18th Sunday of Trinity: Psalm 2

Psalm 2

¹      Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²      The kings of the earth set themselves,

          and the rulers take counsel together,

          against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

³       “Let us burst their bonds apart

          and cast away their cords from us.”

⁴      He who sits in the heavens laughs;

          the Lord holds them in derision.

⁵      Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

          and terrify them in his fury, saying,

⁶         “As for me, I have set my King

          on Zion, my holy hill.”

⁷      I will tell of the decree:

     The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;

          today I have begotten you.

⁸      Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

          and the ends of the earth your possession.

⁹      You shall break them with a rod of iron

          and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

¹⁰      Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

          be warned, O rulers of the earth.

¹¹     Serve the Lord with fear,

          and rejoice with trembling.

¹²     Kiss the Son,

         lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

         for his wrath is quickly kindled.

     Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Sept 22, 2013; 18^th Sunday of Trinity; Texts: Psalm 2; Proverbs 25:6-14; Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 14:1-11; Title: This King will Save You; Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The Psalms were Israel’s hymnal and the foundation of ours. For example, one old church practice lost, one worthy to restore, was for centuries, at the five cathedral services a day, the Psalms were sung in Gregorian chant. Their melodies echoed in the city’s most beautiful structures, to the glory of God. In a few years of chanting, the entire Psalm book was memorized by the singers. How many of the faithful were sustained by those sacred songs, and how much they still sustain us today! We chant, read and pray their sacred poetry, divinely inspired.

          We rejoice, since Christ is taught, preached, and speaks in the Psalms. We worship using the different kinds of Psalms. We could group them in this way: Messianic Psalms prophesy Christ; teaching Psalms instruct us; comfort Psalms tell the promises of God; supplicatory Psalms beseech; thanksgiving Psalms declare our gratitude that He hears our cry. The Psalms are prayers that confess the faith. Like our hymns, they are no fuzzy ditties, but declare Christ crucified, risen, and coming.

          Today’s appointed Psalm is a Messianic hymn. The word “Messiah” is a Hebrew word translated by the Greek as “Christ.” It means “Anointed.” The Messiah is the anointed one, anointed as king, prophet and priest. Given that anointing, we find comfort in the Psalms, we even hear this as a comfort: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” (2:1-3)

          You say that’s a comfort? It doesn’t sound like one! It sounds like the faithful are going to have a rough time. Yes - and yet these verses describe our Messiah. They describe His kingdom come, how He rules, and how His kingdom appears         to human eyes and before God’s eye. There is help here, because the Psalm says that the devil, the world, and the flesh oppose the kingdom of God. So don’t be surprised when the church suffers for good. We hear when God’s kingdom comes it comes with tumult, a violent reaction. It is not the fault of the kingdom of peace, but those who refuse that peace. Look how the enemies of peace treat the gospel, that wonderful word of peace. They say damn to the word of God and then imagine they conquered God. The nations rage, peoples plot, kings and rulers oppose, and ironically, to human eyes it looks like the church is causing trouble again - Christians are the problem - as say those burning churches in Egypt this very hour. But God sees otherwise, for His word brings peace; a peace passing understanding; for when His Word enters our lives, regardless of political strife, His peace rules. So the Holy Spirit teaches us to cling to the Messianic King despite all the raging against His kingdom, all the decrees meant to silence it. The LORD and His anointed have a kingdom, and it shall stand. It stands despite all those who wish to be free of Christ’s peace.

          Perhaps you remember the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who as a good atheist-communist jailed those who said they believed in God. At His overthrow mobs of people stood outside His palace chanting, “There is a God, there is a God!”  And for a time, the most valuable black market item was a Bible. Today’s love for atheism will meet a similar end. There is a God and He has His Christ, His Messiah, His anointed who didn’t come to condemn the ordinary affairs of the world, of good government, civil order, kings, princes, legislatures and unity in a people. But they so often oppose Him. And the church, bearing the cross of Christ, feels the anger of the world. Yet it does not suffer alone… since the rage is against God and His Christ. As said the ascended Jesus to Saul on the road to Damascus (Saul who persecuted the church), Jesus said “Why do you persecute me?” This is a consolation, for what can the world’s raging achieve against the Triune God? What harm shall it really do the church; poor, small, and troubled as she is? The world’s raging is a counsel of foolishness. It is like a fool rushing against a tree to knock it over with his head. It is a fool saying cords bind, these cords constrict, the cords of peace, joy, grace, and its fruit of love. Yes, the church is sorely tried, and we personally are tempted to shrink from the tumult, to deny Christ. Since we are still of the flesh we so easily fear the wrong things, forgetting whom to fear, forgetting whom to trust, drifting from the power of God for salvation. Yet the fact that our foes rage testify that the Word is calling sinners to repentance. That too is a comfort since the gospel gives us the very righteousness of God, His kingdom. While Christ’s foes aim to earn a righteousness of their own, rejecting His righteousness, we receive it as pure gift. We have the righteousness of Christ, the Father’s approval, peace with God.

          So why fear those who call the faithful terrible names? He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (vs 4) That’s another comfort. While governments direct bodily punishments, economic exclusion, second-class citizenship and think since nothing happens God doesn’t know or care… while rulers forbid, the media laughs, people turn away because of the church’s bad reputation and say God is weak, scared by the devil and human shouts… while all this happens, the LORD laughs, he derides them, He is unaffected by rebellion. He is above it all; and laughing now, and will laugh last saying the last word against human rage. He laughs, and turns all things to good for those who love Him, working all things to His purposes.      

          Be comforted, even the persecution which Satan inspires, the Christ works to good, to a good end. He laughs and so will we when our troubles are turned to joy. See what He did in the lives of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and all the saints before us. No matter what the church bears she shall conquer at the last, for Her Lord cannot be defeated.  As our Lord suffered the rage of nations (Acts 4:21) yet by dying conquered, so too the church. Struggles against sin, the world, and Satan call us to repentance yes, but we have a confident hope because the Father placed His King on Zion, lifted high. The Almighty established a kingship having rule over all the earth, though not yet exercised in glory, visibly, like an iron scepter. The cross atop that high holy hill in the city of peace, the holy city, the city of the promise, shall be manifest in full. While the King did not then establish a physical rule over earthly Jerusalem, He reigns over all the world to bless the church, His bride, His holy people. He dwells in us to manifest Himself on earth, to proclaim His salvation, to reveal His spiritual kingdom and to promise His return in glory, in power.

