+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 17
Theme: The Living Body
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God may lead us on a mountaintop visit, but He resides with us in the valleys. We may be inspired by high-octane encounters, but our faith is sustained by the more mundane manner of His promise and presence. We are conditioned to expect that supernatural things should leave us gob-smacked, yet the Holy Spirit works miraculously through the word of truth in a most unassuming way. Should we not marvel that in spite of the chaos that presses in God continues to keep some degree of order in the universe!
Today we celebrate that unique event in the earthly life of Jesus called the transfiguration. In a momentary display of glory Christ’s majesty is disclosed to Peter, James, and John. An affirmation of His Sonship by the heavenly Father, it paralleled His baptism in the Jordan River. Present with Jesus are Moses and Elijah. Representing the breadth and depth of the old covenant Jesus summons them to rehearse the coming fulfillment of the plan of salvation. The critical juncture- the cross- is looming.
The church as a living organism is witnessed as Jesus is seen by these three disciples speaking with Moses and Elijah on the mountain. Peter, taken by the magnitude of the experience, wants to stay and savor the moment of splendour. In his desire he exemplifies the logical human longing to know God by experience. Such yearning is never satisfied by miracles, it is only cured by faith. Though they see a glimpse of His majesty as He emanates with light, Jesus’ path to glory will run through the cross. Life is secured through the humility of His sacrifice. We know God, only in Christ, and only through the humble means of word and sacrament.
Dear friends, without the Word there is no certainty. Our hope and salvation reside here and nowhere else. All other certainties we have only possess temporary significance. Yes, we have confidence in the predictability of the laws of nature (which God Himself maintains). We understand the temperature at which water freezes, the gestation period of ewes, the hardness of steel, and the capacity of silicon chips. With high degrees of certainty we traverse the skies, predict the tides, and poison the flies. The accumulated wisdom of experience allows humans to build skyscrapers, rocketships, and supercomputers. Yet not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father’s will and every hair on your head is numbered. The Scripture says of Christ, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”1
Without the certainty of the word there is no confidence in forgiveness, and finally, no assurance of salvation. We are left to our own devices. We might relish that thought- to be left to our own devices- it seems to be an opportunity, an expression of independence. But soon we stumble in the darkness. Apart from God’s decree we would have to make do with the relative standards of the world. Who makes the rules? Who determines right and wrong? Who is justified and who is condemned and on what basis? How would we know if we were hell-bound sinners or heaven-bound saints? Your conscience can give you a sense of wrong-doing, but the authority to sentence belongs to God. The laws of society can call you out in guilt and shame, yet it is the Holy Spirit using them to convict your heart. Remorse over getting caught in some public indiscretion is not the same as contrition over offending a holy God. We’re not simply civic meddlers, we are hard-core transgressors. We need redeeming.
Apart from the clear declaration of the gospel- the Good News that Jesus Christ has come to make intercession- God would remain an enigma, and ultimately a fear-invoking judge. But the Spirit speaks through the words of Scripture. Saint Peter says today, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”2 You might ask, “What does this have to do with me?” Everything in every way. God speaks grace and He brings to pass what He promises. “The greatest possible comfort comes from this doctrine that the highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness.” 3 The promise of your baptism- made by the crucified and risen Christ to you- is a fortress of security amidst the instabilities of life.
Christ never loses concentration. He is single-minded in His compassion. He seeks for you as for a lost sheep. He searches for you as for a lost coin. He hunts for you as for a hidden treasure. He embraces you like a prodigal son. You are the target of His love and the object of His mercy. He didn’t go to the cross merely to attract attention or gain sympathy. He went to square off with death, hell, and Satan. Once they tried to throw Him over a cliff, but today He stands upon the mountain. Once they tried to stone Him, but He became the cornerstone of the eternal kingdom. They taunted Him to come down from the cross, but He hung there and brought down the kingdom of devil.
And yet to the naked eye the meaning of these things is hidden. God wishes to be trusted in this way. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”4If God continually revealed Himself in power and majesty there would be no place for faith. Many would welcome the ‘clarity’ that would bring. But that is not the nature of divine love. God is not the master of Marionettes, but the God who convicts sinners and woos them. His love is not a legalistic system of litigation and mitigation, but a monolith of sheer grace. The crucifixion was not a tragedy salvaged by the selfless act of an opportunistic martyr, but the willful sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.
The Mount of Transfiguration was a prelude to the Hill of Calvary. It was also a glimpse into the “one holy Christian and apostolic church.”5 Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, John, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Adam and Eve, the saints across the centuries; they’re all part of the living entity called the church which spans time and space. Jesus was not on the mountain consulting the dead. He was conferring with members of the church triumphant. We also gather with them in worship as we commune with “angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven.”5 Here we participate already now in eternal realities. May God grant us a rich measure of His Spirit as we still contest temporal obstacles during our journey of faith. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Colossians 1:17
2 2 Peter 1:20-21
3 AP IV, 310 Tappert
4 John 20:29
5 LH, page 16
Transfiguration of Our Lord
2 March 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, March 3, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Seventh Sunday After Epiphany (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 5:38-48
Theme: Christ and the Law
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is a patient instructor. If He weren’t we’d all be dismissed from His tutelage. More importantly, He is long-suffering in His compassion. He is faithful to His promise. He steadfastly restores frail and fallen sinners. Christ sees us through our journey from beginning to end. The more we mature in our faith the more we recognize the need for His grace.
In today’s Scripture reading as recorded in Matthew Christ concludes a remarkable interpretation of the Mosaic law. A cursory reading of this chapter could give one the impression that Jesus goes beyond what the law given through Moses demands. For example, He says it’s not enough to refrain from murder, one must not be angry; it’s not enough to refrain from adultery one must not lust; it’s not enough to keep one’s oath, better to not swear at all. Jesus cuts right to the heart of the issue. Christ’s interpretation of the law is not meant to relax the standard or make it sound more achievable. Rather, His explanation of the intent of the law makes it more unattainable still. He is not engaging in clever rhetoric, but a surgically precise diagnosis.
Our sinful nature is always looking for a way to lower the bar; to make the standard more achievable. Yet, whenever our intent is only to meet the letter of the law we’ve failed to see the spirit of the command. If I am able to restrain myself from murdering someone but inwardly I’m seething with rage then I’ve already transgressed the command in a fundamental way. The very root and heart of sin is revealed. We’re not simply dynamic sinners, that is, sinful because of ungodly actions and activities. We are inveterate sinners, that is, we are sinners by nature, from conception. When we sin we’re only being who we naturally are.
God wants us to be other than who we naturally are; godly even in our motivations. Now we must be clear that keeping the law outwardly does have important benefits. Some are obvious. If I’m contemplating murder but I don’t actually carry it out then my victim is spared. If I begrudging pay the taxes I’d rather not pay, the system is still supported. If I give reluctantly to charity the cause is still benefitted. But the issue of motivation is still not solved. You see, we can never be freely or properly motivated by the law. We may obediently concede out of fear of punishment or we may comply out of hope for reward. This can go on for a lifetime in a situation dominated by fear or legalism.
Societies have a long history of making laws, some which soon sound absurd. Here’s a sampling of a few obsolete and current ones. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is against the law to eat peanuts in church. In Baltimore, it’s illegal to take a lion to the movies. In Hartford, Connecticut, you aren't allowed to cross a street while walking on your hands. In Kansas an old law states that you cannot eat snakes on Sunday. A sign in the middle of the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado, the tallest suspension bridge in the world, rising 1053 feet above the water level: "No Fishing From This Bridge.” Apparently in the outer Melbourne suburb of Brimbank it is against the law to vacuum clean your house between 10pm and 7am on weekdays and 10pm and 9am on weekends, pending an immediate fine. And perhaps the clincher; in 2012 the Queensland LNP Government re-instated the law that makes it illegal for a politician to lie; the law had been abolished by the Labor Government in 2006.
So where do we stand with God’s law, His immutable will? Our Lutheran Confessions say, “Merely preaching the Law, without Christ, either makes proud people, who imagine they can fulfill the Law by outward works, or forces them utterly to despair.”1 God’s law makes demands on us but gives us no power to meet those demands and offers no forgiveness. So, as sinners, we tend to look for loopholes and excuses. “Everybody does it,” is a common rationale even Christians use to justify something unlawful, unethical, or immoral. Bad company corrupts good morals.
