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)