+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Jeremiah 4:22
Theme: A Refuge For ‘Fools’
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is a refuge for fools. Not the kind of fools who despise Him and go their own way, but those who are foolish in the wisdom of the world. Unbelief is without future hope; it clings only to the here and now. But in the final measure, when all is revealed, when the curtain of history is dropped, when the dead are raised, when this entire dimension is destroyed, on that great and glorious Day, those who were ‘foolish’ enough to cling to that one truth- that God is merciful in Christ- will be proven to possess the one thing needful. God is faithful. We can bank on that.
God is faithful and that faithfulness is founded on His character. The implications are not theoretical. God is not an object of observation or curiosity. God is sovereign. He exists autonomously. We know this intuitively but it is an unwieldy truth. We cannot manage God or domesticate Him. His well-being depends on no one and nothing. We cannot negotiate His will. God wills to rectify the crisis of sin. Understanding what this involves is critical.
God wills to intervene to punish sin. It’s not a matter of if, but of when and in what manner. The first judgment was the most severe. When Adam and Eve turned away from God the punishment was death. Many subsequent judgments followed; the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, enslavement in Egypt, and exile to Babylon. It's this last threat that Jeremiah is warning about today. Foreign idols were being worshipped in the land of Israel and this idolatry would lead them into captivity in a foreign land.
Jeremiah illustrates the situation with the descriptive used of the primeval chaos. “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty.”1Before God put His new creation in order it was formless and empty. It was not yet orientated towards its purpose. Matter existed, but without goal or meaning. This was now the state of affairs with God's people. Estranged from God, the Israelites were just a mass of humanity with no purpose or hope. They were separated from their Creator. “My people are fools; they do not know Me…they are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”2
Jeremiah had an unenviable task. He was God’s mouthpiece to a community that wasn’t in the mood to listen. Decades of wrangling with religious rulers and mistreatment by political leaders awaited him. He was only human and he was filled with angst, with frustration, and with doubt. But countless adversaries would not break his resolve. He had the one and only ally he needed. The companionship of God counteracts all the enmity of the world. Even if we stand opposed by 10,000 foes we need not fear; Christ stands at our side.
Dear friends, often we expect less from God when we should seek more from Him. This is evidence of timid faith. We look for temporary fixes to problems that need eternal solutions. We settle for cosmetic alterations when terminal spiritual illness needs to be addressed. We content ourselves with material wealth when only a heavenly inheritance will sustain us. We are happy to be noted as passing acquaintances of the Messiah when being sons and daughters of the kingdom is all that really matters. We want a band aide for a superficial wound when cardiac arrest is the real emergency. God is not too small for our problems.
Think of what Paul says today, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst.”3 This candid creed is the confession of every believer. Only sinners need a Saviour. Only the sick need a physician. Only the dead need to be raised to life. His love is not only a compassionate love, it is soul-reviving and life-sustaining. This Good News frees us, feeds us, and continually underpins our hope and joy.
Baptismal water has washed over your soul. The curse of sin has been broken through Jesus' death and resurrection. In baptism you have been made a participant in that power. We already have eternal life. The Scripture says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 4 Today Jeremiah warns of the punishment for being estranged from God. But Christ has reconciled us to the heavenly Father. All the punishments for all the crimes ever committed; the imprisonments, the tortures, the executions; all the justice they were intended to render on behalf of victims, all these are but a shadow, a mist, and a faint image of what Christ endured when He atoned for the transgressions of the world through His crucifixion. Divine justice is an amazing paradoxical truth. The Saviour is sacrificed while the sinner is spared.
And this dark truth is the cause of the greatest joy. It is the joy of reunion as described in Luke today. After finding the lost sheep “he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”4
Dear friends, there is no disaster that can befall you and no evil that can overtake you that these words of promise and truth cannot overcome. Your presence in the kingdom causes the angels to rejoice. Think of that! Angels wait with eager anticipation for sinners to turn towards their Saviour. Do not think lightly of these heavenly beings. They are endowed by God with elegance, purity, and grace. They are His servants and our most sacred companions. The Scripture says, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him." 5 And again, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” 6 They are emissaries of truth and power. They worship with us and attend our celebration of the sacred meal.
Jeremiah desires that his people will be gathered back into the same fellowship of the faithful. The wisdom of the world had captivated them and the holy things of God now seemed foolish to them. May they Holy Spirit equip us to withstand the same temptation! Paul calls himself a fool for Christ7. Jeremiah was one too. We’re in good company. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
11 September, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Jeremiah 4:23
2 Jeremiah 4:22
3 1 Timothy 1:15
4 Luke 15:5-7
5 Psalm 34:7
6 Hebrews 1:14
7 See 1 Corinthians 4:10
Monday, September 12, 2016
Monday, August 29, 2016
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Jeremiah 2:4
Theme: Prophetic Proclamation
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Adversities in life often come without warning. Jeremiah couldn’t make that claim today though. He was forewarned. Forewarned is forearmed. God sends Jeremiah straight into the fray. Whether the people listen or cover their ears he will proclaim the word of the Lord. What is undeniable is that He is preaching God’s truth into a culture that had become very intolerant of following God’s will. The Lord doesn’t mince words with them. “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”1 And there you have the sum and substance of human sinfulness in a nutshell. Our selfish desires lead us away from God in pursuit of our own source of provision, satisfaction, and security. Satan is not short of mirages and illusions.
The religious authorities are specifically brought under indictment. “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know Me; the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.”2. The religious leaders were no better than the people. Their hearts were dulled. Their minds were elsewhere. They would have to bear their share of the blame. Still, no individual can pass their sins off to someone else. We’re all called to account to God for our transgressions. An Adam blaming Eve, or Eve blaming Satan scenario won’t be any more successful now than it was then.
But the Israelites had also gone astray as a community. They had lost their true focus. When the church loses track of its mission and purpose it flounders. It starts to focus its energy and resources on auxiliary things; things not essential to the proclamation of the gospel. It becomes vulnerable to the pressures of the world and is tempted to modify its creeds and confessions. It’s not always easy to recognize the moment when the pitch of battle has peaked. Is Christianity at a tipping in our day? Is it in decline for the foreseeable future? Will culture’s clash with biblical truth rise to a fevered pitch or will it simmer along just occasionally boiling over? Will most Christians just capitulate and fall in line with the expectations of the secular world? Will God purify and even revitalize His church in our age?
Institutions don’t normally fall over in an instant. They are too complex, involve too many people, and have too much stability in their history. But cracks appear and then widen. Pillars of strength become unsteady. Rome didn’t collapse in a moment. For many long centuries the termites of mistrust, of greed, of dishonesty, of callousness, of rebellion, were undermining the foundations. Systems within the greater organism began to fail. As in the human body, the vital organs of society are all connected.
The status of marriage is a case-in-point currently. It may well be in an advanced stage of failure. Earlier we heard these words, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”3 We could hardly say with any credibility that serious consideration is given to these words by the majority of the populace. The deconstruction of the biblical view of marriage has been going on for some decades now. Are we now nearing the point of collapse? The point where most children will be born into a situation where the parents have no obligation to one another? The point where sexual relations are so casual, self-centred, and unregulated that the most vulnerable will be at even greater risk than they are now?
Marriage is not a private matter. Its establishment has profound implications for the society as a whole. The well-being of community cannot be served by licensing individuals to please themselves at the expense of others. We cannot have freedom to do whatever we want and then naively expect to be protected from the vagaries of others who are also doing as they please. Yet our culture continues to ramp up the propagation of this lie. We strain out gnats while swallowing camels.
Christians have a different kind of freedom. We are free to serve others without fear of missing out. Freed from the punishment of sin we can carry the burdens of others. The apostle says, “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”4 We live in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are declared holy by faith through His blood. We live in the shadow of the cross but by the light of the Spirit. Were the world against us we would still not be alone. “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”5
People forget about God. The Israelites had forgotten God’s mighty acts of deliverance. But God doesn’t forget people. The Scripture says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.”6 The Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep. The heavenly Father is always calling. The Holy Spirit is always seeking. God takes the initiative. He pursues us with a passionate love. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”7
Dear friends, many people will spend most of their lives looking for something they will never find. The restless heart will only cease its agitation when it comes to rest in the sanctuary for which it was created. We were made to dwell in the presence of God. Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”8 The thirsty soul will only have its desire quenched when it drinks from the living water. In Him we have true peace, true contentment. These blessings dramatically reshape your identity and your purpose in life.
