02122017 Septuagesima Sunday - We are to run so we may win for Christ!

February 12, 2017
We are to run so we may win for Christ.

This morning we begin a journey that has been celebrated since and before the time of Martin Luther.  We begin the Sunday’s that lead up to the beginning of Lent.  Simply these Sunday’s are known as the Gesima Sundays.  Next week, our service will revolve around these Sunday’s and tell the story of their connection with the church, the songs that relay the sole reason for our worship, Jesus Christ and how they impact us today.

But today on the first Sunday, known as Septuagesima, our focus will be Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  Paul begins our reading not with biblical wisdom, but a simple question of all things a ‘sports event’.  Similar to the movies “Chariots of Fire”, “Broken” or others that portray ’physical prowess’, Paul invokes a ‘race analogy’, but Paul connects it clearly to a prize.

When we receive a prize, whether in a spelling bee, a trophy for athletic prowess or a ring like the Patriots will receive for winning the Super Bowl, it is a ‘token’ of the accomplishment.  However, for Paul he clearly understands the discipline it takes to attain the prize.  Paul writes, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection”.  Paul knows what it is like to prepare for races, but ironically, all Paul is doing is relating to the people of Corinth who receive this letter with experiences they are familiar with not only as Roman Citizens, but this analogy is easily understood by we who gather here today.

However, Paul’s intent isn’t about gaining money for the coffers in Jerusalem.  It isn’t about controlling the actions of the people in Corinth, Paul’s sole intent is to point to what will save, sustain and securely change their eternal destination.  Paul’s intent is to point to a man he encountered on the road to Emmaus.  Paul is pointing to none other than the Rock Jesus Christ.

Our society asks, of what consequence is this Rock, Jesus Christ  for us today?  It is claimed no one has seen the Rock for 2000 years.  The Roman and the Jewish world doubted His resurrection as the movie “Risen” portrayed.  People feared what they could not believe, explain nor understand.  Yet clearly, Paul agreed at one point about this ‘Rock’ by hunting down the people who claimed to be Christians.  But on the road to Emmaus, Paul was changed.  No further proof of Paul’s change needs to be looked for than this passage we have read this morning.

The Rock, Jesus Christ, that Paul is pointing to for the Romans and for us today is the same Man that he met on the road to Emmaus.  This Rock, Jesus Christ is the same man Whom we celebrated His birth in a lowly manger in Bethlehem not two months ago.  This Man, this Rock, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and Who we have been baptized into, His life, His death, but especially His resurrection.

This Man, this Rock, Jesus Christ not only is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Our Rock Jesus Christ comes to offer us today eternal life.  Jesus Christ ran the race and now offers we His followers from our altar below the window with His likeness, His precious Body and Blood.  We are offered the greatest offer of grace from Him for us that gives us eternal life.  And all that He asks us to do is ‘discipline our bodies and bring them into subjection to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ’.  For when we bring our bodies into subjection, we then have the greatest opportunity.  We as disciples of Jesus Christ, “We are to run so we may win for Christ”.

God, through His Son, Jesus Christ is calling us to run the race of perseverance, in the face of adversity, against that which is evil and does not have the Gospel at its center and run the race so we can ‘win for Christ’.  Does this mean we earn eternal life?  By no means, eternal life is the gift of God offered to all of mankind out of God’s great love for us.  We are called by God to ‘run this race’ so that God may be Glorified and God may truly work through us so others not only can hear the Gospel of salvation of what Jesus Christ did on Calvary, but truly understand that God’s gift of grace is freely given for all, independent of our abilities, but fully dependent upon God and His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Recently, I saw a video on Facebook that epitomized running a race of a young boy with Cerebral Palsy.  The teacher of the class said the boy didn’t have to run, but he would have nothing of it.  Lining up with his class, he began the race.  Quickly this young boy was left in the dust.  All of the kids had finished the race, but this young boy, continued on.  As he neared the half way point the teacher went to offer him the opportunity to stop.  But again he would not.  So the teacher ran along side of him cheering him on.  With every step, classmates of his joined this procession and when he finally came to the finish line, the entire class was cheering him on giving him encouragement and praise.

