Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (July 12, 2009)
“Chosen in Christ” (Ephesians 3:1-14)

We love having choices to make. Shall I eat at Jack-in-the-Box or McDonalds or Burger King? Do I want a burger or chicken nuggets? Fries or onion rings? And do I want the small, medium, or large combo meal? Or maybe I'm in the mood for pizza. Will it be Alfy's or Pizza Hut or Papa John's? No, let's splurge and go to Cristiano's. Now, what toppings shall we choose? Pepperoni, sausage, onions, mushrooms, maybe all of those. And then for dessert, let's stop at Baskin Robbins. 31 flavors to choose from! More choices!
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We love having the freedom to make all kinds of choices, don't we? The same goes for spiritual matters. Most people think that religion is a matter of choice. They investigate all the different belief systems that are out there, and then they choose the one they think is most suitable and comfortable for them. Or, they pick and choose from the various belief systems they have investigated and make up their own personal religion. “Religion is a personal matter, after all,” they conclude. “Why should I have to confess a bunch of antique words from a creed that was written hundreds of years ago?” But their personal religion ends up looking nothing like Christianity, but more like a smorgasbord of mysticism, pop psychology, and if you're lucky, maybe a little dash of Bible thrown in.

The Bible doesn't leave us with that option. Besides the fact that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven by which we are saved, the Bible also teaches that apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead. That's exactly what the inspired Apostle Paul teaches in the chapter following the one where today's Epistle is found. He says that we “were by nature children of wrath.” Because of our disobedience to God, his anger over our sin remained upon us and we deserved hell. Paul says that “you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” Dead. Without life. Oh sure, you may have been taking air into your lungs. Your heart was beating. If someone pinched you, you would have said, “Ouch!” But spiritually, you were dead. And dead people cannot choose to be alive. Spiritually dead people can certainly make religious and moral choices. But none of these decisions will cause the breath of God to enter them and give them eternal life.

The Bible teaches that God chose us to be saved, and then it makes it clear that this choice is always “in Christ,” or “in connection with Christ.” St. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in him.” Sometimes the word “chosen” is translated “elect,” such as in the hymn we just sang, “Church of God, elect and glorious, Holy nation, chosen race; Called as God's own special people, Royal priests and heirs of grace.” (LSB 646.1)

And then, Paul uses another word which has caused no small consternation among Christians over the centuries. He says that we were “predestined.” Some people equate predestination with fate. But fate is an impersonal force. Predestination, on the other hand, is personal. A personal God had us on his mind even before time began. Even before Adam and Eve fell into sin, bringing sin into the whole world, you and I were on God's mind and wanted us to be his beloved, forgiven children. He had already planned to send his Son to be our Savior. Some people also think that predestination means that everything in our lives has already been decided for us, that God even predestined that we would choose that Quarter Pounder at McDonalds and that Rocky Road ice cream cone at Baskin-Robbins. To be sure, nothing escapes God's foreknowledge. But what choices we make in earthly matters has nothing to do with predestination. Predestination is entirely centered in God's eternal, loving choice to save us from sin, death, and hell. It's all about his gracious election of us in Christ, in connection with Jesus our Lord and Savior.

This past Friday was the 500th birthday of John Calvin. John Calvin was a French pastor and reformer. The greater part of his theological work was done in Geneva, Switzerland. He was 8 years old at the time Luther picked up hammer and nail to post the 95 Theses up in Wittenberg, Germany, the moment historians point to as starting the Reformation of the Church. But the younger theologian parted ways from the elder. His followers came to be known as Calvinists. And one of the hallmarks of Calvinism is what is called “double predestination.” Calvin knew what the Bible had to say about God choosing some to go to heaven. But he needed an answer to the question, “Why some and not others?” He concluded that it must logically follow that God must have chosen the rest to go to hell. Thus, the term, “double predestination.”

The trouble is, the Bible doesn't teach this. It does teach that God has chosen some to go to heaven. It is this choice, this election, which is the divine cause of people coming to faith and remaining in the faith until they die. However, the Bible nowhere teaches that God chooses some to go to hell. If people go there, it is because of their own stubborn, sinful will that resists the work of the Holy Spirit on their hearts. Lutherans don't try to answer the question, “Why some and not others?” We simply leave it a mystery.

And so when you ask yourself the question “Am I one of God's elect? Am I saved?” … be careful how you answer. Your answer to that question has nothing to do with any decisions you have made, whether you chose to believe or not. It has nothing to do with how many times you have gone forward in an altar call or recomitted your life to Christ. It has nothing to do with your feelings, with any ecstatic experiences you may have had. It has nothing to do with any inner voices that you may have heard. It has nothing to do with anything good in you or faithful in you that God saw from his perspective in eternity. Your answer to that question will depend simply upon this: “Am I in Christ? Am I connected to Christ?”

