Sermon for Sexagesima - Lk 8:4-15

 

Sexagesima

                                                                                       Lk 8:4-15

                                                                                       2/12/23

 

          It started with a simple request: “I want you to build a raised bed for me.”  Amy wanted to raise some flowers, and so Matthew and I built a raised bed, and Amy prepared it with the good soil and compost. But of course, that was not the end of it. There then followed a request for a second raised bed … and third one … and a fourth one … and a fifth one.  I vaguely remember saying something after the fourth one about not building any more. But surely, I am mistaken.

          Before you knew it, Amy’s Backyard Blooms was born and she was raising flowers to sell and was making bouquets. Amy has taken to this hobby with great enthusiasm. The amount she has learned in a rather short period of time is remarkable.

          You can see this in the precision with which she plants her flowers.  First, she diagrams out where and how many flowers she is going to plant in each area to maximize the use of space.  Then the flowers are planted in rows with military precision.  It turns out that different flowers are supposed to be planted with a different amounts of space around them.  So, using a yard stick and tape measure, the flowers are planted in straight lines and provided with the exact spacing that particular kind of flower requires. The result is a beautiful picture of precision.

          The planting method used in Jesus’ day was very different.  Unlike the well prepared soil and the precision with which seeds and starter plants are placed by Amy, the planting in first century Palestine was random and ruled by chance.  Seed was cast by hand out into the field, and then plowed into ground.  Foot paths cuts through fields, and not all the soil was of the same quality.  As Jesus describes in the parable, not all the seed fell into good soil.  Our Lord uses this feature of first century Palestinian life to teach us.  We receive an explanation for why some fall away from the faith, and in turn are urged to cling to the words of the Gospel.

          Our text tells us that a great crowd gathered from a number of towns to hear Jesus.  Jesus told them a parable.  This is a word that has a rather broad range of meaning. It can include a number of different forms of speech that communicate some truth.  However, this one is the rather classic form that we expect – a narrative in which various details bear a meaning that goes beyond the story itself.

          Jesus described a scene that the people knew well.  A farmer went out and sowed seed as he cast it out. Some fell along the foot paths that bordered and ran through the field. It was trampled and birds ate it. Some fell on rocky soil. It grew up but didn’t last and withered because it had no moisture. Some fell among thorns, and as they grew up together the thorns choked out the grain.  However, some fell on good soil and yielded an abundant harvest – a hundred fold.  When he was done telling the parable our Lord said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

          This statement signaled that there was more here than just a story about agriculture. The disciples then asked Jesus what the parable meant.  He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’”  Our Lord said that the parables revealed and concealed at the same time. To those who believed in Jesus they revealed the truths of the kingdom of God. To those who were there simply to see and experience the miracles that Jesus performed they were simply entertaining stories.

          The disciples had been called to faith in Jesus.  And so our Lord explained the different elements of the parable.  He said that the seed was the word of God. In the very next chapter Jesus will tell the disciples,  “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” The word of God is the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead to give us forgiveness.  He is the Savior for all who confess their sin and believe in him and as the crucified and risen Lord.

          Christ explained that the seed on the path are those who hear the word, but then the then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  Here faith never takes place.

          On the other hand that on the rock are those who hear the word and receive it with joy – they believe. But this is a superficial faith, and while people believe for a while, in a time of testing they fall away. Likewise, the seed among the thorns are those who believe.  But as they live they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

          Finally, Jesus says, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”  Here there is not just faith, but a faith that holds firmly to the word.

          Our Lord’s words this morning give us important insight into the circumstances we see around us.  They also provide us with instruction about how we are to live in the faith so that we not only begin but also end as believers in Jesus Christ.

          The first thing we observe in our text is that the word of the Gospel does not go out into a neutral setting.  The devil does not want people to believe. Those who are do not believe in Jesus Christ are under his power – he is their Lord even if they don’t recognize it. They belong to him.