When you walk out that door on Monday to go to your job, or school, or whatever activity that brings you into contact with people, you go as an agent of the Most High God. You’re not a secret agent or a double agent. You’re not armed with anything other than God’s truth. Your mission is not clandestine but it would be considered by some to be subversive. Your objective is to influence people’s world view. You do it, not through coercion or rhetoric, but through example and through sacrifice. Christ calls us to be salt and light. Jesus’ teaching about humility today flies in the face of the attitude of our culture. People seek praise and recognition at the expense of others. Christ calls believers to suffer on behalf of others.
Jeremiah’s lifelong task of clearly, consistently, and unashamedly delivering the word of Yahweh- both the message of warning and the good tidings of redemption- had only just begun. But he knew the outcome did not depend on him. Jeremiah was a predecessor of the prophet of Galilee. At the coming of Jesus every true prophet of the first covenant was vindicated. Christ would deliver His people from the greater exile of sin and death.
Dear friends, we are baptized into the name, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Living God. We dine at His table. We bear His name. We receive His inheritance. The prophetic words of Jeremiah continue to point us to the promised Saviour. Adversities may still surprise us in life but they won’t be anything that Christ can’t handle. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
28 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Jeremiah 2:13
2 Jeremiah 2:8
3 Hebrews 13:4
4 Romans 6:22
5 Psalm 68:5
6 Isaiah 49:15-16
7 John 4:4
8 John 14:23
Text: Jeremiah 2:4
Theme: Prophetic Proclamation
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Adversities in life often come without warning. Jeremiah couldn’t make that claim today though. He was forewarned. Forewarned is forearmed. God sends Jeremiah straight into the fray. Whether the people listen or cover their ears he will proclaim the word of the Lord. What is undeniable is that He is preaching God’s truth into a culture that had become very intolerant of following God’s will. The Lord doesn’t mince words with them. “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”1 And there you have the sum and substance of human sinfulness in a nutshell. Our selfish desires lead us away from God in pursuit of our own source of provision, satisfaction, and security. Satan is not short of mirages and illusions.
The religious authorities are specifically brought under indictment. “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know Me; the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.”2. The religious leaders were no better than the people. Their hearts were dulled. Their minds were elsewhere. They would have to bear their share of the blame. Still, no individual can pass their sins off to someone else. We’re all called to account to God for our transgressions. An Adam blaming Eve, or Eve blaming Satan scenario won’t be any more successful now than it was then.
But the Israelites had also gone astray as a community. They had lost their true focus. When the church loses track of its mission and purpose it flounders. It starts to focus its energy and resources on auxiliary things; things not essential to the proclamation of the gospel. It becomes vulnerable to the pressures of the world and is tempted to modify its creeds and confessions. It’s not always easy to recognize the moment when the pitch of battle has peaked. Is Christianity at a tipping in our day? Is it in decline for the foreseeable future? Will culture’s clash with biblical truth rise to a fevered pitch or will it simmer along just occasionally boiling over? Will most Christians just capitulate and fall in line with the expectations of the secular world? Will God purify and even revitalize His church in our age?
Institutions don’t normally fall over in an instant. They are too complex, involve too many people, and have too much stability in their history. But cracks appear and then widen. Pillars of strength become unsteady. Rome didn’t collapse in a moment. For many long centuries the termites of mistrust, of greed, of dishonesty, of callousness, of rebellion, were undermining the foundations. Systems within the greater organism began to fail. As in the human body, the vital organs of society are all connected.
The status of marriage is a case-in-point currently. It may well be in an advanced stage of failure. Earlier we heard these words, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”3 We could hardly say with any credibility that serious consideration is given to these words by the majority of the populace. The deconstruction of the biblical view of marriage has been going on for some decades now. Are we now nearing the point of collapse? The point where most children will be born into a situation where the parents have no obligation to one another? The point where sexual relations are so casual, self-centred, and unregulated that the most vulnerable will be at even greater risk than they are now?
Marriage is not a private matter. Its establishment has profound implications for the society as a whole. The well-being of community cannot be served by licensing individuals to please themselves at the expense of others. We cannot have freedom to do whatever we want and then naively expect to be protected from the vagaries of others who are also doing as they please. Yet our culture continues to ramp up the propagation of this lie. We strain out gnats while swallowing camels.
Christians have a different kind of freedom. We are free to serve others without fear of missing out. Freed from the punishment of sin we can carry the burdens of others. The apostle says, “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”4 We live in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are declared holy by faith through His blood. We live in the shadow of the cross but by the light of the Spirit. Were the world against us we would still not be alone. “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”5
People forget about God. The Israelites had forgotten God’s mighty acts of deliverance. But God doesn’t forget people. The Scripture says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.”6 The Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep. The heavenly Father is always calling. The Holy Spirit is always seeking. God takes the initiative. He pursues us with a passionate love. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”7
Dear friends, many people will spend most of their lives looking for something they will never find. The restless heart will only cease its agitation when it comes to rest in the sanctuary for which it was created. We were made to dwell in the presence of God. Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”8 The thirsty soul will only have its desire quenched when it drinks from the living water. In Him we have true peace, true contentment. These blessings dramatically reshape your identity and your purpose in life.
When you walk out that door on Monday to go to your job, or school, or whatever activity that brings you into contact with people, you go as an agent of the Most High God. You’re not a secret agent or a double agent. You’re not armed with anything other than God’s truth. Your mission is not clandestine but it would be considered by some to be subversive. Your objective is to influence people’s world view. You do it, not through coercion or rhetoric, but through example and through sacrifice. Christ calls us to be salt and light. Jesus’ teaching about humility today flies in the face of the attitude of our culture. People seek praise and recognition at the expense of others. Christ calls believers to suffer on behalf of others.
Jeremiah’s lifelong task of clearly, consistently, and unashamedly delivering the word of Yahweh- both the message of warning and the good tidings of redemption- had only just begun. But he knew the outcome did not depend on him. Jeremiah was a predecessor of the prophet of Galilee. At the coming of Jesus every true prophet of the first covenant was vindicated. Christ would deliver His people from the greater exile of sin and death.
Dear friends, we are baptized into the name, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Living God. We dine at His table. We bear His name. We receive His inheritance. The prophetic words of Jeremiah continue to point us to the promised Saviour. Adversities may still surprise us in life but they won’t be anything that Christ can’t handle. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
28 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Jeremiah 2:13
2 Jeremiah 2:8
3 Hebrews 13:4
4 Romans 6:22
5 Psalm 68:5
6 Isaiah 49:15-16
7 John 4:4
8 John 14:23
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Theme: “Before You Were Born”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is never lacking foresight; He never leaves things unfinished. He brought you into existence at conception, but He knew you before that. You are not here by chance or some “accident”. It’s not coincidental that you live in this time and place. God is the author of life and He deems it to be sacred- you to be holy. The Scripture says, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”2And it also says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”2 Remember, the gospel tune that He sings into your heart is a melody that only matures during your baptismal journey.
These truths must have been hard for Jeremiah to grasp when God called him into his service. Jeremiah’s ministry was in the time of the divided kingdom. Jeremiah was a prophet in the south, the land of Judah. The glory days of David and Solomon were long past. The exile into Babylon was imminent. The Northern Kingdom had already been taken into captivity by the powerful Assyrians. God’s people were soon to become a nation of refugees.
Jeremiah was a conflicted prophet. Often despondent, he struggled with the formidable task before him. How could he bring the wayward people back to true knowledge of and obedience to the Lord? Jeremiah also authored the Book of Lamentations- a poignant composition of grief at the downfall of the nation. He was also known as the weeping prophet. His immediate response to God’s calling was to claim inadequacy. His resistance was similar to what Moses offered: He wasn’t an eloquent speaker. The Lord responds to calm Jeremiah’s fear. “Then the Lord reached out His hand and said to me, ‘Now, I have put My words in your mouth.’”3The task is daunting but God will not leave Him in the lurch.
