“But What of Fearing God”

Mark 8:38 ³⁸For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

            Let’s talk about fearing God.  In the past I preached to you that the fear of God is like respecting Him.  That was not entirely everything there is to know about fearing God.  There is actually much more to learn about fearing God, and I need to pass this on to you.  First, I apologize that I did not teach you this before. 

As Paul Harvey would say, "And now the rest of the story."  Fearing God can take on many forms especially when you consider the love God has for us and the anger God is capable of having when we reject Him completely.

            St. Mark points out that we should fear God's rejection as we might reject Him.  To summarize St. Mark if we are ashamed of Christ then He will be ashamed of us. So, are you ashamed of being a Christian?  Are you ashamed to speak out that Christ is your savior?  And, are you too ashamed to share the gospel? 

To some in our unbelieving world, they think we believe in a fairytale.  Others try to use their knowledge of science (or actually lack of knowledge) to put down anyone who says they believe in God.  The truth is if you are ashamed to admit unwaveringly that you are a Christian, Christ sadly might have good reason to be ashamed of you.  This would be something to fear.

Mark 8:27–33 ²⁷And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

            What if we rewrote this by saying "and "The Body of Christ (The Church) asked who do you say I am?" What do you think some would say we are?  Of course you need to understand the cultural setting of the audience Jesus was addressing.  Jesus spoke to the apostles who have been with Jesus both day and night and on most of His journeys. 

What if Jesus had approached a different audience, one that had not followed Him or stayed with Him day and night?  What would the answers Jesus would receive from the unbelieving world be like?  Some might say The Body of Christ (the Church) any more just appears to be a Christian social club that includes rituals and some sort of worship to a non-existing higher power. 

            The way our churches are falling away from being in the word of God, being a Christian social club might fit whether we are offended by that or not.  What resemblance to the church of the apostles do we have, our churches are more like the seven churches St. John writes about in the second and third chapters in the book of Revelation or the church of the Corinthians, and Colossians.  We can be offended by this and that is good because we might actually try to do something about it by painting a better picture of the Church.

            Why are our churches failing?  The churches don't grow because the congregations have given up.  Is it because we no longer fear God.  We have preached Law and Gospel, and at times too much law and at times too much gospel.  Have we watered down Christianity to the point that we just think it was too bad that we heard about those Christians who were just martyred?  I bet they feared God more than they feared their executioners.

But what of fearing God, I fear that I tried to appease you at times and withheld the meaning of fearing God you should have in you.  Because quite frankly we should fear God and be trembling in our seats.  Why fear God?  God got angry with a world that stopped worshiping Him and baptized it by flooding it and killing all the sin that rotted the earth He had created.  God got angry at two cities that turned to lust and even tried to pervert that which is God's.  Both cases you have heard about even if you did not read the scriptures about them.  God wiped these two adulterous cities out of existence. What part of fearing God do we not understand?

Mark 8:34–38 ³⁴And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? ³⁷For what can a man give in return for his life?

            Is it all about you?  Is it all about me?  No, it is all about God and what He will create when it is all said and done.  Why deny ourselves to follow Jesus?  Don't we believe we can do both, sin with the world and follow Christ and then believe it's ok as long as we define God in the image we want Him to be in.  What's there to fear, God promised not to destroy the earth with a flood, and we certainly have not seen God destroy those cities we label as adulterous.  We won't see a flood, but the brimstone is coming for all who do not believe.

            What we fail to see is that all of our cities big or small are falling more and more away from God.  Some have made the statement that the synod and the pastors should do something about the schools and what they no longer allow, or stop them from teaching against God.  But the questions is, are we not all believers and are we then not all in this together.  Why are we not all doing something to stop the world from destroying our freedom to worship God? 

            I know what you're going to ask, what can we do about it?  I am only one and what can one do?  We can start by putting all other things aside, deny ourselves, and pick up our cross ask God to use each of us to be a tool in growing His Church. 

            The Body of Christ is asking, who do you say I am.  Some say we are the children of God.  Some say the church of the Apostles.  Some say we are the parts of the Body of Christ working together to populate heaven.  And, some say we are the Body of Christ working towards the growth of the Kingdom of God.  But who do you say we are?