So, finally, the Holy Spirit intends to use the law to crush our self-reliance, our selfishness, and all schemes to make excuses for our behavior. Repent, no ifs or buts; Christ then becomes a Saviour. His work then becomes redeeming. He is no longer a tired historical figure or an extraneous moral guru, but the unique and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. If there was no act of intervention, no promise that reconciliation had been made, the law would drive us all to hopelessness. It would be an unbearable burden.
But Christ is the end. He is the fulfillment. He is the completion. The cross has the final word. Noting else pays the debt of sin. Easter is pure light, joy, and vitality. All this depends not on us, but on His mercy and power as our Confessions say, “Without His grace, and If He does not grant the increase, our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering- are all nothing. As Christ says in John 15:5, ‘Apart from Me you can do nothing.’ With these brief words the Spirit denies free will and its powers and ascribes everything to God’s grace, in order that no one may boast before God.”2
IN HIM you are perfect. In Him you are holy. In Him you are righteous. In Him your obedience is complete. But only in Him. Christ is your righteousness, holiness, and redemption. In baptism you are buried and raised with Him. You are already a citizen of heaven. You already have a place in the heavenly courts. You are fed by His body and blood. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and are supported by a community of believers.
So now, everything is transformed. We’re under the law, but not legalism. We live in grace. We want others to know the life we know. That’s why Jesus could say today, “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”3 Is such a seemingly extreme view of pacifism realistic? What about self-dense in the interest of protecting a loved one? What about an abusive situation? Remember, your own life is a gift from God that you are charged with taking care of. Christ is not saying to intentionally endanger your own life. But He most certainly is directing believers not to respond in kind. The individual Christian does not respond to violence with violence or aggression with aggression. We are not to be commended for doing only the things unbelievers also do.
The Holy Spirit leads believers in a truly freed life of service. What does the apostle say, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”4 Christians strive to make a difference in peoples’ lives. It’s no small charge to love selflessly. Christ calls believers salt and light. St. Paul calls them living sacrifices. Christ shines through us.
Dear friends, the Bible says, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”5 It says, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”6 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Augsburg Confession
2 Formula of Concord
3 Matthew 5:39
4 1 Corinthians 3:16
5 Romans 10:5
6 2 Corinthians 1:20
Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
23 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 5:38-48
Theme: Christ and the Law
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is a patient instructor. If He weren’t we’d all be dismissed from His tutelage. More importantly, He is long-suffering in His compassion. He is faithful to His promise. He steadfastly restores frail and fallen sinners. Christ sees us through our journey from beginning to end. The more we mature in our faith the more we recognize the need for His grace.
In today’s Scripture reading as recorded in Matthew Christ concludes a remarkable interpretation of the Mosaic law. A cursory reading of this chapter could give one the impression that Jesus goes beyond what the law given through Moses demands. For example, He says it’s not enough to refrain from murder, one must not be angry; it’s not enough to refrain from adultery one must not lust; it’s not enough to keep one’s oath, better to not swear at all. Jesus cuts right to the heart of the issue. Christ’s interpretation of the law is not meant to relax the standard or make it sound more achievable. Rather, His explanation of the intent of the law makes it more unattainable still. He is not engaging in clever rhetoric, but a surgically precise diagnosis.
Our sinful nature is always looking for a way to lower the bar; to make the standard more achievable. Yet, whenever our intent is only to meet the letter of the law we’ve failed to see the spirit of the command. If I am able to restrain myself from murdering someone but inwardly I’m seething with rage then I’ve already transgressed the command in a fundamental way. The very root and heart of sin is revealed. We’re not simply dynamic sinners, that is, sinful because of ungodly actions and activities. We are inveterate sinners, that is, we are sinners by nature, from conception. When we sin we’re only being who we naturally are.
God wants us to be other than who we naturally are; godly even in our motivations. Now we must be clear that keeping the law outwardly does have important benefits. Some are obvious. If I’m contemplating murder but I don’t actually carry it out then my victim is spared. If I begrudging pay the taxes I’d rather not pay, the system is still supported. If I give reluctantly to charity the cause is still benefitted. But the issue of motivation is still not solved. You see, we can never be freely or properly motivated by the law. We may obediently concede out of fear of punishment or we may comply out of hope for reward. This can go on for a lifetime in a situation dominated by fear or legalism.
Societies have a long history of making laws, some which soon sound absurd. Here’s a sampling of a few obsolete and current ones. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is against the law to eat peanuts in church. In Baltimore, it’s illegal to take a lion to the movies. In Hartford, Connecticut, you aren't allowed to cross a street while walking on your hands. In Kansas an old law states that you cannot eat snakes on Sunday. A sign in the middle of the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado, the tallest suspension bridge in the world, rising 1053 feet above the water level: "No Fishing From This Bridge.” Apparently in the outer Melbourne suburb of Brimbank it is against the law to vacuum clean your house between 10pm and 7am on weekdays and 10pm and 9am on weekends, pending an immediate fine. And perhaps the clincher; in 2012 the Queensland LNP Government re-instated the law that makes it illegal for a politician to lie; the law had been abolished by the Labor Government in 2006.
So where do we stand with God’s law, His immutable will? Our Lutheran Confessions say, “Merely preaching the Law, without Christ, either makes proud people, who imagine they can fulfill the Law by outward works, or forces them utterly to despair.”1 God’s law makes demands on us but gives us no power to meet those demands and offers no forgiveness. So, as sinners, we tend to look for loopholes and excuses. “Everybody does it,” is a common rationale even Christians use to justify something unlawful, unethical, or immoral. Bad company corrupts good morals.
So, finally, the Holy Spirit intends to use the law to crush our self-reliance, our selfishness, and all schemes to make excuses for our behavior. Repent, no ifs or buts; Christ then becomes a Saviour. His work then becomes redeeming. He is no longer a tired historical figure or an extraneous moral guru, but the unique and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. If there was no act of intervention, no promise that reconciliation had been made, the law would drive us all to hopelessness. It would be an unbearable burden.
But Christ is the end. He is the fulfillment. He is the completion. The cross has the final word. Noting else pays the debt of sin. Easter is pure light, joy, and vitality. All this depends not on us, but on His mercy and power as our Confessions say, “Without His grace, and If He does not grant the increase, our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering- are all nothing. As Christ says in John 15:5, ‘Apart from Me you can do nothing.’ With these brief words the Spirit denies free will and its powers and ascribes everything to God’s grace, in order that no one may boast before God.”2
IN HIM you are perfect. In Him you are holy. In Him you are righteous. In Him your obedience is complete. But only in Him. Christ is your righteousness, holiness, and redemption. In baptism you are buried and raised with Him. You are already a citizen of heaven. You already have a place in the heavenly courts. You are fed by His body and blood. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and are supported by a community of believers.
So now, everything is transformed. We’re under the law, but not legalism. We live in grace. We want others to know the life we know. That’s why Jesus could say today, “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”3 Is such a seemingly extreme view of pacifism realistic? What about self-dense in the interest of protecting a loved one? What about an abusive situation? Remember, your own life is a gift from God that you are charged with taking care of. Christ is not saying to intentionally endanger your own life. But He most certainly is directing believers not to respond in kind. The individual Christian does not respond to violence with violence or aggression with aggression. We are not to be commended for doing only the things unbelievers also do.
The Holy Spirit leads believers in a truly freed life of service. What does the apostle say, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”4 Christians strive to make a difference in peoples’ lives. It’s no small charge to love selflessly. Christ calls believers salt and light. St. Paul calls them living sacrifices. Christ shines through us.
Dear friends, the Bible says, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”5 It says, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”6 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Augsburg Confession
2 Formula of Concord
3 Matthew 5:39
4 1 Corinthians 3:16
5 Romans 10:5
6 2 Corinthians 1:20
Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
23 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Christian Burial of Beryl Bullock
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 11:26
Theme: Death Overcome
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Beryl, and especially you Ann, Brian, and Gaynor;
In the end it all happens so quickly and with such finality. In the blink of an eye mortality is realized. A lifetime of struggles and joys, challenges and accomplishments, apologies and restorations suddenly comes to an end. When Beryl was baptized as an infant in Morook no one had any idea where life would take her. Who would she marry? Would her life be full of prosperity or adversity? Would she be blessed with good health or fight illness? Our view into the future is dim and murky at best. But God knew the hardships and joys she would experience, and, more importantly, her final destination. Beryl is a peace. She is at rest. Thanks be to God!