Idolatry had penetrated the religious practices of the nation and had caused widespread apostasy among the people. Under King Josiah a reformation was initiated that included badly needed repairs to the temple in Jerusalem. During the course of these repairs a copy of the five Books of Moses- Genesis through Deuteronomy- was discovered under some debris that had accumulated over many years of pagan worship. The Bible rediscovered, the celebration of the Passover was reinstituted exactly as described in the Scriptures. Still, it was not enough to purge the people of their wickedness and God’s threat of judgment was executed a few decades later. Jeremiah lives to see the sacking of Jerusalem and the deportation of the Jews.
You might wonder why the call of Jeremiah, an ancient prophet of God, is of interest to us today? What relevance does it have for us? Jeremiah was an instrument of the Holy Spirit and the truths spoken by him are timeless. The insights shared through him about human nature, about sin and grace, idolatry, repentance, despair, hope and restoration are applicable to us. God dwells in timelessness and we are not one unit of time or distance further away from God than Jeremiah was. How powerful are the words the Almighty begins with today, Before you were formed in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart!”4
Like us, Jeremiah needed that reassurance. The faithful were few. The greatest “archeological” discovery of Jeremiah’s time was finding the Temple copy of the Bible. Imagine that, the Holy Scriptures were all but lost! And how easily we take it as a given that the word of God will always be available to us. How easily we take for granted too that we will enjoy stability in society. Jeremiah reminds us of the importance of taking a long-term view. We might want to turn back the clock or try to fix everything at once. But we cannot dictate the parameters to God. He can see right across the horizon but we only see a short distance. We don’t know what prosperities or adversities tomorrow holds.
But Jeremiah also inspires us to seize the day. The people of his era kept putting off returning to the Lord. The time to repent is never tomorrow, it is always today. Nothing is riskier than to assume our contrition can wait another day. A day becomes a week; a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year, and a year becomes a lifetime. Our unplanned transgressions, our habitual failings, and our most sinister sins must be confessed to the Almighty. Anything short of full disclosure is foolish. Do we not believe the Scripture that says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight? Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”5
And do we not believe His promise of pardon? God wishes to communicate it clearly to you through this office. It’s my highest privilege to declare to you that your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And to say as I did earlier, “May He comfort you with His holy absolution, and strengthen you with His Sacrament, that your joy may be full.”6 He doesn’t keep you on a string. He doesn’t lead you on dangling the carrot before your eyes. He invites you right up to His holy table to dine with Him on this heavenly meal.
We never plan to walk humbly before God in the future, it’s always a present task. The present time is also the time to cherish God’s favour. Today is the day of grace. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. Today we rejoice that we are His baptized, redeemed, and justified people. Today we give thanks that Jesus endured the cross so our sins may be forgiven. Today we celebrate His resurrection from the dead. Today we are grateful for parents, children, spouses, and the fellowship of believers gathered here. Today we are appreciative even of the challenges- the adversities, the hardships, the failures- because we trust that through these the Holy Spirit is refining our faith and bolstering our capacity to face the challenges of the future.
Jeremiah faced a long and arduous journey in the ministry. The mission of the Christian church always faces such prospects. We take the road less traveled. But our confidence is in the destination. We have a magnificent description of it today, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”7 With this to look forward to our journey can only be filled with hope and joy. What God knew from the beginning He will not forget at the finish. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
21 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Isaiah 5:4
2 Psalm 139:16
3 Jeremiah 1:9
4 Jeremiah 1:5
5 Hebrews 4:13
6 LH p7
7 Hebrews 12:22-24
Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Theme: “Before You Were Born”
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God is never lacking foresight; He never leaves things unfinished. He brought you into existence at conception, but He knew you before that. You are not here by chance or some “accident”. It’s not coincidental that you live in this time and place. God is the author of life and He deems it to be sacred- you to be holy. The Scripture says, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”2And it also says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”2 Remember, the gospel tune that He sings into your heart is a melody that only matures during your baptismal journey.
These truths must have been hard for Jeremiah to grasp when God called him into his service. Jeremiah’s ministry was in the time of the divided kingdom. Jeremiah was a prophet in the south, the land of Judah. The glory days of David and Solomon were long past. The exile into Babylon was imminent. The Northern Kingdom had already been taken into captivity by the powerful Assyrians. God’s people were soon to become a nation of refugees.
Jeremiah was a conflicted prophet. Often despondent, he struggled with the formidable task before him. How could he bring the wayward people back to true knowledge of and obedience to the Lord? Jeremiah also authored the Book of Lamentations- a poignant composition of grief at the downfall of the nation. He was also known as the weeping prophet. His immediate response to God’s calling was to claim inadequacy. His resistance was similar to what Moses offered: He wasn’t an eloquent speaker. The Lord responds to calm Jeremiah’s fear. “Then the Lord reached out His hand and said to me, ‘Now, I have put My words in your mouth.’”3The task is daunting but God will not leave Him in the lurch.
Idolatry had penetrated the religious practices of the nation and had caused widespread apostasy among the people. Under King Josiah a reformation was initiated that included badly needed repairs to the temple in Jerusalem. During the course of these repairs a copy of the five Books of Moses- Genesis through Deuteronomy- was discovered under some debris that had accumulated over many years of pagan worship. The Bible rediscovered, the celebration of the Passover was reinstituted exactly as described in the Scriptures. Still, it was not enough to purge the people of their wickedness and God’s threat of judgment was executed a few decades later. Jeremiah lives to see the sacking of Jerusalem and the deportation of the Jews.
You might wonder why the call of Jeremiah, an ancient prophet of God, is of interest to us today? What relevance does it have for us? Jeremiah was an instrument of the Holy Spirit and the truths spoken by him are timeless. The insights shared through him about human nature, about sin and grace, idolatry, repentance, despair, hope and restoration are applicable to us. God dwells in timelessness and we are not one unit of time or distance further away from God than Jeremiah was. How powerful are the words the Almighty begins with today, Before you were formed in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart!”4
Like us, Jeremiah needed that reassurance. The faithful were few. The greatest “archeological” discovery of Jeremiah’s time was finding the Temple copy of the Bible. Imagine that, the Holy Scriptures were all but lost! And how easily we take it as a given that the word of God will always be available to us. How easily we take for granted too that we will enjoy stability in society. Jeremiah reminds us of the importance of taking a long-term view. We might want to turn back the clock or try to fix everything at once. But we cannot dictate the parameters to God. He can see right across the horizon but we only see a short distance. We don’t know what prosperities or adversities tomorrow holds.
But Jeremiah also inspires us to seize the day. The people of his era kept putting off returning to the Lord. The time to repent is never tomorrow, it is always today. Nothing is riskier than to assume our contrition can wait another day. A day becomes a week; a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year, and a year becomes a lifetime. Our unplanned transgressions, our habitual failings, and our most sinister sins must be confessed to the Almighty. Anything short of full disclosure is foolish. Do we not believe the Scripture that says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight? Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”5
And do we not believe His promise of pardon? God wishes to communicate it clearly to you through this office. It’s my highest privilege to declare to you that your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And to say as I did earlier, “May He comfort you with His holy absolution, and strengthen you with His Sacrament, that your joy may be full.”6 He doesn’t keep you on a string. He doesn’t lead you on dangling the carrot before your eyes. He invites you right up to His holy table to dine with Him on this heavenly meal.
We never plan to walk humbly before God in the future, it’s always a present task. The present time is also the time to cherish God’s favour. Today is the day of grace. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. Today we rejoice that we are His baptized, redeemed, and justified people. Today we give thanks that Jesus endured the cross so our sins may be forgiven. Today we celebrate His resurrection from the dead. Today we are grateful for parents, children, spouses, and the fellowship of believers gathered here. Today we are appreciative even of the challenges- the adversities, the hardships, the failures- because we trust that through these the Holy Spirit is refining our faith and bolstering our capacity to face the challenges of the future.
