives of millions of people.
How do we measure the import and impact of the Reformation today? A few pointed questions might be helpful. How important is the forgiveness of sins? What value do you place on it? What assurances do you need that you possess it? On what basis do you have peace of mind that God’s favour rests on you? The answers to these questions go a long way in determining if the struggle of the Reformation is still relevant to you.
Martin Luther was a man caught between heaven and hell. In the accusations of Satan Luther recognized the portal to hell. He longed to have his conscience freed. Freed not from some blatant sin but freed from doubt. He agonized over his failure to meet God’s righteous demands. The Saviour says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,”1 Luther brought to light again the meaning of true freedom in Christ.
He did this in a way many did not expect. Christ says also today, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”2 Here Luther was a faithful student of the Apostle Paul. The essence of sin cannot be assessed by our observation. We cannot quantify or define it.
Symptoms are often mistaken for the cause. The thoughts, words, and deeds that offend God and harm others are symptoms of a deeper reality. The act of sinning does not make one a sinner. We transgress because we are already sinners by nature. The water from the well of human procreation is deadly because it is poisoned.
Luther understood the implications of this truth with profound clarity. He said in the Smalcald Articles, “This hereditary sin is such a deep corruption of nature that no reason can understand it. Rather, it must be believed from the revelation of Scripture.”3This truth in no way downplays or makes light of the innumerable actual sins committed everyday. It does not excuse your lying, your lust, or your selfishness. It does not make light of your unkindness, your hard-heartedness, your apathy and your anger. You are still accountable for every misstep and guilty for every violation of God’s holy law.
Justification by faith- if it means anything earth-shattering, anything life-altering, anything mold-breaking- requires real sinners. Only the sick need a physician. Only the lost need finding. The grace secured and offered by the blood of the Lamb serves only souls truly bound for hell. Never underestimate the seriousness of the law’s condemnation. Never downplay the reality of your guilt. Doing so only robs Christ of His glory. Luther was intent on showing the glory of Christ was revealed on the cross and therefore the repentant soul should never despair over the favour of God.
For Luther the spiritual world was alive, palpable, and dynamic. Angels were not the flitting cherubs but powerful agents authorized by the highest power. Satan was not a paper tiger. Heaven was not a platonic state of mind. For Luther the cosmos was locked in a cosmic struggle between good and evil.
And yet Luther also understood things viscerally. He was immensely practical. He was no academic locked away in an ivory tower. For Luther faith was no pie-in-the sky, philosophical, esoteric religious triumph. It was not a theoretical achievement. He was no Humanist. Faith put the Christian at the coalface. The baptized are immersed in a cosmic struggle. The struggle with sin is the daily contest in which the Christian is necessarily engaged. There is no opting out, no exceptions.
The enduring relevance of Luther lies not only in the breadth of his theological genius but in his capacity to relate to the common person in the midst of struggle with extraordinary ability. Luther was a man for the people. Luther also felt Satan’s attacks and the attacks of his opponents very personally. He understood that false teachings in the church were well established and assiduously protected. The heart of what he fought for was where he most acutely felt the pressure. Where could the certainty of God’s grace be found? And in what did Luther take refuge? In his baptism! In the Scriptures! And in Christ, and Him crucified. The heart of God was revealed at the crucifixion.
What is more reliable the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit or human reason and assessment? Wherein is the certainty of salvation found; in our own efforts or in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God? For Luther the answer was clear. Sinners “are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,”4 as the Scriptures say. Christ was condemned and sentenced by sinners and yet hung there on the cross for their salvation.
Yet the grave could not hold Him so sin will not have dominion over you. Christ is living. He is reigning. The resurrection is not simply an historical anomaly; the risen Christ rules at the Father’s right hand. He has atoned for sin. He has conquered death. He comes to us here and now in time and space. You hear His word of absolution. You receive onto your lips His sacrificed body and into your mouth His holy, precious blood. He meets you in the holy meal with forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The Reformation helped Christians focus on ultimate things in a very practical way. The Christian learns to live in view of death. That doesn’t mean we have a morbid fixation with dying. It means we measure and value this life from the perspective of the much greater vitality that awaits us. We are not only freed from sin’ condemnation we are freed to love others selflessly as Christ has loved us. If we are not dying to self we are not living to God in Christ. We are practicing for eternity. We are already citizens of heaven. The church in glory continues to grow. The Holy Spirit continues to gather into eternal bliss the elect of God who finish the good fight of faith in this earthly life. He has already gathered the prophets and apostles, the martyrs and confessors, the Luthers and the saints numbered for heaven and through Christ has recorded you in the Lamb’s Book of Life5 too.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Reformation Observed
27 October 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 8:36
2 John 8:34
3 SA III, I
4 Romans 3:24
5 See Revelation 20:5
Monday, September 23, 2013
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 16:11-12
Theme: A Means To An End
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The pastor absolves the penitent and in so doing acts as a steward of the most precious gift that exists. “Christ gave to His church the authority to forgive the sins of those who repent, and to declare to those who do not repent that their sins are not forgiven.”1 This authority is publicly exercised by the pastor on behalf of the congregation. The treasure of forgiveness is the source and motivation for the proper stewardship of all the blessings the Christian congregation holds in common. This forgiveness is indispensable, not an end in itself, but the means to eternal life.