Are you baptized? Then you are “in Christ.” In Galatians 3:27, St. Paul says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Are you sorry for your sins and do you trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? Then you are “in Christ.” Listen again to St. Paul in the verse previous to the one just read: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” And remember, this faith is a gift of God's grace to you as well, given by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, through the Gospel and the Sacraments … given because you are one of God's chosen ones.

Are you receiving the Lord's Supper often while believing the words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness sins”? Then you are “in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:16 tells us plainly that in the Lord's Supper we are connected to Christ because we partake of his true body and true blood: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

You see, the doctrine of predestination and election was not given to us to keep us guessing and wondering what our status is before God. It was given to us as a great comfort. When you and I look into our hearts, we will find sin and unbelief and begin to doubt our election. But when we look outside of ourselves to Christ and his cross and the means whereby the benefits of the cross have been given to us – Baptism, the Gospel, Absolution, the Lord's Supper – then we receive comfort and assurance.

Today's Epistle reading teaches us that “in Christ” we are blessed, chosen, redeemed, given an everlasting inheritance, and sealed with the Holy Spirit.

We are blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” God has blessed us with material goods, but these things will fade, break, rust, and rot. Our spiritual blessings are heavenly, eternal blessings … life, forgiveness, salvation, joy, peace, relief from sin and suffering, bliss forever in the presence of God.

God the Father “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” Long before you or I were born … long before God ever spoke those words, “Let there be light” … his intention was to include you in his plan of salvation and to call you to faith through hearing the Good News of Jesus. In Adam, you were in sin and in the devil's kingdom. In Christ, you were adopted in love and became a beloved child of God. All this so that you might be “holy and blameless before him.” In Christ, you are declared to be holy and blameless. In Christ, you are empowered to live a holy and blameless life as the fruit of faith and the forgiveness you have been granted through the death and resurrection of your Savior Jesus.

In Christ, you are redeemed. You have been purchased, blood-bought, saved from the clutches of sin, death, and the devil. You have been forgiven of all your sins and brought into God's plan for the world. This is what Paul calls “the mystery of his will.” In the Old Testament, it was a mystery as to when exactly the Messiah would arrive on the scene. But in Jesus, that mystery is revealed. It was “according to [God's] purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” God's plan was to unite all believers in Christ, both in heaven and on earth, into one holy body, the Body of Christ. We still await that great and glorious day when the veil on this side will be taken away, and the Church on earth will be united with the Church in heaven.

In Christ, “we have obtained an inheritance.” That inheritance is what was just described. A place reserved for us in heaven. The promise of a future resurrection. The joy of eternal life. It's called an inheritance because we don't have it yet in all its fullness. But it will be ours, there's no doubt about that, just like the children of wealthy parents fully expect to receive their inheritance (hopefully they appreciate that fact and act kind and loving accordingly toward their parents). Our inheritance is the infinite wealth of our Creator and Redeemer, the glory of heaven itself. And he has given us a down-payment, a guarantee on that inheritance, the Holy Spirit who has sealed us.

In days gone by, kings and other rulers wore signet rings. Engraved upon their ring would be their coat of arms. They would use this to place their seal upon important documents. A small ball of wax would be placed on the paper, and they would press the face of the ring into the wax. In this way, the authenticity of the document and its contents were guaranteed.

You have the seal of the Holy Spirit upon you. You can't see it. But it's real. It's in the shape of a cross and has the name of the Triune God … Father, Son, and Holy Spirit … placed on you in Baptism. This seal marks you as God's own and guarantees the authenticity of your calling. It gives you something to cling to and return to daily when you begin to doubt your election. It reminds you of the glorious plan of salvation that was carried out in Christ who died and rose for your sins.

God's choice of you and me, this predestination and election we have been hearing about, gives him all the glory, and that's as it should be. Three times in our text Paul repeats a similar phrase: “to the praise of his glorious grace” … “to the praise of his glory” … “to the praise of his glory.” God gets all the glory in this. It's all about what he has done for us in Christ. If it was up to us, even just one percent, we would forever be in doubt as to whether that one percent was good enough. But it's not up to us. God has chosen you in Christ. One hundred percent. Take comfort in God's glorious grace in Christ today.

Amen.

Trying out Twitter ... Twice

I'm back on Twitter. For the second time around. Don't know how long this recent love affair with Twitter is going to last. It was a whirlwind month-long romance the last time we were together. Guess it's all about commitment. I'm going to try to hang in there and make it work a bit longer this time before we go our separate ways.