Romans 5:10–11 ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

            You see we give up and it would seem we would fear that God has given up, but the good news is He has not.  For Christ died on the cross to save us from ourselves.  Christ was pierced for our transgressions.  Christ was nailed to a cross to receive us in our worst times with open arms.  Christ was buried to take our sins to hell, and Christ was raised to populate heaven, giving us eternal life and relationship with our creator God, savior Christ, and counselor Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Tempted To Sin, Lead to Salvation”

          James 1:12–15 ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

          We can say that someone else tempted us and that very well can be true.  Regardless as to who tempts us we can never say God tempts us because it is not in His nature to do evil.  On the other hand that person if being the tempter is guilty of tempting only, because the tempter did not make the choice to follow through with the sin the other one is being tempted to carry out.  If one falls to the temptation and sins then that person is guilty of falling to the temptation and the sin committed because one chose to fall to the temptation.  In other words we use the temptation to justify sinning.

          Temptation comes in many varieties, shapes, colors, and sizes.  The type of temptation depends on which one will do the job to entice the other one to sin.  The most common deliverer of temptation is one's own desires.  Our desires might be the hardest temptations to overcome because this is where we are the weakest.

          I have two different size boxes with me today.  Each box contains a gift, one being ten times the worth of the other.  Which box would you pick, and why?  Some say that big things can come in small packages. So will you select that one?  I'll make this even harder. The items in both boxes have something special about them as long as they are in your possession. Can I have two volunteers?  The first volunteer gets to select who gets which box and has to explain their choice based on their desire for the other volunteer.

James 1:16–17 ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

          It is easy sometimes to be deceived, especially when one has high expectations.  We sometimes expect our fellow mankind to give us what we desire, but then our desires are usually materialistic based on what the world considers valuable.  We are tempted again by our desires based on our expectation. 

Maybe if we expect nothing we might appreciate what comes our way more and more often.  But what we receive here in this world is perishable and what's worse is that we lose everything from this world when we die from this world. 

          We can never be sure of the gifts we receive from others as they too give gifts sometimes based on their desires.  My daughter for a Christmas present bought me three porcelain Easter eggs that were pink with a raised floral design.  Yes I said thank you and how nice, but my desire was to ask why you would think I would like these especially knowing I don't like pink and don't like curios' for the house.  It was tempting!

          The good news is that we can be sure of the gift given to us by Christ our Savior.  As James writes "every perfect gift is from above.  Believe me when I tell you this God wants everyone to receive the perfect gift from above.

          James 1:18 ¹⁸Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

          Christ Jesus of His own will, died on the cross to be that truth that sets us free, to be that perfect gift of salvation.  Our Lord Jesus Christ died on purpose for a purpose, and that is to make us the children of God.  Your children are the first fruits of you and your spouse, and you cherish them even when they rebel against you.  At least I keep telling myself this.  We were adopted back into the fold of God to be His children to be His first fruits of which He cherishes even when we rebel against Him.  I wonder if He keeps telling Himself this, yes God doesn't lie, God really cherishes us always.

          Being first fruits means that we are members of God and as a fruit is nourished through the roots and branches of the tree, we are nourished through God's Holy Word, watered through our Baptism, polished by the Holy Spirit to be made perfect and forgiven and saved through the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 1:14b–15 Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

          Tempted to sin, lead to salvation.  We are tempted through our desires to sin, but we are also lead by the Holy Spirit to be sanctified, that is, to be made Holy, and this is in part to be lead to repent, receive forgiveness, and believe and have faith in the gospel.  The gospel that we can have faith in is that we are brought into belief, forgiven into eternal life, and can look forward to a permanent ever lasting relationship with our one and only God, Yahweh.  Amen.

"Veiled"

2 Corinthians 3:12–13; 4:1–6 ¹²Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, ¹³not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

          Moses walks down from the mountain with new tablets after some time with our Lord God.  God is light so who knows if Moses saw the light of day or the black of night while staying with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights knocking out the new covenant and new tablets of law.  The Hebrews knew very well one does not look directly at our Lord God because one would not just go blind but would actually die.  Talk about a glowing personality.  Moses came down from his time with God and his face glowed and after awhile he had to put a veil over his face to cover it so that the rest of the Hebrews would not be afraid of him.

          Moses’s face glowed with the real light of God.  This was not like sun beams beating down on one’s face, or even that of a candle light held close to one's face.  Moses didn't look like he suffered a sunburn, rather his face was lit by the righteousness of God.  This was a different glow, a glow that made a statement of one spending time in direct contact with Yahweh. 