Today Jesus follows one of the greatest parables of grace and forgiveness in the Scriptures- that of the “Prodigal Son”- with a somewhat vexing story about a dishonest manager. The teachings of Jesus were often difficult and even offensive to the people of His generation. It was no small challenge for people to get their heads around the idea that God walked among them. Though He showed glimpses of His divinity through many healings and other miracles, Christ generally cloaked His divine power behind human weakness. His teachings about the blessings and temptations of material goods are undoubtedly some of the most challenging for those who live in societies of affluence.
In today’s gospel account He commends the unscrupulous manager for being shrewd.
The only hope for the manager, because he could not dig or beg, was to bank on the mercy of the estate owner. In quickly redrawing the debtor’s accounts he endears himself to them. Jesus says that people of the world are often more savvy in such matters than believers. There is a lesson for us here. Christ wanted His disciples to be wise yet honest. He had the great challenge of showing people this life is not an end in itself. He teaches us to be stewards of our earthly blessings while remembering it’s only heavenly treasures that matter in the end.
There is nothing you truly own, nothing you can truly claim, nothing you are entitled to possess by virtue of your own authority except for your sins. Your sins are yours and no one else’s. You must account for them and no one else. This is true spiritual poverty. What’s more the penalty is eternal separation from God. Dare you try to make excuse or offer explanation? Your guilt only then worsens.
Yet, here is the miracle of the great exchange. Christ sequesters that which was truly yours, your sin, and makes it His own. He becomes accountable for it. His is liable. He is answerable. You, conversely, are credited with His perfect holiness. To be justified by grace is to be hidden in the wounds of Christ; to be sheltered by His sacrifice, to be freed by His ransom. The greatest challenge is never to comprehend it or contribute to it, but to believe it. For this we have the Holy Spirit. For this reason we are baptized. We are not baptized to kick-start a life of moral reformation. We are baptized to participate in the life-giving sacrifice of the crucified, resurrected and reigning Saviour. This involves constantly taking leave of this temporal life and preparing for the life to come.
God is fully aware of what we require in the sojourn of this temporary life. He is no miser. But it is often necessary for Him to confiscate our blessings. All things material are just on loan. What does the Scripture say, “The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”2
In your stewardship are you deliberately mindful of the physical and spiritual well-being of others? God isn’t asking you to save the world. But He is asking you to reflect Christian truth in your small corner of the world. Sometimes the commonplace challenges are the ones we have the most difficulty with. We’d rather have the excitement of being called to some extraordinary quest. We’d rather be heroes and receive recognition. We’d rather be remembered for our exceptional feats.
Yet life can be a daily grind, a struggle of attrition and some of the most important accomplishments are reached by unwavering commitment to duty. Our prayers should regularly seek God’s strength and inspiration to meet the tasks before us. Faithfulness is always more important than flare. Christian faith may be most severely tested by severe trauma but it is more commonly tested by the wearing down of our stamina and enthusiasm. When is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back?
It’s like the man who wasn’t feeling well so he went to the doctor. After examining him the doctor took his wife aside, and said, “Your husband has a very weak and sensitive heart. I am afraid he’s not going to make it, unless you treat him like a king, which means you are at his every beck and call, 24 hours a day so that he doesn’t have to do anything to stressful himself. On the way home the husband asked with a note of concern “What did he say?” “Well”, his wife responded pensively, “He said it looks like you probably won’t make it.”
Dear friends, God’s ability to appreciate our struggles isn’t based only on omniscience. Yes, He knows and sees all things; our greatest trials and our smallest fears. Yet His identification with us involves more than a Creator-creation dynamic. In the person of Christ God assumes the fullness of humanity. The incarnation of the Son of God means that God experiences firsthand, from a human perspective, the full gamut of anguish, pain, and joy.
The implications of Christ’s incarnation involve more than empathy and solidarity. The key realities are substitution and sacrifice. Jesus is not simply a sympathizer or empathizer- though these are important- He is the Redeemer. He didn’t just come to inspect our misery. He came to face the horror of sin head on. He’s not a consultant, He’s a scapegoat. He doesn’t theorize about the best course of action, He submits Himself- body and soul- to the conflict against hell’s power. His work of reconciliation cannot be overstated. Many want someone to lift their spirits. Christ does much more. He rescues our souls and resurrects our bodies.