I've received some good advice from other Twitter uses to use the service for news headlines and updates from select individuals and institutions. So far, so good. And I told myself not to get frustrated if I can't read every single update. If I miss something, no biggie. I probably didn't need to know it anyways.

So follow me if you want by clicking on the badge in the sidebar at the right. I can't guarantee I'll follow you back. Nor can I guarantee that every one of my "tweets" will not contain some mundane fact of my life. I'll try to keep it reasonably interesting or amusing.

HT: Speed Bump

Word Cloud for Sunday's Sermon

Notice that even in a sermon about predestination, election, and God's choice...Christ is prominent. It's all about Him. God has chosen us "in Christ."

Another step toward eliminating embryonic stem cell research?

http://ping.fm/1JAK1

More about TLSB

Cool New Promo for The Lutheran Study Bible

Extra Nos: Calvin's 500th

LP, Lutheran blogger from down under, points out that John Calvin's 500th birthday is this Friday. He also highlights Calvin's uncertainty regarding the efficacy of the sacraments, contrasted with Lutheranism's stress on the certainty and comfort received in the means of grace. Click on the link below to read the entire post.

Extra Nos: Calvin's 500th

Autism and the Church

Click the link below to read some good advice from Dan at Necessary Roughness. He knows whereof he speaks, having an autistic child himself. Our congregation has had to work with this issue to a certain degree as well. We could probably do better.

http://ping.fm/m7mgJ

I also think that some of the advice he gives can apply to all families, even those with children who are not autistic. Having two young children myself, and watching my wife deal with their activity and movement during services, has made me more aware of the need for all parents to receive support from others in the church.

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (July 5, 2009)
“Rebels!” (Ezekiel 2:1-5)

If you had been an American colonist living in 1776, chafing under the heavy hand of King George III and the British Parliament, what would you have been called? It all depends on your perspective, doesn't it? Would you be called a patriot? A revolutionary? A traitor? A rebel?
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As far as King George of England was concerned, the colonists who were dumping tea into Boston Harbor, joining up to serve in local militias, and writing up declarations of independence, were all a bunch of traitors and rebels. They had turned their back on jolly old England. They refused to submit to the authority of Parliament. They were in open defiance of the sovereignty of the king.

In our text today, the prophet Ezekiel is sent to a nation of rebels. That's what the Lord calls the people of Israel. In chapter 1, Ezekiel is in Babylon, having been taken away with the second batch of exiles from Judah. Sitting beside the Chebar canal, Ezekiel sees an amazing vision of four fiery angelic creatures with assorted features, riding upon glistening wheels, supporting the sapphire throne of Almighty God. Ezekiel falls on his face. But then a voice calls to him, saying, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you … Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants are also impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.' And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

From his exile in Babylon, Ezekiel was sent to preach to the remnant of the people of Israel and Judah. He was to call them to repentance for the ways in which they had turned their back on God. They refused to submit to God's authority. They were in open defiance of God's sovereignty. They did not obey the Law of God. They had resorted to the worship of idols. They were steeped in the immoral behavior of the other nations around them. They were rebels.

After the War of Independence was over, King George said to the U.S. Ambassador to Britain John Adams, “I was the last to consent to the separation [of the colonies from England]; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.” Well, we went to war one more time with England in 1812. But following that, we have had peaceful, friendly relations ever since. If King George were alive today, I assume he would have good things to say about us former “rebels.”

I'm not so sure the same would be true of Ezekiel. A sermon by Ezekiel preached to our nation today might sound similar to what he preached to the people of Israel. In spite of the fact that the Ten Commandments are posted in assorted places in our land, people still disobey them, much less even know them. But even if people can't recite the commandments, the Law is written on everyone's heart, so people should naturally know right from wrong. But what happens? They choose the wrong. Our American idols are not singers on a reality show. No, the people of our land worship the gods of convenience and comfort, the gods of self and success. Sadly, even many modern preachers have bought into this and pander to our American idols when they preach what is called the “prosperity gospel” … that God wants you to be rich and successful and healthy and happy all the time. That's a huge lie. God never promised us a rose garden. Rather, he has promised to use the rotten things that happen to us in this fallen world for our good. Even St. Paul was willing to gladly boast of and be content with “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.” As he said, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” because the power of Christ rested upon him. (2 Cor. 12)

But before we get too involved in criticizing our national sins, let's look at our own hearts. Let's recognize the rebel in each one of us. It's the Old Man, the Old Adam … that old sinful nature which clings so tenaciously to us and which clings so tenaciously to those things which God despises. Here's how Luther puts it in his Large Catechism: “But what is the old man? It is what is born in human beings from Adam: anger, hate, envy, unchastity, stinginess, laziness, arrogance – yes, unbelief. The old man is infected with all vices and has by nature nothing good in him.” (Large Catechism, IV.66) Now that's a hard-hearted and flint-faced rebel. God's Word is clear, but we have refused to hear. Our sins are evidence that you and I have turned our backs on our good and gracious Creator. We have refused to submit to his authority. We have been in open defiance of the sovereignty of the King of the Universe.