Jeremiah faced a long and arduous journey in the ministry. The mission of the Christian church always faces such prospects. We take the road less traveled. But our confidence is in the destination. We have a magnificent description of it today, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”7 With this to look forward to our journey can only be filled with hope and joy. What God knew from the beginning He will not forget at the finish. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
21 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Isaiah 5:4
2 Psalm 139:16
3 Jeremiah 1:9
4 Jeremiah 1:5
5 Hebrews 4:13
6 LH p7
7 Hebrews 12:22-24
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Isaiah 5:1-7
Theme: The Love Song of the Vineyard
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God sings to His beloved. It is a song of grief, a song of purity, a song of hope. Though the composition is really the entire narrative of Scripture- creation, through Fall, to redemption- the stanza we have before us today is a particular expression from God to His people in practical and “organic” terms. Through Isaiah He compares His people, the church to a vineyard. Jesus used the same symbolism.
God, of course, is the vinedresser, the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard established is of the highest possible quality. No expense is spared. No stone is left unturned. The planning is thorough. The execution is complete. It is expected the yield of fruit will be commensurate with the excellence of its character. Instead, the vineyard fails. Instead of quality fruit it yields wild, rogue grapes, defying all the investment of the vinedresser. The people have parted from Him, gone their own sinful ways. The rhetorical question that follows is pointed and sharp. “What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it?”1
Is it possible God was to blame? Is He inattentive or inept? Do you think God is incapable of commanding the clouds to withhold their riches? Is He unable to alter the rotation of the earth or the revolutions of the planet? Is God not able to intervene in wars, prevent floods, restrict famines, disasters, droughts, and plagues; and alter the affairs of nations? Is God just the aloof watchmaker who set the world ticking but now stands back to observe? If such skepticism dominates our thoughts then the confession that we believe in “One God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible,”2 is empty rhetoric. Then the words of Hebrews last week, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,”3 betray a disconnect between what we say with our lips and what we believe in our hearts.
God firmly convicts the people of their sins and calls them back to Himself. He does the same for us, reminding us not to get ahead of ourselves, reminding us we have received grace when we deserve nothing but judgment. What more could God do for us than He has done in Christ? He meets our every need of body and soul in the present time and in the life to come. He levied the burden of guilt for sin onto the back of His own Son. Christ bore this shame and guilt not only as true God but in the fullness of His human nature. The infant of Bethlehem was the sacrifice of Calvary. The prophet of Nazareth wore the crown of humility. “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”4
There is a direct correlation between genuine trust in God and the bearing of fruit that follows. The Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”5 Christ says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”6 You cannot be nearer to God than through these means which He has ordained. We are attached to Him- grafted in- through water and word, bread and wine. The fruits of the Spirit flow from these realities. Every time we partake of the sacrament we are proclaiming through our words and our actions, through the bending of our knees and the bowing of our hearts that our crucified Lord was sacrificed for our sins. The cross is our confession and will be so until Christ comes again in glory.
We cannot be empowered to bear good fruit by legalistic prodding, by guilt-tripping, or by pietistic shaming. Threats and demands, regardless of how subtle they are may get ‘results’, but they won’t properly motivate anyone to respond to Christ’s love. Why, then, you may ask, do we see it happen so commonly? Because it’s a temptation that can only be resisted under the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, the law is always our fallback position. It is instinctual to us. It just makes sense to us. If we push, coax, and bribe we may get some results. It is how the world operates.
Things are different with God. If the Holy Spirit is not working in you, you can bear no good fruit at all. There are no qualifying conditions that can change this fact. Anything not done in faith is a sin in God’s eyes regardless of how helpful it is to others. We are righteous and holy by faith in Christ, through His death and resurrection. In and of ourselves we remain poor, helpless sinners. This truth is exactly why Christians are often so misunderstood by the world. We don’t measure power and prestige as the world does. Consider what Luther says, “If you judge the church by reason and outward appearance, you will err, for then you will see people who are sinful, persecuted, and hunted down. But if you look at this, that they are baptized, believe on Christ, bear out their faith with godly fruits, carry their cross with patience and in hope, that is a true picture, for these are the true colours by which the church can be discerned.”7
Dear friends, there is not one single grape on the true Christian vine that is not a valuable part of the harvest for God’s kingdom. There is not one gesture of kindness done in faith, not one sacrifice made to help the neighbour, not one prayer uttered on behalf of the health and well-being of others that is insignificant in the eyes of the Saviour. Grapes do not develop as individual fruits. They grow in bunches. The church consists of a great cloud of witnesses. Some we know from the pages of Scripture. Others we know from the time we have spent with them in this life. Imagine what a grand gathering heaven is! All the redeemed of God unhindered by the consequences of sin, embraced by His blessings for eternity! God sanctifies this place by His presence here while at the very same time filling all of heaven with His majesty.
The gospel is God’s divine song of love. He sings it to us. He woos us, comforts us, and consoles us. Zephaniah strikes a similar tune, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”8 It is the melody that fills our hearts from cradle to grave; from baptism to resurrection. Attached to Christ, the Vine, death no longer has any power over us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
14 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Isaiah 5:4
2 The Nicene Creed
3 Hebrews 11:3
4 Isaiah 53:5
5 Ephesians 2:8-10
6 John 15:5
7 Luther’s House Postils
8 Zephaniah 3:17
Text: Isaiah 5:1-7
Theme: The Love Song of the Vineyard
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God sings to His beloved. It is a song of grief, a song of purity, a song of hope. Though the composition is really the entire narrative of Scripture- creation, through Fall, to redemption- the stanza we have before us today is a particular expression from God to His people in practical and “organic” terms. Through Isaiah He compares His people, the church to a vineyard. Jesus used the same symbolism.
God, of course, is the vinedresser, the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard established is of the highest possible quality. No expense is spared. No stone is left unturned. The planning is thorough. The execution is complete. It is expected the yield of fruit will be commensurate with the excellence of its character. Instead, the vineyard fails. Instead of quality fruit it yields wild, rogue grapes, defying all the investment of the vinedresser. The people have parted from Him, gone their own sinful ways. The rhetorical question that follows is pointed and sharp. “What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it?”1
Is it possible God was to blame? Is He inattentive or inept? Do you think God is incapable of commanding the clouds to withhold their riches? Is He unable to alter the rotation of the earth or the revolutions of the planet? Is God not able to intervene in wars, prevent floods, restrict famines, disasters, droughts, and plagues; and alter the affairs of nations? Is God just the aloof watchmaker who set the world ticking but now stands back to observe? If such skepticism dominates our thoughts then the confession that we believe in “One God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible,”2 is empty rhetoric. Then the words of Hebrews last week, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,”3 betray a disconnect between what we say with our lips and what we believe in our hearts.
God firmly convicts the people of their sins and calls them back to Himself. He does the same for us, reminding us not to get ahead of ourselves, reminding us we have received grace when we deserve nothing but judgment. What more could God do for us than He has done in Christ? He meets our every need of body and soul in the present time and in the life to come. He levied the burden of guilt for sin onto the back of His own Son. Christ bore this shame and guilt not only as true God but in the fullness of His human nature. The infant of Bethlehem was the sacrifice of Calvary. The prophet of Nazareth wore the crown of humility. “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”4
There is a direct correlation between genuine trust in God and the bearing of fruit that follows. The Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”5 Christ says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”6 You cannot be nearer to God than through these means which He has ordained. We are attached to Him- grafted in- through water and word, bread and wine. The fruits of the Spirit flow from these realities. Every time we partake of the sacrament we are proclaiming through our words and our actions, through the bending of our knees and the bowing of our hearts that our crucified Lord was sacrificed for our sins. The cross is our confession and will be so until Christ comes again in glory.
We cannot be empowered to bear good fruit by legalistic prodding, by guilt-tripping, or by pietistic shaming. Threats and demands, regardless of how subtle they are may get ‘results’, but they won’t properly motivate anyone to respond to Christ’s love. Why, then, you may ask, do we see it happen so commonly? Because it’s a temptation that can only be resisted under the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, the law is always our fallback position. It is instinctual to us. It just makes sense to us. If we push, coax, and bribe we may get some results. It is how the world operates.