The apostle reminds us, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men- the testimony given in its proper time.”3 We have the greatest gifts: Forgiveness of sins, salvation, life in Christ. In water and word, bread and wine these gifts are reaffirmed and renewed. Our stewardship of all other things serves our belief that there is no loss we can suffer that the resurrection will not overcome. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 LH p.7
2 Matthew 6:32-33
3 1 Timothy 2:5
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
22 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Luke 16:11-12
Theme: A Means To An End
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The pastor absolves the penitent and in so doing acts as a steward of the most precious gift that exists. “Christ gave to His church the authority to forgive the sins of those who repent, and to declare to those who do not repent that their sins are not forgiven.”1 This authority is publicly exercised by the pastor on behalf of the congregation. The treasure of forgiveness is the source and motivation for the proper stewardship of all the blessings the Christian congregation holds in common. This forgiveness is indispensable, not an end in itself, but the means to eternal life.
Today Jesus follows one of the greatest parables of grace and forgiveness in the Scriptures- that of the “Prodigal Son”- with a somewhat vexing story about a dishonest manager. The teachings of Jesus were often difficult and even offensive to the people of His generation. It was no small challenge for people to get their heads around the idea that God walked among them. Though He showed glimpses of His divinity through many healings and other miracles, Christ generally cloaked His divine power behind human weakness. His teachings about the blessings and temptations of material goods are undoubtedly some of the most challenging for those who live in societies of affluence.
In today’s gospel account He commends the unscrupulous manager for being shrewd.
The only hope for the manager, because he could not dig or beg, was to bank on the mercy of the estate owner. In quickly redrawing the debtor’s accounts he endears himself to them. Jesus says that people of the world are often more savvy in such matters than believers. There is a lesson for us here. Christ wanted His disciples to be wise yet honest. He had the great challenge of showing people this life is not an end in itself. He teaches us to be stewards of our earthly blessings while remembering it’s only heavenly treasures that matter in the end.
There is nothing you truly own, nothing you can truly claim, nothing you are entitled to possess by virtue of your own authority except for your sins. Your sins are yours and no one else’s. You must account for them and no one else. This is true spiritual poverty. What’s more the penalty is eternal separation from God. Dare you try to make excuse or offer explanation? Your guilt only then worsens.
Yet, here is the miracle of the great exchange. Christ sequesters that which was truly yours, your sin, and makes it His own. He becomes accountable for it. His is liable. He is answerable. You, conversely, are credited with His perfect holiness. To be justified by grace is to be hidden in the wounds of Christ; to be sheltered by His sacrifice, to be freed by His ransom. The greatest challenge is never to comprehend it or contribute to it, but to believe it. For this we have the Holy Spirit. For this reason we are baptized. We are not baptized to kick-start a life of moral reformation. We are baptized to participate in the life-giving sacrifice of the crucified, resurrected and reigning Saviour. This involves constantly taking leave of this temporal life and preparing for the life to come.
God is fully aware of what we require in the sojourn of this temporary life. He is no miser. But it is often necessary for Him to confiscate our blessings. All things material are just on loan. What does the Scripture say, “The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”2
In your stewardship are you deliberately mindful of the physical and spiritual well-being of others? God isn’t asking you to save the world. But He is asking you to reflect Christian truth in your small corner of the world. Sometimes the commonplace challenges are the ones we have the most difficulty with. We’d rather have the excitement of being called to some extraordinary quest. We’d rather be heroes and receive recognition. We’d rather be remembered for our exceptional feats.
Yet life can be a daily grind, a struggle of attrition and some of the most important accomplishments are reached by unwavering commitment to duty. Our prayers should regularly seek God’s strength and inspiration to meet the tasks before us. Faithfulness is always more important than flare. Christian faith may be most severely tested by severe trauma but it is more commonly tested by the wearing down of our stamina and enthusiasm. When is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back?
It’s like the man who wasn’t feeling well so he went to the doctor. After examining him the doctor took his wife aside, and said, “Your husband has a very weak and sensitive heart. I am afraid he’s not going to make it, unless you treat him like a king, which means you are at his every beck and call, 24 hours a day so that he doesn’t have to do anything to stressful himself. On the way home the husband asked with a note of concern “What did he say?” “Well”, his wife responded pensively, “He said it looks like you probably won’t make it.”
Dear friends, God’s ability to appreciate our struggles isn’t based only on omniscience. Yes, He knows and sees all things; our greatest trials and our smallest fears. Yet His identification with us involves more than a Creator-creation dynamic. In the person of Christ God assumes the fullness of humanity. The incarnation of the Son of God means that God experiences firsthand, from a human perspective, the full gamut of anguish, pain, and joy.