          Today, the church by faith receives the righteousness given sinners, and at the end, the righteous reign of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (Phil 2). One day, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow (Phil 2), even the defiant although to shame. As for the church, Jesus already brought us into His body, into one hope, one faith, one baptism, one Lord.  What is the key to this Psalm? I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

          The first part of that is: “today I have begotten you,” literally, “the day” I have begotten you. This is not an earthly day but is the standpoint of eternity, “the day,” like the “I AM.”  The anointed one, the king, true man is yet true God. He is the very Son of the eternal Father by everlasting decree. So the Apostle Paul says, regarding the eternal manifest in human flesh: God promised beforehand through His Prophets in the Holy Scriptures the Gospel concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead. Rm 1:1-4

          He rules as the eternally begotten who took within His person the nature of a man and humbled Himself to death for sinners. Laying down His life as a ransom, He is now lifted up in His human nature too, and with the divine nature in the one person reigns above every name. This Anointed King is distinct from all other kings, not only in divinity, also in character. His spiritual rule is not by law but by gospel. Thus He asked the Father for his promised heritage, praying “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Then given all authority in heaven and in earth He sent the apostles and those that continue in their office to bind and release sinners from guilt. So the church goes forth, baptizing and making disciples, teaching all that He commanded. In this way God’s kingdom comes. While sinful man sees a weak church, a foolish way to rule, God sees things as they are. The kingdom of God is conquering, reigning and shall reign in glory. One day we too shall see exactly as God sees, that is when we see God.

          Take comfort, Oh believers - He absolves, that is, looses us from sin and its penalty. If we, the church, truly believed this we would laugh at death, the devil, the weakness of our flesh and sin. Those are defeated enemies. He, the eternal Son who assumed a human nature, was given Zion, received the Kingdom and dwells there for you and brings you to dwell with Him. The Father gave the kingdom to Jesus the Anointed, the King, the sacrifice, not to be a ruler of this world, just a greater lawgiver, but to receive his inheritance. What is the inheritance that Jesus Christ earned? Haven’t you already heard?  He made the nations His possession when, as Isaiah 53 describes, He became the offering for sin, therefore He shall be satisfied. He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Despite the raging of kings against this kingdom, the kingdom of God comes. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (vs 10-12)

          As the church waits, this too is her comfort. The kingdoms of this world cannot conquer the kingdom of our Lord and God. Kings die, nations fall, empires crumble but the word of the Lord stands forever. And the gospel goes out converting many nations. A review of history tells us that. Seemingly invincible kingdoms fell as prophesied and mighty foes were overcome by the weakness of Christ crucified. This is true, although our King looks weak since He only fights by His Word, without steel sword. Yet His word breaks to pieces the rebellion of Adam’s race.        Then His Word proclaims the love of God. He gives that all might be saved, (Jn 12:47, 48).

          This Word is “the power,” a power rarely visible in earthly life, although there are clues to its fact.  For example, why the rage to destroy the sacred text, to cause doubt in it, to suppress it? How many kings have burnt it, scholars denied it, publishers defaced it, religions twisted it, and yet the church endures? Why the victory of the Word seen in the church born, sustained, and conquering by martyr’s death? Did it not enter into you, changing all things? Therefore, O kings and rulers, be warned! The Word of God cannot fail, it shall not fail, and all powers must bow to it.

          So hear the promise, for all who humble themselves shall be blest by the Christ. That explains the admonition to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.  Fear, since the Anointed One, the King, is the Son who is also Lord. He shares the Divine name. Serve Him, because God is a Holy God. You owe Him obedience. So the church too fears, because we still sin. Yet, knowing His mercy, we      live repentant, absolved lives before Him, and rejoice. The church rejoices, because all believers are received as His children. We are made sons of the Son to inherit the kingdom of heaven. In this way fear and rejoicing are mingled in this life. While still sinners we are saints, justified by the Anointed One’s rule, and given His strength to fight against sin. So kings are advised to kiss the Son, give homage due the King. This kiss is the reverent worship due God alone.   So the Son is worshipped, equal with the Father and the Spirit. Kiss the mediator of our salvation. Adore Him, see Him who rules in heaven and earth. So we are admonished, lest He be angry and we perish. There is no middle ground, no false worship, no rebellion, no state of unbelief that He overlooks. This is the believer’s comfort too. The elect will be vindicated, those who cry to Him day and night (Lk 18:7). He will come soon (Rev 3:11). This Messianic Psalm declares comfort.  Christ’s own shall not be overcome.  Our King, the Anointed, God’s Son, shall rescue us. Despite whatever we face in the kingdom of this world, He who justifies sinners like us will seat us with Him forever on Zion, His holy hill.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord (Amen)

13th Sunday of Trinity: A Feast for the Hungry

Aug 18, 2013; 13^th Sunday of Trinity; Texts: Psalm 146; Isaiah 29:17-24; Romans 10:9-17; Mark 7:31-37; Title: A Feast for the Hungry; Rev. T Beck

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³² And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³ And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴ And looking up to heaven, ^he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ^{35 }And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ And ^Jesus charged them to tell no one. But ^the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And they were ^astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Mk 7:31-37). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The Evangelist Mark, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reports what seems mundane to us. Jesus is coming from the region of Tyre and Sidon and heads to the Decapolis. How many of us can place those spots on a map?  To the Jews of Jesus day, those names meant a lot. They wondered, “Why does Jesus go from one extreme to the other? Why does He just pass through the land of the chosen to visit the dark lands? Those lands deserve the judgment of God.” And the chosen people were right, after a fashion.         

          What does the name “Tyre” suggest to you, and we’re not talking about steel-belted radials. That ancient port, a geographic dividing line between topographies and an easily defended island on the Mediterranean coast, the Phoenicians claimed as theirs. Perhaps before 2000 BC the Philistines settled there, also founding the important sister city-state of Sidon. Around 1400 BC, under General Joshua of the conquest, the tribe of Asher was allotted land up to the fortified city of Tyre (Jos 19:29). By the time of David, Tyre overshadowed Sidon. Tyre’s long-lived King Hiram provided Lebanon’s timber and talent for King Solomon’s temple.  Some generations later, King Ahab made an alliance with Tyre and married the princess Jezebel, who with her hubby forced the Northern Kingdom of Israel to worship Baal (1 Kg 16). For the most part, with a brief exception or two, Tyre and Sidon were trouble for God’s people. Those Philistines almost constantly opposed the True God.  They were ripe for judgment, in part because of their lust for luxury and for          exporting that way-of-life to Israel - see Isaiah 23.

          A little after Isaiah, Joel prophesied …they have scattered (my people) among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. 4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.” (Joel 3:2f. esv)

          And a couple hundred years later Alexander the Great exacted the Lord’s payment. When Tyre refused to surrender to the Macedonian Greek, he built a mile long causeway into the sea and attacked the island fortress. After a 7 month siege the city fell and 2,000 civil leaders were hanged while 30,000 citizens were sold into slavery. More than once Jesus reminded God’s people why Tyre and Sidon fell, they were ripe for judgment. And yet, He said those cities would have repented if He had come to them. If they had heard, they would have repented. See Matthew 11:21. However, Where Jesus is coming from? The prophets not only spoke of judgment against these lands, but an outpouring of grace. What we read from Isaiah today was fulfilled.