          And so he will use everything in his power to keep people from believing.  Jesus says that the “devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” He uses intellectual pride as people believe they are too smart to believe in “fairy tales” like that.  After all, they know science and they don’t believe in anything that reason can’t demonstrate.  In doing so, they refuse to consider the data of the apostles’ witness to Jesus Christ – a witness of words and deeds.  And they fail to recognize that the reason operates in it own limited sphere. It cannot answer questions about what happens in death. It cannot answer questions about eternal truths. For all that it can do, reason can’t provide answers about the ultimate questions – the questions that really matter.

          Second, Jesus says that there will be people who believe for a time and then fall away from the faith.  Often there are those who want to blame the Church for the fact that believers fall away.  We are told that the Church must be doing something wrong – as if it was the Church’s fault.  But on the contrary, our Lord says that it is going to happen.  We should not be surprised when believers fall away.  And his explanation squarely places the blame on the individual in question.

          Christ says that those on the rock believe, but that their faith has no depth. They believe for a while, but in time of testing they fall away. If faith is to survive it must have depth. It is only God’s Word that can provide this.  Testing will come.  It is hard to live as a Christian in this world – a world that heaps disdain on those who believe in Christ. The world praises those who don’t believe. It supports the view that there is no truth – just what is true for you and what is true form me.  It castigates any who would speak of sin and God’s eternal judgment. After all, that is “not loving.” And “love,” which means the permission to do or believe anything you want, is the ultimate truth of our world.

          Our Lord says that those among the thorns are those who hear the word. They believe.  But “as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”  The cares and riches and pleasures of life are all the things in this world that compete for attention with faith in Christ.  The cares and troubles of this world can lead people to doubt our Lord’s love and power. And so they decide that Jesus is no real help.

          The riches and pleasures of life are the attractions of this world that compete with Jesus.  These seem more rewarding, and certainly easier.  Let us be clear. The belief that there are more important things to do on Sunday sets one on a trajectory that threatens the choking out of faith. Anything that regularly replaces attendance at the Sunday Divine Service has this power.

          Finally, Jesus says, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”  Note the emphasis on “holding it fast.”  This means that we cling to the word of the Gospel. It also means that we study God’s Word. We have already heard about the faith that has no depth – the seed that falls on the rocky soil. To have depth of faith, we must be in God’s Word.  We must read it. We must study it.  Perhaps I sound like a broken record after last Sunday’s sermon.  But I am simply repeating what Jesus says here. We must hold fast to the word in an honest and good heart – a heart that seeks to learn and grow.  Where this is not present, we place our faith at risk.

          Our Lord also says that this faith bears fruit with patience – or endurance as the word can also be translated.  Faith that holds firmly to God’s word will bring forth the fruit of faith.  It will forgive those who wrong us.  It will seek the good of others, and place their needs ahead of our own.  It will support and help those around us who are in need – those who need encouragement. Faith that bears fruit is a vibrant and living faith. It is a faith that can be patient and endure the challenges of living as God’s people in this fallen world.

          In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains why some do not believe when they hear the word.  He also tells us that there will be those who believe, and then fall away.  We should not be surprised when this happens.  We also know that our Lord is the good shepherd who leaves the ninety nine and looks for the one lost sheep. Our Lord tells us, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Those who fall away can be brought back. We pray for this.  We share the Gospel with these individuals. We point them to the apostles’ witness for there they are confronted by Christ. We do this in faith with patience and endurance for the sake of the one who has fallen away.

          And in our own lives, we strive to live as those who hold the words of the Gospel fast in an honest and good heart.  We cling to this word by attending the Divine Service and receiving Gods gifts of the Means of Grace. We read and study God’s Word. And we bear the fruit of faith with patience and endurance. We do so knowing that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, who will rescue us from this fallen world, and will give us the final victory of sharing in his resurrection on the Last Day.