The implications of Christ’s incarnation involve more than empathy and solidarity. The key realities are substitution and sacrifice. Jesus is not simply a sympathizer or empathizer- though these are important- He is the Redeemer. He didn’t just come to inspect our misery. He came to face the horror of sin head on. He’s not a consultant, He’s a scapegoat. He doesn’t theorize about the best course of action, He submits Himself- body and soul- to the conflict against hell’s power. His work of reconciliation cannot be overstated. Many want someone to lift their spirits. Christ does much more. He rescues our souls and resurrects our bodies.
The apostle reminds us, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men- the testimony given in its proper time.”3 We have the greatest gifts: Forgiveness of sins, salvation, life in Christ. In water and word, bread and wine these gifts are reaffirmed and renewed. Our stewardship of all other things serves our belief that there is no loss we can suffer that the resurrection will not overcome. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 LH p.7
2 Matthew 6:32-33
3 1 Timothy 2:5
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
22 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, September 16, 2013
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 15:5
Theme: The Joy Of Restoration
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God seeks. And what does He find? The lost sheep is not someone else. The lost sheep refers to you. He doesn’t seek because He is ignorant of peoples’ whereabouts. He seeks because He knows people could never find Him-nor would they desire to. His pursuit is driven by immeasurable compassion. He is intent on restoring those alienated by sin. He seeks the lost sheep “and when He finds it, He joyfully puts it on His shoulders and goes home.”1 There is no distance He won’t travel, no danger He won’t face; no obstacle He will not overcome. Even the chasm of sin was traversed. He bridged it by the cross. Even the wrath of God was appeased. He pacified it with His blood. Even the power of hell was broken. He shattered it with His holy obedience and sacrificial death.
Sinners, like sheep, are prone to wandering and stubbornness. Yet the Holy Spirit finds joy in gathering us into the fold of the Good Shepherd. And how does He do this: Through repentance. It necessarily involves God’s condemning word of judgment. We must be separated from our idols. Examine your heart honestly. Until the law does its work the news of Christ’s work is only information, data, historical account. “The Gospel does not preach the forgiveness of sin to indifferent and secure hearts, but to the “oppressed” or penitent.”2 Though the law demands that we amend our ways it offers no hope or power to do so. “The mere preaching of the law without Christ either produces presumptuous people, who believe they can fulfill the law by external works, or drives man utterly to despair.”3
But the Shepherd never leaves us to despair. When contrite souls grasp the forgiveness of sins in Christ there is true joy and peace. To define what the greatest joy is, humanly speaking, is an impossible task. The birth of a child or grandchild, the accomplishing of a life-long goal, the victory in a hard-fought battle, a wedding, a career, an award, and countless other things may be sources of great joy. But there is more; something deeper, something higher, something more sublime, something far beyond our doing or accomplishing. The Scripture is abundantly clear about the greatest source and cause of joy. “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.”4 Jesus Christ rescues us from darkness, death, and hell. This is joy! He is joy!
Because we can never fully apprehend it we must believe it. It is beyond the capacity of mortals. It is incomparable in its significance. It is a gift. It is bestowed free gratis. It is part of an inheritance beyond imagination. It is the heritage of the baptized. It causes heaven to resound with the singing of angels. It elicits reverence, awe and profound gratitude. It is never to be taken for granted. And human logic can never be satisfied with it.
Dear friends, efforts to make the miracle of grace more “believable”, to make the core of Christian truth more reasonable, to rationalize even the miracle of the resurrection, all betray the insatiable need of the human ego to be the master and measure of all things. We cannot ultimately defend Christian truth by making it more plausible. It’s a little like nine year old Billy who was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. "Well, Mum, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he used his shortwave radio to call headquarters for reinforcements. They sent fighter jets to blow up the bridge so the Egyptians couldn’t cross and all the Israelites were saved." "Now, Billy, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mum. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"
It doesn’t mean the evidence for Christianity is unimportant. Even plausibility still has its place in the discussion. In primary school, we're taught that a frog turning into a prince is a fairy tale. In university, we’re taught that a frog turning into a prince is science. What’s more “believable”, that life randomly originated out of chaos or that God purposefully
designed creation in all its wonder and complexity? Still, in the matter of God’s saving love in Christ the Holy Spirit must be the origin of our faith. We simply can’t believe on our own that God would sacrifice His Son for our eternal salvation; otherwise we were never truly lost.
Secondary to God’s initiative of seeking the lost today is the communal aspect of the resultant joy. Joy for the Christian is marked by sharing. This is especially true of spiritual blessings. Christian joy, peace, and love are corporate blessings in the best sense of the word.