          Look at our gospel reading. What is happening in Tyre, Sidon and the regions of Philistia, which includes the Decapolis? The light shined in the darkness to turn Lebanon into a fruitful field. For example, in the Decapolis the deaf hear God, the Word. The Decapolis, a word meaning 10 cities, is a spiritually lost region of Greeks, Canaanite remnants, and errant Jews. Unclean, like Lebanon’s Sidon, Alexander the Great’s veterans founded several cities in the Decapolis in the mid 4^th century BC, marrying into the locals. Rome let that region keep Greek governance and leaders since they promised to defend Rome’s territory. The Decapolis culture was mostly Greek. That means Greek amphitheatres, poets, philosophers, teachers and gods, - just across the Sea of Galilee. Like Tyre and Sidon, what’s the shepherd of the lost sheep doing over there? The Apostle John tells us, he calls other flocks into His fold. He is making children of God out of His enemies. 

          Jesus is doing all things well, proclaiming the gospel and showing mercy to those in darkness, as too does the church that follows Him. At last, people in that true-God-forsaking region hear good news. Sinners are forgiven and repentant sinners receive the promise of eternal life. That’s what the Evangelist Mark records for our joy. We can stop the sermon, sigh in happiness and call it a day.  Only there’s more than everybody buttons on a yellow smiley face. Jesus doesn’t just wave his hands wildly, curing folk right and left, sight unseen and speech unheard. He could have. God in heaven could speak and all things would become new. But our redemption wasn’t so easy. It’s like remodel construction, more expensive and difficult than new. There’s a lot to tear down: our innate rebellion, spiritual blindness, hatred of the true God, love for false gods, self centeredness, lust of luxury, etc… It would have been easier to bring in a D-10 Caterpillar and plow the mess into a ditch. Instead, the Son of God became man, humbling himself even to death on a cross. He was buried, a mess of torn flesh and deep wounds. The Lord is in the business of redemption, a drastic remodel, a restoration costing an unbelievable price to freely and justly make all things new.

          Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, nor the ruthless rule with untrue words. There’s a debt to pay for the old place, mortgaged under every injustice, every gossip, every little white lie, every unholy compromise you and I have done. That’s why the Redeemer went to Tyre and then the Decapolis. He’s shopping at the junk store, paying a great price for stuff fit for the trash, to turn it into works of art. He’s in the business of re-creation by means of redemption, now showing what he’s up to by this miraculous sign. He’s done it before, so the Decapolis folks know about Jesus. They bring a man whom           Scripture describes in the politically incorrect terms of deaf and dumb.  He has a real problem - a real sign of the futility sin brought the world, a wound of decay and death oozing from the creation.  These gentiles, cut off from the Temple, surrounded by useless Greek goddesses and gods so like themselves, beg Jesus, “Lord, have mercy.” Notice that this petition isn’t asking for luxury, the lust that judged Tyre. They bring the devil’s handiwork, the evidence of Adam’s fall. They don’t like it. (Knowledge of our fallen state is particularly important for faith, don’t you think?) Then Jesus takes the man away, and in sign language privately shows him what he shall do. Then the Word of God speaks and it is done.

          Re-creation is a personal matter; a real encounter with God incarnate; and faith is personal, even if in thanksgiving it will publicly shout the praises of Jesus. This healing was not done for the crowd’s curiosity any more than for fame. This healing was not only for healing. It was for faith, and for faith to receive even more. Jesus came not merely to prolong earthly life, but to restore us to heavenly life. He came to give eternal life, so that after the grave even our bodies are restored. Through the redemption He is recreating you. Through joining you to His death in baptism He united you to His life. So too the church goes into the world, proclaiming and bestowing these gifts,           manifest in word, water and word, and upon the altar with the word. That’s the work of the church in the world.  By these means the redemption is applied and recreation begun. That’s the way of evangelism. It’s not about beating a bigger drum to entertain a bigger crowd, but beautiful feet bringing good news. Evangel-ism means sharing the evangel, the good news, the gospel. We are called an Evangelical Lutheran church because the gospel defines everything we say, do and are.

          Of course, speaking some bad news is involved. These Decapolis people already knew the bad news. They set it before Jesus, asking He do something about it. If we don’t believe in the bad news, that we’re born spiritually deaf, dumb, and dead, we’ll have no interest in redemption. When that fact hits home – then the good news of the incarnation, the bitter sufferings of Christ, a bloody cross winning eternal life for you, is good news. Then the joy of the Lord hits home, oh, we want to speak about it! But in this case Jesus says tell no one. We think He wasn’t getting the most mileage from his miracles; like when he fed multitudes with bread, then ran away from fickle adoration. We’re not surprised that the crowds all the more proclaim the deed; and say “Jesus does all things well.” Still he charged them even more, “hush!” That wasn’t a strategic missionary mistake. A theology of glory thinks Jesus should be no more than the divine fix-it man. That’s the spirit of Tyre talking.

          Why was Tyre destroyed? Alexander imagined he had reasons, but we know the bottom line from Joel, God’s reasons. Tyre was destroyed because that city said life is all about “me.”  They didn’t mind trading a boy for a prostitute and a girl for a jug of wine. Need we make contemporary applications?  So Jesus healed the deaf-mute away from the crowd, because the reason for healing was more than to stir up lust for the good life, for an end to pain and a life of pleasure. Apart from receiving the cross, the redemption, the atonement, we won’t benefit   from re-creation. We’d misuse it. That says something about why Jesus visited a humbled Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis where people believed they needed him. There the love of God re-created, healing a man’s ears and tongue. Then he heard           and spoke plainly, saying “Jesus does all things well.”

          Even if the folks didn’t yet realize it, that included Jesus’ death and resurrection. The re-creation is accomplished through Jesus’ suffering and death for sinners. The gospel is not just “enough bread,” “healed bodies,” “social justice,” “equal rights,” “what I need to feel good about myself.” The kingdom of God will indeed restore all things to justice, that is, the Old Testament word, God’s faithful/holy love. Only there’s a way it is done. Re-creation only comes through a death, through Jesus’ death in the stead of sinners. Hence it is received only by faith, by faith that Jesus’ death is our life. The only way the deaf man’s healing is going to last is that he hears Jesus in the most important matters. The healed man was silenced by the grave some years later. However, because Jesus died, that man will rise again to re-creation.