But we struggle on. Nothing should cause us greater humility than to face our mortality. We cannot challenge it. We cannot negotiate with it. We cannot charm it. We cannot circumvent it. We can do nothing at all. Death is no small problem because it doesn’t simply mean that a human life has ceased to exist or that one’s spirit has magically passed into some mystical place. Death is part of the guilt and punishment for sin. The Scripture says, “The wages of sin is death.”1
If God does not have the power over death then the strength of our love and the intensity of our hate; our victories and our failures; our joys and our sorrows only have temporary significance. And many have resigned themselves to accept this very condition. Therefore the world teaches us to live it up now because this is all there is. One comedian put it crassly when he said, “When I die I hope people at my funeral say, ‘That man still owed me a lot of money.’” Though tongue-in-cheek it contains an important element of truth. Why not live while you can at the expense of others! If death has the last word then the future is dark and hope is lost. If death prevails then we are no different than animals. Separation from God will be final.
In times of need it can be comforting to construct an image of God that soothes our hurts and answers our doubts. But the real question is whether or not what we wish about God is actually true or is just wishful thinking, a stereotype, or a misrepresentation? If so, then it’s nothing but a grand deception. Constructing foundations on shifting sand eventually comes to ruin.
There’s only one foundation on which to build. Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners. He bore our guilt. He bore our shame. He exchanged His glory for your depravity. And there on the cross He was abandoned by the Father so that we might not be left as orphans. When many were turning away from Christ because He was an offense to their sensibilities He asked His disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”2 To which Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”3
Beryl, like believers of every time and age, was saved only by grace. You and I will be no exception either. The gates of heaven cannot be opened by our moral integrity, our generous acts of kindness, our intellectual acuity, or our good intentions. Our politeness, civility, or large-heartedness dos not qualify us. The fortress remains impenetrable except by grace. We are all beggars before the Almighty. And only beggars are received into His kingdom. May the Holy Spirit gently but firmly teach us what this means.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”4. This truth alone allows joy to overshadow our sorrow. The casket contains Beryl’s bodily remains. These will be resurrected and reunited with her soul on the Last Day. The resurrection is the bedrock of Christian truth. It is our reason for hope. We could never hope to contest the powers of death. But Christ could. He has; He did! God does not fail us in the crucial moment. On that morning, the day after the Sabbath, at dawn, the women went to the grave and the body of Jesus Christ was not in the tomb. His corpse did not meet with decay. After His resurrection more than 500 people at once saw Him alive. He ate with His disciples on different occasions before His ascension.
In one sense we can say that everybody is special in his or her own particular way. We are all unique and Beryl was no exception. She was a special wife to John, a distinctive mother to her children, an irreplaceable grandmother to her grandchildren. She had her passions and interests; bowing, cooking, music. Beryl is also a unique member of the kingdom of God. Yet, in the end, we all have an essential similarity. In the end we’re all reduced to a complete dependence, a need for divine intervention; no exceptions. And that’s what makes the compassion of God so exceptional. It’s His estimation of us that matters. He does not love because we are lovable; He’s not drawn to us. Rather, in the sheer purity of His mercy He makes us objects of His love. Yet not in some distant way; but through His Son in flesh and blood. He loves so deeply and completely that He left the realms of heaven and assumed our human flesh. He did so to suffer, die, and rise again.
Beryl is no more in need of our prayers. She has been freed from the bondage and decay of sin. Easter morning showed life had triumphed. Love had conquered. Death’s grip had been broken. Beryl now understands what Easter means. Not a glimpse. Not a preview. Not a trial; but a complete participation in immortality is what awaits those who believe. The faithful are not guests or visitors in heaven, but residents. It all happens in an instant. The Holy Scripture says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”5 Death has been defeated. May God grant you comfort and strength as you embrace this truth. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Beryl Dulcie Bullock
17 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 6:23
2 John 6:67
3 John 6:68-69
4 John 11:25
5 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Text: John 11:26
Theme: Death Overcome
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Beryl, and especially you Ann, Brian, and Gaynor;
In the end it all happens so quickly and with such finality. In the blink of an eye mortality is realized. A lifetime of struggles and joys, challenges and accomplishments, apologies and restorations suddenly comes to an end. When Beryl was baptized as an infant in Morook no one had any idea where life would take her. Who would she marry? Would her life be full of prosperity or adversity? Would she be blessed with good health or fight illness? Our view into the future is dim and murky at best. But God knew the hardships and joys she would experience, and, more importantly, her final destination. Beryl is a peace. She is at rest. Thanks be to God!
But we struggle on. Nothing should cause us greater humility than to face our mortality. We cannot challenge it. We cannot negotiate with it. We cannot charm it. We cannot circumvent it. We can do nothing at all. Death is no small problem because it doesn’t simply mean that a human life has ceased to exist or that one’s spirit has magically passed into some mystical place. Death is part of the guilt and punishment for sin. The Scripture says, “The wages of sin is death.”1
If God does not have the power over death then the strength of our love and the intensity of our hate; our victories and our failures; our joys and our sorrows only have temporary significance. And many have resigned themselves to accept this very condition. Therefore the world teaches us to live it up now because this is all there is. One comedian put it crassly when he said, “When I die I hope people at my funeral say, ‘That man still owed me a lot of money.’” Though tongue-in-cheek it contains an important element of truth. Why not live while you can at the expense of others! If death has the last word then the future is dark and hope is lost. If death prevails then we are no different than animals. Separation from God will be final.
In times of need it can be comforting to construct an image of God that soothes our hurts and answers our doubts. But the real question is whether or not what we wish about God is actually true or is just wishful thinking, a stereotype, or a misrepresentation? If so, then it’s nothing but a grand deception. Constructing foundations on shifting sand eventually comes to ruin.
There’s only one foundation on which to build. Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners. He bore our guilt. He bore our shame. He exchanged His glory for your depravity. And there on the cross He was abandoned by the Father so that we might not be left as orphans. When many were turning away from Christ because He was an offense to their sensibilities He asked His disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”2 To which Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”3
Beryl, like believers of every time and age, was saved only by grace. You and I will be no exception either. The gates of heaven cannot be opened by our moral integrity, our generous acts of kindness, our intellectual acuity, or our good intentions. Our politeness, civility, or large-heartedness dos not qualify us. The fortress remains impenetrable except by grace. We are all beggars before the Almighty. And only beggars are received into His kingdom. May the Holy Spirit gently but firmly teach us what this means.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”4. This truth alone allows joy to overshadow our sorrow. The casket contains Beryl’s bodily remains. These will be resurrected and reunited with her soul on the Last Day. The resurrection is the bedrock of Christian truth. It is our reason for hope. We could never hope to contest the powers of death. But Christ could. He has; He did! God does not fail us in the crucial moment. On that morning, the day after the Sabbath, at dawn, the women went to the grave and the body of Jesus Christ was not in the tomb. His corpse did not meet with decay. After His resurrection more than 500 people at once saw Him alive. He ate with His disciples on different occasions before His ascension.
In one sense we can say that everybody is special in his or her own particular way. We are all unique and Beryl was no exception. She was a special wife to John, a distinctive mother to her children, an irreplaceable grandmother to her grandchildren. She had her passions and interests; bowing, cooking, music. Beryl is also a unique member of the kingdom of God. Yet, in the end, we all have an essential similarity. In the end we’re all reduced to a complete dependence, a need for divine intervention; no exceptions. And that’s what makes the compassion of God so exceptional. It’s His estimation of us that matters. He does not love because we are lovable; He’s not drawn to us. Rather, in the sheer purity of His mercy He makes us objects of His love. Yet not in some distant way; but through His Son in flesh and blood. He loves so deeply and completely that He left the realms of heaven and assumed our human flesh. He did so to suffer, die, and rise again.