Today, Paul, through his letter to the Corinthians, is encouraging each of us to run the race of our lives in order to receive the prize of eternal life.  It is my prayer that we not only encourage one another, but run this race in order to inspire one another so that “We are to run so we may win for Christ” Who is our Rock and our Beautiful Savior.  AMEN.

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02012015 Septuagesima Sunday

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February 1, 2015

Putting God to the Test!

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

            Since Sarah is in Kindergarten, I thought that she would attend school for her first official year, learn how to play well with other kids, start mastering her numbers and letters and maybe even begin to learn to read.  When we received her first report card, I was in for a shock.  It wasn’t that she had gotten bad grades or been sent to the principals office.  The standards of learning that are used presently require the use of a four letter word, ‘test’.  Kids these days like Sarah take a test in order to determine how well they know their colors, their numbers, how well they write with a pencil or cut with scissors and even if they can count to 100 by 10’s.  But still, a test for a standard could be a good thing, but for the Israelite people from our lesson this morning, ‘Putting God to the test’ isn’t as positive as one might think.

            God creator of the Universe, giver of the Israelites very life, Who had a vision of what would occur in the future was being put to the test by them.  Consider the Israelite people had been enslaved in Egypt by Pharoah.  Moses had been born and God had used Moses to rescue them and deliver them from bondage.  These same people had experienced the plagues that God had sent including, water into blood, frogs, flies, boils, locusts and even hail.  Then the first celebration of Passover, where the Angel of Death took the first born child of every home that did not place blood on the door post.  And the people of God had escaped into the Wilderness.

            Now after all of the miracles God had performed through Moses, because they didn’t have water to drink or to bathe in or give their animals, they were complaining.  Was it a thirst of their body, or a lack of faith they had that God would provide for them?  Probably all of the above, for the Israelite people asked a simple, but profound question, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”  They were putting God to the test and testing God and His resolve to help them.

            How often do we do the same thing?  How often do we pray, “God if you will only…”?  More than likely this occurs daily, if not every hour of every day by a lot of people.  Whether it is the tests that we took when we were in elementary or high school, the wrestling matches or basketball games we played, or even in our relationships.  When we saw the pretty girl who worked in the next room or we saw walking down the street.  Even in the Ultimate Life, the story line revolves around an encounter by Red Stevens and his asking the girl out that he had seen walking down the main street of town.

            But what happens, when we don’t get the response, the outcome or what our heart desires from our ‘test of God’.  Whether of grades, the crop we planted and tended all winter or summer or even the match with an opponent.  We quickly judge God and blame God and doubt God even cares for or about us.  We doubt God, because He is the easy target.  God is the one Who we can hurl insults, innuendo and anger at verbally and try even physically but even in our mind, heart and spirit by our doubt of His existence.

            Clearly we are no different than the Israelite people.  For the Israelite people, they had a challenge that we cannot claim today.  If you read carefully, our text is from the Book of Exodus.  Though they had experienced God in clear and unmistakable ways, they did not have any written ‘laws’, except what was on their heart.  For the 10 Commandments had not been carved on the stone on top of the mountain as of yet.  But we who gather here today are not only separated by 3500 years, but we have laws, including, the Ten Commandments and even a text we call the Holy Bible.  But we still like the people of Israel, ‘put God to the test’!  We doubt God, because unlike the Israelite people who had personally experienced God’s miracles and salvation from the Egyptians and Pharaoh, we have not had a clear and tangible experience with God.  Or have we?

            When the Israelite people ‘tested God’, they had experienced God through the work of Moses.  Moses was clearly the intermediary between God and Man, but clearly, Moses was just a man.  But for we who gather here at Emmanuel today, we have a greater intermediary.  It is Jesus Christ.