The reasoning behind being afraid of this glow upon Moses's face was that the Hebrews like us were veiled in the darkness of their sin and the darkness of sin cannot withstand the light of pure righteousness, and sin comes with the penalty of death when as light rids us of darkness.  John writes in chapter one of his book that the light came into the world and the darkness could not overcome it. 

          We live in this physical world where the laws of science differ from the laws of spirit.  To us darkness engulfs everything and the only way to make the darkness leave is to defuse light upon it.  In the true laws which are of the realms of God it is just the opposite in some ways.  The dark tries to take over the light through sin, but God has the upper hand and His light is unquenchable and demolishes the darkness.  God wins over sin and sin will lose its veil that it thinks it has on us and the darkness will be burned to its eternal death.

Mark 9:2–9 ⁷And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” ⁸And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

          It is peculiar that God who is light appears to be coming as a cloud.  What is really happening is God veiled Himself from being seen and placed the cloud for the protection of the apostles with Jesus. Christ has not died for their sins at this time, so God chose to overshadow the apostles putting a barrier so that they would not burn from the light of God's righteousness.  The apostles Peter, John, and James who are sinners as well as you or I did get a glimpse of the glory of God as Jesus is transformed into His true glory of light, the light of true righteousness.  The sight must have been breathtaking as Peter says, "It is good to be here."

          What is good is they were enabled to see Jesus as He really looks when in the presence of the Father and in the realm of heaven.  Moses and Elijah both being with Jesus did not light up the top of the mountain, just Jesus alone shining in His glory for them to witness.  And then the voice of the Father, "This is MY SON of whom I am well pleased, LISTEN TO HIM."  We can unveil the words of our Lord and listen to Him as we study through His awesome voice we know as the Holy Scriptures.

2 Corinthians 3:12–13; 4:1–6 ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

          God veiled by a cloud, the glory of Jesus veiled in the form of a man, and the gospel veiled to blind those who want to remain unbelievers.  But God unveiled His light through His Son by giving Him up to be crucified on the cross; crucified for our darkness of sin and bringing us into His light through forgiveness. 

Christ hanging on the cross veiled His glory for those who chose to be unbelievers, and unveiled to those He led out of the darkness and into the light to be believers.  It is forgiveness of sins given through the light of Christ, washing away our darkness through baptism and through giving us His body and blood so that we might join Him in eternal life and relationship. 

2 Corinthians 3:12–13; 4:1–6 ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

          Out of the darkness of the flesh the glory of God shines His light to save us from the darkness of sin and brings us into the light of His own righteousness.  Christ reclaims us, reconciles us with the Holy Father, and clothes us in His righteousness.  It won't be a sun lamp suntan that we get, but what a glow we will have about us as we too will be in direct relationship with our God.  God protects us through the unveiling of His Son, makes us Holy through His Holy Spirit, and awaits the day when the complete veil is lifted and we all bathe in His glorious light forever and ever, Amen.  Awesome God, and brilliant days to come. Amen.

"Hmmm, It's Blank"

1 Corinthians 9:16–27 ¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

            You might think this means you don't have to pay me to be your pastor after reading this piece of scripture.  However, this bit of scripture is talking about receiving glory through boasting a different gospel than that which Christ has given us.  If I were to make up my own gospel then I would be preaching in vain seeking glory for myself; nothing good or awesome would come out of it.  In order to receive what is good it has to come from God, His word, His Son our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit.  When we seek our own glory we fool ourselves, and endanger those we might fool around us.  But when the gospel of Christ and the cross are truly preached than God receives the glory as He should and we are blessed to know of the gifts He has given us.

            There is only one gospel, and it is God's gift to us. It is unfortunate that we doubt whether or not we actually received this awesome gift.  When you ask most church goers (vs. true believers) if they are saved or not, the usual answer is, "I hope I am."  Actually what they are saying is, "I'm not sure I am good enough."  If we look at the true meaning of hope, scriptural hope actually means that it is a done deal.  So if one really knew what they were saying when they said hope, they would realize that they said as do true believers, "Yes I am saved."