Beryl is no more in need of our prayers. She has been freed from the bondage and decay of sin. Easter morning showed life had triumphed. Love had conquered. Death’s grip had been broken. Beryl now understands what Easter means. Not a glimpse. Not a preview. Not a trial; but a complete participation in immortality is what awaits those who believe. The faithful are not guests or visitors in heaven, but residents. It all happens in an instant. The Holy Scripture says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”5 Death has been defeated. May God grant you comfort and strength as you embrace this truth. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Beryl Dulcie Bullock
17 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 6:23
2 John 6:67
3 John 6:68-69
4 John 11:25
5 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Harvest Thanksgiving (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Luke 17:16
Theme: Giving Thanks
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
In the beginning there were no weeds. There were no droughts. There were no crop failures. There were no famines. While we might not be strangers to crop failures and droughts, we’re certainly not familiar with starvation. But parts of the world are. Starvation is a direct and ugly consequence of sin. We must be nourished-and in a timely manner- or we perish. Food security is understandably a high priority for developed nations, but ingratitude is the consequential danger. Harvest Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to reflect upon the blessings we have from God in Christ. The Scripture says, “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”1
Harvest Thanksgiving is an observance that has ancient roots. Two of the three major festivals of the Israelites related directly to agriculture. God commands the Israelites through Moses saying, “Take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you…then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name…and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.”2 The created order reflects God’s goodness in this way. In David’s Psalms creation is often personified in praise of the Creator. He says today, “The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.”3
Harvest thanksgiving, therefore, involves a return to the foundations. Adam was made from the dust of the earth. That same earth would sustain him by the sweat of his brow. In a world in which a greater and greater percentage of the world’s population is becoming ignorant of how food is produced our recognition of God’s blessing in this regard is more important than ever. Survival TV shows have been popular in recent years but how may could really manage if they had to fend for themselves? Are we as self-sufficient as we think we are?
Gratitude for our daily provisions is one of the most basic responses of faith. Ingratitude is no trivial transgression. Today’s account of the lepers is a pertinent illustration. One out of ten isn’t a particularly good statistic for an attainable objective. Yet that was the case with ten lepers cured by the Physician of bodies and Healer of souls. Only one was reawakened in faith. Only one returned to give thanks. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. It’s noteworthy that he was a Samaritan. Christ never missed an opportunity to warn the Jews that their ancestry was no free ticket to heaven. Conversely, the Gentiles were given access to the kingdom by grace through faith.
The teachings of Jesus are replete with agricultural analogies. He makes a petition for daily bread a central part of the Lord’s Prayer. Luther explains how this relates to thankfulness in the Fourth Petition. “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” Why? Lest we become callous and presumptuous!
Greed is one of the most prevalent expressions of sin. What is the limit of material prosperity? Would it ever be enough? Even if we had the whole world under our control we could never experience, understand, or enjoy what it had to offer. It would be far beyond our capacity. If we tried to indulge everything available we would not be happy. Instead we would become riddled with anxiety, lose a sense of purpose, and lament all that we had missed out on. The Scriptures tutor us to be content.
Gratitude is a movement of the heart. For the believer it should also become a priority of the mind and an exercise of the will. That is, we should become habitual paragons of thankfulness. Gratefulness is a particularly becoming fruit of the Spirit. Despite all claims or protests to the contrary, it doesn’t come naturally. The appearance of gratefulness can be self-serving. Hypocrisy often communicates with politeness. The Pharisees were whitewashed tombs, and many people honoured Jesus with their lips while their hearts were far from Him.
But hypocrisy doesn’t exclude exploitation. Sinners don’t necessarily avoid God; they just seek to manage Him. People sought to make Jesus their breadwinner by force. It seemed to be a prudent public policy. If He was willing and able to feed more than 5000 from meager means what other qualifications did He need? How the nation would flourish under His miraculous power! Instead, God mediates our daily bread. He blesses us with the ability to work. And for this we are thankful. Through the vocations God provides we are truly able to serve our neighbour. In our serving we are truly salt and light.
The leper threw himself at Jesus’ feet in heartfelt gratitude. Let us follow his example and cast ourselves upon the mercy of Christ. From Him we receive forgiveness, life and salvation. He has given us His identity in baptism. He has sent to us the Holy Spirit for comfort and counsel. He continues to empower and nourish us with His truth in the bread and wine of His heavenly meal. The fruit of the vine carries the blood of the cross; the bread grown from the soil holds His sacrificed body. The former sustain the life of the body, the latter the life of body and soul.
Adam and Eve could eat fruit from every tree but one. That tree brought death. So, too, we now receive life from only the one tree, the tree on which was hung the Saviour of the world. The Tree of Life was relocated from the Garden of Eden to Calvary. The Bible says, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”4 Christ is the firstborn from the dead, the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”5 He ascended to the throne of the Father victorious over the grave. We share in His victory. Our resurrection awaits us. Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon…Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”6 “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever.”7
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Hebrews 12:28
2 Deuteronomy 26:2, 4
3 Psalm 65:13
4 1 Peter 2:24
5 1 Corinthians 15:20
6 Revelation 22:16
7 Psalm 107:1
Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
Harvest Thanksgiving
16 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Luke 17:16
Theme: Giving Thanks
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
In the beginning there were no weeds. There were no droughts. There were no crop failures. There were no famines. While we might not be strangers to crop failures and droughts, we’re certainly not familiar with starvation. But parts of the world are. Starvation is a direct and ugly consequence of sin. We must be nourished-and in a timely manner- or we perish. Food security is understandably a high priority for developed nations, but ingratitude is the consequential danger. Harvest Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to reflect upon the blessings we have from God in Christ. The Scripture says, “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”1
Harvest Thanksgiving is an observance that has ancient roots. Two of the three major festivals of the Israelites related directly to agriculture. God commands the Israelites through Moses saying, “Take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you…then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name…and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.”2 The created order reflects God’s goodness in this way. In David’s Psalms creation is often personified in praise of the Creator. He says today, “The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.”3
Harvest thanksgiving, therefore, involves a return to the foundations. Adam was made from the dust of the earth. That same earth would sustain him by the sweat of his brow. In a world in which a greater and greater percentage of the world’s population is becoming ignorant of how food is produced our recognition of God’s blessing in this regard is more important than ever. Survival TV shows have been popular in recent years but how may could really manage if they had to fend for themselves? Are we as self-sufficient as we think we are?
Gratitude for our daily provisions is one of the most basic responses of faith. Ingratitude is no trivial transgression. Today’s account of the lepers is a pertinent illustration. One out of ten isn’t a particularly good statistic for an attainable objective. Yet that was the case with ten lepers cured by the Physician of bodies and Healer of souls. Only one was reawakened in faith. Only one returned to give thanks. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. It’s noteworthy that he was a Samaritan. Christ never missed an opportunity to warn the Jews that their ancestry was no free ticket to heaven. Conversely, the Gentiles were given access to the kingdom by grace through faith.
The teachings of Jesus are replete with agricultural analogies. He makes a petition for daily bread a central part of the Lord’s Prayer. Luther explains how this relates to thankfulness in the Fourth Petition. “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” Why? Lest we become callous and presumptuous!
Greed is one of the most prevalent expressions of sin. What is the limit of material prosperity? Would it ever be enough? Even if we had the whole world under our control we could never experience, understand, or enjoy what it had to offer. It would be far beyond our capacity. If we tried to indulge everything available we would not be happy. Instead we would become riddled with anxiety, lose a sense of purpose, and lament all that we had missed out on. The Scriptures tutor us to be content.
Gratitude is a movement of the heart. For the believer it should also become a priority of the mind and an exercise of the will. That is, we should become habitual paragons of thankfulness. Gratefulness is a particularly becoming fruit of the Spirit. Despite all claims or protests to the contrary, it doesn’t come naturally. The appearance of gratefulness can be self-serving. Hypocrisy often communicates with politeness. The Pharisees were whitewashed tombs, and many people honoured Jesus with their lips while their hearts were far from Him.
But hypocrisy doesn’t exclude exploitation. Sinners don’t necessarily avoid God; they just seek to manage Him. People sought to make Jesus their breadwinner by force. It seemed to be a prudent public policy. If He was willing and able to feed more than 5000 from meager means what other qualifications did He need? How the nation would flourish under His miraculous power! Instead, God mediates our daily bread. He blesses us with the ability to work. And for this we are thankful. Through the vocations God provides we are truly able to serve our neighbour. In our serving we are truly salt and light.