You know, some say that Jesus was a “rebel.” That was pretty rebellious when he overturned the moneychangers' tables in the temple. That was pretty rebellious when he called the most religious people of his day “whitewashed tombs.” Jackson Browne even wrote a Christmas song a number of years ago called “The Rebel Jesus.” In a certain sense, it's not wrong to call Jesus a rebel and a revolutionary. He hung out with some pretty shady people. The so-called righteous people of the world called him a glutton and a drunkard because of his associations. He didn't come with a militia. He didn't fight any battles with weapons of war. But he did come to stand up against the status quo of this sinful world where people think they are basically good and that all you have to do is simply keep a certain set of rules and regulations and that makes you okay in God's sight. Jesus battled with the devil in the wilderness, withstanding the temptations he threw at him. Jesus invaded the territory which that rebel Satan had claimed and cast out demons, healed the sick, and above all else called people to repentance and trust in him as Savior. And finally, Jesus did battle with death and hell itself as he hung on the cross, suffering and dying for the rebellion of the whole world, and after three days proving his victory over death when he came forth from the grave, never to die again.

Jesus was put on trial for treason against the Roman Empire. The original accusation was blasphemy, since he claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God. The Romans could have cared less about a little religious squabble among the Jews. And so, the Jewish leaders had to trump up some charges and told Pontius Pilate that this Jesus was no friend of Caesar. He had called himself a King, after all. (John 19:12) He was indeed a King – the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – but the people refused to believe in him. Jesus was condemned to die. A real rebel and traitor went free, a man by the name of Barabbas. And through the death and resurrection of Jesus, all of us rebels go free. All who trust in the shed blood of Jesus are forgiven and given the gift of everlasting life.

Christianity is pretty rebellious and radical when you think about it. In a world where power and prestige is glamorized, Jesus taught us to be meek and humble. In a world where people think that all roads lead to the same path, Jesus taught us that he is the only way to heaven. In a world where people are taught to get even, Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek. In a world where we want all the thorns in our flesh taken away, Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And just the idea of God dying on a cross is pretty radical enough. But that's exactly what happened. Jesus, True God and True Man, died on the cross to bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to the world.

In our Baptism, God calls us daily to rebel against our Old Adam, our old sinful nature. Again, in the Large Catechism, Luther says that Baptism is “nothing other than putting to death the old Adam and affecting the new man's resurrection after that (Romans 6:4-6). Both of these things must take place in us all our lives. So a truly Christian life is nothing other than a daily Baptism, once begun and ever to be continued. For this must be done without ceasing, that we always keep purging away whatever belongs to the Old Adam. Then what belongs to the new man may come forth … The longer we live the more we become gentle, patient, meek, and ever turn away from unbelief, greed, hatred, envy, and arrogance … What else is repentance but a serious attack on the old man, that his lusts be restrained, and an entering into a new life? Therefore, if you live in repentance, you walk in Baptism.” (Large Catechism, IV.65, 67, 75)

So be a rebel. Not one that rebels against God's commandments because they impinge on your freedom. Rather, one that is already free in Christ. You are forgiven of all your sins. You are free to live as God intended, enjoying the gifts that God bestows upon us, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to rebel against the status quo of this world and its values that are contrary to God's holy will.

Amen.

Word Cloud for Sunday's Sermon

A Guide to Church Shopping.

I had a conversation the other day with someone who was looking for a new church. Even his three-year old son, when asked how he enjoyed Sunday School, replied, "I miss our old church where we used to hear about Jesus." Huge red flag, right?

We didn't have much time to go into specifics about what to look for, so I recommended he check out an article I read online some years ago by Pastor Bill Cwirla. It's entitled "A Guide to Church Shopping." Check it out at the link below...

http://ping.fm/LWP4h

P.S. To members of Messiah, Marysville...I hope that this doesn't get you to thinking about shopping around. ;-)

Properly Honoring Mary

Paul McCain has an excellent post over at his blog Cyberbrethren about the proper respect that is due Mary, the Mother of Our Lord. Read it by clicking on the link below...

http://ping.fm/I8Ybp