There are private sins (even though they weaken the entire body). But amongst Christians there should be no private sorrows; and no private joys. The shepherd who found his sheep and the woman who found her coin both called their friends and neighbours together and said, “Rejoice with me.”5 The life of faith is to be shared. St. Paul encourages Christians to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”6
Believers in community- with all their warts, flaws, and failings- mirror the flesh and blood presence of the Saviour. The Spirit works among real people with real problems. The church is not a cyber-community. It is not measured by quantifying Facebook “likes” or tallying religious opinions. Christians certainly have online conversations and technology should rightly and properly be used for the advancement of the gospel, but the body of Christ is never just a casual association of people networked by common interests.
Each of you is privileged to have various vocations. Husbands, wives, parents and children. Employers and workers, teachers and students. All serve the well-being of Christ’s body. Many of your activities may seem mundane but you never know when God is preparing you for extraordinary things. The strongman at a circus sideshow demonstrated his power before a large audience. Towards the end, he squeezed the juice from a lemon between his hands. He then said to the audience, "I will offer $500 to anyone in the audience who can squeeze another drop from this lemon. A thin scholarly looking man came forward, picked up the lemon, strained hard and somehow managed to get a drop. The strongman was amazed. He paid the man and asked, "What is the secret of your strength?" "Practice," the man answered. "I was the treasurer of a Lutheran Church for thirty years!”
In its widest expression the Christian Church includes every believer of every time and place. In its most concrete expression it entails a group of sinners gathered by the Holy Spirit around word and sacrament at a specific location. The church is corporal; a physical entity that draws life from the crucified and risen Christ. Together we confess our need for grace and receive forgiveness. Together we partake of the body and blood of the Lamb of God slain for us. Together we struggle through the temptations, trials, joy and sorrows of the baptismal life.
The woman who swept the floor for the lost coin and the shepherd who swept the horizon for the lost sheep could not contain the joy of their faith. Faith is never turned inward. Faith always acts for the good of the community and is always a response to the gospel’s freeing and life-giving power. This power is not an end in itself. The Bible says, “He Himself –that is Christ- bore our sins in His body on the tree”7 so that he might carry us all the way to our eternal home. Christ seeks. He finds. And we share in His joy. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Luke 15:5
2 SD V, 9
3 SD V, 10
4 Luke 15:7
5 Luke 15:6, 9
6 Romans 12:15
7 1 Peter 2:24
8 Luke 7:47
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
15 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Luke 15:5
Theme: The Joy Of Restoration
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God seeks. And what does He find? The lost sheep is not someone else. The lost sheep refers to you. He doesn’t seek because He is ignorant of peoples’ whereabouts. He seeks because He knows people could never find Him-nor would they desire to. His pursuit is driven by immeasurable compassion. He is intent on restoring those alienated by sin. He seeks the lost sheep “and when He finds it, He joyfully puts it on His shoulders and goes home.”1 There is no distance He won’t travel, no danger He won’t face; no obstacle He will not overcome. Even the chasm of sin was traversed. He bridged it by the cross. Even the wrath of God was appeased. He pacified it with His blood. Even the power of hell was broken. He shattered it with His holy obedience and sacrificial death.
Sinners, like sheep, are prone to wandering and stubbornness. Yet the Holy Spirit finds joy in gathering us into the fold of the Good Shepherd. And how does He do this: Through repentance. It necessarily involves God’s condemning word of judgment. We must be separated from our idols. Examine your heart honestly. Until the law does its work the news of Christ’s work is only information, data, historical account. “The Gospel does not preach the forgiveness of sin to indifferent and secure hearts, but to the “oppressed” or penitent.”2 Though the law demands that we amend our ways it offers no hope or power to do so. “The mere preaching of the law without Christ either produces presumptuous people, who believe they can fulfill the law by external works, or drives man utterly to despair.”3
But the Shepherd never leaves us to despair. When contrite souls grasp the forgiveness of sins in Christ there is true joy and peace. To define what the greatest joy is, humanly speaking, is an impossible task. The birth of a child or grandchild, the accomplishing of a life-long goal, the victory in a hard-fought battle, a wedding, a career, an award, and countless other things may be sources of great joy. But there is more; something deeper, something higher, something more sublime, something far beyond our doing or accomplishing. The Scripture is abundantly clear about the greatest source and cause of joy. “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.”4 Jesus Christ rescues us from darkness, death, and hell. This is joy! He is joy!
Because we can never fully apprehend it we must believe it. It is beyond the capacity of mortals. It is incomparable in its significance. It is a gift. It is bestowed free gratis. It is part of an inheritance beyond imagination. It is the heritage of the baptized. It causes heaven to resound with the singing of angels. It elicits reverence, awe and profound gratitude. It is never to be taken for granted. And human logic can never be satisfied with it.