Things are different with God. If the Holy Spirit is not working in you, you can bear no good fruit at all. There are no qualifying conditions that can change this fact. Anything not done in faith is a sin in God’s eyes regardless of how helpful it is to others. We are righteous and holy by faith in Christ, through His death and resurrection. In and of ourselves we remain poor, helpless sinners. This truth is exactly why Christians are often so misunderstood by the world. We don’t measure power and prestige as the world does. Consider what Luther says, “If you judge the church by reason and outward appearance, you will err, for then you will see people who are sinful, persecuted, and hunted down. But if you look at this, that they are baptized, believe on Christ, bear out their faith with godly fruits, carry their cross with patience and in hope, that is a true picture, for these are the true colours by which the church can be discerned.”7
Dear friends, there is not one single grape on the true Christian vine that is not a valuable part of the harvest for God’s kingdom. There is not one gesture of kindness done in faith, not one sacrifice made to help the neighbour, not one prayer uttered on behalf of the health and well-being of others that is insignificant in the eyes of the Saviour. Grapes do not develop as individual fruits. They grow in bunches. The church consists of a great cloud of witnesses. Some we know from the pages of Scripture. Others we know from the time we have spent with them in this life. Imagine what a grand gathering heaven is! All the redeemed of God unhindered by the consequences of sin, embraced by His blessings for eternity! God sanctifies this place by His presence here while at the very same time filling all of heaven with His majesty.
The gospel is God’s divine song of love. He sings it to us. He woos us, comforts us, and consoles us. Zephaniah strikes a similar tune, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”8 It is the melody that fills our hearts from cradle to grave; from baptism to resurrection. Attached to Christ, the Vine, death no longer has any power over us. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
14 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Isaiah 5:4
2 The Nicene Creed
3 Hebrews 11:3
4 Isaiah 53:5
5 Ephesians 2:8-10
6 John 15:5
7 Luther’s House Postils
8 Zephaniah 3:17
Monday, August 15, 2016
Christian Burial of Sue Kruschel (August 12, 2016)
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen.
Text: John 11:23
Theme: Death Defeated!
Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Sue; Jamie, Amanda, Shannon, and especially you; Robert,
The Holy Spirit addresses us today with candor. He speaks the words of Christ, and only those words matter. The purpose of a Christian funeral is not to artificially coddle the emotions of those who grieve. Nor is the aim to embellish the life and qualities of the deceased. We are realists, and with good reason. Nothing is more bittersweet than taking leave of a Christian. Grief can be punishing. Sue’s journey in this life has ended. But Sue is freed. Mortality no longer constrains her. She has been crowned with life. Thanks be to God! Joy not only tempers grief but finally triumphs over it.
The manner in which the biblical witness addresses topics of the greatest magnitude speaks to its integrity. The Holy Scriptures make a significant number of references to the practice of grieving. For the leaders of God’s people official periods of mourning often lasted for thirty or forty days. The fuller process took much longer. Nothing has changed about human nature. Coping properly with mortality requires greater capacities than human beings possess.
Dear friends, there is no human, present, practical cure for the problem of sin. The pathology of sin leads to physical and mental decline, and finally, death. Even more seriously, when left unaddressed it results in spiritual separation from God. Nothing could be more unimaginably horrific than separation from God’s goodness for eternity. The experience of death is the most vivid illustration of human vulnerability. We have no words, no actions, no magic with which to combat it. We have no weapons in our arsenal.
What’s important is knowing the One who does. God, you see, does finally give people what their hearts desire. If they desire that He have no part in their life and they carry that desire to their deathbed, then He grants their wish. The Scriptures are very clear on this. To remove Christ’s warning about taking our last breath while in a state of rejection of God’s love is to falsify the core message of Christianity. Christ redeems sinners. Apart from Him there is no salvation. The are no alternative paths, no detours, no shortcuts, no scenic by-ways, the road goes straight through His cross and empty tomb. Our piety won’t get us there. Our good works or good intentions won’t either.
Sue understood these things. Like Martha in our gospel, she knew Christ had the power of immortality. Sue had a full and active life. She was a busy wife and mother of three. She set about the task of these vocations with energy and warmth. She became one of the most knowledgeable people in the Lutheran parish during her many years working as secretary under many different pastors. In that capacity she was privy to the successes and failures, joys and sorrows of others in a way that most never see. She learned from that experience.
Life takes many turns and has not a few blind corners. Goals we plan on achieving are not always reached. Outcomes we haven’t prepared for sometimes catch us by surprise. Along the way, sorrows and joys, regrets, separations, and reunions are part of the journey. Sue experienced her share of all of these. The full extent of her hurts and her triumphs is known only to God. But only one goal finally matters in the end. Only one race needs to be finished. Only one line needs to be crossed. Only one tape needs to be broken. Sue’s confirmation verse was this: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”1
In the end then, Christians are not overcome by grief when a fellow believer dies. Faith looks forward to reunion. Temporariness and decay give way to permanence and perfection. In heaven there are no grudges; there are no regrets. There are no broken relationships. There are no addictions, no temptations, no occasions for shame or guilt. In heaven there is no claim to superiority and no sense of being inferior. There will be no violence, no fear, no disease, no frailty, no struggle.
And heaven is not some static place of boredom, drudgery, or semi-consciousness. It’s not a place of mandatory participation in the celestial choir even for those who have never liked to sing. But it is not a place we construct according to our own fancy either. It’s not a self-directed mecca of indulgence. Dear friends, to be in the unmediated presence of the Holy Trinity will command our attention with complete euphoria. Sue enjoys this already. God has prepared greater joys than we can even begin to imagine. We will not be occupied with trivial things.
Sue Kruschel was a baptized child of God. The purpose of her baptism has now come to fruition. She knew the promise of the gospel. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”2
She was one of His own, a lamb in the flock of the Good Shepherd. The Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”3
Death has been defeated. How do we know this? How can we be sure it’s true? You won’t find the answer in your intuition. You won’t locate it in myth or legend. You won’t find it in biomedical research or science. And we can’t take any comfort in the fuzzy and unfounded idea that everyone automatically “ends up in a better place”. You can only know because one Man walked out of His grave on the third day after His death. The women went to the tomb on Easter morning and He was not there. Later He appeared to more than 500 followers at one time. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”4
Robert, anguish of heart cannot be alleviated by trite slogans. There are no quick fixes. Like recovery from severe trauma, the whole of our being must suffer the process of healing. Sue cannot be replaced. She will not be. Every child of God is a unique creation. Grief can cast a long, dark shadow. But the Holy Spirit will steadily pull back that shadow like the lifting of a dark shroud as the light of more powerful forces penetrates the blackness. Deep frowns can be turned to gentle smiles, tears of sorrow to episodes of joy as we reflect on the magnitude of the blessing that was that person, that spouse, that mother, that child- God’s gift to us, on loan for a short while. In this transition the darkness of past despair begins to fade and the light of future reunion begins to command our eager anticipation.
Grief cannot prevail because death could not hold Christ in the tomb. There will be a resurrection. Were His promises untrue this entire existence would have already collapsed long ago. There will be a complete restoration of every Christian in the image of Christ. Sue will be part of it. Thanks be to God!
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Susanna Mary Kruschel
12 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Hebrews 10:23
2 John 3:16
3 Romans 10:9
4 John 11:25-26
Text: John 11:23
Theme: Death Defeated!
Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Sue; Jamie, Amanda, Shannon, and especially you; Robert,
The Holy Spirit addresses us today with candor. He speaks the words of Christ, and only those words matter. The purpose of a Christian funeral is not to artificially coddle the emotions of those who grieve. Nor is the aim to embellish the life and qualities of the deceased. We are realists, and with good reason. Nothing is more bittersweet than taking leave of a Christian. Grief can be punishing. Sue’s journey in this life has ended. But Sue is freed. Mortality no longer constrains her. She has been crowned with life. Thanks be to God! Joy not only tempers grief but finally triumphs over it.