          As Isaiah uses an analogy of a fruitful field and forest to describe the work of the gospel, so Jesus’ miracle is an analogy of what He shall do for the spiritually dead. He re-creates through redemption, and doing this, even our bodies will rise. The Apostle Paul puts it plainly. With the heart one believes and is justified. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Those who are saved spiritually will also be re-created in body. So the church does acts of mercy proceeding from the redemption, from the good news of forgiveness, and faith in the good news receives salvation. So the church goes into the world from the font, pulpit and altar because that’s where re-creation is effected and completed.  The deaf shall hear the words of a book… the book. “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” That is a glorious promise. The people of Tyre and Sidon listened to Jesus. Now in the Decapolis they see a        great light. Those whose ears are opened confess, their mouths declaring His praise. “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So He sends the church into dark places to proclaim the evangel and manifest the love of God through acts of mercy, and the church sends evangelists into dark places to gather in to the church those who hear. In this way Jesus continues to do all things well.

           

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord (Amen)

14th Sunday of Trinity: Luke 10:23-37

Aug 25, 2013; 14^th Sunday of Trinity; Psalm 32; 2 Chronicles 28:8-15; Galatians 3:15-22; Luke 10: 23-37; Title: The Tripped Up Trap; Rev. T Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

You’ve seen it before; someone said something and somebody got upset. What happens next? In this case, instead of a rant and rave the upset guy wanted to find out what the other person really meant, while hedging his bets. Being clever, he set a trap to put the other fellow in his place if what he heard was what that guy named Jesus actually meant.  Jesus upset an attorney, a religious lawyer who interpreted the books, a huge pile of religious and civil laws, that interpreted the Torah. The attorney worked for the temple, which was both church and state in that day (not counting the Roman overlords). He now puts Jesus to the test because something bothered that attorney. 

          The context of today’s reading tells you the problem. Jesus greeted the 72 disciple who just returned from their preaching assignment. They were commissioned to declare that the kingdom of God had come in Jesus, who is the Christ. When they returned Jesus told them: All things were given to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father; and who the Father is except the Son and he to whom the Son may will to reveal him. (10:22)

          That’s a mighty big claim, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that only in and from Him is salvation, and only those who believe Him are saved. Throughout His ministry, Jesus taught that salvation is through faith alone, faith in Him. This bothers the attorney on more than one front. That’s why he puts Jesus to the test. He asks, “Did I hear you correctly? Is salvation really God’s doing, and received by faith, really faith alone? Isn’t it at least faith with works?”  Consider that question from a historical point of view. We read in Acts how some in the early church said to be saved you have to do the law. Unless you are circumcised forget about getting into heaven. That claim was soundly rebuked by Peter and Paul, as in today’s Epistle reading.

          Later on some said Jesus’ cross isn’t enough to be completely forgiven. You have to earn some of it by loving God and by doing good works. Now and then somebody stood up and said, it’s not what we do… it is grace through faith alone (as in the Reformation). Nevertheless, our sinful inclination wants to earn something before God. We still want to earn enough frequent flier miles to get the heaven.        So some churches teach that although Jesus saved you, now it’s up to you. Some churches say “Grace? What we need is a social agenda.”  Some churches just toss the revealed God out the window. It’s up to you to create a god or goddess that does the trick. These are all tyrannies. They’re about what you must do. They will, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, point out transgression. The attorney’s test is relevant to today’s mindset: And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”   

          Do you see the trap? The question assumes the answer. In legal terms, the question shows prejudice, that is, pre-justice. He asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  The question requires doing as necessary.  Oh, Jesus died for sinners, but I need to add something. The problem is, either you are saved by faith or works, there’s no middle ground. As in Gal. 3:1-3, O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

          It’s all or nothing. Either saved by faith or saved by works and that’s what disturbed the attorney. He wants to be a good man all by himself. Folks say he’s a good man, and by our common standards no doubt he was. He wants God to agree… by the same standards. Working on call as a mortuary assistant, every service I’ve ushered, someone said the deceased was such a good person. Therefore he’s in heaven, in a better place.  Grace is foreign to our Adamic nature. We want to count on our works. We want to do something to be proud of, even if it mocks Christ’s work for us.

          Two men watch their boys swim in the surf. One gets in real trouble. The other boy, sent by his father, swims to rescue him and does, but drowns. The father of the rescued boy says to the other Father, let me make amends. Would $10 help pay a percentage of the death of your son?        So we ridicule God the Father when we expect to be accepted for something we do. To depend on our works is to reject the Father’s love through Jesus Christ the Son. It’s not that Christians should lack good works, quite the opposite. It is how we value who we are in Christ compared to what we do. Jesus doesn’t fall into the attorney’s trap. Instead, He traps the attorney. He gives the attorney what he wants. “You want to be saved by the law? OK.”  He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength [and with all your mind], and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”          

          Jesus asked “how do you read it?” Literally, “How do you recite it?” “Recite” is the liturgical language of the Synagogue. With this word Jesus leads the attorney to recite the Shema. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” This quotation was recited in the liturgy twice daily by every pious Jew. It is the biblical summary of the law. The thorn in the Shema is simple: Do this and you will live. Even now the attorney fails. When he quotes the Shema he adds a phrase, “with all your mind.” He adds to God’s Word like Eve did when she replied to the tempter, “and do not touch it.”  Maybe he added an extra command thinking his piety would impress Jesus. But by adding to God’s word the lawyer made himself ruler over God’s word. He just broke the first commandment.

          He fails the law and that’s why Jesus said, “Do this.” Jesus said “Do this” because He knows the law will convict us of what we do not do.  But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Houston, we’ve got a problem. The rocket we sent into space is about to explode. The attorney agrees God’s law is good and just. But then he is forced to ask himself, have I done all that is good and just? The text says, He desiring to justify himself… the grammar implies the desire to justify oneself is a habitual activity. The attorney has constant need to find a claim on self-righteousness. Are we so different? The child, caught with hand in cookie jar says, “I didn’t eat one,” or when older and the teacher collects homework says, “The dog ate mine!” Do you justify yourself saying “I didn’t mean to,” or “That’s what you think,” or “It was his fault,” or “I did it for you,” etc… And whatever person is peeing on the front door of the church, I’m sure he has a reason why that’s just the right behavior.

          It’s too bad self-righteousness is a lie. It’s more then that, it is a prison. It’s a prison if we must keep telling ourselves we’re OK. Here there is no peace. The law always pushes, pushing for more good deeds than we have at any given time, so we look for excuses. The attorney scrambles for a defense. He needs a loophole and thinks he found it in the word “neighbor.” (He’s an attorney after all!) Loopholes mean he can ignore his failures. Sadly, he will then ignore his need for a Saviour. But Jesus does not let the attorney off the law’s hook. Jesus tells a parable, and it is not a lawyer joke starting out, “there was a priest, a Levite and an attorney.”