Dear friends, efforts to make the miracle of grace more “believable”, to make the core of Christian truth more reasonable, to rationalize even the miracle of the resurrection, all betray the insatiable need of the human ego to be the master and measure of all things. We cannot ultimately defend Christian truth by making it more plausible. It’s a little like nine year old Billy who was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. "Well, Mum, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he used his shortwave radio to call headquarters for reinforcements. They sent fighter jets to blow up the bridge so the Egyptians couldn’t cross and all the Israelites were saved." "Now, Billy, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mum. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"
It doesn’t mean the evidence for Christianity is unimportant. Even plausibility still has its place in the discussion. In primary school, we're taught that a frog turning into a prince is a fairy tale. In university, we’re taught that a frog turning into a prince is science. What’s more “believable”, that life randomly originated out of chaos or that God purposefully
designed creation in all its wonder and complexity? Still, in the matter of God’s saving love in Christ the Holy Spirit must be the origin of our faith. We simply can’t believe on our own that God would sacrifice His Son for our eternal salvation; otherwise we were never truly lost.
Secondary to God’s initiative of seeking the lost today is the communal aspect of the resultant joy. Joy for the Christian is marked by sharing. This is especially true of spiritual blessings. Christian joy, peace, and love are corporate blessings in the best sense of the word.
There are private sins (even though they weaken the entire body). But amongst Christians there should be no private sorrows; and no private joys. The shepherd who found his sheep and the woman who found her coin both called their friends and neighbours together and said, “Rejoice with me.”5 The life of faith is to be shared. St. Paul encourages Christians to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”6
Believers in community- with all their warts, flaws, and failings- mirror the flesh and blood presence of the Saviour. The Spirit works among real people with real problems. The church is not a cyber-community. It is not measured by quantifying Facebook “likes” or tallying religious opinions. Christians certainly have online conversations and technology should rightly and properly be used for the advancement of the gospel, but the body of Christ is never just a casual association of people networked by common interests.
Each of you is privileged to have various vocations. Husbands, wives, parents and children. Employers and workers, teachers and students. All serve the well-being of Christ’s body. Many of your activities may seem mundane but you never know when God is preparing you for extraordinary things. The strongman at a circus sideshow demonstrated his power before a large audience. Towards the end, he squeezed the juice from a lemon between his hands. He then said to the audience, "I will offer $500 to anyone in the audience who can squeeze another drop from this lemon. A thin scholarly looking man came forward, picked up the lemon, strained hard and somehow managed to get a drop. The strongman was amazed. He paid the man and asked, "What is the secret of your strength?" "Practice," the man answered. "I was the treasurer of a Lutheran Church for thirty years!”
In its widest expression the Christian Church includes every believer of every time and place. In its most concrete expression it entails a group of sinners gathered by the Holy Spirit around word and sacrament at a specific location. The church is corporal; a physical entity that draws life from the crucified and risen Christ. Together we confess our need for grace and receive forgiveness. Together we partake of the body and blood of the Lamb of God slain for us. Together we struggle through the temptations, trials, joy and sorrows of the baptismal life.
The woman who swept the floor for the lost coin and the shepherd who swept the horizon for the lost sheep could not contain the joy of their faith. Faith is never turned inward. Faith always acts for the good of the community and is always a response to the gospel’s freeing and life-giving power. This power is not an end in itself. The Bible says, “He Himself –that is Christ- bore our sins in His body on the tree”7 so that he might carry us all the way to our eternal home. Christ seeks. He finds. And we share in His joy. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Luke 15:5
2 SD V, 9
3 SD V, 10
4 Luke 15:7
5 Luke 15:6, 9
6 Romans 12:15
7 1 Peter 2:24
8 Luke 7:47
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
15 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2013
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 14:28-30
Theme: Free But Not Cheap
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has made you a child, a son, an heir, and a disciple. The Spirit has grafted you into the body of Christ. Your redemption is free and your placement gratuitous; but the cost was immeasurable. What value can be placed on the blood of Jesus? Today He asks His followers to count the cost and bear their crosses. Admirers are not the same as disciples. Discipleship demands real change. It necessitates a reordering of priorities driven by an altered viewpoint and perspective on life.
A biblical perspective on life always begins with an honest recognition of our independent status before God. How do we fare when we stand alone? Jeremiah was sent to the potter’s house. There he witnessed an object lesson that was intended to help call the people to repentance. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel,”1said the Lord. It remains a stinging reminder that we are not masters of our own domains: He is the potter, we are the clay. Repentance is as much a confession of our frail mortality as it is being sorry for particular sins.
If we had hoped our independence would bring us freedom we soon learn that it means nothing less than bondage to sin. Here enters the Saviour. He comes as Shepherd seeking the lost sheep. He sends the Advocate and mirrors the image of the Father. The believer never stands independently before God because he or she stands in Christ. Never again are we autonomous, nor would we want to be. This fact is a true Sabbath rest for the soul.