         

 

Sermon for Septuagesima - 1 Cor 9:24-10:5

 

Septuagesima                                          1  Cor 9:24-10:5

                                                                            2/5/23

 

          What comes to mind when you hear about the history of Israel in the Old Testament?  On the one hand, it probably sounds so distant and different from our own experience.  After all, we don’t have armies laying siege to our cities.  We don’t live in the midst of people who worship Baal or Asherah. For that matter, we don’t even observe the Torah that God gave to Moses at Mt Sinai.  We can eat any food that we want, and we don’t offer animal sacrifices here at this altar.

          On the other hand, the history of Israel sounds like a broken record.  The very first words the nation speaks to Moses when God has brought them out Egypt through the Passover, and they are trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army are: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?  Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

          Israel complains and complains.  And before they have even left Mt Sinai, they have already been unfaithful and worshipped the golden calf.  This sets ups a pattern of unfaithfulness as again and again they worship the false gods of their pagan neighbors.

          It seems easy to write Israel off as unfaithful complainers. We look down on them because they failed so spectacularly.  But in our epistle lesson this morning, Paul leads us to recognize that this history is crucial for us.  As the people of God, this is our history – it is the history of our spiritual ancestors. Even more importantly, God has provided this history to us in Scripture in order to teach us about how we are to live in the present.

          Our text finds Paul in the midst of a discussion about meat.  The diet of the ancient Mediterranean world was very different from ours.  The people who lived then ate little meat. The meat that they did consume came from basically one source: animals sacrificed to pagan gods at their temples.

          This meat was often eaten at banquet rooms on the grounds of the temple.  It was also the source of meat that was sold in the city.  In our text, the apostle is in the midst of dealing with this issue. He has to because some of the Corinthians had developed false ideas about what the Christian faith meant.  They thought that they were already “spiritual people” who had the victory in Christ.  They knew that there was only One God and all others were false gods. They thought that their baptism and reception of the Sacrament of the Altar protected them from spiritual harm, and so they could do what they wanted.

          Paul approached this subject from two different sides.  On the one hand, he emphasized that Christian behavior must be guided by love for the neighbor. The action by the Corinthians could lead a fellow Christian to stumble in idolatry.   He wrote, “But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.”

          On the other hand, Paul addressed the threat that idolatry posed to the Corinthians.  Faith in Christ and reception of the Sacraments is no magic protection against willful sin. As Christians, we don’t get to do whatever we want just because we believe in Christ.

          Paul had already affirmed that while the Corinthians were sinners, through baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ they have received forgiveness.  After describing the sins that characterized their past he went on to say: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

          Because of baptism in Christ, your sins have been washed away.  You have been made holy in God’s eyes.  You are justified.  You are already know the verdict of the Last Day.  It is innocent, not guilty!

          Paul confessed this.  But he also knew that those forgiven in Christ are called to struggle against sin. He says in our text, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

          Athletic contests were a big deal in the Greco-Roman world, just as they are in ours.  Paul uses the examples of runners and boxers.  He says that like runners, we have to focus on gaining the prize - of finishing in the faith.  Like a boxer, we need to discipline our body against sinful urges.

          Then, in our text, Paul turns to warning the Corinthians that reception of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar is not protection against willful sin.  He points to how Israel had experienced God’s miraculous action when he brought them through the Red Sea, and fed them with manna and water from a rock. Yet this had not preserved Israel as they were unfaithful. 

He explains: “For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

We may view Israel’s history as foreign and distant.  We may see them as spiritual losers who failed all the time.  But the apostle Paul says that Israel’s experience is directly relevant to us.  Immediately after our text he writes, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”  Paul says that they are types – examples that teach us about how we are to live and not to live.

Referring to the golden calf incident, the apostle goes on to say, “Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’”

          These words call us to consider all the things that we place before God.  What role does money and wealth play in our lives?  Does it give us our sense of security?  What do our actions say about the place it has in our life when it comes time to give back a portion to God in our offerings?