            Unfortunately most people think hope means wish, and wishing is to say you don't have whatever you are wishing for.  In other words you have doubt and do not realize that you just told God you're not sure you believe Him when He tells you He gave His only Son so that you might live.  Hmmm, that just might be a sin.  So now you might want to ask how can one be sure whether God is telling us the truth or not about our salvation?  Good question.  The answer lies in the Word. Romans 10:17.

            There was a lady who thought for sure she was going to heaven.  She always appeared to do the right things, she was nice to everyone, helped people when she could, and everyone seemed to like her when she would meet them.  All in all the woman was an upstanding citizen of her community.

Well as expected this woman died and found herself standing just outside this very large gate made of gold and inlaid with pearls.  At the entrance of the gate stood a very important looking person who supported some very beautiful wings, and a glowing halo hovering over the person's head.  As the woman approached the gold and pearl inlaid gate the person standing in the entrance way to the gate introduced himself as the arch angel Gabriel.  With his soft yet firm voice he asked the woman if she wished entry into heaven. 

The woman just stood there in awe for awhile and managed to whisper out a quiet yes.  Gabriel then asked the woman, and what do you think makes you worthy enough to pass through these gates?  The woman looked at him and gathering her courage trying to sound confident she said, I'm a good person, just ask those who know me, and I have done a lot of good things too.  Well, said Gabriel, let's see as he produced two scrolls, one of which was very small while the other was appeared to be quite large in diameter.  Gabriel said this small scroll is all those good things you claimed to have done and are known for by your peers, and the large scroll... well this is your sinful nature; shall I read the large scroll to you?  The woman now shrinking where she stood, quietly explained that it would take a very long time judging by it's size.  Gabriel said, "that's why they call it an eternity."

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ¹⁹For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

            We might say something about works here as Paul explains his evangelism techniques.  First we should make it clear that God prepared us for good works.  Ephesians 2:10, 2 Timothy 3:17 and Titus 2:7.  However, it is not our works or our own goodness that will get us into heaven.  You see, we cannot do enough good works or be good enough to help everyone in the way they actually need help.  We certainly cannot be good enough to get ourselves into heaven as we all have the same disease, which is our sinful nature.  This sinful nature cannot be cured by man, but it has a cure that is only delivered to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel is the message we are all to share with more than just those we know.  Matt. 28:18-20.  We need to share even with those we don't know and more over those we do not care for.  How is this done?  Paul met people where they were both in the location and also in the knowledge they were brought up in. One by going out to them and two by listening to their story Paul you might say traveled to the people and then traveled with them through their story.  Once you know ones story you can now take this information and relate the gospel to it and letting the person know how God wants us all to share in His gospel.  This was how Philip engaged the Ethiopian.  Acts 8:26-40.  Philip like Paul, listened to the stories of those they did not know in order to relate to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Acts 17:22-34.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul talks about running for the prize at the end of the race, this prize is not one that you compete against others for, rather it is one that the Holy Spirit and the Word of God prepares you so you are ready to receive it.  The discipline and exercise one needs to do is to share in the study of God's word.  This is where your coach the Holy Spirit works to get you ready to receive the prize which is the gospel in its fullest action.  The gospel received brings you to repentance, gives you forgiveness and puts you in the winner's circle of eternity.  The discipline that Paul is talking about is the word of God interpreted by the Holy Spirit and turned into greater faith as another gift given to us from our Father in heaven.

Well getting back to the woman who is still shrinking before the arch angel Gabriel.  Gabriel looks down at the lady and says to her you might want to sit down; this looks like it could take awhile.  So the lady slowly moved to the ground she was standing on before the golden and pearl inlaid gate intensely keeping her eyes glued to Gabriel and the large scroll.  With a flip of his wrist Gabriel let the scroll unroll.  The woman watched as the scroll unrolled before her and seemingly rolling out of site.  The woman glanced back up at Gabriel who now had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.  The woman just stared; puzzled by what she saw when finally Gabriel's eyes met hers.  Gabriel looking at the woman who thought for sure she was now doomed to hell for all eternity said, "Hmmm, its blank."

When we are forgiven God forgets and does not keep records of our sins.  Isaiah 43:25.  All of our scrolls of sin are erased through the forgiveness that Jesus Christ paid for on the cross for all peoples past, present, and future.  The race is to have faith and believe; the prize is the eternal life and relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ given as a gift through His works alone.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.