The conscience can only be put at rest when it knows the blood of Christ has satisfied the cost of redemption. As soon as we try to factor in our merits, contributions, or even good intentions we confuse the issue and are sure to lose the heart of the gospel. The Reformers said this, “This whole teaching is to be referred to that conflict of the terrified conscience, nor can it be understood apart from that conflict. Accordingly inexperienced and profane men, who dream that Christian righteousness is nothing else than civil or philosophical righteousness, have bad judgment concerning this teaching.”2
Security in the gospel, however, does not mean we are resting on our laurels. The maturing of our faith is not programmatic. There is no simple formula. Your faith may mature as you witness more fully God’s very tangible goodness. Perhaps you are cured from serious illness, spared from a dangerous situation, blessed with material prosperity, or affirmed and valued in your vocation personally or professionally. But your faith is much more likely to mature in the crucible of trial. This may involve betrayal in broken relationships, cynicism in professional pursuits or opposition to Christian values. The deeper our cry for mercy the nearer we are to a compassionate God.
Within the dynamic tension of grappling with temptation we come to rely on God’s grace more fully. Some temptations are particularly carnal and easily identified; sexual immorality, greed, lust, theft, violence, substance abuse, just to name a few. Others are more subtle; arrogance, doubt, fear, false humility, self-serving agendas and ambitions. King David, the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, and St. Peter all struggled with temptations that had overcome them. Their faith was tested, refined and strengthened. What matters in the end is Christ’s faithfulness not our failures.
The most dangerous of temptations involve being lured away from the foundational truths of the faith. This is often a gradual and sometimes barely noticeable process. Little by little the apostolic teaching, the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,”3 which Jude tells us to contend for is re-imaged, marginalized or abandoned. Anything that compromises the work of Christ for the salvation of the world is the devil’s tool. The Holy Spirit alone can shield us from these powers that are beyond our means. And He must do this continually. Without the Spirit we become estranged from Christ.
We live in a culture of affluence and that can quickly side-track us from true purpose in life. For many it causes a loss of focus. One social critic defined decadence as the loss of an aim or object in life. "Men and women become decadent when they forget or deny the objects of life, and so fritter away their years in trifles or debauchery."4 Oh how much time we spend engaged in trivial matters! We chase wealth and reputation in a vain pursuit of security. We worry more about material possessions than spiritual truths. Perhaps Will Rogers captured it well when he said, “I am not as concerned with the return on my money as I am with the return of my money.” But what about our investment in spiritual things?
The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one's ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly. Baptism plunges you into the fray. At the same time it is the power and promise of your baptism that gives you the strength and the certainty to stare even death itself in the face. It is a strength that is renewed each time you receive Christ’s body and blood. It is a strength always on loan from Christ. He was the all-sufficient sacrifice for your sins. He rose from the grave and lives as the source of all life.
The desire of a believer to follow God’s will follows automatically as a result of trusting Christ has secured for us the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Father. In other words, faith is active and simply cannot be restrained. But the spontaneity of faith certainly does not exclude planning. So how do we best live as believers in the present time? Obedience to Christ is not meant to be chaotic and disorganized. We have great privileges and responsibilities as stewards! Any worthwhile or substantial undertaking requires preparation and commitment, thus Jesus’ reference to building towers and fighting battles. God calls us to design and implement those activities which we believe prosper the work of the kingdom personally and corporately. That includes your charity. It should also involve planning and pursing your deliberate education in the faith.
Christ said, “He who has been forgiven little loves little.”5 Of all the words of Scripture relating to faith and good works, these words of Jesus are perhaps the most relevant and the most impacting. If I don’t highly cherish the forgiveness of sins my actions will show it. If I am deeply grateful my devotion will be evident. Not evident in the sense of an ostentatious show, but clear to those who know me best. There can never be a complete privatization of personal faith. Faith is always a gift possessed by an individual but it is always engaged in community.
Salvation is free but it was not cheap. We can bear our crosses for the fleeting moments of this life because Christ bore His for our eternal future. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Jeremiah 18:6
2 AC XX, 17-18
3 Jude 3
4 Russell Kirk
5 Luke 7:47
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
8 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Luke 14:28-30
Theme: Free But Not Cheap
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God has made you a child, a son, an heir, and a disciple. The Spirit has grafted you into the body of Christ. Your redemption is free and your placement gratuitous; but the cost was immeasurable. What value can be placed on the blood of Jesus? Today He asks His followers to count the cost and bear their crosses. Admirers are not the same as disciples. Discipleship demands real change. It necessitates a reordering of priorities driven by an altered viewpoint and perspective on life.