            Today as we gather around the table of our Lord, we receive not only the gift of grace and mercy of Jesus Christ precious Body and Blood, but especially the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.  It is in, through and by our receipt of the gift of Jesus Christ precious Body and Blood around the altar that we have the most profound and tangible experience with Jesus Christ, short of our being in heaven.  Yes, it isn’t like being hugged by our parents or children.  It isn’t like our going on a cruise or learning how to make cabinets.  But what we receive from the altar this morning in, with and under the bread and wine, of the True Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, clearly and radically changes everyone who receives it.

            No longer do we have to question or discern whether God is doing what He promised to do or put God to the test like the Israelite people.  Because as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding.  In the meal we receive today we proclaim that God ultimately sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary in order that we might be set free.  We no longer are bound by this world and the human desire to question and put God to the test.  When we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we proclaim, Jesus fulfilled the promises of God for all time.

What we then have the opportunity to do is not just believe that the promise is fulfilled, but we can live that.  And this is exactly what will drive Satan crazy.  Unlike the Israelite people who questioned God at every move, every opportunity and every twist and turn in the path that led to Israel, we who gather here today can go on faith and trust in the fulfillment found in Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ is not only the Rock that our church is built upon, but Jesus Christ is the Rock of our Salvation that holds us up and will never let us down.  The Israelite people didn’t have a book to follow, a story of a Savior, nor a building to go in and worship their God.  But we do!

God wants us to worship Him, trust Him and not put Him to the test.  For God has been faithful and fulfilled His promise of His Son Jesus Christ.  And God passed the ultimate test with and by His offering His Son Jesus Christ, not for a select few, but for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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02162014 Septuagesima Sunday

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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

We have before us this morning a table and two chairs.  One chair is behind the ‘desk’, the other is in front.  The person sitting behind the table or desk has more power over the person sitting in the other chair.  This could be a job interview, where we are trying to get a position to help support our family.  It could be a parent teacher conference, where we are discussing how our children are doing in school.  It could also be at a doctor’s office, where we will learn what the test results are from the blood draws and procedures that we have endured recently.  This could also be at the bank, where the loan officer who holds the farm loan holds the balance of our vested interest of the farm in the palm of his hand.  Or this could also be here at the church where we discuss the arrangements for our loved one who has entered the church triumphant.  Or this could be between husband and wife that are at odds with one another and trying to resolve their differences or seeking help to mend the brokenness between them.

Any and all of these situations occur on a daily basis, not only throughout the country, but even right here in Goodland, KS.  Yet what is a twist of irony is that today we cover the petition of the Lord’s Prayer that clearly deals with an issue that our world, our country and even our church struggle with on a daily basis.  No matter if it is between parents and children, husband and wife, fellow church members or even the church and our previous affiliation with the ELCA, the issue of forgiveness is one that the Fifth Petition clearly speaks about to us today.  It is the most difficult petition for Christians to truly own, understand and make use of in our relationships, whether in the church, outside the church or even with God.

Let’s pull out our bulletin insert for this morning and read responsively as a congregation the “What does this mean?” section.  “The Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer,  And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  What does this mean?  We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them.  We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.  So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.  Let’s pray for God’s forgiveness and our forgiving those who sin against us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for not looking at our sins, but offering us forgiveness through the grace offered through Your Son Jesus Christ.  May we always come to You and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, seeking forgiveness and offering others good who sin against us.  For we only find forgiveness through Your Son Jesus Christ Who died for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

When we sit in positions where there is clearly power like with the table and two chairs before us.  Whether the power is tangible, only perceived by our feelings or even subtle by an authority figure, whether it is someone seeking counsel, guidance or forgiveness there is a clear and unmistakable tension that exists.  Clearly we know individuals, both men and women, who lord it over others and make us feel not only unloved, but also unforgiveable.  Whether it is matters of clear and manifest sin of murder or stealing or blasphemy, or if it is unknown sin of addiction to pornography, gossip, or alcohol or how we treat our family, spouse or children.  The tension that exists when someone feels they have the power over another can be cut with a knife and some use the knife clearly and unmistakably to gain the advantage over us in a most uncaring and unchristian manner.