The manner in which the biblical witness addresses topics of the greatest magnitude speaks to its integrity. The Holy Scriptures make a significant number of references to the practice of grieving. For the leaders of God’s people official periods of mourning often lasted for thirty or forty days. The fuller process took much longer. Nothing has changed about human nature. Coping properly with mortality requires greater capacities than human beings possess.
Dear friends, there is no human, present, practical cure for the problem of sin. The pathology of sin leads to physical and mental decline, and finally, death. Even more seriously, when left unaddressed it results in spiritual separation from God. Nothing could be more unimaginably horrific than separation from God’s goodness for eternity. The experience of death is the most vivid illustration of human vulnerability. We have no words, no actions, no magic with which to combat it. We have no weapons in our arsenal.
What’s important is knowing the One who does. God, you see, does finally give people what their hearts desire. If they desire that He have no part in their life and they carry that desire to their deathbed, then He grants their wish. The Scriptures are very clear on this. To remove Christ’s warning about taking our last breath while in a state of rejection of God’s love is to falsify the core message of Christianity. Christ redeems sinners. Apart from Him there is no salvation. The are no alternative paths, no detours, no shortcuts, no scenic by-ways, the road goes straight through His cross and empty tomb. Our piety won’t get us there. Our good works or good intentions won’t either.
Sue understood these things. Like Martha in our gospel, she knew Christ had the power of immortality. Sue had a full and active life. She was a busy wife and mother of three. She set about the task of these vocations with energy and warmth. She became one of the most knowledgeable people in the Lutheran parish during her many years working as secretary under many different pastors. In that capacity she was privy to the successes and failures, joys and sorrows of others in a way that most never see. She learned from that experience.
Life takes many turns and has not a few blind corners. Goals we plan on achieving are not always reached. Outcomes we haven’t prepared for sometimes catch us by surprise. Along the way, sorrows and joys, regrets, separations, and reunions are part of the journey. Sue experienced her share of all of these. The full extent of her hurts and her triumphs is known only to God. But only one goal finally matters in the end. Only one race needs to be finished. Only one line needs to be crossed. Only one tape needs to be broken. Sue’s confirmation verse was this: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”1
In the end then, Christians are not overcome by grief when a fellow believer dies. Faith looks forward to reunion. Temporariness and decay give way to permanence and perfection. In heaven there are no grudges; there are no regrets. There are no broken relationships. There are no addictions, no temptations, no occasions for shame or guilt. In heaven there is no claim to superiority and no sense of being inferior. There will be no violence, no fear, no disease, no frailty, no struggle.
And heaven is not some static place of boredom, drudgery, or semi-consciousness. It’s not a place of mandatory participation in the celestial choir even for those who have never liked to sing. But it is not a place we construct according to our own fancy either. It’s not a self-directed mecca of indulgence. Dear friends, to be in the unmediated presence of the Holy Trinity will command our attention with complete euphoria. Sue enjoys this already. God has prepared greater joys than we can even begin to imagine. We will not be occupied with trivial things.
Sue Kruschel was a baptized child of God. The purpose of her baptism has now come to fruition. She knew the promise of the gospel. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”2
She was one of His own, a lamb in the flock of the Good Shepherd. The Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”3
Death has been defeated. How do we know this? How can we be sure it’s true? You won’t find the answer in your intuition. You won’t locate it in myth or legend. You won’t find it in biomedical research or science. And we can’t take any comfort in the fuzzy and unfounded idea that everyone automatically “ends up in a better place”. You can only know because one Man walked out of His grave on the third day after His death. The women went to the tomb on Easter morning and He was not there. Later He appeared to more than 500 followers at one time. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”4
Robert, anguish of heart cannot be alleviated by trite slogans. There are no quick fixes. Like recovery from severe trauma, the whole of our being must suffer the process of healing. Sue cannot be replaced. She will not be. Every child of God is a unique creation. Grief can cast a long, dark shadow. But the Holy Spirit will steadily pull back that shadow like the lifting of a dark shroud as the light of more powerful forces penetrates the blackness. Deep frowns can be turned to gentle smiles, tears of sorrow to episodes of joy as we reflect on the magnitude of the blessing that was that person, that spouse, that mother, that child- God’s gift to us, on loan for a short while. In this transition the darkness of past despair begins to fade and the light of future reunion begins to command our eager anticipation.
Grief cannot prevail because death could not hold Christ in the tomb. There will be a resurrection. Were His promises untrue this entire existence would have already collapsed long ago. There will be a complete restoration of every Christian in the image of Christ. Sue will be part of it. Thanks be to God!
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Susanna Mary Kruschel
12 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Hebrews 10:23
2 John 3:16
3 Romans 10:9
4 John 11:25-26
Monday, August 8, 2016
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Isaiah 1:18
Theme: White As Snow
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Isaiah was privy to the promises. He prophesied of the Prince of Peace. He did so according to the description of St. Peter, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”1 Isaiah saw the consummation of all things in Christ; His birth, His suffering, His coronation to rule the Father’s kingdom. He was privy to all of these events that would be necessary in the war against sin.
Isaiah’s opening salvo jumps right into the heart of these matters. After a universal summons to heed the decree of the Lord, Isaiah gives a comprehensive description of the spiritual state of the people. The picture is bleak. Spiritually, they are sick to the point of death. From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness in them. Central to the critique of their sinfulness is their hollow, formalistic worship. “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!”2 says the Lord God.
Dear friends, some form of worship is happening all the time in every time and place; the worship of God or the worship of idols; worship in arrogance and futility-trying to justify ourselves; or worship in faith and humility- rejoicing that Christ has justified sinners. There is worship of money, worship of self, worship of possessions, worship or careers, worship of ideologies, worship of others, and the list goes on.
The human heart is treacherous. And treacherous are all efforts to pacify our consciences through displays of obedience. We’re forever re-imaging what pleases God according to human perceptions. We like to sculpt and script our own ways of worship. Only the Scriptures paint an accurate picture. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the way of truth. The call to repentance is always before us.
Repentance is evidenced by a change in behavior. Such change is the mark of authenticity. Listen to the Lord’s command, “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”3 And so the struggle is engaged and it never ends until we are called from this life. Luther described it in this way, “The flesh in which we daily live is of such a nature that it does not trust and believe God and is constantly aroused by evil desires and devices, so that we sin daily in word and deed, in acts of commission and omission. Thus our conscience becomes restless; it fears God’s wrath and displeasure, and so it loses the comfort and confidence of the Gospel.”4
But, hear again the comfort in Isaiah today, “‘Come, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”5 The contrast uses superlatives. Scarlet dye left a stain that could not be removed. Sin too, leaves an indelible mark. The whiteness of snow was an image of purity. So, too, will the sinner be cleansed; made spotless in the eyes of God.
There is a summons. There is a decision. There is a divine verdict and the verdict is “Guilty!” But then comes the sentencing. Here a marvelous and miraculous thing happens: A substitute receives the punishment. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”6 The certain decree of condemnation is contravened by news of liberation. The guilty will go free and the Holy One bears the guilt. The Son is sacrificed while the sinner is spared. The scarlet stain of sin becomes purified whiter than snow.
What sin, what shame, what guilt is buried deep in your soul leaving your heart black? Christ has cleansed them all. What regrets torment you again and again? Christ has forgiven them and washed you clean. You are baptized and through your baptism you continue to access the power of Christ’s forgiveness. Baptism weaves your life into the fabric of Christ’s life. His death and resurrection become ours.
Without His crucifixion there is no emancipation. Without His resurrection there is no reclamation from the ravages of sin. Without His ascension and enthronement there is no confidence that He will continue to rule over all things with power and with grace. But, dear friends, these things have been accomplished. We are those upon whom the ‘end of the ages’ has come. We are post-resurrection Christians. The yoke of death has been shattered. Satan was not able to stop the sacrifice from taking place.
We live under the new covenant. Under the first covenant the priests and Levites partook of the sacrifices of the altar. The people shared in the Passover lamb. But the shadow has become the reality. The sign of forgiveness has become the means. We receive the body and blood of the sacrifice Himself. We partake of the food of the Lamb of God from this altar of the new covenant. We already participate in holy things that have eternal existence.