A biblical perspective on life always begins with an honest recognition of our independent status before God. How do we fare when we stand alone? Jeremiah was sent to the potter’s house. There he witnessed an object lesson that was intended to help call the people to repentance. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel,”1said the Lord. It remains a stinging reminder that we are not masters of our own domains: He is the potter, we are the clay. Repentance is as much a confession of our frail mortality as it is being sorry for particular sins.
If we had hoped our independence would bring us freedom we soon learn that it means nothing less than bondage to sin. Here enters the Saviour. He comes as Shepherd seeking the lost sheep. He sends the Advocate and mirrors the image of the Father. The believer never stands independently before God because he or she stands in Christ. Never again are we autonomous, nor would we want to be. This fact is a true Sabbath rest for the soul.
The conscience can only be put at rest when it knows the blood of Christ has satisfied the cost of redemption. As soon as we try to factor in our merits, contributions, or even good intentions we confuse the issue and are sure to lose the heart of the gospel. The Reformers said this, “This whole teaching is to be referred to that conflict of the terrified conscience, nor can it be understood apart from that conflict. Accordingly inexperienced and profane men, who dream that Christian righteousness is nothing else than civil or philosophical righteousness, have bad judgment concerning this teaching.”2
Security in the gospel, however, does not mean we are resting on our laurels. The maturing of our faith is not programmatic. There is no simple formula. Your faith may mature as you witness more fully God’s very tangible goodness. Perhaps you are cured from serious illness, spared from a dangerous situation, blessed with material prosperity, or affirmed and valued in your vocation personally or professionally. But your faith is much more likely to mature in the crucible of trial. This may involve betrayal in broken relationships, cynicism in professional pursuits or opposition to Christian values. The deeper our cry for mercy the nearer we are to a compassionate God.
Within the dynamic tension of grappling with temptation we come to rely on God’s grace more fully. Some temptations are particularly carnal and easily identified; sexual immorality, greed, lust, theft, violence, substance abuse, just to name a few. Others are more subtle; arrogance, doubt, fear, false humility, self-serving agendas and ambitions. King David, the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, and St. Peter all struggled with temptations that had overcome them. Their faith was tested, refined and strengthened. What matters in the end is Christ’s faithfulness not our failures.
The most dangerous of temptations involve being lured away from the foundational truths of the faith. This is often a gradual and sometimes barely noticeable process. Little by little the apostolic teaching, the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,”3 which Jude tells us to contend for is re-imaged, marginalized or abandoned. Anything that compromises the work of Christ for the salvation of the world is the devil’s tool. The Holy Spirit alone can shield us from these powers that are beyond our means. And He must do this continually. Without the Spirit we become estranged from Christ.
We live in a culture of affluence and that can quickly side-track us from true purpose in life. For many it causes a loss of focus. One social critic defined decadence as the loss of an aim or object in life. "Men and women become decadent when they forget or deny the objects of life, and so fritter away their years in trifles or debauchery."4 Oh how much time we spend engaged in trivial matters! We chase wealth and reputation in a vain pursuit of security. We worry more about material possessions than spiritual truths. Perhaps Will Rogers captured it well when he said, “I am not as concerned with the return on my money as I am with the return of my money.” But what about our investment in spiritual things?
The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one's ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly. Baptism plunges you into the fray. At the same time it is the power and promise of your baptism that gives you the strength and the certainty to stare even death itself in the face. It is a strength that is renewed each time you receive Christ’s body and blood. It is a strength always on loan from Christ. He was the all-sufficient sacrifice for your sins. He rose from the grave and lives as the source of all life.
The desire of a believer to follow God’s will follows automatically as a result of trusting Christ has secured for us the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Father. In other words, faith is active and simply cannot be restrained. But the spontaneity of faith certainly does not exclude planning. So how do we best live as believers in the present time? Obedience to Christ is not meant to be chaotic and disorganized. We have great privileges and responsibilities as stewards! Any worthwhile or substantial undertaking requires preparation and commitment, thus Jesus’ reference to building towers and fighting battles. God calls us to design and implement those activities which we believe prosper the work of the kingdom personally and corporately. That includes your charity. It should also involve planning and pursing your deliberate education in the faith.
Christ said, “He who has been forgiven little loves little.”5 Of all the words of Scripture relating to faith and good works, these words of Jesus are perhaps the most relevant and the most impacting. If I don’t highly cherish the forgiveness of sins my actions will show it. If I am deeply grateful my devotion will be evident. Not evident in the sense of an ostentatious show, but clear to those who know me best. There can never be a complete privatization of personal faith. Faith is always a gift possessed by an individual but it is always engaged in community.
Salvation is free but it was not cheap. We can bear our crosses for the fleeting moments of this life because Christ bore His for our eternal future. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Jeremiah 18:6
2 AC XX, 17-18
3 Jude 3
4 Russell Kirk
5 Luke 7:47
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
8 September 2013
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
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