          Although Jesus throws the priest and Levite under the wheel too, because they taught the same mix of law and grace, the star of the show is the Samaritan. The wounded traveler expected help from the religious professionals, everyone knows they should help. But they did not. Did they justifying it too? But the Samaritan helped; a person who was considered unclean, and couldn’t enter the temple courts. He medicated the hurt man, pouring out the oil and wine.     That expression is also liturgical language suggestive of God’s gifts. So Jesus         reminds the attorney that love for God and neighbor goes together.  But it is more than helping. The Samaritan took a terrible risk to care for his neighbor.

Remember the severe beating the robbed man got, and the loss of all his goods? Those dirty robbers should eat the same medicine! And there was a medicine to make somebody pay, a legal remedy attorneys knew. By helping, the Samaritan opened himself up to an injury-accident lawsuit. In that day’s Middle Eastern culture the Samaritan opened himself for blood-retaliation.          The principle of retaliation was: if the robbers couldn’t be found the next person who did something to the victim could be, even if he was the one who helped.  It’s irrational, but that’s the way the law worked, and still does in liability suits. How many stories do you know someone helping wasn’t thanked? The trucker who stopped for an accident and pinched the artery to save the man’s life had dirty hands, so got sued for causing an infection.

          Yet a Samaritan helped! If the relatives of the hurt man wanted to get even, a Samaritan would make a satisfying target. Jews hated them. Samaritans were cut off from the people of God, defiled by marrying foreigners, and enemies of the Jews over 600 years. (Our Old Testament text is pre-Samaritan days, but suggests the growing animosity between Judah and the territory of Northern Israel.) In contemporary terms Jesus is telling a member of Hamas about a wonderful Jew, or an Armenian about a wonderful Turk, or a Jew about a wonderful Nazi.  Jesus talked about a Samaritan and the attorney is condemned. Samaritans were not on the Jewish list of neighbors. In short, Jesus says the law says show mercy, no exceptions. Jesus leaves the attorney under the burden of the law. But He leaves open a question about God’s love.

          Remember the context, remember why the attorney put Jesus to the test? Do you really want to be saved by your own works when God has mercy? Don’t you want Him to justify you?  God’s Son bore the cost of the law Himself, and on that basis declares you righteous before Him.  That’s what God did. Jesus had compassion on His enemies. Jesus became the Samaritan. Jesus bore the Middle-Eastern custom of retaliation.  Those he helped did to him what they deserved. He was beaten, whipped, and executed. Yet knowing what would come of mercy, Jesus laid down His life. Did the clever attorney understand the message of this parable?  The point is not “everyone must love his neighbor.” It says that, but that’s not the point. The point is: God so loves the world that He sent His Son to become the Samaritan for our sake, to pay the price of retaliation.

          The point is, although we fail to love our neighbor as the law demands, God’s Son justified sinners. Alleluia! That’s the end of the story. Now what? Shall we love our neighbor?  The law does demand it, although we fall short. But what if we are declared righteous? Jesus justified the ungodly. Obeying the law doesn’t figure even one percent of our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. You don’t have to do a single good work to pay the Father for sending His Son to His death. What about the wounded traveler though? Shall we pass by? No, those who receive God’s grace discover faith bears fruit. Just as Christ rose from the dead, He gives us His life. His love grows in us as the fruit of justification, for Christ now lives in us.

          We begin to do what is impossible under the law. By the work of the Holy Spirit we love God and neighbor, even if not in order to be saved. None of our love is perfect. It’s a rather soiled thing. Just ask those nearest you. However, because of faith, the Father accepts it and you, for Christ’s sake. Since you are justified, your works are accepted as good. Since you are justified by God through Christ, the Father sees what we do in faith as good, for the sake of His Son. You are freed from the burden of the law, and freed to love your neighbor. Jesus meant what He said, revealing and giving His grace to you for salvation.     

           

The Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Amen)

8th Sunday of Trinity: Genesis 2:7-17

July 14, 2013; 8th Sunday of Trinity; Texts: Psalm 33:1-11; Genesis 2:7-17; Romans 6:19-23; Mark 8:1-9; Title: Two Trees to One Tree; Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Before looking at our text from Genesis let me say something obvious, or what should be obvious. It doesn’t seem obvious in our generation - actually any generation - but that’s not because it isn’t obvious. What’s obvious?  The revealed God doesn’t mumble. He speaks, and speaks clearly. He says what He means. Why isn’t that obvious? Earwax and cotton, foam and moss, leaves, peas, about anything that fits in there to make it easier on our ears, is why we don’t hear… so we think God isn’t clear when He speaks. Otherwise we take Scripture as it is: what it says about the fall, about the law, about redemption? Why, it can turn a person’s life around.

          What happens if we take the revelations given to God’s servants as authoritative, normative, determining, as they claim to be? For one, we won’t re-write the Bible, de-mythologize it, mythologize it, or edit it with scissors like Thomas Jefferson did. We won’t guess which Jesus-sayings are authentic, voting with international scholars by rolling colored ping pong balls down a track, and that in nearby Santa Rosa once a year. We will receive it, and it will do a wonderful work in us. Scripture is God breathed; so it rules the church and shall rule the world for a good reason. God says what He means and means what He says.

          So how do you hear Scripture? Do you pray for open ears? One application is Scripture interprets Scripture. So if you fail to understand something, don’t run to interpret Scripture by an ancient Sumerian religion or read it through Greek philosophers. Don’t get suckered by a National Geographic special that says Jesus ought to be interpreted by 2nd and 3rd century Gnostics but not 1st century Christians (that’s the new fad by the way, the Da Vinci Code and all that). Scripture interprets Scripture. If we do that with other writing, why not with God’s word? Further, what is written should be taken in the sense intended, whether poetic, narrative, or figures of speech like parables, taken according to its literal meaning.

          “Meaning” is what many folks choke on… like God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).  “Literal” is what folk choke on too, like the literal… Jesus fed the four thousand. That’s not a fish story with some bread thrown in for bait. Don’t choke on the literal meaning: the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. There’s life in the literal meaning. And these examples relate to our reading in Genesis. In fact, all the doctrines of Scripture are outlined in the first 6 chapters of Genesis. There is an amazing cohesion in Scripture, written over millenniums, written by God-breathed human beings, written for your salvation.  That’s why we take Scripture as it is; as God’s word.        

          Let’s consider today’s text from Genesis. Some points may seem incidental, but since everything in Scripture is recorded for our sake, they are not unimportant. First, let me point out two other obvious things, things a bit different then the authority of Scripture. What ought to be obvious is that Scripture is about Jesus Christ. And if you can rightly divide the law and gospel, you see the obvious. Now, about Eden: What does our text say? And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east…  10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates (all Scriptural quotations are ESV).           