The leper threw himself at Jesus’ feet in heartfelt gratitude. Let us follow his example and cast ourselves upon the mercy of Christ. From Him we receive forgiveness, life and salvation. He has given us His identity in baptism. He has sent to us the Holy Spirit for comfort and counsel. He continues to empower and nourish us with His truth in the bread and wine of His heavenly meal. The fruit of the vine carries the blood of the cross; the bread grown from the soil holds His sacrificed body. The former sustain the life of the body, the latter the life of body and soul.
Adam and Eve could eat fruit from every tree but one. That tree brought death. So, too, we now receive life from only the one tree, the tree on which was hung the Saviour of the world. The Tree of Life was relocated from the Garden of Eden to Calvary. The Bible says, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”4 Christ is the firstborn from the dead, the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”5 He ascended to the throne of the Father victorious over the grave. We share in His victory. Our resurrection awaits us. Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon…Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”6 “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever.”7
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Hebrews 12:28
2 Deuteronomy 26:2, 4
3 Psalm 65:13
4 1 Peter 2:24
5 1 Corinthians 15:20
6 Revelation 22:16
7 Psalm 107:1
Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
Harvest Thanksgiving
16 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 5:13-16
Theme: Christ’s Salt And Light
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is not quantifiable. His power cannot be measured. His wisdom cannot be fathomed. His compassion has no limits. These truths are vivid reminders of our miniscule status in relation to the Almighty. We cannot sit back and analyze God objectively. We are fragile dust. He is infinite and indestructible power. He is the Creator. We are His handiwork. Our access to Him hinges completely on the person and work of Christ. Jesus is the true image of the Father and the embodiment of sinless humanity.
The unchanging truth for each new generation is that there will never be any other way to approach Him. We can banter around all kinds of opinions and speculations. We can exalt our great learning and acumen. We can praise the great inventions and achievements of society. We can promote our optimism for the future of technology. Yet all the cumulative wisdom of humanity is silenced by one word from the Almighty. Guilty! Give an account of your rebellion. Explain your self-centeredness. Justify your neglect of others. Defend your disregard for God’s truth. How will you face the judgment? Death is your punishment. The Scripture says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”1
There is no civil or well-intentioned way to opt out of this condemnation. We are called to repent. Denial of God doesn’t require washing your hands like Pilate, planting the fatal kiss like Judas, or repudiating the Saviour like Peter. It may involve only you and your neighbour. The place where our confidence lies, the place we look to for help- there is found either God or an idol. All are bound to one or the other. There’s no use whitewashing falsehood. Yet it is the way the world is bound to operate.
The church cannot compete with the world on the world’s terms. Nor should it try to. The world wants to sell you something. It has its own agenda. It makes its own rules. The church has Christ’s agenda. It lives from and follows His truth. The uncertain, ambivalent, and apathetic can never be wooed by a life of discipleship that sounds more enticing than what the world has to offer. No matter how you dress it up, make it sound exciting, or allege that one is missing out by not being part of the Christian church the attempt is misguided. Explanations of cross-bearing are not evangelism tools.
The ego must be slain. The puffed up personality must be deflated. The Holy Spirit must crucify the sinful nature. Then we can see clearly with the eyes of faith. Then we see the cross changes things in a radical, unequivocal way. The apostle Paul said today, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”2
Then we see everything from a different perspective. We learn both what it means that we are salt and light and that the struggle of life has eternal consequences for ourselves and others. Salt can become contaminated. It then becomes useless. Light that is coved up serves no purpose. The vicinity remains in darkness. With these analogies Christ encourages His people in their public witness.
The believer is justified in an instant and faith is created in an instant and both are complete. They are the perfect work of the Spirit. They cannot be augmented or altered by human input. But mature faith takes time and struggle. Rome was not built in a day and neither can wisdom become accumulated in an instant. We are tested and tried, refined and reworked. Christians are not trophy pieces God tucks away in some cosmic display case. We are in the midst of competition, the heat of battle, and the struggle of pilgrimage. We are followers, voyagers, and battlers because this world is fallen and evil is prevalent. The tares grow with the wheat, the goats are mixed with the sheep, and the good fish swim with the bad. But the Lord knows those who are His3. And the devil can make a pretty good guess too.
Satan never relaxes in some distant corner of hell. He prowls about among the people of God with subtlety and full of devious intent. No one gets a free pass from His temptations. He knows just when to inflame our anger, fuel our insensitivity, prompt our dishonesty, and support us in our self-righteousness. His ploys drive us back to God’s word and cause us to seek His forgiveness. In this way God uses Satan as His lackey to purify our faith.
The Christian never advances past struggling with temptation. The tension between the Old Adam and the regenerate life always remains. There is no way to leave the cross in the past. Believers are always becoming. We have never arrived; not in this life. Even the resurrection doesn’t relieve us of our fallen condition. We are baptized and we continually return to the power and promise of baptism. Therefore, the forgiveness of sins is always redeeming, always life-giving; always essential. Absolution is never a dead promise, never a hollow formality. You are justified in present time when the words are spoken. Christ forgives your sins through the mouths of His servants, His pastors, but the words and the power are His. He feeds you with that forgiveness in Holy Communion the moment it touches your lips.
His forgiveness continually gives you a clean slate and an untainted motivation to love unconditionally. The Christian is always a servant but ever free. Believers are always under obligation to love their neighbour, but always free from the burden of atoning for their own sins. We are free to forgive because we have been forgiven. Never underestimate the importance or impact of your service to others. Your most important service to the church might be your faithful life of prayer. It might be caring for an ageing parent or a frail spouse. It might be setting a good example for children by making their spiritual lives a priority. It might be supporting foreign missions. It might involve a hands-on presence in the community. It might involve making sacrifices for work mates. It may be combinations of many of the above. We all have multiple vocations. Some of your vocations may change, others will be life-long.
Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.”4 No one else bears the life of Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. You, baptized child of God, called, justified, sanctified, led by the Spirit, wearing the armor of God; you reflect the light of Him who pierces the world’s darkness. Could there be a greater privilege or more awesome responsibility! Christ has not ignited us and set us blazing with His love so that we would be covered up or hid away. He has not invested His spiritual salt with the preserving power of His Spirit just to be thrown in the compost heap. No, indeed, He longs to greet us with these words, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”5 He is faithful and He will do it. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Romans 3:19
2 1 Corinthians 2:2
3 See 2 Timothy 2:19
4 Matthew 5:14
5 Matthew 25:34
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
9 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 5:13-16
Theme: Christ’s Salt And Light
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is not quantifiable. His power cannot be measured. His wisdom cannot be fathomed. His compassion has no limits. These truths are vivid reminders of our miniscule status in relation to the Almighty. We cannot sit back and analyze God objectively. We are fragile dust. He is infinite and indestructible power. He is the Creator. We are His handiwork. Our access to Him hinges completely on the person and work of Christ. Jesus is the true image of the Father and the embodiment of sinless humanity.
The unchanging truth for each new generation is that there will never be any other way to approach Him. We can banter around all kinds of opinions and speculations. We can exalt our great learning and acumen. We can praise the great inventions and achievements of society. We can promote our optimism for the future of technology. Yet all the cumulative wisdom of humanity is silenced by one word from the Almighty. Guilty! Give an account of your rebellion. Explain your self-centeredness. Justify your neglect of others. Defend your disregard for God’s truth. How will you face the judgment? Death is your punishment. The Scripture says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”1
There is no civil or well-intentioned way to opt out of this condemnation. We are called to repent. Denial of God doesn’t require washing your hands like Pilate, planting the fatal kiss like Judas, or repudiating the Saviour like Peter. It may involve only you and your neighbour. The place where our confidence lies, the place we look to for help- there is found either God or an idol. All are bound to one or the other. There’s no use whitewashing falsehood. Yet it is the way the world is bound to operate.
The church cannot compete with the world on the world’s terms. Nor should it try to. The world wants to sell you something. It has its own agenda. It makes its own rules. The church has Christ’s agenda. It lives from and follows His truth. The uncertain, ambivalent, and apathetic can never be wooed by a life of discipleship that sounds more enticing than what the world has to offer. No matter how you dress it up, make it sound exciting, or allege that one is missing out by not being part of the Christian church the attempt is misguided. Explanations of cross-bearing are not evangelism tools.