          Paul refers to the sexual sin involved in paganism when Israel worshipped Baal Peor as he says, “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.”  What role does sexual immorality play in our life? Are we engaging in sexual intercourse outside of marriage? Do we look at pornography on our phone?  Do we accept the fact the relatives are living together outside of marriage without any kind of objection?

          The apostles then adds, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”  The Israelites put Christ to the test when they complained and grumbled about the manna God was giving them.  Do we complain about the way God cares for us?

          Paul has referred to several different events in Israel’s history.  Then he adds, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”  These events are not just ancient history.  They do not simply show us how miserably Israel failed. They are instead examples that have been written down for our instruction.  The Holy Spirit has provided them through the inspired Word to teach us. They teach us – the ones upon whom the end of the ages has come.

          Israel’s history is your history.  Baptized into Christ, the seed of Abrahm, you are now the offspring of Abraham.  You are, as Paul tells the Galatians, the Israel of God.  The apostle says that God has given us this history in the Scriptures to teach us.  Of course, to learn from it you have to study it.  That means you have actually have to read it.

          So where are you on this?  What role does the reading and study of Scripture have in your life?  How much do you actually read each week?  How much time do you spend studying God’s Word, and how does that compare to the time you spend on your hobbies and interests?  Do you attend Bible class?  Are you making sure that your children attend Sunday school?  These things were written down for our instruction.  But they can’t instruct us if we don’t take the time to read and study them.

          We approach the Scriptures as God’s Word given to instruct us.  And we do this because we know that we are those upon whom the end of the ages has come.  That is what happened in Jesus Christ.  In the fullness of time – at the right moment in history – God sent forth his Son as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 

Jesus received the end time judgment of God in our place when he died on the cross.  He received the wrath of the Day of the Lord as he suffered and died.  But death was not the end.  Instead, on the third day God raised him from the dead.

Now resurrection is, by definition, a Last Day event. The Scriptures teach us that God will raise the dead on the final day of judgment.  But, in Jesus Christ something new burst onto the scene.  God raised Jesus from the dead as the first fruits of the resurrection.  In Christ, the resurrection of the Last Day has already started!  That is why Paul can say that the end of the ages has come upon us.

God raised Jesus through the work of the Spirit.  In baptism you received the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Spirit.  The presence of the Spirit within you is the guarantee that you too will share in Jesus’ resurrection when he returns in glory.

The Spirit is also the One who enables you take up the struggle against sin that Paul describes in our text. He gives us the ability to run the race of life with our eternal purpose firmly in view.  He is the One who helps us to discipline our body and keep it under control.  He is the One who instructs you through his inspired Word.  So let us listen to that Word this week.  Let us read and study the Scriptures. They were written for our instruction – the ones upon whom the ends of the ages has come in Christ Jesus.

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord - Mt 17:1-9

 

Transfiguration

                                                                                      Mt 17:1-9

                                                                                      1/29/23

 

          The moon is the brightest object in the night sky.  Depending what phase it is in, the moon can provide real illumination at night.  It is so significant that military planners have historically taken the phase of the moon into account when developing operations.  Whenever possible, night missions have been planned for the least illumination possible from the moon.

          While the moon can provide light at night, we recognize that it doesn’t do this on its own.  Instead, it simply reflects light that is coming from the sun.  It isn’t truly a source of light, but rather it derives its light from another source.

          In our Old Testament lesson this morning, we hear about how Moses’ face shines with the radiance of the divine glory after he interacts with Yahweh.  It is a sight that frightens the Israelites. While this is impressive, in our Gospel lesson for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord we hear about how Jesus’ face shines like the sun. There is nothing reflected here, but instead Jesus’ divine nature is the source of the radiance.

          Our Old Testament lesson picks up just after the Golden Calf incident. While Moses was on Mt Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments and the instruction of the Torah, the people came to Aaron and said, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

          Aaron used their gold to make a golden calf, and the Israelites began to worship it.  Moses returned from the mountain, and when he found the scene he threw down the stone tablets and broke them. By this action he showed that Israel had broken the covenant.  Yahweh was ready to destroy Israel and start over with Moses, but Moses interceded for the people and God relented from destroying the nation.