But this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is clear, when we pray, “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, we are praying for forgiveness.  We are praying for a clear and unmistakable change in our lives and ourselves.  We are praying for God to simply forgive us our sins as we forgive others.  Yet the reality is we are human and we hold onto the sins of others far longer than is needed or even healthy.  Or we revert to what we are used to or has become our standard response or actions because it will cause the least hassle, make the fewest waves with our neighbors, fellow farmers, friends, family or coworkers, or require the least amount of change in our individual or collective lives and the relationships we have with one another.  We do not want to be held accountable, by the church, by God nor by each other.

A prime example of this is the experience that we the congregation of Emmanuel had before my arrival in October 2010.  Emmanuel by the recollection of many who have sat here in the pew, were members and leaders of council and even extremely active in the church were collectively challenged in forgiveness, whether of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that were members by their actions or inactions, other churches that were part of the Penta-Parish agreement or the Bishop’s Staff and even the Bishop himself.  The feelings and emotions that the congregation individually and collectively experienced created the unhealthiest situation.  Many people were and still are deeply hurt and this changed the dynamic of the relationship they had with one another.  It even has caused some to leave the church not to return or darken the door, because so and so still goes here or they were hurt so deeply that they could not either seek forgiveness or offer forgiveness themselves.  For some it even changed the personal relationship between once close friends to a clear and tangible enmity that still to this day is unhealthy, unchristian and a clear sin in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of man an ‘excusable’ feeling.

Yet, in spite of the experience with the Bishop, the other churches and each other, the congregation here at Emmanuel endeavored to keep the doors open.  As was stated when I came and interviewed, ‘we are just trying to keep the doors open’.  What was needed was for a healing, a time to deal with the issues of the past and resolve the differences and unite the division that clearly existed and had fractured the church.  What was needed was forgiveness between brothers and sisters in Christ.  Not the image we have here of one person behind the desk or table on the side of power and the other cowering seeking forgiveness, but a mutual change not of venue, but of attitude, forgiveness of ego and clear and manifest change of our hearts by God through the Work of the Holy Spirit.

God calls us to this in our praying the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.  We need to change the landscape and dynamics that we have today here in the church if we want to move on and return to health and vitality.  We need to change the landscape of our attitudes and interactions.  We need to remove power from the equation.  [remove the table and face the chairs squarely] We need to change from power, authority or lordship, to one of partnership, cohesiveness and collective good.  We need to pray the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer as co-heirs and inheritors of eternal life.  This is what praying the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer is all about.  It does not negate the experience, the feelings, nor condone the actions of individuals or groups of the past.  But when we pray this petition God through the Work of the Holy Spirit helps us to see not the sin, but our Savior.  When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we change our collective glasses and refocus ourselves to the belief that God forgives us our sins as we forgive others.  We cannot change the past, but we can learn from our past and change our future.

This is why I challenge us as a congregation today to not return to our habits of years gone by of unresolved issues, lack of forgiveness, mistrust and lack of mission.  But change the course of our existence from ‘just keeping the doors open’, to ‘changing the from the power dynamic within our church to a healthy dynamic of mutual trust and forgiveness within our church’.  Change our church from being full of gossip, back room conversations, small clicks and not clearly communicating to visioning with one another how God can use Emmanuel Lutheran Church to impact Goodland.  From mistrust across the aisle or not listening to ideas of someone we do not trust to forgiving and listening not only with our heads, but our hearts for how God can use us for His mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And enabling us to be willing to dialogue not only with one another but for what will be the collective good of Emmanuel for years to come.  Through our praying this petition of the Lord’s Prayer we can become capable of being not only kingdom minded, but mission minded for God’s Glory.

We have the future to look forward to and every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, let us pray this petition, in true humbleness, humility and hope for tomorrow in the forgiveness we can find today with one another.  For when we share in this forgiveness and pray the Lord’s Prayer and especially this petition, we not only share in our hopes for tomorrow, but our potential we have today through Jesus Christ for all of mankind, but especially including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning praying, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.  AMEN.