The ego must be slain. The puffed up personality must be deflated. The Holy Spirit must crucify the sinful nature. Then we can see clearly with the eyes of faith. Then we see the cross changes things in a radical, unequivocal way. The apostle Paul said today, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”2
Then we see everything from a different perspective. We learn both what it means that we are salt and light and that the struggle of life has eternal consequences for ourselves and others. Salt can become contaminated. It then becomes useless. Light that is coved up serves no purpose. The vicinity remains in darkness. With these analogies Christ encourages His people in their public witness.
The believer is justified in an instant and faith is created in an instant and both are complete. They are the perfect work of the Spirit. They cannot be augmented or altered by human input. But mature faith takes time and struggle. Rome was not built in a day and neither can wisdom become accumulated in an instant. We are tested and tried, refined and reworked. Christians are not trophy pieces God tucks away in some cosmic display case. We are in the midst of competition, the heat of battle, and the struggle of pilgrimage. We are followers, voyagers, and battlers because this world is fallen and evil is prevalent. The tares grow with the wheat, the goats are mixed with the sheep, and the good fish swim with the bad. But the Lord knows those who are His3. And the devil can make a pretty good guess too.
Satan never relaxes in some distant corner of hell. He prowls about among the people of God with subtlety and full of devious intent. No one gets a free pass from His temptations. He knows just when to inflame our anger, fuel our insensitivity, prompt our dishonesty, and support us in our self-righteousness. His ploys drive us back to God’s word and cause us to seek His forgiveness. In this way God uses Satan as His lackey to purify our faith.
The Christian never advances past struggling with temptation. The tension between the Old Adam and the regenerate life always remains. There is no way to leave the cross in the past. Believers are always becoming. We have never arrived; not in this life. Even the resurrection doesn’t relieve us of our fallen condition. We are baptized and we continually return to the power and promise of baptism. Therefore, the forgiveness of sins is always redeeming, always life-giving; always essential. Absolution is never a dead promise, never a hollow formality. You are justified in present time when the words are spoken. Christ forgives your sins through the mouths of His servants, His pastors, but the words and the power are His. He feeds you with that forgiveness in Holy Communion the moment it touches your lips.
His forgiveness continually gives you a clean slate and an untainted motivation to love unconditionally. The Christian is always a servant but ever free. Believers are always under obligation to love their neighbour, but always free from the burden of atoning for their own sins. We are free to forgive because we have been forgiven. Never underestimate the importance or impact of your service to others. Your most important service to the church might be your faithful life of prayer. It might be caring for an ageing parent or a frail spouse. It might be setting a good example for children by making their spiritual lives a priority. It might be supporting foreign missions. It might involve a hands-on presence in the community. It might involve making sacrifices for work mates. It may be combinations of many of the above. We all have multiple vocations. Some of your vocations may change, others will be life-long.
Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.”4 No one else bears the life of Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. You, baptized child of God, called, justified, sanctified, led by the Spirit, wearing the armor of God; you reflect the light of Him who pierces the world’s darkness. Could there be a greater privilege or more awesome responsibility! Christ has not ignited us and set us blazing with His love so that we would be covered up or hid away. He has not invested His spiritual salt with the preserving power of His Spirit just to be thrown in the compost heap. No, indeed, He longs to greet us with these words, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”5 He is faithful and He will do it. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Romans 3:19
2 1 Corinthians 2:2
3 See 2 Timothy 2:19
4 Matthew 5:14
5 Matthew 25:34
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
9 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 5:3
Theme: True Poverty and Wealth
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is rich. We are poor. But these truths are not fundamentally financial or economic statements. Only the poor will receive God’s riches. That is what Jesus says today. What does He mean? Have you ever considered yourself to be poor in spirit? You cannot fake a true sense of poverty of soul. Lip service will get you nowhere. The Holy Spirit must drive you to it. And He will do this only through the word. “This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”1
In these beatitudes today Christ is not demanding the adoption of a set of virtues or principles; He is describing the condition and status of the repentant sinner before God. He is giving hope to those normally devalued by in the world’s eyes. Christ teaches what it really means to be blessed. Material prosperity is no substitute for spiritual rewards. But we must be careful about ignoring the connection between physical and spiritual things. Jesus rebuked demons. He rebuked bodily fever. He rebuked the tempestuous sea. His release from the bondage to sin was holistic. Evil spirits, physical ailments, and the forces of nature were subject to Him. Christ is not a spiritual specialist who has no real impact on the physical realm. He is not a mystical guru who seeks to deny or annul the material creation. He is the flesh and blood Redeemer who promises to resurrect our bodies. We will see Him with our own eyes.2
Yet this promise can presently be embraced only in faith. The deception of salvation by proxy is a persistent challenge for those who want the benefits of Christianity without the relationship it involves. Such desire is nothing new. The Israelites were condemned for it on a regular basis. The modern church must also assess this criticism. You cannot maintain your spiritual life through the faith of another. The religious devotion of your ancestors will not save you. Nor can Christian faith be only an intellectual or ideological exercise. Our opinions cannot foster or sustain spiritual life.
Christianity involves incorporation not surrogacy. Altruism cannot be a proxy for faith. A dispassionate believer is an oxymoron. Yes, believers can and do get down, become temporarily apathetic, even become depressed, as Luther himself did. Yet Christians always have a concern for the well-being of God’s people and the spiritual state of the world alike. Such concern is evidenced by more than just lip-service. Faith is never static, it is active in love.
On this day, February 2nd, many Christians have historically celebrated the Presentation of our Lord. This festival commemorates the presentation in the temple of the infant Jesus 40 days after His birth. Luke records the reason for the event, “When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.”3 Mary and Joseph were God-fearing believers who honoured the Law of Moses.
Significantly, the presentation in the temple has an important connection with the church’s liturgy. And so it has had an enduring impact even if the direct correlation is often unknown. In the temple the holy family was greeted by a man named Simeon who had been waiting to see the Messiah. When Simeon held the baby Jesus he said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people…”4 It’s these words of Simeon that we sing and confess after we too have held the Saviour in the receiving of His body and blood. Like Simeon we can go in peace because we have been assured of our salvation.
Mary offered a pair of doves or young pigeons5 as a sacrifice for her purification. It was evidence of Mary and Joseph’s relative poverty. But like the widow who offered her mites it was an esteemed offering. Christianity is never the beneficiary of a ‘left-overs’ mentality. The thinking goes like this, “I will utilize every means to resource my goals and my agenda and if there is some excess left-over (time or money) the church might be helped by it.” I can feel good about donating my time or money and the church should be grateful too! Dear friends, far from reflecting positively on the vitality of the church this mindset actually exposes a church in decline. That is not to say the resources of the church are not benefitted by charitable generosity. But the key is the motivation. The church has never thrived on the excesses of the ambivalent but on the passion of the purposeful.
Christians are purposeful even (and we might say especially) in the midst of struggle. God never promises to immediately relieve you of all your adversities. If you demand God prove Himself to you by alleviating some difficult circumstance upon your request, your relationship with God has slipped from that of faith to that of pagan negotiation. Idols are given sacrifices in return for favours. Plea-bargaining was a standard part of idol worship. But our God is no idol. You may not be relieved of your adversities, but rest assured Christ Himself is privy to the full-range of human distress. He has measured it. He has embraced it. He will resolve it. He hung upon the cross; He walked out of the tomb for this very purpose.
The minor detail that causes us so much angst is the timing. Our egos and agendas struggle in time. Faith embraces eternity. God will resolve those things which appear to us to be tangled beyond sorting out. Where human capacity fails and hope fades, God accomplishes the seemingly impossible. Your greatest adversity- you know what it is; betrayal, infidelity, treachery, committed by you or against you or both: These offences characterize your poverty, your complete and utter destitution, your beggarly status before God. They are proof that you are both a sinner and the victim of sin. But that grace prevails now and in eternity because Christ forgives every transgression proves how extravagant His love is.