          And who cares? So what if there are four rivers, so what if there’s gold and bdellium and onyx. Who cares that the rivers have names?  Why did God care to tell you this? Is this how you begin a fairy tale? “Kids, let’s click on Goggle maps.” Or for an older generation, “Get out the atlas.”  Eden’s former geography is described, its relative position given, its geographic features generalized. It was a particular place. Get out your prospectors pick and go to Havilah for gold; only, the map doesn’t look the same anymore. There was a big flood and things got rearranged.  Yet, we are reading records that describe what pre-dated Noah. That is both amazing and assuring.

          8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The text says “the LORD God.”  Note the obvious, as did the Romanians who chanted en-mass against the repressive atheist dictator Ceausescu: facing his palace, they yelled for hours on end “There is a God, there is a God!”  The obvious is the Divine Being is and does. He created all things. He even revealed a name, the LORD God, literally, Yahweh-Elohim, and that name is a theology lesson in itself. We are also told what the Lord God did: He formed man, literally, “A’dam,” for           the word Adam means “man.” In Adam is the potentiality of all mankind, “man” being both a generic word and specifically identifying the first man, (A’dam) Adam. We’ll come back to that, to A’dam.

          The Lord God formed man and planted a garden for man, a pleasant place to the eyes and for the tongue.  By the way, the word “Eden” means pleasant.  And that too is important. How so? You’ve probably noticed many people don’t believe that anymore... believe what? That God made man and that God made pleasant-Eden and the earth, for man. Popular culture, common jargon, and growing legislation say man, generic man, really doesn’t rank above salamanders or spotted owls. We hear, “The earth is not a God-given gift to A’dam. We must worship it, the little fishes, snails, redwood trees, and get off their land.” That idea rejects not only man’s role as caretaker, but defies the LORD God. It’s true that Adam isn’t to pillage the earth, for the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Adam was given dominion, a service of oversight and care; and before the fall served without sweat, without the curse, before futility set in, before death. So this verse gives not only a reason to object to laws based on a philosophical presumption that we don’t belong on the planet… it tells us Adam had a vocation. There is work to do. Work is good, purposeful, what the Lord God intended and a gift from the LORD God. Eden was no European secularist dream: life in a condominium, a 1-child family, good wine, long vacations, early retirement and then you die comfortably. 

          There is more to life: then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (soul). Not only are all things made by God, the earth made for man, also A’dam (man) is made uniquely. He shares a physical nature with the creation: formed of the dust, of the earth.  Yet uniquely, the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That’s what made man live; a creature yes, but alive as more than a clod of dust. God breathed into man a spiritual nature, in a most intimate picture. God gave man the breath of life not by artificial, but by genuine respiration. That word, “breath,” also translated as “inspire and spirit” is important. God gave man the spirit of life. Man has a spiritual life beyond that of the animals and plants, as much as many people love their dogs and can’t emotionally feel the difference between a puppy and a baby.  Human life is intimately connected to the LORD God, and hence is unique, valuable, purposeful, and potential. This is the real basis for human dignity, and so-called human rights.  Remove the LORD God from the equation and those rights become very unstable. To see what happens when God is removed from the source of human value, look at Stalin’s and Mao’s purges… or a godless dictator of your choice.

          The Lord God values the creation, man in particular. Adam was created for life, for fellowship with God. Adam’s purpose is not just to nurture creation; it is at heart, worship. Remember that God breathed into Adam His life, spiritual life. That life was a righteous fellowship with the Creator in holiness and innocence. Adam delighted in Eden, in the pleasantness of all creatures, caring for them,   tending them as thanksgiving to God; but his chief delight was in the LORD God.  Adam was given a way to express his worship, which was also how God nourished Him in divine life. He ate of one tree and he ate not of the other.  9b The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

          From the beginning worship was God in His dominion serving man; His gift given, our responding with thanks and obedience. And remember, this is a historical account. There were two trees. And a promise was attached to each of these trees. The kind of fruit is irrelevant, which is why we are not told about the kind of    fruit. What mattered was the promise attached to each tree. Spiritual life, and physical too, was confirmed, signed, sealed and given by eating of one tree. This was a sacramental eating. [“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was Adam’s church, altar, and pulpit” (Luther, AE 1.95).]  As God promised, so it was, His word attached to a visible sign. And that kind of  eating hasn't changed since the LORD God put His promise on means of grace. On the other hand, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil promised death; was it hard for Adam to resist the tree promising death?  

          Remember, Adam was created righteous. So the command was not difficult, but the way Adam worshiped. Eating from one tree he received life, enjoying fellowship and peace with God. Not eating from one tree He abstained from what would destroy all that. His thanksgiving to God was a simple obedience to a simple command. That was all God required, all else was free. Adam was free in faith to enjoy all things, but one. His thanksgiving to the LORD was to turn away from evil and death.

          It won’t do us any good to speculate why Eve and Adam listened to the devil. It won’t help to speculate about human freedom vs. predestination if by speculation we defy Scripture. It is helpful to acknowledge that Adam’s disobedience resulted in suffering, sorrow, and death. When A’dam lost spiritual life he lost the righteousness granted him. He passed on what was left to his progeny… from dust you came to dust you shall return.  It is helpful to then, as children of A’dam, to confess our depravity, our spiritual lack of life and pray to a merciful God who promises to restore paradise lost. For we, the Adam’s family, so often want nothing more than a nice home, few children, a puppy, good wine, food, little work and a small carbon foot print.

          But you know Scripture and know it is about Jesus Christ for our salvation. You know the whole story: the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know the second A’dam restored what the first A’dam lost. He planted Himself on a most unpleasant tree, the fruit of which restores the dead to life. So our passage in Genesis tells us why so many sermons end like this: the sacrament of baptism, the sacrament of the altar, the message of salvation! Here the tree of life is restored, and we partake of it in faith, as did the first Adam before the fall. We partake in a sacramental eating - because of the promise. And that tree bears fruit in us: eternal life, with thanksgiving to God.

          Faith receives re-creation. Christian, you are being restored to the order of creation. We are returned to the sacredness of vocation. We are elevated to the divine purpose of man, of A’dam.  We once again receive God’s Divine Service, and worship.  The Son imputed His righteousness to us. We were adopted as sons of God. Therefore we live again. We have fellowship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The peace of God which passes understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord (Amen)

7th Sunday of Trinity: Romans 6:1-11

July 7, 2013; 7^th S. of Trinity; Texts: Ps 19; Ex 20:1-17; Rom. 6:1-11; Matthew 5:20-25;

Hymns: 293, 407, 236, 278; Title: Dead and Alive.  Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

You’ve seen Western movies where the town gathers around a poster that says, “Wanted: Dead or Alive!”  That’s how justice was served. It didn’t matter if the criminal came in dead, he would be executed anyway.  But in Romans, chapter 6, our Lord posts a different wanted poster. This one says, “Wanted, Dead and Alive!” God wants us dead and alive. The law’s righteousness demands the death of the old man; but grace will create a new man, brought forth by faith very much alive.