Dear friends, this entire dimension of existence is not permanent. It will be destroyed and re-created. Luke intends to jar us from our lethargy today when he says, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”7 This truth should not alarm us, but comfort and fortify us. The Scriptures end with this plea: Come, Lord Jesus! The church is a ‘maranatha’ community. We eagerly look forward to the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. This could well be a liturgical response to the prophetic promises.
Come, Lord Jesus, give us the Holy Spirit to defend us from the demonic influences of the world. Come, Lord Jesus, free us from our addictions and release us from the burdens of our sins. Come, Lord Jesus, let the power of the cross quiet all of our anxieties, calm all of our fears, and still all of our doubts. Come, Lord Jesus, surround us with the safety of your love. The evidence of God’s presence may seem lacking and His return in glory a faint hope but that’s because the Holy Spirt wants us to see only the cross and by it draw us closer to Himself. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”8
Our hope is not misplaced. The words of Isaiah have been fulfilled. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,”9 and so it is that when St. John peers into heaven we find this conversation, “These in white robes- who are they…These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”10 In Christ we are white as snow. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
7 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Peter 1:10-11
2 Isaiah 1:13
3 Isaiah 1:16-17
4 Large Catechism of Martin Luther
5 Isaiah 1:18
6 John 1:29
7 Luke 12:40
8 Hebrews 11:1
9 Isaiah 1:18
10 Revelation 7:14
Text: Isaiah 1:18
Theme: White As Snow
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Isaiah was privy to the promises. He prophesied of the Prince of Peace. He did so according to the description of St. Peter, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”1 Isaiah saw the consummation of all things in Christ; His birth, His suffering, His coronation to rule the Father’s kingdom. He was privy to all of these events that would be necessary in the war against sin.
Isaiah’s opening salvo jumps right into the heart of these matters. After a universal summons to heed the decree of the Lord, Isaiah gives a comprehensive description of the spiritual state of the people. The picture is bleak. Spiritually, they are sick to the point of death. From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness in them. Central to the critique of their sinfulness is their hollow, formalistic worship. “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!”2 says the Lord God.
Dear friends, some form of worship is happening all the time in every time and place; the worship of God or the worship of idols; worship in arrogance and futility-trying to justify ourselves; or worship in faith and humility- rejoicing that Christ has justified sinners. There is worship of money, worship of self, worship of possessions, worship or careers, worship of ideologies, worship of others, and the list goes on.
The human heart is treacherous. And treacherous are all efforts to pacify our consciences through displays of obedience. We’re forever re-imaging what pleases God according to human perceptions. We like to sculpt and script our own ways of worship. Only the Scriptures paint an accurate picture. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the way of truth. The call to repentance is always before us.
Repentance is evidenced by a change in behavior. Such change is the mark of authenticity. Listen to the Lord’s command, “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”3 And so the struggle is engaged and it never ends until we are called from this life. Luther described it in this way, “The flesh in which we daily live is of such a nature that it does not trust and believe God and is constantly aroused by evil desires and devices, so that we sin daily in word and deed, in acts of commission and omission. Thus our conscience becomes restless; it fears God’s wrath and displeasure, and so it loses the comfort and confidence of the Gospel.”4
But, hear again the comfort in Isaiah today, “‘Come, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”5 The contrast uses superlatives. Scarlet dye left a stain that could not be removed. Sin too, leaves an indelible mark. The whiteness of snow was an image of purity. So, too, will the sinner be cleansed; made spotless in the eyes of God.
There is a summons. There is a decision. There is a divine verdict and the verdict is “Guilty!” But then comes the sentencing. Here a marvelous and miraculous thing happens: A substitute receives the punishment. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”6 The certain decree of condemnation is contravened by news of liberation. The guilty will go free and the Holy One bears the guilt. The Son is sacrificed while the sinner is spared. The scarlet stain of sin becomes purified whiter than snow.
What sin, what shame, what guilt is buried deep in your soul leaving your heart black? Christ has cleansed them all. What regrets torment you again and again? Christ has forgiven them and washed you clean. You are baptized and through your baptism you continue to access the power of Christ’s forgiveness. Baptism weaves your life into the fabric of Christ’s life. His death and resurrection become ours.
Without His crucifixion there is no emancipation. Without His resurrection there is no reclamation from the ravages of sin. Without His ascension and enthronement there is no confidence that He will continue to rule over all things with power and with grace. But, dear friends, these things have been accomplished. We are those upon whom the ‘end of the ages’ has come. We are post-resurrection Christians. The yoke of death has been shattered. Satan was not able to stop the sacrifice from taking place.
We live under the new covenant. Under the first covenant the priests and Levites partook of the sacrifices of the altar. The people shared in the Passover lamb. But the shadow has become the reality. The sign of forgiveness has become the means. We receive the body and blood of the sacrifice Himself. We partake of the food of the Lamb of God from this altar of the new covenant. We already participate in holy things that have eternal existence.
Dear friends, this entire dimension of existence is not permanent. It will be destroyed and re-created. Luke intends to jar us from our lethargy today when he says, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”7 This truth should not alarm us, but comfort and fortify us. The Scriptures end with this plea: Come, Lord Jesus! The church is a ‘maranatha’ community. We eagerly look forward to the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. This could well be a liturgical response to the prophetic promises.
Come, Lord Jesus, give us the Holy Spirit to defend us from the demonic influences of the world. Come, Lord Jesus, free us from our addictions and release us from the burdens of our sins. Come, Lord Jesus, let the power of the cross quiet all of our anxieties, calm all of our fears, and still all of our doubts. Come, Lord Jesus, surround us with the safety of your love. The evidence of God’s presence may seem lacking and His return in glory a faint hope but that’s because the Holy Spirt wants us to see only the cross and by it draw us closer to Himself. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”8
Our hope is not misplaced. The words of Isaiah have been fulfilled. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,”9 and so it is that when St. John peers into heaven we find this conversation, “These in white robes- who are they…These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”10 In Christ we are white as snow. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
7 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 1 Peter 1:10-11
2 Isaiah 1:13
3 Isaiah 1:16-17
4 Large Catechism of Martin Luther
5 Isaiah 1:18
6 John 1:29
7 Luke 12:40
8 Hebrews 11:1
9 Isaiah 1:18
10 Revelation 7:14
Monday, August 1, 2016
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2016
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 12:21
Theme: True Wealth
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God wasn’t invited to the party. He arrived unannounced and He crashed it. He does those kinds of things. It was a private party. It was the sort of event we’re all prone to. It involved a confidential conversation a man had with himself; a type of dialogue between his mind and his ego. The questions were rhetorical and the conclusions were unanimous. Life was good. But then, swiftly, and compulsorily…the summons!
His soliloquy was interrupted by the One who made it all possible. God burst his balloon, shattered his dream, breached all lines of defence, and posed the pertinent question. “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”1 God has His own rhetorical questions. They are not asked out of ignorance. They are intended to bring us to conviction or lavish us with comfort. They always direct us beyond our own narrow perspectives.
But what is really the nature of Christ’s warning about eating, drinking, and merriment? Jesus is not talking about the daily bread which He has just told them to pray for. He’s not even talking about the enjoyment of good food and drink. These things are not forbidden because they are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. He is talking about greed and gluttony. He is talking about a deeply ingrained mindset of autonomy, of self-sufficiency, and of self-aggrandizement. He’s referring to a soul-less hedonism that takes no thought for God, for others, or life beyond the here and now.
It provides an opportunity to ask ourselves what we value most in life. Ours is a culture of unapologetic materialism. It can cause disaster. Consider the many lottery winners who have had their lives ruined by their newly acquired fortunes. British man Michael Carroll won nearly $20 million in the lotto. Over the next ten years he spent it all on wild living, once hiring 20 prostitutes and smoking $6,000 worth of cocaine in a single day. British teenager Callie Rogers won nearly $6 million at the age of 16. She lavished family and friends with expensive gifts and also started taking drugs. The money was gone in a mere six months. Then there’s the tragic case of the New South Wales woman named Maria Devrell She won 5 million dollars in 2011. She was murdered by her longtime accountant in a fit of rage because he thought she was spending wastefully. The commonality in these cases is that they lost focus and purpose in life. They became bored with spending money. They became over-indulged and addicted and lost interest in pursuing goals. There are, of course, also lottery winners who manage to change nothing significant about their lives. But considerable discipline is required.