Dear friends, the cry of the impoverished soul never falls on deaf ears. Christ hears the contrite. He knows that we have nothing to offer. God desires nothing more than to free what is bound, reconcile what is separated, heal what is sick, restore what is broken, order what is chaotic, illumine those in darkness, inform those in ignorance, calm those in fear, secure the ones in danger, find those who are lost, and bequeath to those who are poor. As sinners we face an insurmountable debt. It demands either perfection or the forfeiture of our life. The penalty is hell. Yet Christ meets the obligation, frees us from our liability and even endures our sentence. He lays down His own life. He opens heaven. He endows us with unspeakable riches. We are the beloved children of the Father. We are blessed. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Isaiah 66:2
2 See Job 19:27
3 Luke 2:22
4 Luke 2:29-31
5 See Luke 2:24
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Presentation of our Lord
2 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 5:3
Theme: True Poverty and Wealth
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is rich. We are poor. But these truths are not fundamentally financial or economic statements. Only the poor will receive God’s riches. That is what Jesus says today. What does He mean? Have you ever considered yourself to be poor in spirit? You cannot fake a true sense of poverty of soul. Lip service will get you nowhere. The Holy Spirit must drive you to it. And He will do this only through the word. “This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”1
In these beatitudes today Christ is not demanding the adoption of a set of virtues or principles; He is describing the condition and status of the repentant sinner before God. He is giving hope to those normally devalued by in the world’s eyes. Christ teaches what it really means to be blessed. Material prosperity is no substitute for spiritual rewards. But we must be careful about ignoring the connection between physical and spiritual things. Jesus rebuked demons. He rebuked bodily fever. He rebuked the tempestuous sea. His release from the bondage to sin was holistic. Evil spirits, physical ailments, and the forces of nature were subject to Him. Christ is not a spiritual specialist who has no real impact on the physical realm. He is not a mystical guru who seeks to deny or annul the material creation. He is the flesh and blood Redeemer who promises to resurrect our bodies. We will see Him with our own eyes.2
Yet this promise can presently be embraced only in faith. The deception of salvation by proxy is a persistent challenge for those who want the benefits of Christianity without the relationship it involves. Such desire is nothing new. The Israelites were condemned for it on a regular basis. The modern church must also assess this criticism. You cannot maintain your spiritual life through the faith of another. The religious devotion of your ancestors will not save you. Nor can Christian faith be only an intellectual or ideological exercise. Our opinions cannot foster or sustain spiritual life.
Christianity involves incorporation not surrogacy. Altruism cannot be a proxy for faith. A dispassionate believer is an oxymoron. Yes, believers can and do get down, become temporarily apathetic, even become depressed, as Luther himself did. Yet Christians always have a concern for the well-being of God’s people and the spiritual state of the world alike. Such concern is evidenced by more than just lip-service. Faith is never static, it is active in love.
On this day, February 2nd, many Christians have historically celebrated the Presentation of our Lord. This festival commemorates the presentation in the temple of the infant Jesus 40 days after His birth. Luke records the reason for the event, “When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.”3 Mary and Joseph were God-fearing believers who honoured the Law of Moses.
Significantly, the presentation in the temple has an important connection with the church’s liturgy. And so it has had an enduring impact even if the direct correlation is often unknown. In the temple the holy family was greeted by a man named Simeon who had been waiting to see the Messiah. When Simeon held the baby Jesus he said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people…”4 It’s these words of Simeon that we sing and confess after we too have held the Saviour in the receiving of His body and blood. Like Simeon we can go in peace because we have been assured of our salvation.
Mary offered a pair of doves or young pigeons5 as a sacrifice for her purification. It was evidence of Mary and Joseph’s relative poverty. But like the widow who offered her mites it was an esteemed offering. Christianity is never the beneficiary of a ‘left-overs’ mentality. The thinking goes like this, “I will utilize every means to resource my goals and my agenda and if there is some excess left-over (time or money) the church might be helped by it.” I can feel good about donating my time or money and the church should be grateful too! Dear friends, far from reflecting positively on the vitality of the church this mindset actually exposes a church in decline. That is not to say the resources of the church are not benefitted by charitable generosity. But the key is the motivation. The church has never thrived on the excesses of the ambivalent but on the passion of the purposeful.
Christians are purposeful even (and we might say especially) in the midst of struggle. God never promises to immediately relieve you of all your adversities. If you demand God prove Himself to you by alleviating some difficult circumstance upon your request, your relationship with God has slipped from that of faith to that of pagan negotiation. Idols are given sacrifices in return for favours. Plea-bargaining was a standard part of idol worship. But our God is no idol. You may not be relieved of your adversities, but rest assured Christ Himself is privy to the full-range of human distress. He has measured it. He has embraced it. He will resolve it. He hung upon the cross; He walked out of the tomb for this very purpose.
The minor detail that causes us so much angst is the timing. Our egos and agendas struggle in time. Faith embraces eternity. God will resolve those things which appear to us to be tangled beyond sorting out. Where human capacity fails and hope fades, God accomplishes the seemingly impossible. Your greatest adversity- you know what it is; betrayal, infidelity, treachery, committed by you or against you or both: These offences characterize your poverty, your complete and utter destitution, your beggarly status before God. They are proof that you are both a sinner and the victim of sin. But that grace prevails now and in eternity because Christ forgives every transgression proves how extravagant His love is.
Dear friends, the cry of the impoverished soul never falls on deaf ears. Christ hears the contrite. He knows that we have nothing to offer. God desires nothing more than to free what is bound, reconcile what is separated, heal what is sick, restore what is broken, order what is chaotic, illumine those in darkness, inform those in ignorance, calm those in fear, secure the ones in danger, find those who are lost, and bequeath to those who are poor. As sinners we face an insurmountable debt. It demands either perfection or the forfeiture of our life. The penalty is hell. Yet Christ meets the obligation, frees us from our liability and even endures our sentence. He lays down His own life. He opens heaven. He endows us with unspeakable riches. We are the beloved children of the Father. We are blessed. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Isaiah 66:2
2 See Job 19:27
3 Luke 2:22
4 Luke 2:29-31
5 See Luke 2:24
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Presentation of our Lord
2 February 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Monday, January 27, 2014
Third Sunday After Epiphany (A) 2014
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen +
Text: Matthew 4:18-20
Theme: First Follower’s Faith
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The Scriptures are coherent and consistent. From the outset the public preaching of Jesus is characterized by a call to repudiate all aspects of false believing and its consequences. The Scripture says, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”1 It was a call for transparency and single-heartedness. No subject can serve two masters at once. No athlete can play for two teams at the same time. No lawyer can prosecute and defend simultaneously. The conflict of interest excludes it. Truth and falsehood can coexist only in the fallen human realm; uneasily and with great struggle. God suffers this tragedy only temporarily. Christ promises to deliver His people from the friction of conflict and bring the baptized to a full realization of their inheritance. This will come to pass.
The unconverted scoff at or dismiss these promises as being ludicrous or artificial. Unbelief can only deal with life on the basis of what is tangible or at least considered probable. Heaven doesn’t seem to meet either criterion. The unbelieving heart must first be convicted of sin. The Christian too is confronted by God’s law in a way that is not fundamentally different than that of an unbeliever. Sin always seeks to get the upper hand. Temptations will never cease.
Regardless of your maturity, you will never be an exception. Reflect honestly. Is your mind swept clean of lust? Is your heart cleansed of greed? Do your actions show that you love God above all things and love your neighbour as yourself? Is the mirror you look into the warped kind you can find at a circus or do you seek to avoid seeing your true reflection at all? No matter how clearly you understand God’s perfect will; no matter how keenly you desire to please Him precisely and perpetually, you can never attain to such perfection. We are never exempted from the necessity of God’s grace in Christ. We are always debtors. Don’t try to rationalize that your moral indebtedness is at least not as great as that of others. That approach only sinks you lower. Repent whole-heartedly.
The law demands perfection but gives no power to achieve it. It therefore always convicts us for falling short. The gospel, conversely, calls us to trust and grants us the very thing which it demands: faith. Faith is not a self-chosen virtue. It is not the result of blending all the right ingredients. Faith is not a by-product of affluence. Faith is a Spirit-given certainty for struggling sinners. It is not a conclusion drawn from the most logical-sounding theories available. Nor is it a psychological or emotional tool- a crutch- to ease the crises of life. These types of so-called faith are eventually shown to be human fabrications and deceptions that people hoped would prosper or ease their temporal existence. Such counterfeits will crumble at the threshold of mortality if not before.