          Moses had returned to the top of Mt. Sinai as Yahweh reestablished the covenant with Israel.  He wrote on a new set of stone tablets, and then Moses came down the mountain to the people.  Our text tells us, “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”  Moses had been in the presence of God and the radiance of the divine glory continued to be reflected in his skin, even after he left God’s presence.

          Moses’ face shone with divine brilliance and Aaron and all the people were frightened by the sight.  When Moses recognized what was happening he began the practice of wearing a veil after he had been speaking with God, and went to speak to the people.  We learn from the end of Deuteronomy that Moses spoke with God in a way that no one else did – he spoke face to face with Yahweh – and his shining face demonstrated this.

          This background is important for understanding our Lord’s transfiguration and Peter’s response to it.  In the Gospel lesson we learn that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain by themselves. Matthew tells us, “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” 

          At Christmas we celebrated the incarnation of the Son of God.  God the Father sent forth the Son into the world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.  The Son of God – the Second Person of the Trinity – took on humanity without ceasing to be God.  During the season of Epiphany we have contemplated how the saving glory of Christ was revealed through his miracles. Today, we see the divine glory of Jesus revealed directly as his face shines like the sun and his clothes are as white as light.

          Jesus shone in divine glory, and something else remarkable happened as Moses and Elijah appeared to the disciples and were talking with Jesus.  Moses and Elijah were the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament- both had done mighty works. They were both also associated with the end times.

          Caught up in the moment, Peter said, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  The problem with this statement was that it seemed to place Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah. Yet as we have seen, Jesus’ face shone for an entirely different reason.

          In our Old Testament lesson, Moses’ face shines with the derived glory of Yahweh.  But in the Transfiguration, Jesus Christ shines with the innate glory of God himself.  Jesus is God in the flesh. In the personal union the divine and human natures were joined together.  Jesus’ face shines like the sun because he is God, not because he has been with God.

          Peter was still speaking when God the Father acted to show how wrong the apostle was to put Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah.  We learn that a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  The Father identified Jesus as his Son, and directed the disciples’ attention to him.

          The disciples fell on their faces terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain the Lord commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

          The reference to Jesus’ death helps us to understand the meaning of Jesus’ transfiguration.  The Gospel lesson begins with the words, “And after six days.”  This specific time reference is very unusual in Matthew’s Gospel, and calls our attention to what has preceded.  In the previous chapter, Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

          Next Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  Peter had just correctly confessed that Jesus is the Christ.  And now Jesus says that he is going to be killed. This was too much for Peter.  Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”  But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

          In the Gospel lesson we hear words that should sound familiar. We heard them on the first Sunday after the Epiphany when we celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord. After Jesus had been baptized, the Spirit descended on Jesus and God the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  These words were taken from Isaiah chapter forty two and designated Jesus as the Servant of the Lord.  We saw that this was Jesus taking our place and beginning his course as the Suffering Servant who would die for our sins.

          Now, Jesus has told his disciples that he is going to suffer and die. This is not what the disciples expect of the Messiah.  If fact, it sounds like the exact opposite of what a Messiah should be. Peter’s response illustrates this in a dramatic way. 

          The transfiguration of Jesus holds together two seemingly opposite realities.  On the one hand, Jesus has spoken about suffering and death.  On the other hand, Jesus stands on the mountain and reveals his divine glory.  The transfiguration teaches us that the these are not contradictory.

          Jesus has taken on the role of the suffering Servant.  He journeys to the cross of Good Friday to offer himself as the sacrifice for our sin.  Only in this way can we be reconciled to God.  Christ will suffer and die. But this will not be the end.  As our Lord tells the disciples after the transfiguration, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”  The death of Jesus Christ leads to his resurrection on the third day.  It leads to the day when Jesus’ flesh is transformed so that it can never die again. It leads to the resurrection that vindicates Jesus – the resurrection that is the beginning of our own resurrection.