          How can this be? It is the power of God; as the Apostle Paul said at the beginning of his letter to the Romans: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes … (Rm 1:16) Back to our wanted poster… isn’t it marvelous that God wanted us alive when we were already dead? We were born dead in sin. Sin isn’t just things we do, but an inherited nature that wars against God. We call it original sin, concupiscence, Adam’s fall. And that sin, the nature of sin, begs for condemnation. And God’s holy law obliges. It condemns sin and sinner. The saying, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin” isn’t true when it comes to the law. The problem is, you can’t separate sin and sinner because sin isn’t something outside of us. It’s a defect in our very being. And sin in us must die; that corrupting nature.

          But, God so loved the world that He powerfully saves us sinners with the gospel, with His righteousness, apart from any righteousness of our own.  He sent His only Son to tear down our wanted poster by dying in our place so that His death becomes ours. God the Father in His heavenly courtroom now declares us “Pardoned!” And pardoned, the Holy Spirit works new life within us when we hear the good news. All who believe the pardon live, we who believe Christ’s righteousness counted as ours. And we who believe in Christ’s death and resurrection, we died to sin and rise to life. So Romans, chapter 6 teaches about Holy Baptism’s benefits.

          Before looking at those verses, let’s reinforce Romans chapter 6 with some other passages about baptism: You were… unrighteous... thieves, covetous, drunkards... but you are washed (baptism), but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Cor. 6:11) You were buried with him in baptism, where also you are risen with him       through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.  (Col. 2:12) Christ loved the church and gave himself up on her behalf, so that he might sanctify her, cleansing (her) by the washing of the water by the word, in order that he might present to himself the church glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that it might be holy and unblemished. (Eph. 5: 25b, 26-27) Baptism, which corresponds to this (God’s preservation of Noah) now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ… (I Pet. 3:21)  For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  (Gal. 3:26, 27) 

          In baptism, you received grace. You, the baptized, are “Wanted, Dead and Alive!” And, as the Apostle says in Romans 6, sin doesn’t rule in you anymore because in Christ you died to sin and are made alive to God. But you say, “Given such promises, why do I still desire to sin? There’s still concupiscence! If the old man drowned in baptism, he learned to swim!” Listen to a more literal reading of “are we to continue in sin”: Are we to keep friendly relations to sin that grace may abound? By no means! God wants us to live according to His verdict; according to the verdict delivered and according to the power given. He calls us to live sanctified lives as those who are justified. Scripture says, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

          The Word of God is not teasing you. The Lord is telling you to live by grace and not for sin. For we have died to sin. How have we died to sin? Look at it this way: Scripture uses an analogy of slavery to describe being freed from sin and bound to Christ.   We were born into sin’s slavery to remain there until death. But the Son of God became man, died in our place, in our stead, paying a slave’s price.  When He died He broke the reign of sin and the devil’s claim over us. We were freed from slavery, and by baptism, Christ’s death is applied to us… we died in Him.  He died our death so that we might be freed from sin and death, not as someone bound to the old slave master, but as a new person bound to a new owner. This new man is united to a new master. We are now slaves of Christ.  When the old slave master leans over the fence to entice us away, you, bound to another, don’t have to listen. You are called to resist sin, to turn from sin by looking to Christ. Although your old nature entices you (that nature which Christ has forgiven) the new man desires to live. And your new master gives you strength to not act in sin, despite unholy, sinful desires. These unholy desires are forgiven in Christ, and the new man, to escape them, cries out to Christ; and by the power of the Spirit you resist the evil in you. That’s called the mortification of the flesh. And your Lord promises not to permit temptation beyond what you can bear. In other words, sin doesn’t rule you anymore even if it is present.

          So what happens if we choose to listen to the old goat trying to butt in on the Lamb slain? If we submit to the goat, in time we lose our freedom in Christ. If we become impenitent we have lost the faith. Our Lord said we cannot serve two masters. If you willingly continue to live for sin you do not live for God. If you give yourself over to the old Adam and no longer resist sinful desires then you abandon Christ. However, since Christ dwells in you He strengthens you to remain faithful to Him, no matter how severe the war. And when you fall in battle, He is there to restore you, forgiving you, lifting you up. Despite your temptations, you have a new master, one who bought you out of slavery.

          But if we are spiritually alive, why is it so hard to serve Him faithfully? Although you were set free when you died in Christ, the old man is not eradicated until your physical death.  So we daily confess our sin and believe the absolution, because we fall for old lies, the old desires. We return to justification. But why does our heavenly Father allow us to be tempted? It is for a very good reason: so that we live by faith.  In this life we live by faith as those declared righteous by the blood of Christ.     We are not saved by resisting sin, or by a godly life, or by anything we do or do not do. We are saved by grace. That gift, the gospel, the power of God for salvation, saved us. Yet, Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith also renews and transforms our minds. He who justified us also sanctifies us.

          Faith believes this promise: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

         

 Baptism joined us to Christ. He did it.  The grammar of we “have been baptized” is passive. We didn’t baptize ourselves any more than we regenerated ourselves.  God acted to save us. Look at what He promises: Baptism united us in Christ’s death (v 3). It buried us with Christ (v 4). It crucified us with Christ (v 6). Since Jesus died “once for all” (v 10), we too died in Christ. United with Jesus in his death, we are no longer slaves of sin.  But there is more to baptism than just death to the old man. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free  from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

          We, united to Christ’s death, are also united to His resurrection. Therefore, we too shall rise in glory. Even now we live. How could it be otherwise, if united to Christ? Oh how marvelous the incarnation, that God wed himself with human flesh! The Son of God became man, died and rose that we might be so closely joined to His body and blood as to share his death and resurrection. You have been born anew, given a new nature that desires the things of God. And you receive them too.  Through baptism into Christ, the old man dies and the new man is alive to God. Your name is not on a poster saying, “Wanted, dead or alive.” You have been made dead and alive.  In Christ you were freed from sin’s penalty of death, dying to sin in Christ’s crucifixion, and being raised to new life in His resurrection. You were justified, and daily receive the fruitful blessings of in new life.

            May the very God of peace sanctify us wholly, and our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen (I Thess. 5:23) 

6th Sunday of Trinity: I Corinthians 1:18-25

June 30, 2013 6^th Sunday of Trinity; Texts: Psalm 16; I Kings 19:11-21; I Corinthians 1:18-25; Luke 5:1-11; Title: What a Silly Thing to Say! Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, or do you think that is a silly thing to say?  The Apostle Paul just said it was. Of course he said it this way: “the cross is folly… to those who are perishing.”   He too once considered the cross folly. He was well schooled in Greek philosophy and also a premier student of the Pharisees, what we’d more or less call Orthodox Judaism today. And you know what he did to Christians before Christ appeared to him. You know what he thought of Christ crucified.