In Christ we need not psychoanalyze our faith at all. He is its creator, object, and completion. He calls us from darkness and His light is never extinguished. To the fishermen Peter and Andrew the Lord said, “Come, follow Me…and I will make you fishers of men.”2 and in so doing He supplied what He required. He freed them to serve. Their fragile faith was evidenced immediately: “At once they left their nets and followed Him.”3 They did so because they believed they were following the One who would lead them into truth.
Christianity is about a relationship that lives from absolute truth. The life of faith cannot be negotiated from a pragmatic standpoint. That is, Christianity is not a matter of what works, but what is true. God won’t ask if we were successful but if we were faithful. He won’t ask how clever we were at out-maneuvering others but how compassionate we were in serving them. When the church adapts its teachings to the philosophies and the morals of the times it generally meets with welcome from the world. The world is never so interested in what is true as it is in those things which prosper its happiness in the here and now.
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”4 The ultimate truth, the difference-making truth, the life-altering truth is that Christ is the only sacrifice for sins. There is nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. His mercy for you is unlimited and unconditional. Believers will enjoy the bliss of eternity in the presence of the triune God. But we don’t sit around dawdling in spiritual daydreams naively thinking these realities are achieved without strife. While we “eagerly await a Saviour from (heaven)”5 and set our “hearts on things above”6 we are still fully immersed in the fray. His forgiveness empowers us. We live the life He has called us to to the fullest. We never pre-empt His plans.
An elderly man was at home, upstairs, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favourite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He fell out of bed, crawled to the landing, rolled down the stairs and drug himself into the kitchen where his wife was busily baking cookies. With his last remaining strength he crawled to the table and was just barely able to lift his withered arm to reach one. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with the spatula. Gasping for breath, he asked her, "Why did you do that?" She replied, "Those are for the funeral."
Dear friends, do not fear to be living sacrifices for the kingdom’s sake. Christ will supply your needs. You are armed for spiritual warfare. You confront unbelief and contest irreverence. It is never easy to be at odds with the world. It never has been. It never will be. But even the brazen audacities of societies, egos, and empires are no match for the one Lamb who was slain. Humility triumphs over vanity; sacrifice over self-interest. Our King is crowned with thorns. He doesn’t impose legislation. He bestows vindication.
Biblical faith also gives us place in the community of believers. What does the Bible say, “A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.”7He does that through His people. We are the temple of God, the household of faith. From cradle to grave Christ lived, died, rose and reigns for you. You are baptized into His name, His death, His resurrection, and His kingdom. You eat His life-giving food- not the delicacies of earth’s bounty- but the very source of life itself, His own body and blood. In the words of the apostle, “The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”8 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Matthew 4:17
2 Matthew 4:19
3 Matthew 4:20
4 1 Corinthians 1:18
5 Philippians 3:20
6 Colossians 3:1
7 Psalm 68:5-6
8 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Third Sunday After Epiphany
26 January 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
Text: Matthew 4:18-20
Theme: First Follower’s Faith
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The Scriptures are coherent and consistent. From the outset the public preaching of Jesus is characterized by a call to repudiate all aspects of false believing and its consequences. The Scripture says, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”1 It was a call for transparency and single-heartedness. No subject can serve two masters at once. No athlete can play for two teams at the same time. No lawyer can prosecute and defend simultaneously. The conflict of interest excludes it. Truth and falsehood can coexist only in the fallen human realm; uneasily and with great struggle. God suffers this tragedy only temporarily. Christ promises to deliver His people from the friction of conflict and bring the baptized to a full realization of their inheritance. This will come to pass.
The unconverted scoff at or dismiss these promises as being ludicrous or artificial. Unbelief can only deal with life on the basis of what is tangible or at least considered probable. Heaven doesn’t seem to meet either criterion. The unbelieving heart must first be convicted of sin. The Christian too is confronted by God’s law in a way that is not fundamentally different than that of an unbeliever. Sin always seeks to get the upper hand. Temptations will never cease.
Regardless of your maturity, you will never be an exception. Reflect honestly. Is your mind swept clean of lust? Is your heart cleansed of greed? Do your actions show that you love God above all things and love your neighbour as yourself? Is the mirror you look into the warped kind you can find at a circus or do you seek to avoid seeing your true reflection at all? No matter how clearly you understand God’s perfect will; no matter how keenly you desire to please Him precisely and perpetually, you can never attain to such perfection. We are never exempted from the necessity of God’s grace in Christ. We are always debtors. Don’t try to rationalize that your moral indebtedness is at least not as great as that of others. That approach only sinks you lower. Repent whole-heartedly.
The law demands perfection but gives no power to achieve it. It therefore always convicts us for falling short. The gospel, conversely, calls us to trust and grants us the very thing which it demands: faith. Faith is not a self-chosen virtue. It is not the result of blending all the right ingredients. Faith is not a by-product of affluence. Faith is a Spirit-given certainty for struggling sinners. It is not a conclusion drawn from the most logical-sounding theories available. Nor is it a psychological or emotional tool- a crutch- to ease the crises of life. These types of so-called faith are eventually shown to be human fabrications and deceptions that people hoped would prosper or ease their temporal existence. Such counterfeits will crumble at the threshold of mortality if not before.
In Christ we need not psychoanalyze our faith at all. He is its creator, object, and completion. He calls us from darkness and His light is never extinguished. To the fishermen Peter and Andrew the Lord said, “Come, follow Me…and I will make you fishers of men.”2 and in so doing He supplied what He required. He freed them to serve. Their fragile faith was evidenced immediately: “At once they left their nets and followed Him.”3 They did so because they believed they were following the One who would lead them into truth.
Christianity is about a relationship that lives from absolute truth. The life of faith cannot be negotiated from a pragmatic standpoint. That is, Christianity is not a matter of what works, but what is true. God won’t ask if we were successful but if we were faithful. He won’t ask how clever we were at out-maneuvering others but how compassionate we were in serving them. When the church adapts its teachings to the philosophies and the morals of the times it generally meets with welcome from the world. The world is never so interested in what is true as it is in those things which prosper its happiness in the here and now.
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”4 The ultimate truth, the difference-making truth, the life-altering truth is that Christ is the only sacrifice for sins. There is nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. His mercy for you is unlimited and unconditional. Believers will enjoy the bliss of eternity in the presence of the triune God. But we don’t sit around dawdling in spiritual daydreams naively thinking these realities are achieved without strife. While we “eagerly await a Saviour from (heaven)”5 and set our “hearts on things above”6 we are still fully immersed in the fray. His forgiveness empowers us. We live the life He has called us to to the fullest. We never pre-empt His plans.
An elderly man was at home, upstairs, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favourite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He fell out of bed, crawled to the landing, rolled down the stairs and drug himself into the kitchen where his wife was busily baking cookies. With his last remaining strength he crawled to the table and was just barely able to lift his withered arm to reach one. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with the spatula. Gasping for breath, he asked her, "Why did you do that?" She replied, "Those are for the funeral."
Dear friends, do not fear to be living sacrifices for the kingdom’s sake. Christ will supply your needs. You are armed for spiritual warfare. You confront unbelief and contest irreverence. It is never easy to be at odds with the world. It never has been. It never will be. But even the brazen audacities of societies, egos, and empires are no match for the one Lamb who was slain. Humility triumphs over vanity; sacrifice over self-interest. Our King is crowned with thorns. He doesn’t impose legislation. He bestows vindication.
Biblical faith also gives us place in the community of believers. What does the Bible say, “A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.”7He does that through His people. We are the temple of God, the household of faith. From cradle to grave Christ lived, died, rose and reigns for you. You are baptized into His name, His death, His resurrection, and His kingdom. You eat His life-giving food- not the delicacies of earth’s bounty- but the very source of life itself, His own body and blood. In the words of the apostle, “The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”8 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
1 Matthew 4:17
2 Matthew 4:19
3 Matthew 4:20
4 1 Corinthians 1:18
5 Philippians 3:20
6 Colossians 3:1
7 Psalm 68:5-6
8 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Third Sunday After Epiphany
26 January 2014
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
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