          What is true of Jesus is also true of those who believe in him.  After predicting his own death, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  Our Lord says that those who believe in him will suffer. They will even be killed.  But this is not failure or defeat.  Instead, the risen Lord is the guarantee that the way of the cross leads to life as we share in our Lord’s resurrection.

          Suffering and death. Glory and exaltation. These are not contradictory for Christ, and so they are not for those who have been baptized into Christ. The presence of the former is not a denial of the latter.  This is true as well in the experience of our daily life. When we encounter loss and sorrow, this does not mean that God’s love and care is absent.  Instead, in Christ’s resurrection we find the presence of God’s love.  In Christ we find the living hope, for we know that he has already been exalted in glory as he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.

         Our Lord – the risen One – has promised that he will sustain us in faith through his gifts of the Means of Grace.  He will support us so that we can continue to believe and trust in him.  He, the risen Lord, is the reason that we can trust and believe in God. The glory of his transfiguration points to the glory of his resurrection.  The One who died on the cross to give us forgiveness, rose from the dead on Easter. We who have shared in his death through baptism, will also share in his resurrection. Nothing that we experience in the present can change this fact. The risen Lord’s saving glory continues to revealed to us through his Word and his Sacraments. He is present for us now, and we keep our eyes fixed on him, because his glory will be ours on the Last Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Rom 1:8-17

 

Epiphany 3

                                                                                      Rom 1:8-17

                                                                                      1/22/23

 

          How do you feel when someone contacts you, and asks you to support something through your contributions?  It happens all the time via mail, email, and phone calls.  In truth, we are inundated with such appeals. That is true just in the Church. There are so many different ministries and mission efforts that you can never support them all.

          And then when you move outside the Church, there are even more causes that want your support.  These take in every aspect of life as we are asked to support groups that work for health, political groups, and groups that address any number of social problems. Again there are so many causes – many of them certainly worthy – that you can never support them all.  However, watch out.  If you send a contribution to a group just once, you will never cease to hear from them.

          I mention this because as we listen to our text this morning, we are hearing Paul ask the Romans for mission support.  We think of Romans as being one of the great statements about the Gospel and the Christian faith. While it is that, in practical terms it is also Paul asking the Romans to support him in his future missionary efforts.

          Unlike the churches in major cities like Corinth, Philippi, and Ephesus, Paul had not founded the church in Rome.  In fact we don’t know who first brought the Gospel to the heart of the Roman empire.  There was so much travel to the capital of the Empire, that it is not surprising that quite soon there were groups of Christians gathered in that city which was one of the largest in the ancient world. 

Paul begins our text and opens the letter with his typical thanksgiving as he writes, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”  It was indeed a big deal that the faith in Jesus Christ was present in Rome. Then Paul goes on to speak about his prayer for the Romans – prayer that immediately includes his hope to come to Rome. The apostle writes, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.”

Paul was the apostle of Jesus Christ – the authorized representative of the risen Lord.  He brought something unique  - he wasn’t just any other Christian.  So Paul goes on to say that his presence will benefit the Romans – even as he then immediately qualifies this by granting that he will be blessed by them too.  He writes, “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.”

We learn later in the letter, that Paul’s goal was to pursue mission work in Spain which was an important area in the western part of the Empire. This is the work in which he hopes that the Christians in Rome will be able to assist him.  Yet at the same time, Paul looks forward to preaching the Gospel in Rome. He tells them, “I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.”

This leads Paul to comment on his charge as an apostle to the Gentiles – to those who are not Jewish.  He states, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” 

When the apostle talks about Greeks and barbarians, he is referring to the way that Gentiles looked at the world.  Greek culture had spread throughout the Mediterranean world from the time of Alexander the Great at the end of the fourth century B.C. Those who were part of this culture considered themselves to be superior to those who are not – the barbarians as they called them.  Yet Paul says he is obligated to all: Greeks and barbarians – to those who are considered wise and those who are not.