          Before his conversion, he was a big man, honored, esteemed, and the world fell into his lap. Popular opinion stood behind him, the courts backed him up, the Romans and Jewish leaders admired him, and Paul skyrocketed up the career ladder. Then something weird happened to Saul, soon re-named Paul. Folks began to call Paul foolish, the Greek word being common to English too, the word “moron.” He was called other names too. Arrested and tried in court, the Roman governor Festus said, “You are out of your mind, Paul!”  (Acts 26:24)  That’s nothing compared to the names folks called Paul’s Saviour, Jesus. Yet the Apostle is really saying “Christ’s cross is marvelous, amazing, thrilling, tremendous!”

          The Church at Corinth couldn’t believe her ears, for some in that church claimed Greek wisdom and Roman rhetoric was the pinnacle. Some in that troubled congregation claimed the highpoint is miraculous gifts like speaking in tongues and power, power, power. The Apostle said “you’re wrong,” even if he excelled in rhetorical ability and was given great spiritual gifts. What is it all about?  It’s about God’s folly, that’s power. It’s about God’s foolishness, that’s wisdom. It’s not about powerful signs or earthly wisdom. And it comes through preaching; and not any preaching, but declaring Christ crucified. That’s how God saves sinners.

          The world has a hard time accepting that, ever since they nailed Jesus to the cursed tree. What’s the world’s wisdom? Pardon my political slant: a girl cannot get an aspirin in school without her parent’s permission but she can get an abortion without their knowledge. Politicians want to ban guns to law abiding citizens, but they gave 20 powerful F-16 jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt. That’s the wisdom and power of the world. But it is more then that. It is at its root a war against God and against grace. The wisdom of the world says you can’t save anyone by getting crucified.  You must fight to get on top, unless you can get it because society owes it to you.

          Christ crucified? That notion is so offensive we don’t want to hear it in public schools, in the courts, in the military, in prisons, and we’re not sure about church. But that is the Living God’s way of doing things, His foolish wisdom, His way of restoring life, His way. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are being destroyed, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (ESV)  Hear that? Those who reject life through Christ’s death are what? They are perishing, more literally, being destroyed. This is true not only of those who reject the 10 commandments to die 1,000 ways with a pleasure-driven lifestyle. It is true of the most upright, compassionate, high-standard, striving, personable people you know - who reject Christ crucified.  Such people are being destroyed, their life becoming hardened like the great and munificent Pharaoh of Egypt who rejected Moses’ outrageous plea… let God’s people go to worship in the wilderness. Give up your power over them. Let them go free. In that case there were many powerful signs, only one which changed Pharaoh’s will, momentarily.  That came not by a powerful army but by the death of a lamb. How could Pharaoh believe God would deliver Israel by a lamb slain? So he didn’t mark the posts of his door, like most Egyptians failed to do. He failed to believe that God’s ways are not our ways. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 

          Oh Christian, you believe in the Lamb slain who lives! You believe in the weakness of God. Therefore, we repent the world’s wisdom. How do we do that? This isn’t a rejection of good government, the rule of law, civil order, etc… It is about the spiritual kingdom, all that God’s word tells us in the gospel, including the way we view the earthly kingdom before God. In part, there are law questions like “What philosophies shape the way my teachers talk about the world, a way of life, sexuality, and the origin of life? Dare I disagree?”  The law question includes, “What values, ideas, and methods are promoted contrary to God’s foolishness? Will I let them shape how I think and act?”  But the bottom line of the spiritual kingdom is about the gospel. So we ask “Do I see all people as forgiven by Christ’s death?” Likewise, we ask people, “Do you know the power of God for salvation?” 

          After asking these kinds of questions we may ask, “Given such powerful and wise enemies, will the word of the Lord be victorious for me and in me?”  The answer is, “yes.” Christ will be vindicated, in us who are being saved.  Like the Passover Lamb’s blood, Christ’s blood marks our lives.  For in baptism we were saved, at the present time we are being saved, and we shall be saved. We are surrounded by grace, mercy, and peace.   The very Word the world despises is working life in you, forgiving you, changing you, strengthening, enlightening and building you up. The church of Christ will be vindicated by His death. That life is being manifest now. For example, you die daily to sin, mortifying the flesh by calling upon your Lord for strength. For example, you live unto God by receiving His absolution, then serving your neighbor as grace bears fruit. For example, you do not live under the law, compelled to find God’s approval by works. You live by faith in grace, and that will endure.

          Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? The wisdom opposed to God is judged because it refuses God’s wisdom. History judges it too, for Christ rose from the dead. That is proof enough. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

          We who were either Jews or Gentiles escaped worldly power and wisdom. We didn’t find heaven by our reasoning, willing, and emoting. We didn’t earn heaven by lawful striving. We were given it freely; for the merciful, gracious, God chose us. He called us through the message of Christ crucified. That offensive message brought us into eternal life, into the kingdom of God. That message the church preaches, and many will be saved. That message is the means by which the Lamb slain stirs up faith. The living Lamb works life into dead hearts by the very thing the world despises. The church of faith knows how this applies.     For example, it won’t do if the world can’t tell the church apart from a home entertainment center. Christian worship will be marked with the cross.  It won’t do if worship is all about what we do and not what Christ did for us. For we know faith is divinely created through hearing this scandalous offense. For example, it won’t do for our lives to be driven by guilt and condemnation. Christians worship because Christ bore God’s wrath to forgive us 100%.

          Faith is divinely created by something contrary, counter-intuitive, emotionally upsetting to this world’s values, by a seemingly irrational but true historical claim. Christ was crucified for you sinner, and He declares you a saint. Christ rose from the dead, and that’s God’s wisdom, the wisdom that saves us. This is how we were saved, are being saved, and shall be saved. This is how the Living Lord overpowers unbelief, the devil, the world and death. Who would have guessed it? No one - and that’s why it is revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures.      That’s why God the Son became man, suffered and died, rose and ascended and intercedes for His own until His glorious return. Even if your neighbors snort and think you’re a moron for believing it, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

          That’s just the way it is… and God can pull it off. He always does. He did it in your baptism by water and Word, applying the benefits of justification, giving you regeneration and daily renewal (Titus 3). He does it when you in faith eat His blood-wine and body-bread, hearing that your sins are forgiven. He does it in the preaching of absolution, declaring Christ’s peace to you. He gives you the eternal kingdom. Although it sounds silly to the world, grace, mercy and peace are given to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s just the way it is.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord (Amen)