Uncontrolled greed reminds us sin is not superficial. It is not able to be rectified by cosmetic adjustments. It is possessed of a pathology that leads to death. It is beyond what we can manage. Only God’s intervention through Christ radically restructures the proper value of things. There it is! There’s the cross and apart from that you have nothing of lasting value, are nothing of lasting value, and can look forward to nothing of lasting value. It sounds like a ridiculous claim to human reason or an audacious scare tactic by a religious radical. That doesn’t deny the history of accomplishments in the world achieved through aggression or repression, greed or dishonesty, unbelief or idolatry, goodwill or charity. Faith is not necessary to make a name for yourself in this world. But it does mean emphatically and unequivocally that apart from Christ and His sacrifice for your sins the future is less than bleak.
Christ is the only one who died and rose again for your salvation. Luther talks about the worth of this treasure in this way, “I believe that Jesus Christ…has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”2
Therefore, believers are always in contention against the desire to sin. Unbelievers may also seek to avoid the embarrassment, shame, or punishment that may come with falling into sin, particularly breaking laws or pursuing unethical behavior. Yet, the motivation is different. Believers want to live according to God’s will even when they are conflicted. It is the Spirit’s prompting. We are moved to love Him for the sake of His goodness. Such love is the chief fruit of faith. We trust that God is not seeking to repress us, but to free us from those mindsets, decisions, and practices that will bring physical and spiritual harm. The person who has no fear, love, or trust of God may fall in line with the law, but only for self-serving purposes. Even if they do not recognize it.
The Bible talks extensively about the dangers of wealth. Perhaps most famously St. Paul says “that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”3, and Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”4 But the Scriptures are also crystal clear that the issue is not how much or how little material wealth a person has, but whether or not the person is rich toward God. Abraham was a wealthy man, as was Job. Luke tells us that Joanna5, the wife of King Herod’s household manager supported Jesus out of her own means. Poverty certainly doesn’t guarantee someone will be receptive to God.
The life of the baptized is a life where we are freed from slavery to those things the world values. We are free to be stewards of God’s gifts. He is the owner of all things. Christians already live in view of the life to come. The apostle Paul says today, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”6 Every Sunday is a celebration of God’s grace. Every time we dine at His holy table we are lavished with the food of immortality. These spiritual gifts have immeasurable value for soul and body.
Yes, God has a way of crashing the self-absorbed celebrations of the self-righteous ego. One day He will do it on a massive scale in a magnificent way. God has announced He will come again. Many will still be caught unaware. We are told that when Christ returns society will be like it was in the days of Noah. The world will be nearly spiritually bankrupt. But in Christ we have spiritual riches beyond measure.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
31 July, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 12:20
2 Luther’s Small Catechism
3 1 Timothy 6:10
4 Luke 18:25
5 See Luke 8:3
6 Colossians 3:1-4
7 Hebrews 4:16
Text: Luke 12:21
Theme: True Wealth
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God wasn’t invited to the party. He arrived unannounced and He crashed it. He does those kinds of things. It was a private party. It was the sort of event we’re all prone to. It involved a confidential conversation a man had with himself; a type of dialogue between his mind and his ego. The questions were rhetorical and the conclusions were unanimous. Life was good. But then, swiftly, and compulsorily…the summons!
His soliloquy was interrupted by the One who made it all possible. God burst his balloon, shattered his dream, breached all lines of defence, and posed the pertinent question. “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”1 God has His own rhetorical questions. They are not asked out of ignorance. They are intended to bring us to conviction or lavish us with comfort. They always direct us beyond our own narrow perspectives.
But what is really the nature of Christ’s warning about eating, drinking, and merriment? Jesus is not talking about the daily bread which He has just told them to pray for. He’s not even talking about the enjoyment of good food and drink. These things are not forbidden because they are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. He is talking about greed and gluttony. He is talking about a deeply ingrained mindset of autonomy, of self-sufficiency, and of self-aggrandizement. He’s referring to a soul-less hedonism that takes no thought for God, for others, or life beyond the here and now.
It provides an opportunity to ask ourselves what we value most in life. Ours is a culture of unapologetic materialism. It can cause disaster. Consider the many lottery winners who have had their lives ruined by their newly acquired fortunes. British man Michael Carroll won nearly $20 million in the lotto. Over the next ten years he spent it all on wild living, once hiring 20 prostitutes and smoking $6,000 worth of cocaine in a single day. British teenager Callie Rogers won nearly $6 million at the age of 16. She lavished family and friends with expensive gifts and also started taking drugs. The money was gone in a mere six months. Then there’s the tragic case of the New South Wales woman named Maria Devrell She won 5 million dollars in 2011. She was murdered by her longtime accountant in a fit of rage because he thought she was spending wastefully. The commonality in these cases is that they lost focus and purpose in life. They became bored with spending money. They became over-indulged and addicted and lost interest in pursuing goals. There are, of course, also lottery winners who manage to change nothing significant about their lives. But considerable discipline is required.
Uncontrolled greed reminds us sin is not superficial. It is not able to be rectified by cosmetic adjustments. It is possessed of a pathology that leads to death. It is beyond what we can manage. Only God’s intervention through Christ radically restructures the proper value of things. There it is! There’s the cross and apart from that you have nothing of lasting value, are nothing of lasting value, and can look forward to nothing of lasting value. It sounds like a ridiculous claim to human reason or an audacious scare tactic by a religious radical. That doesn’t deny the history of accomplishments in the world achieved through aggression or repression, greed or dishonesty, unbelief or idolatry, goodwill or charity. Faith is not necessary to make a name for yourself in this world. But it does mean emphatically and unequivocally that apart from Christ and His sacrifice for your sins the future is less than bleak.
Christ is the only one who died and rose again for your salvation. Luther talks about the worth of this treasure in this way, “I believe that Jesus Christ…has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”2
Therefore, believers are always in contention against the desire to sin. Unbelievers may also seek to avoid the embarrassment, shame, or punishment that may come with falling into sin, particularly breaking laws or pursuing unethical behavior. Yet, the motivation is different. Believers want to live according to God’s will even when they are conflicted. It is the Spirit’s prompting. We are moved to love Him for the sake of His goodness. Such love is the chief fruit of faith. We trust that God is not seeking to repress us, but to free us from those mindsets, decisions, and practices that will bring physical and spiritual harm. The person who has no fear, love, or trust of God may fall in line with the law, but only for self-serving purposes. Even if they do not recognize it.
The Bible talks extensively about the dangers of wealth. Perhaps most famously St. Paul says “that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”3, and Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”4 But the Scriptures are also crystal clear that the issue is not how much or how little material wealth a person has, but whether or not the person is rich toward God. Abraham was a wealthy man, as was Job. Luke tells us that Joanna5, the wife of King Herod’s household manager supported Jesus out of her own means. Poverty certainly doesn’t guarantee someone will be receptive to God.
The life of the baptized is a life where we are freed from slavery to those things the world values. We are free to be stewards of God’s gifts. He is the owner of all things. Christians already live in view of the life to come. The apostle Paul says today, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”6 Every Sunday is a celebration of God’s grace. Every time we dine at His holy table we are lavished with the food of immortality. These spiritual gifts have immeasurable value for soul and body.
Yes, God has a way of crashing the self-absorbed celebrations of the self-righteous ego. One day He will do it on a massive scale in a magnificent way. God has announced He will come again. Many will still be caught unaware. We are told that when Christ returns society will be like it was in the days of Noah. The world will be nearly spiritually bankrupt. But in Christ we have spiritual riches beyond measure.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
31 July, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 12:20
2 Luther’s Small Catechism
3 1 Timothy 6:10
4 Luke 18:25
5 See Luke 8:3
6 Colossians 3:1-4
7 Hebrews 4:16
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