Paul is eager to preach the Gospel in Rome.  In our text he goes on to explain why this is so.  He states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” 

The apostle declares that he is not ashamed of the Gospel.  It is helpful to pause and consider why he says this. Why might someone be ashamed of it?  Well for starters, the Gospel is the proclamation that a Jew who was crucified is the Lord of all.  Gentiles looked down upon Jews as being an odd group of people with their circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath observance.  Yet the Gospel wasn’t just about a Jew. Jesus had died the death of a criminal. And he hadn’t just been executed.  He had been crucified.  He died in the most pathetic and humiliating way possible – something considered so horrific that polite society didn’t even mention it.

Jesus had been crucified.  Yet now the apostles were proclaiming that Jesus was Lord. This was the same word that was used to refer to the Roman Emperor.  There could be no greater contrast than between the most powerful man in their world and a Jew who had been crucified. To proclaim Christ crucified as Lord was foolishness to the world. Paul freely admitted to the Corinthians, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The message of the Gospel might sound foolish to the world.  But in this case, appearances were deceiving.  Paul goes on explain why he is not ashamed as he says, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  In the Gospel there is the power of God that gives salvation – a salvation received by all who believe.  This salvation is certainly intended first for the descendants of God’s covenant people, Israel. But it also includes the Gentiles – it includes you.

In the last verse of our text, Paul explains why the Gospel is the power of God for salvation.  He says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  The righteousness of God is God’s saving action to put all things right. The apostle says that it is revealed.  The word used here is the source of our word “apocalypse.” Paul declares that in Jesus Christ, God’s saving action has burst onto the scene.  It has been revealed by God because it was his action in Christ, and now he makes it known through the proclamation of the Gospel.

This saving action of God was necessary because of our sin.  Paul explains in chapter five that sin and death spread from Adam to all people.  He says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” It is sin that rules the lives of all people, for the apostle says in chapter three “that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.”

Because that was our situation, the righteousness of God was revealed.  God acted in his Son Jesus Christ.   The apostle went on to say, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”  God acted to justify us – to declare us righteous and innocent.  He did this by giving Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice that removed sin. By his death on the cross, Jesus won forgiveness for us.

Paul says that he is not ashamed of the Gospel.  This is a word that we need to hear because the world around us today heaps scorn upon the Christian faith.  We are told that there is no such thing as truth – an ultimate objective standard – according to which God can judge us.  Let’s face it, popular culture considers the Gospel to be a fairy tale – they think it is nonsense.  The world bristles when we proclaim Christ as the only way to salvation and fellowship with God.

Yet Paul says that he is not ashamed.  He is not ashamed because he met the risen Lord.  Paul thought it was all folly – until the risen Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus.  He wasn’t alone. The brothers of Jesus, such as James, didn’t believe in Jesus during his ministry. But when the crucified Lord appeared to them, they became missionaries and martyrs for Christ.

We are not ashamed of the Gospel because we believe in the risen Lord. We have faith in Jesus – we trust and believe in him. The power of God’s salvation is received by faith and faith alone, because faith leaves God in charge.  Forgiveness and salvation are received by God’s grace. They are a gift.  There is nothing that we can do. God has given us the promise in Christ, and so we simply receive the promise in faith. It is received by faith from beginning to end.

Paul says in our text, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  The apostle calls us to confident faith because it is faith in the crucified and risen Lord.  

He urges us to confess Christ because in this way we receive the saving power of God. Paul says in chapter ten,  “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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” And then he adds, “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’”  Those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord will not be ashamed because on the Last Day the Lord Jesus will raise them from the dead. They will stand before the judgment seat of God and hear the verdict that they are righteous and holy in his eye because of faith in Jesus Christ.